ASUS X99M-WS Micro-ATX Motherboard Pictured

[btarunr]

Here's the first picture of ASUS X99M-WS, an upcoming workstation-grade socket LGA2011v3 motherboard based on the Intel X99 Express chipset, which the company claims will be the "most powerful" motherboard of its kind in this form-factor. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX, and two 8-pin EPS power connectors, with an optional 6-pin PCIe power input to stabilize power to add-on cards. The socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory; and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 connectors.

Other expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4) and a PCI-Express 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s, and a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot. Other connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports, six USB 3.0 ports, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces (Intel-made controllers); 802.11 ac WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, 8-channel HD audio with a 115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, and audio-grade capacitors. The board supports certain 1P Intel Xeon models in addition to Core i7 ones.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Aquinus]

The socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory

Too bad there aren't any 32GB DIMMs than can be used in this board yet. So while 128GB memory support sounds fancy, there is no such thing as an unbuffered 32GB DIMM yet. This is what I call marketing.

 

[bogami]

All well and good but to PCI Express with 16/8/16/8 would have been much better and attractive offer on x99 cipset. And no one has so much in his head that such an option bee offered in all this competition.They have no idea how popular would been such a micro ATX. and 8 RAM slots for micro power system. so we have to wait for the latest generation of dual GPU for maximum micro system.

 

[Aibohphobia]

Only 2.0 x4 on the bottom slot? That's disappointing

 

[Caring1]

Only 2.0 x4 on the bottom slot? That's disappointing

It's m-ATX, you expected to run 3 GPU's?
Unless it's in a full sized case there's no way.

 

[Aibohphobia]

It's m-ATX, you expected to run 3 GPU's?
Unless it's in a full sized case there's no way.

I run spaced SLI on the Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5 with the Intel 750 between the 980s. Haven't been too happy with that board so I've been waiting for the Asus. Not sure what I'll do now.

 

[2big2fail]

Too bad there aren't any 32GB DIMMs than can be used in this board yet. So while 128GB memory support sounds fancy, there is no such thing as an unbuffered 32GB DIMM yet. This is what I call marketing.

Umm....

"But that's LRDIMM!"

Some of the other X99 WS boards support LRDIMM, and in this press release Asus did not say "unbuffered".

 

[Caring1]

Rdimm and LRdimm both can come in 32Gb variants and can be used with Xeon Processors.
http://www.kingston.com/en/business/server_solutions/32gb_memory_modules

 

[theGryphon]

Only 2.0 x4 on the bottom slot? That's disappointing

I know you had high hopes from ASUS, Aiboh... You must be the most disappointed of all

 

[Aibohphobia]

I know you had high hopes from ASUS, Aiboh... You must be the most disappointed of all

It throws a wrench in my build plans for sure. Now I can't use the 750 AIC at full speed with SLI even if I put blocks on the cards.

I still want it for the fan control if nothing else.

 

[ZeDestructor]

It throws a wrench in my build plans for sure. Now I can't use the 750 AIC at full speed with SLI even if I put blocks on the cards.

I still want it for the fan control if nothing else.

A short PCI extension would fix that nicely (or you could go 2.5" with the M.2 conversion card). Also, it doesn't say anywhere in the original article that the bottom slot is x4, just that one of the x6 slots is x4 electrically, so there may yet be hope.

 

[WithoutWeakness]

A short PCI extension would fix that nicely (or you could go 2.5" with the M.2 conversion card). Also, it doesn't say anywhere in the original article that the bottom slot is x4, just that one of the x6 slots is x4 electrically, so there may yet be hope.

Looks to me like the 1st and 3rd slots are grey and are probably the 3.0 16x slots. The 4th slot looks black and is likely the 2.0 x4 slot.

 

[Aibohphobia]

A short PCI extension would fix that nicely (or you could go 2.5" with the M.2 conversion card). Also, it doesn't say anywhere in the original article that the bottom slot is x4, just that one of the x6 slots is x4 electrically, so there may yet be hope.

2.0 x4 won't bottleneck it that bad but it's still annoying because then I might as well just do the Samsung XP941. The HyperKit won't work with a dual-slot card in the first slot.

Looks to me like the 1st and 3rd slots are grey and are probably the 3.0 16x slots. The 4th slot looks black and is likely the 2.0 x4 slot.

That's what I expect. Spaced SLI mATX boards are few and far between, if they were going to bother wiring up the bottom for 3.0 they could have done all three x16 slots.

 

[Aquinus]

That's what I expect. Spaced SLI mATX boards are few and far between, if they were going to bother wiring up the bottom for 3.0 they could have done all three x16 slots.

...and do what? 16/16 means that the first two slots are using 32 of the 40 PCI-E lanes normally available on the socket. The last 4 lanes (which are PCI-E 2.0,) come off the PCH, not the CPU. If you wanted to evenly divvy up the PCI-E lanes, there should have been 4x 16 lane slots, but wired to do: 16/DC/16/DC or 8/8/8/8. Personally, I would prefer that, which is what I get on my P9X79 Deluxe.

 

[Aibohphobia]

...and do what? 16/16 means that the first two slots are using 32 of the 40 PCI-E lanes normally available on the socket. The last 4 lanes (which are PCI-E 2.0,) come off the PCH, not the CPU.

They could have done like the Gigabyte and EVGA and done x16/x16/x8. PCIe 3.0 x16 vs x8 is negligible difference in performance for the vast majority tasks.

 

[Aquinus]

They could have done like the Gigabyte and EVGA and done x16/x16/x8. PCIe 3.0 x16 vs x8 is negligible difference in performance for the vast majority tasks.

I think you're forgetting how much room exists with mATX. If you have an mATX case, the bottom most GPU would have to be a single-slot card. There usually isn't much room beyond that last slot. As a workstation board, I would be more interested in connectivity which is why I say ditch the 4x and 1x slot and make it all full-size slots that do 8/8/8/8 or 16/0/16/0 and maybe 16/0/8/8 if you wanted to, which mine will do as well if you populate the appropriate slots. For a workstation though, I would expect the possibility of network cards, PCI-E SSDs, and RAID cards. Not just GPUs, which I think 8/8/8/8 is a good idea.

 

[Aibohphobia]

I think you're forgetting how much room exists with mATX. If you have an mATX case, the bottom most GPU would have to be a single-slot card. There usually isn't much room beyond that last slot.

There are 5-slot mATX cases that can use a dual-slot card in the bottom slot on the board.

As a workstation board, I would be more interested in connectivity which is why I say ditch the 4x and 1x slot and make it all full-size slots that do 8/8/8/8 or 16/0/16/0 and maybe 16/0/8/8 if you wanted to, which mine will do as well if you populate the appropriate slots. For a workstation though, I would expect the possibility of network cards, PCI-E SSDs, and RAID cards. Not just GPUs, which I think 8/8/8/8 is a good idea.

That would be neat but M.2 is the thing to have these days and there isn't much place to put it on a X99 mATX board other than under the 1st slot.

 

[ypsylon]

Ugh.. yet another pointless motherboard. Waiting for XL-ATX with properly spaced slots and they come with mATX... X58 - great selection of boards, even X79 wasn't bad, but X99 all are the same.

Do people really run only 4xVGAs in PCs? Geezzz.

 

[ZeDestructor]

Ugh.. yet another pointless motherboard. Waiting for XL-ATX with properly spaced slots and they come with mATX... X58 - great selection of boards, even X79 wasn't bad, but X99 all are the same.

Do people really run only 4xVGAs in PCs? Geezzz.

Desktops.. no more than 3.. the scaling is bad at 3 and pretty much non-existent at 4. If you really need more, get some risers.

Now, in servers on the other hand, 4GPU per dual-CPU 1U box is the new standard, and other more traditional designs have room for 8 GPUs in a 4U box.

 

[Vlada011]

Nicest mATX X99 and one of nicest X99 motherboard at all.
I like these heatsinks with simple fins and they are best for cooling.
It's very rear to meet them today because all ugly craps from different manufacturers, that's race who will make uglier or what... This motherboard have everything, what person with single graphic card and one good sound card as Sound Blaster Z need, Internal USB 3.1 will not drop speed of graphic card on x8, M.2 is there...
OC Socket... My DDR4 kit is QVL for his motherboard. Domi 2666 C15.
ROG is best but it's little childish.

But I'm cursed, even if this board is better for me and cheaper I have no idea why will I pay R5E for single card and SBZ but that will happen. Cursed from first day.
I could cut 10cm from bottom of R5E freely with some saw, anyway last slots not work with i7-5820K...

But I don't know, some aversion from little motherboards, or I don't know...
even if she have more than I need SLI 2x16...
Maybe is time to sell 650D and to cross on 450D and something like this.

 

[dumo]

Ram testing

3200 tights




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