EVGA X299 DARK Motherboard Pictured

[btarunr]

EVGA unveiled a formidable lineup of socket LGA2066 motherboards, based on Intel X299 Express chipset. One of the models which caught our eye is the X299 DARK. Designed for extreme overclocking, this board is halfway between ATX and E-ATX width. It draws power from an angled 24-pin ATX, an angled 6-pin PCIe, and two 8-pin EPS connectors, and conditions it for the CPU using a high-current 9-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to just four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting quad-channel memory; and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots. The fifth x16 slot which is electrical x4 and an open-ended x4 slot; which are wired to the PCH; make for the rest of the expansion.

Storage connectivity on the EVGA X299 DARK includes a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, two 32 Gb/s U.2 ports, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. USB connectivity includes two 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 (of which one is type-C), and eight USB 3.0 (six on the rear panel, two by headers). Networking includes 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.1 WLAN, a 10 GbE wired connection driven by an Intel i210-T1 controller, and a 1 GbE driven by an i219-V. The onboard audio features a Creative Sound Blaster DSP. This is one of the rare few board in which the I/O shroud extends into an integrated I/O shield, which could be useful for open-air benches.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[cdawall]

Stupid fan reminds me of the old x58 stuff.

 

[Chaitanya]

Stupid fan reminds me of the old x58 stuff.

Fan is there to channel air to M.2 slot as well. So might be more useful in keeping those hot M.2 drives cool.

 

[LogitechFan]

The design of X299 boards is atrocious. Have they stopped paying their designers at all? It's unbelievably low end-looking, even considering it's rgb and stuff. Also I'll never have another board with a fan on it. Mini board is the only board of notice from this line up of 3, and largely because of the add-in wifi card -- the first ever for evga. Yes, years later this overpriced boutique brand of low quality re-brands have finally realized that a wifi card is a must for a mATX/itx product and the antennas should NOT be attached to the i/o plate, like an afterthought. Good job, penny pickers, maybe with Z370 stinger you'll do the same.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Little Fan on a Motherboard is too 00's.

Would be a no go for me.

 

[The Terrible Puddle]

Is it just me or has EVGA not made any good boards since the SR-2?

 

[Aenra]

Considering the lanes available on the expensive i9s, you don't really need a "deluxe" mobo. Something like this or the ASRock OC equivalent would be much more preferable in my book.. they still have all the basics, enough lanes to cover you, enough RAM slots to cover you (do you really need more than 4x16GB?).
And for sporting the "mere" basics (read: more than enough unless you're into e-peening), they offer an improved OCing potential. Win win.

If i wasn't going for an R9 this time around, this is the kind of mobo i'd be looking at.

Now on to the specifics, if you pay fortunes for your rig, i am certain you can part with another 20 bucks and buy a 100% copper plate to attach to the chipset; and thus remove the fan. I'm equally certain that you can unscrew the two screws on the back and remove that plastic shroud as well.

So the only merit (or lack of) here, is its potential
They stated they've improved on their RAM OCing (the previous generation's main flaw). If they have, this is a contender, period. If they haven't, we'll know when/if someone compares it to its ASRock equivalent.

I don't get your comments, but then again it's not the first time either.

 

[Ruru]

IMO fans on MB are fine, if they can be slowed down. I used the little fans on my old Sabertooth Z87, just turned their RPM so low that they couldn't be heard over other fan noise.

And like said above, on this MB it also helps cool M.2 SSDs, which is always a good thing.

 

[Ubersonic]

Damn that's a sexy board, nice to see a PCH fan instead of relying on case fans too, if they make an X399 version of this I'll throw money at them.

 

[NicklasAPJ]

Is it just me or has EVGA not made any good boards since the SR-2?

Evga Mortherboards is designed for OC, that why they have almost all World Records

And they did findely bring only 4x Dimm to the X99 high end, love it! cant wait to buy it !

 

[buildzoid]

Evga Mortherboards is designed for OC, that why they have almost all World Records

And they did findely bring only 4x Dimm to the X99 high end, love it! cant wait to buy it !

ASUS holds the most records. EVGA only really holds the 3Dmarks: http://hwnot.org/ (this is pulled from the HWbot database)

 

[NicklasAPJ]

ASUS holds the most records. EVGA only really holds the 3Dmarks: http://hwnot.org/ (this is pulled from the HWbot database)

Off all people and is you.

Yea, idd if we talk 2D benchmark, Asus Hold the clear winner, but that is only because Kingpin mostly only doing 3D Bench, no on high end overclocker else use Evga that much as I can see.

Btw, keep the work up on your youtube/Stream, you streaming tomorrow right?

 

[buildzoid]

Off all people and is you.

Yea, idd if we talk 2D benchmark, Asus Hold the clear winner, but that is only because Kingpin mostly only doing 3D Bench, no on high end overclocker else use Evga that much as I can see.

Btw, keep the work up on your youtube/Stream, you streaming tomorrow right?

Saturday stream is canceled due to some issues.