ASRock's X299 Gaming i9 proved to be quite an interesting board for me. At first glance, many might think that this board is similar to the previously reviewed ASRock X299 Taichi, but that really could not be further from the truth. This board is completely different, and it's not just about the added AQUANTIA 10 Gigabit LAN controller.

When it comes to reviewing motherboards, it can sometimes be hard to judge what's different, but such is not the case this time around. Everything offered by the X299 Gaming i9 just feels ready for pushing a bit harder, maybe just a bit more aggressively so, and that may be a side effect of the red and black BIOS design. The feature set isn't really all that different with these two particular motherboard designs from ASRock, yet they really are different enough for you to literally feel it, and that places added value on the X299 Gaming i9. It does just seem all that much more capable. That makes its faults stand out that much more, too.

I really do feel that boards of this level should have fan controls that are 100% perfect for whatever needs you might have, but this board might not be capable of offering that on a couple of its system fan headers. When it comes time to overclock, voltage settings here on the ASRock X299 Gaming i9 are that much more aggressive, which might let those who aren't too familiar with overclocking push a bit more, but that comes at the risk of your hardware too, so it's weirdly more capable, but somehow less refined. BIOS updates have brought in good memory compatibility, but the most recent update was just a couple weeks ago, showing that they are still working on making this board perfect, though at this point I don't think there is much more they are going to need to do. This board most definitely is NOT like the ASRock X299 Taichi, and well, I like that one better, but I do not personally have a use for the AQUANTIA 10 Gigabit LAN.

If you do have a need for 10 Gigabit LAN, this board is a great option. Its subtle looks and well-placed layout make it perfect for running a couple VGAs in SLI, with an added RAID card or whatever else you might want to add based on which CPU you buy and its PCIe connectivity. If you are going for the maximum and want to push your CPU and memory, too, so that you can get your work or gaming done that much faster, you can do so with relative ease. If you're that guy or gal who streams their gaming and posts videos of it as well, this board has got a great feature set picked out just for you, and with a fit and finish to it that lets you know your money was well spent.