Intel Core i9-10980XE Cascade Lake-X 18 Core, $979 US CPU Review With MSI Creator X299 – Creation Enthusiasts Ahoy!

MSI X299 Creator Motherboard- Features

MSI very recently new creator-focused X299 motherboard with their X299 Creator leading the pack. The entire lineup is purpose-built for the 10th Gen X-series processors.

The MSI Creator X299 motherboard features a unique all-black color scheme with Mystic RGB that illuminates through the diamond cut-outs over the PCH and I/O heatsink. The motherboard uses a 12 phase IR Digital VRM which 90A power stages and the LGA 2066 socket is fed power by not one but three 8-pin connectors. The VRMs are cooled by an aluminum heatsink which comes with heat pipe cooling that extends all the way into the heatsink next to the I/O. There are eight DDR4 DIMM slots that can support 256 GB of memory in quad-channel mode at speeds of up to 4266 MHz OC+.

MSI X299 Creator Motherboard Features:

• Supports Intel Core X-series Processors 10000/9000/78xx(above)series for LGA2066 Socket
• Supports DDR4 Memory, 8 DIMMs, Quad Channel Max Frequency DDR4-4266+(OC)
• More Powerful than Enough: dedicate 12 phases 90A digital power to CPU, with an all-aluminum design
• More Efficiency for Data Transfer: 10G LAN + Intel Gigabit LAN with Intel WIFI 6 and bandwidth management
• More Compatibility for Storage: 7 x Turbo M.2 with M.2 XPANDER-AERO, 1 x Turbo U.2
• More Flexibility for Temperature Control: Full fan control with 8 PWM fan headers and 1 dedicated thermal sensor
• Lightning USB 20G: Powered by ASMedia ASM3242 USB 3.2 Gen2x2 controller, offers the fastest USB speeds with stability.
• M.2 Shield Frozr: Strengthened built-in M.2 thermal solution. Keeps M.2 safer and faster
• Core Boost: With premium layout and fully digital power design to support more cores and provide better performance
• Triple 8 Pin Power Supply: By providing triple 8 pin connectors to ensure adequate power supply to unleash ultimate multi-core CPU performance
• Mystic Light: 16.8 million colors / 29 effects controlled in one click. Mystic Light Extension supports RGB, Rainbow and Corsair LED strip
• Audio Boost 4 with Nahimic: Reward your ears with studio grade sound quality
• DDR4 Boost with Steel Armor: Fully isolated, shielded and optimized DDR4 PCB design to give your DDR4 memory a performance boost
• Multi-GPU: With Steel Armor PCI-E slots. Supports up to 4-Way NVIDIA SLI & 4-Way AMD Crossfire
• THUNDERBOLTM3: Exclusive expansion card offering dual DisplayPort and dual Thunderbolt 3 for the full 4K video experience.

For expansion, the motherboard offers four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots & triple M.2 slots which are covered by the M.2 Shield Frozr heatsink. All four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots feature metal bracing for durability and the same goes for the DDR4 slots. Storage includes eight SATA III ports along with two front-panel USB 3.2 headers and a USB 3.2 front panel connector. There's also a U.2 port below the SATA ports which can be used for connecting U.2 SSDs. The PCH is covered by a large aluminum heatsink that comes with Mystic Light RGB as mentioned earlier.

As for the I/O ports, the motherboard houses a ton of them which include one USB 3.2 Gen 2, 7 USB 3.2 Gen 1, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a 7.1 channel HD Audio jack powered by Realtek ALC1220 Codec (Nachimic), a 10G Ethernet LAN port (Aquantia AQC107), a 1G Ethernet LAN port (Intel I219V), PS/2 port, two antenna slots, a Clear CMOS button and  Flash BIOS button. The motherboard package will include the M.2 Xpander-Aero Add-in-card which offers four extra M.2 slots which are cooled by the Aero cooler which is the same one that MSI uses on their graphics cards and also the PCIe x1 Thunderbolt M3 AIC which allows transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps. The motherboard has an official retail price of $539 US.

MSI X299 Creator Motherboard Product Gallery:

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