ASUS STRIX X299-XE GAMING: Introduction & Overview
The ASUS ROG STRIX X299-XE motherboard is a beautiful looking motherboard with a classy RGB gash running over the IO area and an understated heat-sink design. It also contains a central RGB LED with the words ROG frozen in glass. All in all this is one o f the better looking motherboards out there. There are 8 DIMM slots on the motherbaord (as is the norm with X299) and 8 SATA slots. M2 storage is available but is rather hard to reach.
To reach the M2 slot you need to unscrew the heatsink on the bottom right corner. Alternatively you can use the secondary M2 slot on the top which only accepts the SSD in a suspended position (perpendicular to the board). This might be disconcerting for the beginner (it took us a few minutes to figure out where the M2 port was hiding) but all in all this can increase the life expectancy of your SSD (due to the heatsink being in contact with the M2 and acting as, well, a heatsink.
Probably the more interesting part of this motherboard is the audio hardware. SupremeFX powered codec that utilizes 9 japanese capacitors and an isolated PCB design ensure that you get the maximum possible Ohmage out of your integrated circuit that can power just about any headphone out there. Short of getting a dedicated amplifier, this is the absolute best in terms of audio.
The motherboard has the standard PCI slot count however one thing thhat caused us quite ab it of grief is the factg that it only has a single USB 2.0 header, and you will need to wait for the time it takes for Amazon to ship an internal USB splitter during which time you cannot use other RGB products that utilize the USB 2.0 splitter.
This is the best mainstream consumer x86 processor that money can buy at the time of writing. The 7980XE is an excellent choice for enthusiasts who want to do some serious multitasking, streaming or video editing. Rendering and encoding speeds are blistering fast and while gaming performance is excellent as well - its not really designed for the gaming community in mind.
Pros
Fastest mainstream consumer chip
18 cores (36 threads) XCC die
Huge overclocking potential
Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 can boost a small number of cores higher
Reasonable power draw and thermals at stock settings
Excellent choice for video editors and professionals
Cons
Extremely huge price tag
IHS uses thermal paste instead of solder
Some games might not work (Anno 2205)
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