Asus Readies for Next-Gen Intel HEDT With Three New X299 Motherboards

Following up on recent news of leaked benchmark data, Asus has announced that it’s already prepared a trio of X299 motherboards to support Intel's next-gen HEDT Cascade Lake-X CPUs. Or maybe that’s some other next-gen CPU? You be the judge. But there's no denying the details of these new HEDT boards.

ROG Rampage VI Extreme Encore

The “EATX”-specified ROG Rampage VI Extreme Encore gets top billing (cough, or at least an encore) with its 16 power “stages,” 1.77-inch LiveDash OLED display, 10GbE controller, four NVMe M.2 slots, and 20Gbps Gen2x2 USB3 header. Of course, the board is also packed with other high-end ROG features, such as coolant flow and temperature sensors, but that’s covered in the features table below.

ROG Strix X299-E Gaming II

ROG Strix X299-E Gaming II assumes the center, getting no encore for its Roman Numerals. It does, however, get most of the features of its big brother, substituting 2.5GbE for the higher-speed variant, dropping down to three NVMe M.2 slots and a 12 “stage” CPU voltage regulator, and losing the flow rate and temperatures sensors. But, it fits within the standard ATX form factor and even gains an x4 slot to replace the fourth M.2 slot that it lost.

Prime X299-A II

For those of us who need to save a little money to buy that new CPU, Asus offers its Prime X299-A II. It has but one Gigabit Ethernet controller, no Wi-Fi, three NVMe M.2 connectors, and two x1 slots to supplement the x16/x16/x8 configuration of its longer slots. Hey, at least it has the same voltage regulator as the Strix version.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Row 0 - Cell 0 ROG Rampage VI Extreme EncoreROG Strix X299-E Gaming IIPrime X299-A II
SizeEATXATXATX
Memory8x DDR4 up to 4266MT/s (OC)8x DDR4 up to 4266MT/s (OC)8x DDR4 up to 4266MT/s (OC)
Multi-GPU3x SLI, 3x CrossFireX3x SLI, 3x CrossFireX3x SLI, 3x CrossFireX
PCIe3x x16: x16/x16/x8 2x x13x x16: x16/x16/x8 1x x4 1x x13x x16: x16/x16/x8 2x x1
Storage4x M.2 (all PCIe x4, 1 supports SATA) 8x SATA 6Gbps3x M.2 (all PCIe x4, 1 supports SATA) 8x SATA 6Gbps3x M.2 (all PCIe x4, 1 supports SATA) 8x SATA 6Gbps
NetworkingAquantia AQC-107 10G Ethernet Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet 2x2 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) MU-MIMO; Bluetooth 5Realtek 2.5G Ethernet Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet 2x2 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) MU-MIMO; Bluetooth 5Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet
AudioSupremeFX S1220 codec DTS Sound UnboundSupremeFX S1220A codec DTS Sound UnboundRealtek ALC S1220A DTS X:Ultra
USB3.2 Gen 2 2x2 (20 Gbps): 1x back 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps): 1x Type-C, 1x Type-A, 2x front 3.2 Gen 1: 8x back, 4x front 2.0: 1x back, 2x front3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps): 1x Type-C, 3x Type-A, 1x front 3.2 Gen 1: 2x back, 4x front 2.0: 4x back, 4x front3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps): 1x Type-C, 1x Type-A, 1x front 3.2 Gen 1: 4x back, 4x front 2.0: 2x back, 4x front
Aura2x strip headers + 3x on Fan Extension Card II 2x Gen2 addressable headers2x strip headers 2x Gen2 addressable headers2x strip headers 1x Gen2 addressable headers
Cooling2x pump headers 5x fan headers + 6x on Fan Extension Card II 1x high-amperage fan header 1x coolant flow rate sensor 2x coolant temperature sensor5x fan headers 1x pump header 1x AIO cooler header5x fan headers 1x pump header 1x AIO cooler header

Availability and pricing have not been announced, but we expect these to coincide to the release of Intel’s next-generation X-series CPU and to cost a little more than the models they replace.

Image Credits: Asus

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • Randi Poling
    Still no 10gig Ethernet?
    Reply
  • Crashman
    Randi Poling said:
    Still no 10gig Ethernet?
    It says 10GbE for the top board, are you looking for it on a cheaper board?
    Reply
  • Randi Poling
    Crashman said:
    It says 10GbE for the top board, are you looking for it on a cheaper board?
    Ehh, Youd think theyd open up 10 gig slightly more. Maybe another generation or 2.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Crashman said:
    It says 10GbE for the top board, are you looking for it on a cheaper board?
    That board is EATX. That's my beef with it. I have an ATX case that I'd want to reuse.

    But, I'm looking towards the next ThreadRipper, anyhow.

    BTW, the article doesn't list the socket type. I assume LGA 2066?
    Reply
  • Crashman
    bit_user said:
    That board is EATX. That's my beef with it. I have an ATX case that I'd want to reuse.

    But, I'm looking towards the next ThreadRipper, anyhow.

    BTW, the article doesn't list the socket type. I assume LGA 2066?
    It probably isn't really EATX, it's probably only XL-ATX depth (10.6/10.7 inches). Most good ATX cases have an extra inch of space in front of a 9.6" board anyway.
    Reply