EVGA X99 Micro Motherboard Review: Haswell-E And MicroATX

Big Value, Small Package?

EVGA offers the entire gamut of desktop motherboard form factors, from the oversized HPTX to the undersized mini-ITX, and most of the arguments I’ve seen between forum members have divided enthusiasts between those two camps. Though many discussions give the impression that it takes a non-enthusiast to understand the concept of right-sizing, we have seen a few manufacturers succeed in the microATX gaming realm. That’s where EVGA’s X99 Micro takes us.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to say exactly how much the “free stuff” of a larger motherboard is worth. More connectors certainly cost more money, as will a larger circuit board, yet the full-ATX ASRock X99 Extreme4 costs less than the X99 Micro.

On the other hand, microATX is a smaller portion of the enthusiast market. That means it doesn’t get as much cost benefit from large-scale production. Fewer products need to pay for the same development and tooling costs.

Without another Micro ATX X99 motherboard to compare, I’m left in a value quandary. On the other hand, I can say with relative certainty that the X99 Micro is a solid board. While I might not have enough microATX comparison data to give it a value award, my pleasant overclocking experience certainly qualifies this well-performing product for Tom’s Hardware’s stamp of approval.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • ohim
    the price is insane
    Reply
  • Crashman
    the price is insane
    It's X99, I don't think they could have shaved it by more than 20% even if it were produced by the tens of thousands in China. The question is, what do you think would be "sane"?
    Reply
  • Samer1970
    we need miniITX X99 motherboard ...

    for 6-14 cores compact system.
    Reply
  • ohim
    14433708 said:
    the price is insane
    It's X99, I don't think they could have shaved it by more than 20% even if it were produced by the tens of thousands in China. The question is, what do you think would be "sane"?

    Sorry .. for i don`t know what reason i saw a 485$ price tag initially ...that was an insane price.
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    Thanks for a good read, Thomas!
    Reply
  • Xivilain
    EVGA makes good motherboards. I love my X79 I purchased. But X99 for $485 is truly insane for any motherboard manufacturer. They're riding the Intel inflation wave.

    Also, Amazon is selling this board for $250 USD. (http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Socket-2666Mhz-Motherboard-131-HE-E995-KR/dp/B00MY3SKEY) Lucky us.
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=131-HE-E995-KR - $250

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188161&cm_re=X99_micro-_-13-188-161-_-Product $250

    List pricing is, on most occasions, marked up. As demand come into factor the prices drop gradually. Most often the consumers reaction causes manufacturers to convey a price drop in the hopes of retaining their client base/loyalty.

    Nevertheless, prices are within sanity now :)
    Reply
  • SU11YBEAR
    Got this board last month for a LAN build and am loving it so far (paired with an Evga 980 SC and 5930k, dual 240 rad and CPU/GPU waterblocks) board offers all the features I was looking for except the option for M2 storage which was slightly annoying but bearable, I consider the 4 slots of RAM a bonus, only going to use 4 anyways and frees up space for the smaller factor,
    Only real complaints I have with the board are 1) the IO backplate it came with was a plain silver and just looked cheap (painted it matte black to match the build) and 2) 2 of the fan headers are only settable via the bios and do not change (have used speedfan and bios for the PWM headers) so had to do some quick mods to make the rad fans run off two headers but not a huge deal,
    The IO shield is a cool little option unfortunately since I was doing liquid in a tight case (Corsair 350D) had to remove it to make the tubes reach the top rad, haven't OC it fully yet (just got 4GHz on the chip for now) but looking forward to opening it up :)
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    no way to get an x99 product with this ddr4 insane price.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    14435806 said:
    no way to get an x99 product with this ddr4 insane price.
    Just about everything about LGA2011(-3) comes with insane prices anyway when compared against mainstream sockets. At least some 4x4GB DDR4 kits have already gone down by about $100 since Haswell-E's introduction.
    Reply