EVGA X99 Micro Motherboard Review: Haswell-E And MicroATX
Right-Sizing For X99 Express
A great many enthusiasts once believed that enormous performance required an enormous case full of drives and add-in cards mounted to an ATX or even EATX motherboard. Then Y2K gave them something else to talk about.
That’s right, motherboard manufacturers have been able to deliver full-sized performance in mid-sized machines for the entirety of this millennia. You’ll still see some dinosaurs claiming that enthusiast-oriented machines need to be huge, but compact system builders have known for a long time that the performance of a PC isn’t always proportional to its size. Most of us use no more than two graphics cards and fewer than six drives to build gaming monsters. Some even try to squeeze all of that performance into single-card mini-ITX systems. Yet, practicality points towards the middle option. Supporting up to four total slots or two double-slot graphics cards, and with the same CPU area as a full ATX motherboard, microATX is the answer to a question many of us forget to ask.
How much PC do you really need?
EVGA hasn’t forgotten anyone. Following a path of mid-sized gaming boards blazed by products such as Asus’ Gene-series, its X99 Micro provides two true 16-lane PCIe 3.0 via Intel’s latest six- and eight-core processors in a 9.625”-square package. Yes, microATX is old enough to be based on fractional inches.
| EVGA X99 Micro (P/N 131-HE-E995-KR) Features | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PCB Revision | 1.0 | Voltage Regulator | Six Phases |
| Chipset | Intel X99 | 100.0 MHz BCLK | 100.19 (+0.19%) |
| I/O Panel Connectors | |||
| P/S 2 | None | CLR_CMOS Button | 1 |
| USB 3.0 | 4 | Digital Audio Out | Optical |
| USB 2.0 | 6 | Digital Audio In | None |
| Network | 1 | Analog Audio | 5 |
| eSATA | None | Other Devices | None |
| Internal Interfaces | |||
| PCIe 3.0 x16 (5960X, 5930K) | 3 (x16/x16/x8) SLI x3, CrossFireX x3 | 4-Pin Fan | 5 |
| PCIe 3.0 x16 (Core i7-5820K) | 3 (x16/x8/x4) SLI x2, CrossFireX x3 | 3-Pin Fan | None |
| PCIe 2.0 x16 | None | FP-Audio | 1 |
| PCIe 2.0 x1 | None | S/PDIF I/O | Output Only |
| USB 3.0 | 1 (2-ports) | Internal Buttons | Power, Reset, CLR_CMOS |
| USB 2.0 | 1 (2-ports) | Internal Switch | None |
| SATA 6Gb/s | 6 | Diagnostics Panel | Numeric |
| SATA Express | None | Other Connectors | EVGA Probe-IT, M.2 Wi-Fi |
| Mass Storage Controllers | |||
| Chipset SATA | 6x SATA 6Gb/s | Add-In SATA | None |
| Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10 | USB 3.0 | VL805 PCIe ASM1042 PCIe |
| Networking | |||
| Primary LAN | WGI217V PHY | Wi-Fi | None |
| Secondary LAN | None | Bluetooth | None |
| Audio | |||
| HD Audio Codec | ALC1150 | DDL/DTS Connect | None |
| Warranty | Three Years | Row 25 - Cell 2 | Row 25 - Cell 3 |
The X99 Micro even supports three-way SLI if you can find single-slot cards and SLI bridges to support it, and comes with a three-year warranty…if the firm chooses to honor it. I still have a P55 SLI replacement board that the company refused to service after it quickly succumbed to Foxconn’s infamous 1156 pin death while installed in a non-overclocked office PC.
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Crashman Replythe 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"?
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ohim Reply14433708 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. -
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.Reply
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. -
Lutfij http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=131-HE-E995-KR - $250Reply
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 :) -
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,Reply
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 :) -
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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.14435806 said:no way to get an x99 product with this ddr4 insane price.