Reliable Overclocking?
Famed for its reliability in the server market, Supermicro was once known to enthusiasts only for its cases. The company finally decided to dip a toe into the overclocking market with the C7Z87-OCE motherboard. But it wasn’t until Intel's Z97 update that Tom’s Hardware finally felt the teething pains of a company that was most experienced building business-oriented hardware. Today’s C7X99-OCE brings over two years of overclocking-related firmware advancements to users who want the added cores or PCIe 3.0 lanes of Haswell-E via LGA 2011-v3.
The C7X99-OCE is even rated for four-way SLI, though the dual-slot brackets and coolers of most compatible cards makes it unlikely that enthusiasts will try squeezing a third card into that single space before the fourth slot. You’d also lose front-panel USB 3.0, since the solitary header is located along the bottom edge. Heck, you might even lose the use of that header with a third card, depending on whether your double-space cooler is more than 8.4” long. Before we dig deeper into the connectors, here’s how it compares to the rest of our ~$300 boards:
| X99 Mainstream Motherboard Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Supermicro C7X99-OCE | MSI X99S MPower | ASRock X99 Extreme6/ac | Asus X99 Pro |
| PCB Revision | 1.01 | 4.0 | 1.07 | 1.01 |
| Chipset | Intel X99 | Intel X99 | Intel X99 | Intel X99 |
| Voltage Regulator | Eight Phases | 12 Phases | 12 Phases | Eight Phases |
| 100MHz BCLK | 99.98 (-0.02%) | 99.98 (-0.02%) | 99.94 (-0.06%) | 99.94 (-0.06%) |
| I/O Panel Connectors | ||||
| P/S 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| USB 3.0 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| USB 2.0 | None | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Network | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| eSATA | None | None | 1 | None |
| CLR_CMOS Button | None | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Digital Audio Out | Optical | Optical | Optical | Optical |
| Digital Audio In | None | None | None | None |
| Analog Audio | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Other Devices | None | None | 2x Wi-Fi Antenna | 2x Wi-Fi Antenna |
| Internal Interfaces | ||||
| PCIe 3.0 x16 (Core i7-5960X, -5930K) | 4 (x16/x8/x8/x8) SLI x4, CrossFire x4 | 4 (x16/x16/x0/x8*, x8/x16/x8/x8*) SLI x4, CrossFire x4 *Forces M.2 to PCIe 2.0 x2 | 3 (x16/x16/x8) SLI x3, CrossFire x3 M.2 disables x8 slot | 3 (x16/x16/x8) SLI x3, CrossFire x3 M.2 disables x8 slot |
| PCIe 3.0 x16 (Core i7-5820K) | 4 (x16/x0/x8/x0) SLI x2, CrossFire x2 | 4 (x16/x8/x0/x4*, x8/x8/x8/x4*) SLI x3, CrossFire x4 *Forces M.2 to PCIe 2.0 x2 | 3 (x16/x8/x4) SLI x2, CrossFire x3 M.2 disables x4 slot | 3 (x16/x8/x4) SLI x2, CrossFire x3 M.2 disables x4 slot |
| PCIe 2.0 x16 | None | None | None | 1 (x4, shares 1x PCIe x1, 1x USB 3.0 controller [2-ports]) |
| PCIe 2.0 x1 | 2 (x4 slot length) | 2 (open-ended) | 2 (+1x mini-PCIe, Filled) | 2 (1x w/x16, 1x w/Wi-Fi) |
| USB 3.0 | 1 (2-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) |
| USB 2.0 | None | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) | 2 (4-ports) |
| SATA 6.0 Gb/s | 10 | 10 (Shares M.2/SATA-E) | 10 (Shares M.2/SATA-E) | 10 (2x Shared w/SATA-E) |
| SATA Express | None | 1 (Uses 2x SATA) | None | 1 (Uses 2x SATA) |
| M.2 Interfaces (Transfer Modes) | None | 1 (PCIe 3.0 x4, PCIe 2.0 x2, SATA 6Gb/s x2) | 1 (PCIe 3.0 x4, SATA 6Gb/s x1) | 1 (PCIe 3.0 x4-only) |
| 4-Pin Fan | 5 | 5 | 2 | 6 (5x PWM/DC dual-mode) |
| 3-Pin Fan | None | None | 4 | None |
| FP-Audio | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| S/PDIF I/O | None | None | None | Output Only |
| Internal Buttons | Power, OC1/2/3/DRAM/Home, CLR CMOS, BIOS Restore | Power, Reset, OC-Genie, Clock +/- | Power, Reset | Power, Reset, Mem_OK |
| Internal Switch | BIOS Recovery Mode | Slow Mode, BIOS Selector | Dual BIOS Selector | XMP, EPU (low-energy), TPU (auto-overclocking) |
| Diagnostics Panel | Numeric | Numeric | Numeric | Numeric |
| Other Devices | Serial COM, OC Front Panel | None | Serial COM, TB_Header, HDD-Saver, USB Type-A | Serial COM, TB_Header, EXT_FAN |
| Mass Storage Controllers | ||||
| Chipset SATA | 10x SATA 6Gb/s | 10x SATA 6Gb/s (Includes M.2, SATA-E) | 10x SATA 6Gb/s (Includes M.2, eSATA) | 10x SATA 6Gb/s (Includes M.2, SATA-E) |
| Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10 (Ports 1-6) | 0, 1, 5, 10 (Ports 1-6) | 0, 1, 5, 10 (Ports 1-6) | 0, 1, 5, 10 (Ports 1-6) |
| Add-In SATA | None | None | None | None |
| USB 3.0 | None | VL805 PCIe ASM1042 PCIe | ASM1042e PCIe ASM1072 Hub | ASM1042e PCIe ASM1072 Hub |
| Networking | ||||
| Primary LAN | Intel i210 PCIe | Intel i210 PCIe | WGI218V PHY | WGI218V PHY |
| Secondary LAN | Intel i210 PCIe | None | AR8171 PCIe | None |
| Wi-Fi | None | None | BCM4352 PCIe 802.11ac dual-band / BT 4.0 | BCM4352 PCIe 802.11ac dual-band / BT 4.0 |
| Bluetooth | None | None | BT 4.0 / Wi-Fi Combo | BT 4.0 / Wi-Fi Combo |
| Audio | ||||
| HD Audio Codec | ALC1150 | ALC1150 | ALC1150 | ALC1150 |
| DDL/DTS Connect | None | None | DTS Connect | DTS Connect |
| Warranty | Three Years | Three Years | Three Years | Three Years |
