The launch of Haswell-E ushered in a triumvirate of new technology – a new CPU line, a new motherboard chipset and DDR4 memory. Today we focus on the new consumer motherboard chipset, X99, with motherboards from all four major manufacturers: the ASUS X99-Deluxe, the GIGABYTE X99-UD7 WiFi, the ASRock X99 WS and the MSI X99S SLI Plus. X99 represents the upgrade over the previous extreme chipset generation, X79, in several key areas in order to align itself better with the mainstream Z97 and Z87 platforms.
2014 Intel Haswell-E X99 Motherboard Price in India, Review
The X99 Chipset
Intel’s processor strategy at the high performance end of the spectrum ensures that the same line of motherboards with the same CPU socket and chipset are kept for two generations of CPUs. With the Nehalem and Westmere CPUs there was socket LGA1366 and the X58 chipset, and with Sandy Bridge-E/Ivy Bridge-E CPUs we had LGA2011-0 and the X79 chipset. This new line of Haswell-E processors (along with the future Broadwell-E ones) will use the LGA2011-3 socket and the X99 chipset. This means that users investing in the new Haswell-E processors must also invest in a new motherboard. This has several upsides in the levels of functionality.
For the first half of 2014, the zeitgeist of the X79 platform was centered on its age and the comparison to the newer Z87 and Z97 platforms aimed at the mainstream processor lines. The Z87 and Z97 chipsets afforded more native SATA 6 Gbps ports, more native USB 3.0 ports, PCIe based storage in the form of SATA Express and M.2 and more flexibility from the point of view of the manufacturers – the chipset had a certain amount of configurable input/output from the chipset to the motherboards could be designed with specific users in mind.
Chipset Comparison
X79 Z87 Z97 X99
Launch Date November 2014 June 2014 May 2014 August 2014
CPU Cores 4 or 6 2 or 4 2 or 4 6 or 8
PCIe Lanes 40 16 16 28 or 40
PCIe Configuration 2×16 / 4×8 16, 8/8 16, 8/8, 8/4/4 2×16 / 5×8
DRAM Quad Channel DDR3 Dual Channel DDR3 Dual Channel DDR3 Quad Channel DDR4
TDP 130W 84W 88W 140W
Socket LGA2011-0 LGA1150 LGA1150 LGA2011-3
SATA 6 Gbps 2 6 6 10
USB 3.0 0 6 6 6
Thunderbolt Capable from CPU No No Yes Yes
Intel SRT/RST No Yes Yes Yes
PCIe Storage No Controller Yes Yes
