Features and Motherboard Layout
Features
Courtesy of EVGA
- Triple BIOS Support
- Onboard CPU Temp Monitor
- Highly Efficient 10 Phase Digital VRM
- Onboard Power, Reset, and Clear CMOS
- EVGA E-LEET X Tuning Utility
- PCI-E Disable Switches
- 150% Increased Socket Gold Content
- 8+8pin CPU Power Input – Dedicated 600W
- M.2 Socket Slot E and Slot M
Motherboard Layout
The EVGA X99 Classified features an all black color scheme with red and chrome accents on the heat sinks and socket hardware. EVGA also includes an black aluminum rear panel cover, giving the board a clean appearance when placed in a windowed case. The board was designed with all integrated components placed with more than adequate room. Additionally, most of the ports and headers along the outer edge of the board are rotated 90 degrees so that the cables sit parallel to the plane of the board.
The back of the X99 Classified is component-free with the exception of the area around the CPU socket. There are small chips to the left of the socket backplate as well as behind the VRMs. However, most LGA2011-based coolers sue the existing board back plate, so there should be minimal issues with these components on the back of the board.
EVGA included the following ports into the X99 Classified's rear panel: six USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, a CMOS reset button, dual Intel GigE NIC ports, an optical audio port, and five analogue audio ports. The NIC port to the inside is the Intel i217 controller port with the Intel i210 controller port to the outside of the rear panel. The rear panel ports are protected and sealed off from the rest of the board when the included rear panel cover is fixed to the board. Note that the board supports 5.1 channel sound only, through the green, orange, and black analogue ports. The gray port in the lower right of the audio port assembly is a dedicated 2-channel headphone port.
The X99 Classified motherboard has a total of six PCI-Express device ports – five PCI-Express x16 slots and one PCI-Express x4 slot. For the PCI-Express x16 slots, the board supports full x16 bandwidth with a single or dual card, and x8 bandwidth with three or four video card populating the board. Note that quad-card x8 mode is only available when using a CPU with 40 PCI-E lanes. When using a CPU with 28 PCI-E lanes, tri-card mode at x8 bandwdth is the maximum supported configuration. With a 40-lane processor, PCI-Express x16 slot 5 supports a maximum x8 bandwidth. With a 28-lane CPU, PCI-Express x16 slot 3 is automatically disabled and PCI-Express x16 slots 5 supports a maximum x4 bandwidth. Note that the PCI-Express x4 slot shares bandwidth with secondary M.2 slot (located to the upper left of the chipset cooler) and is automatically disabled when the M.2 slot is enabled through the BIOS settings.
The primary M.2 slot (marked Key-E), 6-pin PCIe auxiliary power connector, front panel audio header, and a chassis fan header are located in the upper left corner of the board, along the outside of PCI Express x16 slot 5. The primary M.2 slot supports mini-PCIe cards only (like a wireless adapter card) and will not accept an M.2 type SSD. For an M.2 SSD, you must use the secondary M.2 slot located to the upper left of the chipset heat sink. The PCIe auxiliary power connector can be connected to a 6-pin PCIe power plug from your PSU to supply extra power to the PCI-Express slots when using multiple video cards with the board. Note that the primary M.2 slot shares bandwidth with the on board USB 3.0 header. The USB 3.0 header is automatically disabled when the M.2 slot is enabled via the BIOS settings.
Two chassis fan headers, the EVGauge header, an on board speaker, and a Thunderbolt GPIO header are located to the lower left of PCI Express x16 slot 5. The secondary M.2 slot is located in between the bottom of PCI-Express x16 slots 4 and 5. The EVGauge header can be connected to an external EVGA EVGauge device panel for direct output of your CPU frequency. When used in conjunction with the EVGA ELEET windows software, the EVGauge will output real-time CPU frequency, accounting for both SpeedStep and Turbo frequency changes. The Thunderbolt header can be used to connect to a Thunderbolt PCIe card. Note that the PCI-Express x4 slot shares bandwidth with secondary M.2 slot (located to the upper left of the chipset cooler) and is automatically disabled when the M.2 slot is enabled through the BIOS settings.
The USB 2.0 header, USB 3.0 header, CMOS battery, front panel header, and a system fan header are located in the lower left corner of board. Note that the primary M.2 slot shares bandwidth with the on board USB 3.0 header. The USB 3.0 header is automatically disabled when the M.2 slot is enabled via the BIOS settings.
The Intel X99 chipset is cooled by a large black heat sink with a large red EVGA logo embedded in its surface. The heat sink is low profile so that it does not conflict with devices seated in the PCIe slots. It also is a terminating end for the integrated heat pipe cooling solution connecting the chipset and the CPU VRM sinks.
EVGA integrated a total of 10 SATA 6 GB/s ports into the board, located just below the Intel X99 chipset. Additionally, there are two chassis fan headers on either side of the SATA port block. Note that EVGA chose not to include any SATA Express ports with the board, instead opting for additional pure SATA ports and dual M.2 device slots.
To the lower left of the chipset cooler (and to the right of the SATA ports) are the PCIe disable switch jumper block, the triple BIOS select switch, and a removable BIOS chip. The PCI-E Disable switches can used to disable the the five PCI-Express x16 slots. The triple BIOS Selector switch allows you to choose from one of three integrated BIOS chips for use with the board. This is very useful if you corrupt one of more of the board's BIOS chips. Note that you should only use the PCI-E Disable or BIOS Selector switches with the board powered off to avoid damaging the board and/or on board components. EVGA also bundle the BIOS chip in a removable package so that you can switch out the chip with a new one if the BIOS chip becomes irreparably damaged.
The eight on board DDR4 memory slots are located directly above and below the CPU socket with support of up to 128GB of memory across all slots. Quad Channel memory mode is enabled with memory modules seated in like colored slots. The primary memory slots are slots 2 and 4 in the top and bottom group if you label slot 1 as the slot closest to the CPU socket. Note that memory speeds above 2133MHz are considered overclocked speeds and are outside of the official Intel stock memory speed specifications. The 24-pine ATX power port is located to the lower left of the lower DIMM slot set, rotated 90 degrees so that the cable sits parallel to the plane of the board when plugged in.
To the lower right of the lower set of DIMM slots are the 2-digit diagnostic LED display, the GPU Link header (XG1), the MCU Turbo switch, the power, reset, and CMOS clear buttons, and a 4-pin secondary CPU fan header. The Probe IT voltage measurement header and the primary 4-pin primary CPU fan header are located to the upper right of the lower DIMM slots. The diagnostic LED display can be used in conjunction with the table provided in the user manual to identify and troubleshoot board boot-related issues. The GPU Link header is used to connect supported video cards to the board, using the supplied GPU Link cables, for direct card voltage configuration from within the system's UEFI BIOS. The Probe It voltage measurement header is used in conjunction with the included cable assembly for direct board voltage measurement using a volt meter.
To the upper right of the upper set of DIMM slots is a chassis fan header.
The CPU socket area is clear of obstructions as long as you are mindful of your CPU cooler. The DIMM slots and the VRM cooler are not problematic, but the primary CI-Express x16 slot is a little close for comfort with a larger cooler used (like the Noctua NH-D14 or NH-D15).
EVGA includes dual 8-pin ATX12V power connectors, located to the right of the VRM heat sink along the board's right edge.
My favorite product of all
My favorite product of all time is a bit different. I love the EVBot I got to push my Classified cards to the max… or whatever classified products I happen to be holding.
Nice write-up. My only gripe
Nice write-up. My only gripe is with EVGA going with angled connectors at the edge of the boar. This is clearly meant to be setup as a benching system or a very top-end full size ATX or EATX case with plenty of room.
The lack of a cmos jumper
The lack of a cmos jumper shouldn’t be listed as a weakness, considering there is a cmos reset button on the motherboard backplane.
CMOS reset button just clears
CMOS reset button just clears current CMOS settings but retains profile information and any internally configured settings. The reset jumper physically shorts the CMOS to reset it to factory defaults, including profile information, time, and internally configured settings (like memory and cpu-dependent settings that are not user configurable). That is why it is listed as a weakness.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the norm with x99 boards rather than the exception. You can remove the CMOS battery for the same effect most of the time, but I have seen boards retain profile and time settings even after removing the CMOS battery for elongated periods (> 20-30m)…
Weakness indeed. I tried
Weakness indeed. I tried every possible way to reset Cmos but it just doesnt work.