CPU Cooler Fit & Included Accessories
CPU Cooler Fit
To test the amount of space surrounding the CPU socket, we mounted a Noctua NH-D15 cooler to the CPU socket. Both a overly large CPU air coolers, sporting a dual fan construction and two huge vertical cooling towers.
Noctua NH-D15
With the NH-D15 oriented to blow air towards the board's rear panel, the cooler does not come into contact with any of the memory modules or heat sinks surrounding the CPU socket. However, the primary PCI-Express x16 slot is unusable because of its proximity to the socket. In testing, we were forced to use the second PCI-Express x16 slot to seat a video card in the board with the cooler in use.
The side views illustrate that the memory slot layout is designed to be usable with even the largest CPU coolers, as long as the cooler is designed to adhere to the Intel design spec. The fit between the front fan and the front memory modules could be tight, depending on how low the front fan sits.
Noctua SecureFirm2 mounting system
Noctua's SecureFirm2 mounting system is a good method to quickly determine how well the CPU socket laid out to accommodate a larger cooler. The layout of the VRM heat sink and memory modules around the socket does not impede the mounting cage in any way with more than adequate room on all sides to accommodate the hold down mechanism.
Included Accessories
EVGA includes in everything you need to get the board up and running, as well as several accessories supporting its more esoteric features.
EVGA includes several manuals, an install disk containing all necessary drivers and utilities, and an EVGA-branded case badge with the X99 Classified board. Even though the manuals were designed specifically for the board, they contained only rudimentary information concerning board setup and operation. The esoteric components and board features were quickly glossed over or not mentioned at all. Surprisingly, EVGA does include a table detailing out the debug codes shown on the 2-digit diagnostic display. The UEFI BIOS features are not discussed in the manuals at all, but a BIOS-centered manual can be found on the site's product download page.
EVGA includes a shiny aluminum rear panel shield with the X99 Classified. The ports are clearly marked with stamped icons or text, but could be difficult to read in high or low light conditions.
EVGA included a total of six 6Gb/s rated SATA cables for use with the integrated port. The cables have integrated port locks with straight connectors only.
For multi-GPU use, EVGA includes two-way, three-way, and four-way NVIDIA SLI cables for board support of up to a quad-SLI configuration.
EVGA includes a rear bracket, offering support for two additional USB 3.0 port through the on board header.
The Probe It cable plugs directly into the on board Probe It header to the right of the lower DIMM slots. The plugs can be used to measure board voltages directly from the traces. Instead of having to place the multi-meter leads directly on the board surface, you attach them to the integrated extension cable ports.
The included GPU Link cables can be used to connect a supported via card to the on board GPU Link header (located just below the lower set of DIMM slots), giving the user access to GPU card voltage manipulation settings from within the UEFI BIOS.
To protect the board traces and rear panel assembly, EVGA includes a branded rear panel cover. The cover is a matte-black colored aluminum construct. shaped to fit the rear panel assembly without conflicting with the upper set of memory slots. The cover is held in place by the motherboard mounting screws in the upper right section of the motherboard.
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.