GIGABYTE X99P-SLI Motherboard Review

Features and Motherboard Layout

Features

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

• World's First Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 Certified X99 Motherboard
• World's 1st USB-IF Certified Intel® USB 3.1 Controller with USB Type-C™
• PCIe Gen3/Gen2 x4 M.2 interface with up to 32Gb/s Data Transfer (PCIe NVMe SSD support)
• Supports New Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition
• Support for DDR4 XMP up to 3333MHz
• Genuine All Digital Power Design with IR Digital PWM & IR PowIRstage® ICs
• 4-Way Graphics with Premium PCIe Lane
• Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio with built-in Rear Audio Amplifier
• Independent Right and Left Audio Channel PCB Layers
• High-end Nichicon Audio Capacitors
• Audio Noise Guard with Multi-Color Choices of LED Trace Path Lighting
• All Stainless Steel connectors on rear panel
• SATA Express support for up to 10 Gb/s data transfer
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™
• Long lifespan Durable Black™ Solid caps
• APP Center including EasyTune™ and Cloud Station™ utilities
• Safer Design Around Screw Mounting Holes
• Feature Upgrade Possible support

Motherboard Layout

The GIGABYTE X99P-SLI motherboard features a base black PCB and heat sinks with yellow and chrome accents. The audio PCB divider line can be customized to glow in a multitude of colors and patterns, configurable via the BIOS and GIGABYTE's Ambient LED applet. The board was designed so that there is sufficient room to easily access all integrated components.

Aside from a few small chips just above the upper side of the chipset, the board's back is component-free with the normal assortment of solder points and traces. If a backplate is required for your selected CPU cooler, there should be no space conflict or worries of component crush in the area directly behind the CPU socket.

GIGABYTE integrated the following rear panel ports into the X99P-SLI: combo PS/2 keyboard and mouse port, four USB 2.0 ports, three USB 3.0 ports (blue colored), a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type A port (red colored), a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type C port, an Intel I128-V GigE RJ-45 port, a Display Port input port for use with Thunderbolt 3 type devices, an optical audio port, and five analogue audio ports.

The X99P-SLI board was designed with six total PCIe slots – four PCI-Express x16 slots and two PCI-Express x1 slots. For the PCIe x16 slots, the board supports full x16 bandwidth with a single or dual card, and mixed-mode x16 / x8 bandwidth with three or four video card populating the board. Note that quad-card 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 / x8 / x8 bandwidth is the maximum supported configuration using PCIe x16 slots 1 through 3 only (PCIe x16 slot 4 is unavailable).

The integrated M.2 PCIe x4 port is located in between the lower portions of PCIe slots 2 and 3, just above the chipset cooler. The board supports M.2 PCIe SSDs up to 80mm in length.

GIGABYTE designed the audio subsystem on a separate PCB to ensure audio clarity and fidelity. The PCB separator line glows along its length when the board is powered with color and glow mode configurable via the BIOS and the included Ambient LED Windows applet. The Realtek audio chipset is capped with a chromed heat sink located in the upper left corner of the board for signal shielding purposes. The front panel audio header and S/PDIF output headers are located the upper left corner of the audio PCB, to the left of the audio chipset.

The front panel audio header, S/PDIF output header, MOLEX-style PCIe power connector, and Trusted Module Port header are located along the upper sides of PCIe x16 slot 4. The PCIe power connector is used to provide additional power to the PCIe bus when using two or more video cards with the board. You simply plug a male 4-pin MOLEX power connector into the port from your PSU.

The Trusted Module Port header, a system fan header, and the integrated USB 2.0 headers along the lower outside of PCIe x16 slot 4. The CMOS battery is located in between the lower portions of PCIe X16 slots 3 and 4, to the right of the USB 2.0 headers.

The CMOS clear jumper, CPU Mode switch front panel header, and a USB 3.0 header are located in the lower left corner of the board. The four pin jumper block just above the USB 3.0 header are debug jumpers used for internal board testing. The CPU Mode switch activates the extra overclocking pins in the CPU socket when enabled (set to the 2 position).

The Intel X99 chipset is covered by a large low profile aluminum heat sink with the GIGABYTE corporate logo embedded into its surface. The heat sink also acts as a termination point for the heat pipe connecting it to the VRM heat sink.

GIGABYTE integrated eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports and one SATA-Express 10 Gb/s port into the X99P-SLI. The SATA-Express port houses two SATA 6 Gb/s ports that can be used as stand-alone ports as well.

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 the grey colored slots in both the top and bottom slot sets. Note that memory speeds above 2133MHz are considered overclocked speeds and are outside of the official Intel stock memory speed specifications. The 24-pin ATX power port and USB 3.0 header are is located below of the lower DIMM slot set.

The CPU secondary fan header is located to the upper right of the lower DIMM slot set, in between the VRM heat sink and the board's edge. A system fan header is located to the upper right of the upper DIMM slot set as well.

The CPU socket area is clear of obstructions. The 4-pin CPU fan header is located to the lower left of the CPU socket. Notice how GIGABYTE connected all the board coolers via heat pipes unobtrusively routed, to better flow along the board's natural lines and hide them in plain sight. The chokes for the CPU's 6-phase digital power delivery system sit to the left of the VRM heat sink.

The integrated 8-pin ATX12V power connector along the upper outside edge of the VRM heat sink. The VRM heat sink should pose no problems with using the power connector.