UEFI Features
ASUS bundled the Strix X99 Gaming motherboard with the latest revision of their ASUS UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) implementation, a customized version of the AMI baseline UEFI BIOS replacement. The UEFI offers full keyboard and mouse support while using the BIOS pages. ASUS changed the way mouse right-click functions in their UEFI implementation with right-click having no impact on the screen. By default, the user sees the EZ mode screen when entering the UEFI. The Advanced mode screens accessible via the Exit/Advanced Mode button at the upper right corner of the screen or by hitting the F7 function key. Advanced mode screens can be set for the default user interface via the UEFI Boot menu as well.
As we've stated in previous reviews, the ASUS UEFI implementation remains among the best out there. The UEFI is very responsive to both keyboard and mouse input with almost no lag or questionable click-space evident anywhere. The UEFI is designed in an intuitive manner so that both novice and advance BIOS users can quickly find what they are looking for. The EZ Mode screen lays out everything in a highly readable format, while the Advanced Mode tabbed layout displays as you would expect from a traditional BIOS. ASUS also gives you the ability to taken screen captures from within the BIOS by pressing the F12 key with those screen-caps saved in a 1024×768 bitmap format to an attached USB device. From the Tools menu, ASUS houses their collection of of BIOS-related tools and applets, ranging from an UEFI-based updater (EZ Flash3) to their full UEFI profile load and save utility.
UEFI Notable Features
The Strix X99 Gaming UEFI includes several enhancements to their base feature set. ASUS revised their EZ Mode page with added utility, integrating a customizable My Favorites tab into the Advance mode menu, Shortcut screen, a graphical fan tuning interface, a graphical EZ Tuning Wizard interface, support for display in nine different languages, and a Quick Note interface introducing memo persistence across UEFI sessions.
My Favorites tab, populated
My Favorites & Shortcut setup popup
The My Favorites tab houses user selected settings for access to these from a centralized location. To access, select the My Favorites tab from within the Advanced Mode interface. Note that if a menu or sub-menu is added to this page, all fields on that page will be added. The real strength in this My Favorites tab implementation comes with the ability to mix and match commonly used options in a central location, rather than having to hunt them down through multiple sub-levels of menus.
EZ Mode page
The EZ Mode page presents information organized into sections in an easy-to-read manner for those users who do not want to be bothered with the labyrinth of the Advanced Mode settings.
Q-Fan Tuning page
The Q-Fan Tuning page allows for graphical configuration of fan operation based on predefined threshold levels. The interface is similar in nature to the Windows-based Fan Xpert3 fan configuration interface and is a nice touch in-lei of the text-based configuration approach. The Q-Fan Tuning page is accessed by clicking on the Manual Fan Tuning button within the EZ Mode page.
Easy Tuning Wizard – OC Page
Easy Tuning Wizard – RAID Page
The EZ Tuning Wizard can be accessed by hitting the F11 function key from within the EZ Mode page or from within the Advanced Mode interface. This wizard can be used to setup BIOS configured system performance optimization or drive RAID setup based on user selections made within the wizard interface.
Advanced Mode, Main tab, Quick Note pop-up
The Quick Note window is accessed by clicking the Quick Note field in the top menu bar or hit the F9 function key. From this window, you can enter notes that remain persistent between BIOS sessions. This functionality is only available from the Advanced Mode interface.
EZ Mode, Search on FAQ QR-Code pop-up
ASUS provided an innovative way to drive users to their FAQ page, embedding a QR-Code link on the EZ Mode page. The QR-Code pops up when the Search on FAQ link is clicked, and takes the user to the ASUS FAQ page when scanned from a mobile device.
Advanced Mode, Tools tab, ASUS EZ Flash 3 pop-up source selection
Advanced Mode, Tools tab, ASUS EZ Flash 3 pop-up USB drive selected
The ASUS EZ Flash 3 utility was updated, allowing for BIOS update via an attached drive or through a network connection. When selecting the network update method, the utility launches a network connection wizard for getting the most up to date BIOS file from the ASUS servers.
Advanced Mode, Monitor tab, Water Pump Control section
ASUS enhanced their Q-Fan control capabilities in their latest UEFI version, allowing for user configurable pauses in between when the BIOS detects a change in threshold temperature and when the BIOS increases the header fan speed. As with previous version of the UEFI, the user is able to set temperature thresholds and fan speeds (based on percentage run speed) for the board's fan headers.
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled
The Ai Tweaker tab houses all overclocking settings. Starting with the Skylake product family, ASUS opened up the CPU back clock settings with user capable settings up to 650MHz and CPU Strap settings of up to 250MHz. This became possible with the decoupling of the PCIe and DMI buses from the base clock with the introduction of the Intel Skylake processors.
Ai Tweaker tab, Tweaker's Paradise page
To cater to the extreme overclockers, ASUS exposed many esoteric board settings not normally exposed to the end user and housed them in the Tweaker's Paradise menu. This menu contains voltage, timing, and bus settings for those of you trying to squeeze every last ounce of speed and stability out of you overclocked board. It contains settings for tweaking everything from CPU internal settings to PCI-Express bus related settings. Enjoy your time in the Tweaker's Paradise.
Advanced Mode, Save & Reset popup
The Save & Reset page displays to the user a scrollable list of all UEFI changes made since the last save. Listed changes are not committed to BIOS memory until saved by the user. Note that the same list displays when the user chooses any of the save settings from the Exit page or the Last Modified option with Advanced Mode active.
BIOS Walkthrough
Ai Tweaker tab with XMP mode enabled
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, CPU ratio settings
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, submenu list
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, Enable Over-voltage warning popup
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, CPU voltage settings
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, CPU voltage settings – Max voltage enabled
Ai Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, voltage settings continued
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Primary and Secondary Timings
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Secondary and Third Timings settings
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Third Timing settings continued
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Miscellaneous settings
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Miscellaneous and DRAM Training settings
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, RTL IOL Control page
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, RTL IOL Control page continued
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, IO Control page
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, IO Control page continued
Ai Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, IO Control page continued
Ai Tweaker tab, DIGI+ Power Control page
Ai Tweaker tab, DIGI+ Power Control page continued
Ai Tweaker tab, CPU Power Management page
Can both the U.2 and M.2
Can both the U.2 and M.2 ports be used simultaneously?
It looks likes you can, but
It looks likes you can, but M.2 is favored over U.2. In the BIOS, you can specify two use one or the other as well.
Yes, but the manual for this
Yes, but the manual for this motherboard says it shares bandwidth with the M.2 slot.
In fact most things are shared (WiFi, USB3.1) if you only have a 28 lane CPU.
yes you can.
yes you can.
Would you know if ASUS will
Would you know if ASUS will be revising their X99 MICRO ATX motherboard?
Saving for the ASUS X99-M WS and will make the purchase by the end of the year. But would be nice to know if a newer board will be released then which includes various improvements as seen on the other boards.
I am not sure, truthfully,
I am not sure, truthfully, but have not heard of a revision coming out…
I have this motherboard along
I have this motherboard along with Corsair LPX 3200MHz, 4x16GB modules.
The issue I have with it (and if you read a lot of newegg reviews) is that the board will not post above DDR4 2400MHz with this memory. Is it just the size of my RAM and compatibility?
When it doesn’t post, the only way to get it back is to unplug it, remove the battery, and clear the CMOS. Then you have to hold the power button for 20-30 seconds. Then it posts.
It’s ridiculous and I can see why so many newegg reviews claim it doesn’t boot after a week.
Did it pose any problems for you?
Right now I’m running it at 2133MHz just because I’m tired of it not turning back on if I shut it down.
It’s weird though because I can get it to boot at 3200MHz after it successfully boots at 2133MHz. Until I shut it down. Restarts are fine. And sleeping is fine.
I had a hard time dialing it
I had a hard time dialing it in for overclocking and did notice an issue getting high memory speeds to work, but was able to get similar corsair modules to boot and run stable at 3200MHz. My testing was done with a Haswell processor.
Were you using a Haswell or Broadwell processor in your system?
I replied to the wrong
I replied to the wrong comment, but you can find my reply under hechacker1.
Thanks. 6800k in my
Thanks. 6800k in my system.
My system actually runs stable at 3200MHz memory using XMP, along with a 4.5GHz on all cores at 1.370v (I won the silicon lottery?). I played around with the cache multiplier, but that didn’t make a difference in it booting.
Everything else is basically set to auto voltages.
The issue is simply that it won’t boot with the RAM at higher clocks from a cold boot. With a warm reboot and it’s fine.
I didn’t buy a 4x16GB kit, rather 2 kits since it was cheaper.
That’s an odd one. I did
That's an odd one. I did have quite a time getting the board to board with RAM at 3200MHz, but, it did eventually once i got it dialed in (without using the XMP setting too).The board itself is just a bit "finnicky", but that may have more to do with the changes made to support the Broadwell processor perhaps. Didn't have the same challenges with older X99 boards. (Note that this is speculation on my part based on testing experiences, and not based on anything I've heard/been told by ASUS or other manufacturers).
One thing to check is the BIOS version, make sure to update to the latest if you haven't already.
One other thing, Raja from ASUS put out this very comprehensive guide on overclocking the Broadwell-E processor on X99 boards, that also includes memory tweaking. I found it very useful myself:
http://edgeup.asus.com/2016/06/17/broadwell-e-overclocking-guide/
The thing is (and I’m a Strix
The thing is (and I’m a Strix x99 gaming motherboard owner) that this board is marketed as an overclocker’s dream, but in actual life it’s the furthest thing from it.
It seems to have issues even at factory settings, it’s quite choosy about RAM, and it has a delicate voltage regulation circuitry – I’ve had to RMA it AND my CPU after the dreaded QCODE 00 hit my board one morning a few months after assembling my rig. And I know that others with this model encountered it as well.
Now I’m pretty stable (the board alternates between Qcode AA and Qcode 40 most of the time) with the latest bios, and a UPS unit to make sure that there are no spikes. But I would think twice about buying a board from this series again. Even the newer x299 LGA2066 model. Just my two cents.
Hello new here
I have this
Hello new here
I have this motherboard i have purchased a msi gaming x TRIO 2080ti and wanted to get another. However it wont fit two cards the the x16 slots ie top and middle pcie slots. if i was to add the second card to the bottom pcie slot would it still link as x16 or x8? as u can probably tell im not spend another 1300 on a card if the wont link at x16 on both cards. any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
THIS IS A FANTASTIC BOARD BUT I DO GET THE ODD OVERCLOCKING ERRORS EVERY NOW AND THEN