Overclocking and Conclusion

Overclocking

To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the X99-A II motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. The board seemed very finicky when attempting to push the base clock speed, but we were able to get the board stable with a base clock speed of 100Mhz speed, a 4.4GHz CPU speed, a 4.0GHz ring bus speed, and a 3200MHz memory speed. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.

100MHz Base Clock Stats with 3200MHz Memory

Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.

Performance

The X99-A II motherboard performed well at stock speeds with no performance-related surprises evident in any of the benchmarks nor with in any of the subsystem tests. Similar to other X99 Broadwell-enhanced motherboards, overclocking with the X99-A II was a bit trickier than with the Skylake-based version but still did not disappoint.

Pricing

As of December 28, the ASUS X99-A II motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $219.99 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $219.99 and from B&H for $239.53.

Conclusion

The ASUS X99-A II motherboard took a tried and true design in the X99-A and enhanced it with updated Crystal Sound 3 audio, USB 3.1 support, PCIe x4 U.2 port support, RGB support, and Broadwell-E processor support built-in. The board features the ASUS channel aesthetics, a simple black PCB with white colored heat sinks and trim. Further, the board features an in-built cover plate over the rear panel for added protection and looks. The board performs very well at stock speeds, but was a bit tricky to dial-in for overlocking purposes. With its ATX form factor, the board offers excellent compatibility with a wide variety of cases. Further, ASUS designed its layout in an open and uncluttered fashion.

Strengths

  • Stock performance
  • Overclocking potential
  • Board aesthetics, layout, and design
  • Motherboard manual details and quality
  • UEFI BIOS design and usability
  • Intel GigE network controller performance
  • CMOS battery placement
  • M.2 port placement
  • Varied storage device support – SATA III, Sata-Express 10Gbps, PCIe x4 U.2, PCIe X4 M.2
  • RGB LEDs and integrated RGB port
  • Backplate over CPU VRMs for support, protection, and cooling on back of board
  • Price

Weaknesses

  • Challenging overclocking dial-in

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