CPU Cooler Fit and Included Accessories
CPU Cooler Fit
To test the amount of space surrounding the CPU socket, we mounted the Noctua NH-D15 cooler to the CPU socket. This behemoth CPU air cooler sports a dual fan construction and two huge vertical cooling towers.
When oriented in its default configuration, the Noctua cooler fits to the X99-A II motherboard without issue. The cooler has adequate room along all sides and does not conflict (space-wise) with either the DIMM slots nor with a card seated in the primary PCIe x16 slot.
The closeup views of the cooler seating and mounting further display just how well the Noctua cooler fits to the board. If a cooler as large as the D15 can fit on this board, you should have no issues with mounting any cooler to the board.
The Noctua hold down mechanism is large enough to quickly determine exactly how much space is available around the CPU socket. The Noctua mounts fits the socket well with no tight areas or contact points evident between it and the on board capacitors, chokes, or heat sinks.
Included Accessories
The X99-A II motherboard comes with all the necessary components to get the board up and running.
The manual included with the X99-A II lives up to the ASUS standard, written in the clear and detailed language we've come to expect from ASUS motherboard manuals. Also included is a driver DVD with all necessary hardware drivers and Window's utilities.
The board's rear panel shield consists of a blue and chrome surface with the port identifying text and icons printed in blue text on its surface. Under good lighting, the text and icons are easy to read, but would be challenging to see under poor lighting conditions.
ASUS bundled in four black and white 6Gb/s rated SATA cables for use with the integrated port. The cables have integrated port locks and a mix of straight and 90 degree connectors.
For multi-GPU use, ASUS included a single two-way NVIDIA SLI cable.
ASUS included a CPU installation tool with the motherboard to ensure easy and proper CPU installation into the board's socket. You simply snap the plastic guide over top of the CPU and place the CPU in the socket with the "This Side Up" arrow placed near the socket hinge. The plastic guide remains in place when you lock the CPU into the socket.
For use with an external RBG LED strip, ASUS included an extension cable that plugs into the board's RBG LED header for powering and syncing the external strip with the board's illumination settings.
I just skip to the conclusion
I just skip to the conclusion to see if ‘CMOS battery placement’ is listed as a strength or a weakness. That’s pretty much all I need to know about a motherboard.
Same here although, I can
Same here although, I can count no of times I changed CMOS battery on fingers of my hand. Still I look for CMOS battery placement on any motherboard.
Windows only is major
Windows only is major weakness to me.
Do I notice a new (at least
Do I notice a new (at least to me) type of release lever for the pcie 16 slots? How is this one activated?
If a MB maker anywhere has designed a release lever that does not require losing the skin on your hand to remove a graphics card, I would love to know about it.
I had an old motherboard with
I had an old motherboard with an AGP retention mechanism that was essentially 2 zip ties that stood up along either side of the video card, molded into the plastic slot if I remember correctly, and then a little plastic “8” went over both to cinch down the pcb.
newish, of a sorts. It the
newish, of a sorts. It the same standard push-down release (triangular in shape) at the lower end of the PCIe slot with an embedded LED for RGB "glowy" support. Thus, the clear color of the plastic tab 🙂