ASRock have done something very impressive, created a mini-ITX X299 motherboard.
The tight confines of this board have not stopped them from including numerous features. There are dual Intel NICs in addition to dual band 2.4/5GHz 802.11ac WiFi connectivity on this board. USB3.1 Gen2 Type A and C connectors are found on the back along with four USB 3.1 Gen 1; the audio outputs include optical, the Realtek ALC1220 behind them supports 7.1 audio.
ASRock fit three M.2 slots on this board, one on the front running along the back panel that supports both PCIe and SATA and another two PCIe 3.0 4x hidden on the back. There are an additional six SATA 6Gb/s ports for more traditional storage. The motherboard supports quad-channel memory of up to 64GB of DDR4-4000, with DIMM slots above and below the CPU socket. The single PCIe 3.0 16x slot is at the very bottom, with strong reinforcement to hold up a GPU that will outweigh the rest of the system.
You could choose to try to cool this with a standard cooler, but that is not your only choice. ASRock worked with Bitspower to create a custom waterblock as you can see above. That will ensure a perfect fit as well as proper cooling.
Drop by for the full specs here and keep your eye out for availability and pricing on NewEgg.
Are the 3 m.2 slots connected
Are the 3 m.2 slots connected to the CPU PCie lanes?
The two M.2 slots on the back
The two M.2 slots on the back of the board are connected to CPU lanes, and the one on a riser on the front is connected to PCH lanes and SATA.
No 10 gig
No 10 gig ethernet?
Disappointing for an expensive (X299 in general and buying that waterblock is probably gonna be a necessity to get the heat of the CPU and the VRM out of a small ITX chassis) platform with that many unused PCIe lanes.
If my math is right of the 44 CPU lanes you can use a max of 28 on that board, assuming all M.2 are connected to the CPU.
Also one would wish for more PWM fan outs. A header with just the PWM signal and fan speed pins would be sufficient. Wiring the 12V supply of the fans to the PSU instead of the board would be easy enough for the SFF enthusiast.
This is great, especially
This is great, especially with the waterblock. Surely it will be expensive, but this is a luxury item IMO. Anyone can build a powerful system these days. But the most luxurious build is not only fast, but compact and quiet. Especially with SLI/Crossfire going the way of the dodo, systems with the single fastest GPU available are still best.(let’s be honest, with frame timing problems they were never worth it anyways)
We do have to pay a bit extra for the luxury, with a system like this requiring a compact custom cooling loop, well designed ITX chassis, high capacity storage, and compact yet high performance power supply. But if you have the cash and the know-how it’s really the ultimate build.
A worthy successor to their
A worthy successor to their ITX X99 board, solving the major issue with that board of only supporting 2 DIMMs.
It’s a little odd that only 2 of the three m.2 slots are routed to the CPU (as even a ‘mere’ 28-lane CPU could support all three plus the x16 slot), but the distinction that the two on the CPU support VROC and the third on the PCH supports Optane is interesting: I can’t recall anywhere stating whether or not Optane acceleration was supported using VROC, but if Intel’s transparent caching (e.g. Optane, SRT, etc) requires circuitry within the PCH to operate that would make sense.
Im a buy this and put it in a
Im a buy this and put it in a E-ATX full tower.
Its crazy to see how much
Its crazy to see how much power they pack on such thing.
I wonder their VRMs, would it overclock at all?