Testing Configuration and Benchmarks Used
To verify that the motherboard works as advertised, the board was run through our standard benchmark suite. In most cases, the results are presented for the motherboard under review as well as a different similar-class motherboards for performance comparison purposes. The benchmark tests used should give you a good understanding of the board’s capabilities for both office and gaming use so that you, the reader, can make a more informed purchasing decision.
| Test System Setup | |
| Motherboards | Intel X299-based systems GIGABYTE X299 Designare EX GIGABYTE X299 AORUS Gaming 3 Intel Z370-based systems MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon AC AMD X370-based systems GIGABYTE AX370-Gaming 5 |
| CPU | Intel X299-based systems Intel Core i7-7900X (3.3GHz CPU and Ring Bus, 33 x 100MHz Base Clock) Intel Z370-based system Intel Core i7-8700K (3.7GHz CPU and Ring Bus, 37 x 100MHz Base Clock) AMD X370-based system AMD Ryzen 7 1700X (3.4GHz CPU, 34 x 100MHz FSB) |
| Memory | Intel X299-based systems Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 modules (2666MHz, 15-17-17-35-1T, 1.225V) Intel Z370-based system Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 modules (2667MHz, 16-18-18-35-1T, 1.225V) AMD X370-based system Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 modules (2400MHz, 16-18-18-35-1T, 1.225V) |
| Hard Drive | Intel 730 240GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III HD Toshiba P300 1TB SATA III HD |
| Sound Card | On-board sound |
| Video Card | NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB |
| CPU Cooling | XSPC Raystorm water block Koolance CPU-360i water block Koolance CPU-390 water block |
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA 376.33 |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX750 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro x64 Anniversary Release (build 1607) |
Test Setup Explanation
The 64-bit Windows 10 based test bench used for Intel X299 board testing includes an Intel Core i9-7900X processor, 16GB of DDR4-2666 memory, an NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB video card, and an Intel 730 240GB SSD drive. Intel Z370 LGA1151 board testing includes an Intel Core i7-8700K processor, 16GB of DDR4-2666 memory, an NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB video card, and an Intel 730 240GB SSD drive. For AMD X370 AM4 board testing, an AMD Ryzen 7 1700X processor, 16GB of DDR4-2666 memory, an NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB video card, and an Intel 730 240GB SSD drive were used in the test system. Using the selected components gives us the ability to demonstrate the motherboard's capabilities rather than that of the components themselves.
Benchmark Tests used for evaluation:
- SiSoft Sandra 2017 SP2 (v2017.09.24.41)
- Handbrake video transcoder v1.0.7
- Maxon Cinebench R15
- PCMark 8 v2.7.613




Good job, Morry.
Question:
Good job, Morry.
Question: did you happen to notice if the BIOS/UEFI
supports bifurcation? e.g. “4×4” (ASRock nomenclature)
and “x4/x4/x4/x4” (ASUS nomenclature) on PCIe x16 slots.
For the large amount of money, I would require that specific
feature; otherwise, I’ll pass on the high price of this
motherboard.
It does not support user
It does not support user configuration of that unfortunately. The PCI bus bandwidth per slot is auto-configured by the BIOS based on the processor and slots that are popupulated. There is a list of values that the board supports on page two of the review, about halfway down the page…
Thanks, Morry. Excellent
Thanks, Morry. Excellent review!
Wow. Never thought I’d see
Wow. Never thought I’d see the day when we have $500 motherboards. It’s nice but it definitely isn’t THAT nice!
yes, i cant agree more. $200
yes, i cant agree more. $200 is my limit.
i need the other $300 for RAM 😛
Where does one obtain an
Where does one obtain an adapter for the “1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 Gen 2” found on the motherboard, for those that don’t have a brand new case and instead have the older 19-pin USB 3.0 connector?
you can find them at
you can find them at amazon…
Are there any other
Are there any other motherboards that have “DP in” that routes the video through the USB-C connection?
I want to build a computer that I can quickly disconnect and bring to my VR area without having to un-plug and plug more than a few connections.
There are a few, but most
There are a few, but most ship with TB3 AIC (add-in card) capabilities because of the cost involved with implementing an integrated Intel-TB3 chipset. Most board use ASMedia-based USB 3.1 ports, negating their use as TB3 style pass throughs…
Are there any other
Are there any other motherboards that have “DP in” that routes the video through the USB-C connection?
I want to build a computer that I can quickly disconnect and bring to my VR area without having to un-plug and plug more than a few connections.
Does the Designare logo spell
Does the Designare logo spell out Designare all smashed together?
I have this board; it’s been
I have this board; it’s been inside my PC for about three weeks now – no nasty surprises so far…
I didn’t have the opportunity to test thunderbolt yet.
For me the biggest drawback is inability to disable wireless card in the BIOS. I wonder what would happen if I just physically remove it from the slot?
Also the latest BIOS “anti-Specter” firmware is a beta released in March.
P.S. Almost forgot, during the installation process the board didn’t recognize one of the four identical 16GB Crucial DDR4 modules (XPM). Strange thing was: the board showed 56GB during boot and CPU-Z showed all 64GB but in triple channel configuration(!?). What helped, was switching placement of two DIMM’s with each other (!!???).
Will the Noctua NH-D15S cover
Will the Noctua NH-D15S cover up my Trident Z RGB RAM completely or will the RGB at least still be visible?
We have a Gigabyte x299 and
We have a Gigabyte x299 and the M2 does not show up in bios. How do we install the M2 on a new build? I have the windows 10 usb thumb drive ready. Please send me step by step bios configuration. Thank you! Callie