The Intel Haswell-E X99 Motherboard Roundup with ASUS, GIGABYTE, ASRock and MSI
by Ian Cutress on September 25, 2014 11:30 AM ESTMSI X99S SLI Plus Conclusion
The X99 SLI Plus is the cheapest X99 model in our initial review at $230, coming in at just over half the price of the X99-Deluxe. Despite the large price difference there are some similarities from both products. The aesthetics of a motherboard has been a common battleground in recent generations and boards like the MSI and ASUS in this regard hit the nail on the head when answering calls for sleek designs that look polished and not too forced.
At $230, MSI is attempting to snap up the budget X99 market with the SLI Plus. This takes me back to my first X58 system – I wanted the i7 920 at the time, but my budget was small so I got the cheapest motherboard and DDR3 available at the time (X58A-UD3R and 3x2GB DDR3-1333 if I recall correctly). This is the sort of buyer that the MSI X99S SLI Plus is aiming for: those willing to put down $230 for a motherboard and $390 for the i7-5820K. The only downside with this plan, much like when I bought into X58, is that the cost of DDR4 is still pretty high, at $250 per 4x4GB kit, making an $870 minimum buy-in.
At $230, it is obvious that MSI skimps on a few details. We are limited to 3-way multi-GPU setups, we get a single network port (Intel I218-V) and the audio codec is a Realtek ALC892 solution. While we do get 12 USB 3.0 ports total, four on the rear panel are behind a VIA 4-to-1 controller, which is one of the cheapest cost-per-USB solutions available. On the plus side, SATA Express is here, and the M.2 slot can feed off of the CPU for a full 32 Gbps bandwidth if needed. M.2 is unfortunately limited to a maximum of 2280 sized devices however.
MSI did miss a trick slightly by not theming the BIOS and software packages in black similar to the motherboard, but MSI has a nice BIOS/software combination in general. The BIOS is growing on me as a user, especially as MSI seems receptive to advice on how to make the BIOS better. The software is still propped up by Live Update 6 as the best update tool available, however offering 2.1 volts as an overclock is a little absurd and needs to be adjusted.
Stock performance on the MSI X99S SLI Plus is near the top of the chain due to the aggressive way it implements MultiCore Turbo. In the system benchmarks it had a high power consumption under load and poor audio characteristics, but came top in DPC Latency and stripped POST times. Overclocking results were average, although the deficit in performance when overclocked is alarming – overclocked to 4.4 GHz, one of the other X99 motherboards scored similar when overclocked to only 4.2 GHz. This indicates there might be an efficiency issue somewhere along the line, though it is difficult to point the finger at either the BIOS, the software, or something fundamental at the hardware level.
The strength of the MSI X99S SLI Plus lies in the sleek design combined with the low price point. It forms a substantial line in the sand for any X99 system builder, and is very attractive to those who are more budget conscious and not keen on overclocking. For anyone wanting to dabble in the 6-core domain before putting down some serious money, pair it with an i7-5820K and take it for a spin.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
62 Comments
View All Comments
StephaneP - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
On the Intel Motherboards, there was an onboard speaker. It was useful for hearing problems with Ram, Gpu, overheat, Fan fail...I don't see any speaker on these motherboards...
R3MF - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
Re: the MSI X99S SLI Plus -"This means that with a 40 PCIe lane CPU, a user has to choose between tri-GPU (x16/x16/x8) + M.2 x2 from the chipset, or 2x GPU (x16/x16) + M.2 x4. 5820K users will get M.2 x4 in any configuration (x16/x8, x8/x8/x8)."
Do I understand this to mean that the same M.2 slot will switch between PCIe 2.0 PCH lanes and PCIe 3.0 CPU lanes depending on whether the last PCIe slot is used, and that 5820K users will always get PCIe 3.0 M.2 because the last PCIEe slot is not available for use at all?
Further from this; using a 5820k can i only use two PCIe slots if I want to maintain the first slot with 16x for the GPU, or are some of the slots run from the PCH and thus not affected by this.
I quite like the idea of a single GPU system (with 3.0 16x), a PCIe USB TypeC expansion card (with 3.0 4x), and possibly a third PCIe slot for a sound card. Is that possible with this board?
Thanks, great article.
Infn - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
So purely performance-wise I still don't have much reason to upgrade from my 4.5ghz 3930K on X79. Is there anything on the horizon that will?woj666 - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
Nope. You hit a great sweet spot with that system. Keep upgrading your GPU and you'll last a long time.StevoLincolnite - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
Might want to update this article.X79 supports 4-12 core processors rather than 4-6, that you have listed.
I.E. For example the Asus Sabertooth X79 supports the 8-core Xeon E5-2640 v2 and the 10-core Xeon E5-2650L v2 as well as the 12-core Xeon E5-2697 v2.
Granted, consumers won't be running those Xeons, but the point stands, that you're not only limited to 4-6 cores on x79.
It's ironic because ALL Sandy-Bridge-E processors were actually 8-core processors, with 2 cores disabled, which helped with cooling due to the larger die meeting with the heat spreader.
Ivy Bridge-E however Intel reduced the core count down to 6.
extide - Saturday, September 27, 2014 - link
Except for the 3820K, that is a native quad core die. In moving to Ivy/22nm the base die for LGA 2011 went from 4 core to 6 core, and so for Ivy E all the CPU's were based on just the low end 6 core die, vs Sandy where they needed to use the 8 core die to get 6 cores.ludikraut - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
I really hope you guys get an ASUS X99-E WS in to run through its paces. Some nice boards here, but just not in the same league feature and layout-wise.l8r)
Ian Cutress - Sunday, September 28, 2014 - link
I've made a note :) Going to try and clear the backlog so we can get some others in!Etern205 - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
Sorry for the derail of this article, but has anyone notice Gigabyte also using some type of OC socket just like the Asus.http://www.legitreviews.com/gigabyte-ga-x99-soc-fo...
Ian Cutress - Sunday, September 28, 2014 - link
I have seen similar comments about this. The SOC Force LN2 board in that article is typically a limited run for extreme overclockers at GIGABYTE sponsored events. At this point we're not even sure exactly what ASUS or GIGABYTE is doing with the extra pins, or if they're doing different things with them. I have the standard SOC Force motherboard here, the one that end-users can buy, and it is using the standard X99 socket.