Pros: Cheap
NVMe support (NVMe controller info box does not display anything and in 3005 BIOS update it is not there anymore)
USB 3.1 (Transfer Express option allows connecting 2 ASUS only computers together to transfer files over 3.0 USB, but that's already outdated since there's 3.1 and not on the market yet and probably as dead as SATA EXPRESS - read my edit below)
Nice BIOS (updated 3005 changes the color from brushed steel to blue, adds support for the 10 core CPUs)
Board display reads AA (system transferred into ACPI mode / interrupt controller in APIC mode) for power savings

Cons: Sometimes will not boot with USB 3.0 flash drive connected.
Boot screen flashes 2-3 times before loading Windows.
HDD light does not work (don't know if it's the board's fault or not).
4x 4GB RAM sticks read as dual channel mode instead of quad channel in multiple benchmark software programs and when it does read quad channel after switching them around it only reads 12GB. I just put in 32GB to fill all the slots and take care of that problem. As others have stated, I probably didn't push the RAM in hard enough.

Other Thoughts: I read a lot of reviews for X99 boards, and they ALL seem to have problems for some reason. But they are required for the 2 5820 CPUs I bought. I had a Gigabyte that the shop put in a new system, but the M.2 slot does not support 3.0 x4 or NVMe, so I went with this one and now ordered another. I like the BIOS screens, but for some reason the AI Suite will not install. It did one time but I found it useless. Also the Gb board that supports 3.0 x4 has problems with the 950 PRO running at slow speeds, so went with this. I've also noticed these X99 boards can't seem to keep the boot order straight when changing them, and they fail to boot with devices in the USB 3.0 ports and after changing boot order or adding/removing SSDs W7 locks up at the splash screen sometimes. Some have gone and disabled the USB ports altogether. If your device manager has some device it cannot find, go to the download center and get the probe sensor software.

I don't buy into all the marketing HS of the ridiculously overpriced boards, 3333 RAM, SLI or Crossfire, water cooling, 300 fans, and 1000W PSUs. I've been using computers and social media since the 80s with a Macintosh $1,300 20MB SCSI at 2MB/s, and then 486DX33 and VESA MB, running my warez BBS with Fidonet. I have never seen so many poor reviews for motherboards across the board for these X99s. But since I like having 6 cores even though I don't game or do video editing for now. My 486DX was overkill for the time, and so is a 5820.

As for the 20% power savings, my CyberPower UPS says it is using 80 watts compared to the Gigabyte Gaming 5 that was at 108. I'm using a 600W(Haswell support) Corsair, 27" BenQ VA panel, EVGA 960, 32GB 2400. The other was a 480W(no Haswell support Logisys), Radeon 5770, 8GB 2666. Both i7 5820.

EDIT: Here's a review of using USB 3.1 and SSDs in RAID0. I do not recommend using RAID0 for anything. Just wait for flash drives and SSDs to catch up, or get a 950 PRO or use RAMDRIVE and a 10Gb NIC between 2 PCs. http://www.overclockers.com/usb-3-1-testing-asus-goes-usb-3-1-capable-motherboards/

Review of Transfer Express http://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/luke-hill/using-asus-transfer-express-a-multi-platform-control-hub/

Pros: +has 2 USB 3.0 headers in different locations in case your 3rd GPU blocks the one on the bottom of the board.
+supports up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM
+loaded with lots of "bells and whistles"

Cons: Not all "bells and whistles" work together
-PCI-EX16_4 SLOT is disabled when M.2 device is detected (In other words no 3-way SLI with M.2 boot drive combo)
-Has support for SATA EXPRESS, but don't see any drives sold anywhere with this format YET. Not even on Newegg.
-PCI-EX16_2 SLOT runs in x1 mode with USB 3.1 ports enabled or x4 mode without USB 3.1 enabled.
-DDR4 RAM speed supports
64GB (2800 Mhz)
32GB (3000 Mhz)
16GB (3200+ Mhz)

Other Thoughts: Upgraded my rig with this mobo and posted a video of it on Youtube. Just search for B.A.BEAST 4.0 update.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for sharing your review on the ASUS X99-A/USB 3.1 Motherboard. Please accept our apologies for any unfortunate experience this has caused. Which CPU do you have installed? The 3-Way SLI configuration is not supported when using a 28-LANE CPU. When the M.2 x4 slot is occupied, the PCIe x16_4 slot will be disabled. We appreciate your feedback on this matter and I will be letting the related department know about your experience for continuous improvements to ASUS X99 motherboards. If you need a help with any technical questions or general inquiries you can reach me at cl-nestor@asus.com using N160438366 as reference to your case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty – US Support

Pros: the board is stable once everything is running and raid 5 is smooth on it.

Cons: bought corsair play ddr4-3000 memory and it wont even try to post. cant post unless the blk clock is at 100 mhz no matter what the speed of the ram is set to. Right now the ram is at 2600 mhz, when i had it at 2800 initally. When I try to turn on the computer at times it doesnt turn on and just turns itself back off. I wish i could go back and undo this purchase, it's the worst choice in motherboards I have ever picked in my life and Ive been building computers for me and my friends since 2000. Unless Asus replaces this board themselves with another product on their line at their cost, I won't be endorsing their motherboards in the future. I thought i could go back to Asus after taking a break on my last personal board, but this is really upsetting and infuriating for me.

Other Thoughts: I'm just disappointed that I came back to Asus and I wish I didn't

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for taking the time to share your review on your ASUS product. Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience in regards to your memory. Please accept our apologies for any inconvience this experience has caused. Which BIOS version are you currently operating on? What is the part number to the DIMM kits you are using? Are you using 1 or 2 pairs of DIMM kits? Try testing your motherboard with 1 RAM installed and insure stability and testing for potential defective RAM. Increase System Agent and IO voltage. Do it gradually until your system becomes stable. 1.30V is max for both rails. For improved system stability and the latest microcode for your CPU please update you UEFI to verison 2101 located on our Online ASUS Help Desk: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99AUSB_31/HelpDesk_Download/. Download the BIOS and extract the file to a fat formatted usb stick. Then navigate in bios to the tools menu and use the EZflash utility to do the flash. Let your system update the firmware as needed. Do not power down even if your system sits with a blank screen for 10 minutes or so. If the issues persist, I'd advise to contact me for further analysis on QVL parts. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me at cl-nestor@asus.com using N160438104 as reference to your case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty – US Support

Pros: ASUS X99-A LBA 2011-v3, i7-5820K, G-Skill V series DDR4 3000/PC4 24000, ARCTIC Freezer i11 cooler.

Everything worked right out of the box. BOIS was up to date. Default BIOS setup resulted in PassMark about 6% higher than average for 5820K.

I found it difficult to over-clock beyond ~10%. Mostly failed Prime95, or over-heated very quickly. Settled on ~10% over PassMark average. 14K+

I'm guessing the closer you get to the max clock-rate of the series, the more intel is selling them at the rate they can actually run... K series or not.

Idles at about 30C. Prime95 goes to 70C.

Still an ASUS fan. (except their monitors, they always die...)

Cons: Over clocking control is a little confusing. ASUS spent too much time making it look cool, and not on simplicity of use. and, I wish I could have over-clocked to 20%.... oh well.

Pros: Well it works kind of but it is super buggy.

Cons: Memory is set to 2133mhz default and it is still after setting X.M.P.
Only works with intel rapid storage enabled, which sets the sata ports to raid mode making boots seriously slow.
Fixed in the latest bios but was an issue, you had to go in the UEFI and disable USB boot or the board would get stuck at windows splash screen and just crash after a while.
Like others have stated already overclocking is not possible even using their buggy AI suite III.
Asus has let me down with 100% of their products including my old X79 Rampage IV extreme and my now sold G751 laptop.
awful quality control more concerned with looks than anything else. Oh forgot to mention the incredibly hot r9 390 that I have. I will just steer clear from the for the foreseeable future.

Other Thoughts: Do not buy this joke of a board Go with another brand if you can. Now to see if I can sucker someone on e-------bay have been running this board since December waiting for Asus to release a proper bios but i guess they really just care about taking your cash.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for taking the time to share your review. Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience in regards to your memory. Which BIOS version are you currently operating on? What is the part number to the DIMM kits you are using? Are you using 1 or 2 pairs of DIMM kits? Try testing your motherboard with 1 RAM installed and insure stability and testing for potential defective RAM. Increase System For improved system stability please update you UEFI to verison 2101 located on our Online ASUS Help Desk: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99AUSB_31/HelpDesk_Download/. Download the BIOS and extract the file to a fat formatted usb stick. Then navigate in bios to the tools menu and use the EZflash utility to do the flash. Let your system update the firmware as needed. Do not power down even if your system sits with a blank screen for 10 minutes or so. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me at cl-nestor@asus.com using N160386044 as reference to this case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty – US Support

Pros: -Price not too bad
-Plenty of slots
-Aesthetics
-Compares well with similar price range boards

Cons: -None

Other Thoughts: This PC this board is used on is mostly used with Network Virtualization on VMs that are resource heavy. This board has had no issues handling everything Ive installed on it. I would recommend to anyone

Pros: great mobo all around for all users a specially the add of xmp option. great of the idea of using q connector which makes it so easy to plug in the panel connection. it is good soild mobo, your not missing a hole lot from other x99 models execpt some bells and whistles. I have gotten my ram oc'ed 3000 and 4.8 oc cpu.
i thought i was pretty cool that it has a white led behind crystal sound chip so you can see the lane.

Cons: none yet

Pros: Looks nice, runs my 3200mhz ram at 3200mhz

Cons: Whever you overclock cpu cache/cpu the system refuses to post. It doesnt post at all. I had to remove the motherboard battery every time it failed... over 100+ times.....

Motherboard cannot post with 125 bclk or 125 boot strap. It should be able to.

Cache was unstable at 3600mhz no matter the voltage.

Other Thoughts: Other ppl can overclock to 4.5ghz and 4ghz cpu cache. This board is not meant for that sadly despite its $250 price tag. VRMs get burning hot when overclocking, they burn my finger.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We value your review and sharing your experience with the X99-A/USB 3.1 Motherboard. You would think this motherboard can't overclock a CPU. wouldn't you? Please understand that all CPU's overclock differently. What CPU are you using? What core voltage are you using when trying to achieve 4.5 ghz? Are you operating on manual or adaptive voltage for overclocking on your system? If you haven't already, update your UEFI to Version 2001 for the latest microcode enhancements for your CPU. Please provide me with more details on the settings you are applying so I can assist you in achieving a stable overclock. You contact me at cl-nestor@asus.com using N160336224 for reference. I'd be glad to help with any technical questions, overclocking tips, or any general inquiries.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyalty - US Support
https://www.asus.com/us/support/callus

Pros: This is a good MOBO, I am not a super nerd so keep that in mind. it has handled all of my components and my relentless tinkering. The bios is not 100 percent intuitive but can be navigated well and has a lot of features.
make sure if you decide to raid that you follow the instruction manual directions. I tried to use the bios raid setup but win8.1 would not let me install the OS on that raid. the manual asks you to ctrl+I during POST to bring another way to raid the drives which worked perfectly.
I love this mobo and am happy that I purchased it. I still have plenty of room for expansion. maybe a second graphics card, or upping my ram to 64gb, or maybe a PCIe device or two. possibilities are open with this mobo.

Cons: did not find any yet, except I wish I had an extra usb3.0 slot.

Pros: None

Cons: Has issue with posting and sometimes hangs on boot. Sometimes wont post for 3-4 tries. I also have issue trying to update to the newest bios from 1901 to 2101 as the bios says its unable to read a proper bios.

The board is plagued with issues with bios updating to booting. I have had 3 asus boards in the past and this was the worst experience I have ever had. Stay away!

Other Thoughts: Asus x99/3.1
Intel 5820k
970gtx
4x4GB Corsair DDR4 2800
EVGA 850W PSU
Corsair Hydro H60 cooler
Antec 900

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for informing us on your experience with the ASUS X99U/3.1 Motherboard. I'm sorry to hear about your booting and BIOS issues. How often does these issues occur? What are your hardware specifications? Is your memory and power supply provided the qualified vendor list? Please make sure all your parts are compatible before building your PC. Do you have an exact part number to the DIMM kit(2) are you using? Are you using 1 x 4DIMM kit or 2 x 2DIMM kits to reach 16 GB of RAM?Also which method are you using to update your UEFI? For more information on how to properly update your UEFI on your X99-A/U3.1 motherboard please visit: http://event.asus.com/2012/mb/USB_BIOS_Flashback_GUIDE/. If you need further assistance on you issues please contact me directly for personalized service at cl-nestor@asus.com. Please use this number N160310915 as reference to your case.

Thank you for choosing ASUS!

Best Regards,
-Nestor
ASUS Customer Loyatlty - US Support