Question 1

Is this a decent board for overclocking? I plan to get a 5820k with it.

Accepted Answer

I was able to overclock to 4.7 with my 5830k using the Asus utility that the board comes with.  Its pretty impressive if you ask me.  I'm sure that the 5820k will get up there too.

Just be warned though, I purchased the board in October and they have not released one new fw update since.  The built in wireless causes my Windows 10 installation to BsOD on me when I try to use ICS or ethernet bridging, ultimately corrupting files (according to 'sfc /scannow') after a few times experiencing it.  It might be a driver issue, but they haven't updated those either.  There is another version of this exact board without the built in wireless.  I would look into that to save a little money and buy a real wireless card (I use a USB adapter) instead.  Other than that, it's a great board.

Question 2

Why is Windows 10 not supported?

Accepted Answer

It is "unofficially", I currently have windows 10 installed on this board and have not had any problems with it. I had more problems with windows 7 on this board then 10 so your mileage may vary.

Question 3

I noticed a couple of reviewers indicating their x99-m ws board would not run the samsung 950 PRO SSD at full speed. Has this issue been corrected in BIOS updates or is this a permanent dis-ability. I reviewed the ASUS BIOS update page, but it no longer shows all the previous BIOS updates with descriptions of what improvement each brought.  I'm running Win 7 and am aware i'd have to download Samsung's NVMe driver from their website. I just want to confirm it will run at full spec speeds?  Thanks in advance

Accepted Answer

I have had the Asus X99-M WS and Samsung 950 Pro running together for about one year now.  The M.2 limitation (only 2 lanes) is permanent and cannot be fixed with a BIOS update.  I ended up using an M.2 adapter in a PCIe port and am still only getting 16 Gbps bandwidth (PCI2.0 speed) vs. the max advertised connection bandwidth of 32 Gbps.  Benchmark results on the Samsung 950 Pro are 1154 MB/s sequential read (about half the rated speed), 1145 MB/s sequential write (at advertised speed), 175261 IOPS Random Read (about half of what it should be), and 87228 IOPS Random Write (~2/3).  There have also been no significant driver or Magician updates from Samsung (cannot use Rapid Mode with the 950 Pro).

Question 4

Is anyone running 64gb of RAM on this board? If so, what brand and speed?

Accepted Answer

I am running 64GB of Corsair DDR4 2800 on XMP at its stated 1.35V. No issues whatsoever.

Question 5

Is the M.2 slot on this board capable of running at 32gb/s speeds?  Looking through the manual it only advertises eSata speeds of  10gb/s.

I hope to match this motherboard with a Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD, two 980ti GPU, and a 40-lane i7 5930 CPU.

Will there be enough lanes for everything to run ideally? GPUs each @16x, and M.2 Gen3 x4("turbo"/"Ultra" speeds), with 4x PCIe lanes leftover?

Thanks!

Accepted Answer

No - The M.2 port on this board runs at Gen 2.0 x 2 lanes.  I have a Samsung 950 Pro with a 28 lane CPU and had to abandon the M.2 port and use a PCIe adapter.  Even then could only get 16Gbps bandwidth.  Sequential and Random reads are about half of advertised SSD speed (with single GPU).  Theoretically, according to the board's manual, your proposed connection would work (with a PCIe adapter), but I'm skeptical since mine is not working as advertised.

Question 6

I was wondering if the ASUS X99-M WS motherboard can utilize more than 64gb of ram if its ECC Registered memory, such as Samsung DDR-4 2400 ECC Reg. memory sticks?

Accepted Answer

nope, 16GB/slot max, ECC/Registered are supported by Xeon PCU's, but no increase in capacity

Question 7

I looked at the QVL and it has not updated since 2015, I ordered CORSAIR Vengeance LED 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Memory Kit Model CMU32GX4M4C3000C15  so Im wondering if I should return these prior to getting this board due to compatibility issues, anyone else using memory not listed under the QVL?

Accepted Answer

DDR4 is DDR4. The Asus configuration tweaker will autodetect and match the memory cycles to your DDR4 memory. I used Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2800 (PC4 22400) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-2800C15D-32GVR (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231945). Even though the memory explicitly stated Z170 and was not found in the QVL, I was able to use it and overclock it on this x99 board. I made a 3 part vid titled "i7-5930k 64GB Hot rod Cool mod" documenting my assembling my PC with this board.

Question 8

Does this board have ECC memory support?

Accepted Answer

yes, but only for Xeon processors (not i7) according to the manual

Question 9

Does this have a thunderbolt header?

Accepted Answer

It does not. It has  (2) USB 2.0 and (1) USB 3.0 headers.

Question 10

Does this board support Broadwell-E natively? Or do I have to do a bios update before installing a 6800k?

Accepted Answer

You will need a bios update.

Questions & Answers