Pros: A great x299 board for gamers and enthusiasts, and has plenty of ports and CPU support.

Cons: There is a show-stopping issue within this board, and within all Intel x299 chipset boards and their associated CPUs -- if you buy this board and any CPU that it supports, you will not be able to play 4k/UHD BluRay content from an attached BluRay drive. At production time, this board supported 4k BluRay playback with the right hardware connected to it. AFTER these boards were shipped to retailers and thousands of customers bought them, Intel and/or their partners added a DRM "gotcha" to the requirements for 4k/UHD BluRay playback, making it impossible to play licensed 4k BluRay content on this chipset and CPU. They added an enhanced requirement for something called 'Intel SGX', and for some reason they did not include support for SGX in the chipset firmware or drivers and there is NO LEGAL WORKAROUND. If you bought this board and a CPU, you may get stuck with them unless you RMA them quickly!

Overall Review: This board and the Intel x299 chipset would be GREAT for 4k enthusiasts and gamers alike, but the fundamental issue with Intel not deploying SGX support for this chipset is a show-stopper. DO NOT BUY unless you do not plan to play much 4k content other than video games.

Pros: Price

Cons: I have found too many bad disks in my archive, and now I do not trust the 20+ "optical quantum" BD-R DL disks that I have already burned. I havent seen this sort of unreliable results since the mid 2000s. I wont be buying this brand again, low cost or otherwise.

Overall Review: I wont be buying this brand again. My confidence is gone.

Pros: Fast, cool, easy to install and configure through the UEFI BIOS.

Cons: Show-stopping, post-production issue to do with the the x299 chipset. Intel recently changed its specifications for this CPU and the x299 chipset to NOT include support for something called 'Intel SGX'. This is an arbitrary DRM add-on that needs to be installed into firmware, but Intel has decided not to install it. As a result, no system built on the x299 chipset will be able to play 4k BluRays. Intel confirmed this with me today, and customers should BE AWARE OF THIS limitation before buying any CPU in this family!

Overall Review: Buy a 'K' series socket 1151 CPU and 300 series motherboard, or be stuck with a flawed platform. They are the SAME PRICE as this CPU and chipset, but they support the SGX nonsense so that you can play 4k BluRay content.

I CANCELLED my order, which had not been processed, charged to my card, or shipped, and received a confirmation of that cancellation. Then, this company CHARGED ME ANYWAY and I am now reporting their unauthorized charge to my account as fraud. This has repeatedly happened since NewEgg tried to copy other online "marketplace" sellers, who are unaccountable, unreliable, and will often lie about stock levels just to get a transaction. Just because other large online sellers do this does not mean it is a good idea, or that your business will survive it.