Question 1

Does this (or any X99 chipset board) support using DDR3?  I'm looking to move to Haswell-E and would like to put off replacing 32GB of RAM for a bit.  I know performance will be better with proper DDR4.

Accepted Answer

There is no X99 motherboard that supports DDR3 because, the (3) LGA2011-V3 CPUs (5820k, 5930k, 5960X) only support DDR4, and that's why all the X99 motherboards are made for DDR4 ram.

Question 2

what is the best memory to use with this MB?
I understand it likes some manufactures memory better than others

Accepted Answer

I purchased G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4 2800 memory with this and it's been working well. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231800

Question 3

Will this motherboard support SATA III? Or better yet what SDD would you recommend in use with this motherboard?

Accepted Answer

To answer your second question - assuming you meant ssd (solid state drive) i would recommend a pcie ssd, like the ocz revodrives. This mobo has the relatively new 40x pcie channels so you could sli two pcie 16x gpus and a pcie 8x ssd for example. This is what I was planning to do but unfortunately never got around to actually getting the revodrive.

Question 4

Is it really a big deal that there is no M.2 slot?

Accepted Answer

For me it was not a big deal that there was no M.2 slot.  My last computer I built was back in 2005 so I could care less about M.2 slot.  This MB is way faster than anything I have had before.  Plus I like the warranty this came with.  EVGA products for me have lasted the test of time.

Question 5

what is the recommended power supply for this mother board?

Accepted Answer

I got the EVGA 120-G2-1300-XR (1300watt)

You could go with something less like 800watts but I'm running 2 GFX cards and a powerhouse CPU, plus EVGA is a solid brand and its modular. I didn't skimp on cost and have been very pleased.

Basically though, you need to make sure you have:
1 x 24pin ATX
2 x 4pin EPS12v (can be labled as 4+4 sometimes)
And then all the extra SATA & PCI-E stuff you want

But the 2 x 4pin ESP12v is important! Most MOBO's only need one, this puppy needs 2!

Hope that helps!

Question 6

Does this mobo not come with the standard I/O covering?

Accepted Answer

Came with all usual mother board bells and whistles, don't regret the purchase at all.

Question 7

I was wondering since this is quad channel for the RAM. Does that mean i get the most out of the Memory if i used 4 RAM chips instead of 2?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you get the most from the processor if you use exactly the same number of memory DIMMs as there are memory channels. If you use fewer then the memory system won't interleave memory addresses (which distributes the load across channels better), and if you use two DIMMs per channel the the latency is one cycle more.
With that said there are a few workloads that require 64 GB (8 x 8GB) to perform best, but otherwise I recommend 32 GB (4 x 8GB) or 16GB (4 x 4GB). Also be sure to get DDR4!

Question 8

Does this support RAID aswell?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does support Raid. For full details check out EVGA's website. The red blocks on the Mobo are all for raid (up to 6 drives) the black are for non raid drives.

Question 9

In sli mode, do the cards run at x16/x16 or x16/x8?

Accepted Answer

16x/16x if you use slots 1/4

Question 10

Newegg lists this as having two internal USB 3.0 connectors for the case's front panel.  According to the pictures, I can only identify one on the bottom right edge of the motherboard.  Where is the other internal USB 3.0 connector?

Accepted Answer

it is a 2-port USB3.0 single connector. 
1 connector breaks out into 2 ports on the front I/O

Questions & Answers