Question 1

Do you need all memory slots filled to run this motherboard?

Accepted Answer

No, according to the manual only 1 is absolutely necessary. Though I personally wouldn't recommend only filling a single channel, as you'll only get single channel memory mode. I bought this board when it came out and I've been running only two sticks until recently for dual channel (this past week finally upgraded to 16gb quad channel). It has 8 DIMM slots so I wouldn't worry about getting a couple of "low" capacity 4gb sticks for at least dual channel mode.

Question 2

I know this has a LGA 2011 socket, but would the Intel Core i7-5820K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.3GHz LGA 2011-v3 be compatible with this motherboard's chipset?

Accepted Answer

Dear conor o:
I bought this motherboard with the core i7-5820 Haswell-E cpu. It fit the motherboard without any problems and is specifically designed to work with this motherboard's X99 chipset. I am sure you probably know this, but this motherboard and all X99 chipset motherboards only work with DDR4 memory. There is NO BACKWARD compatibility with DDR3 memory or Haswell i7-4000 series or 3000 series cpu's (e.g. i7-4820 or 3820 etc.).

Question 3

Will this ram work with this board?

ADATA XPG Z1 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2800 (PC4-22400)

Accepted Answer

The supported RAM types are DDR4 3333(OC) / 3110(OC) / 3000(OC) / 2750(OC) / 2666(OC) / 2600(OC) / 2400(OC) / 2200(OC) / 2133

Question 4

I have a 4TByte SATA WD drive that is not being recognized.  I am running Windows 8.1.  The drive works in my Windows 7 machine.  Is the a motherboard problem?

Accepted Answer

Did you use Electrostatic precautions when handling the motherboard and/or drive?  If not you may have damaged one of the components.

If this isn't the case, make sure you initialize the drive through disk management utility (use windows search function).  Your drive should be in there as an unpartitioned raw volume, which you can activate.  Should be recognized in windows after that.

Question 5

Is this board compatible with DDR3 RAM? I'm not going to be doing anything in terms of overclocking so DDR3 should be fine.

Accepted Answer

This board has ddr4 slots. Ddr3 slots have different pins and won't even fit into ddr4 slots. Sorry.

Question 6

Will this MB support 2 or 3 Harddrives? I want to use an SSD and 2-3 Regular HD.
thanks
Roger

Accepted Answer

You can plug in 10 SATA drives, so there is plenty of room for expansion. Additionally there is a SATA Express connection as well as a M.2 connection.  But you will lose two SATA conections if you use the M.2.

Question 7

Does anyone use a Corsair cooler with this mobo? The built-in plate on the back interferes with the H60 (cwch60) Corsair backplate, and I can't mount the cooler.

Accepted Answer

Socket LGA 2011 and 2011-v3 do not require the backplate. If you purchased the H60 prior to 2012, you may not have received the correct 2011 standoff screws. Send an RMA to Corsair through their website, and they will send you the correct screws at no charge.

Question 8

Can this board support LGA 2011? I ask this because the specs say LGA 2011-v3. Thanks

Accepted Answer

LGA 2011-v3 is not backward compatible with LGA 2011. The sockets have a slightly different shape and configuration. LGA 2011-v3 will only accept core i7-5820, 5930 or 5960. Any of the older core i7's will not work with this or any other LGA 2011-v3 motherboard.

Question 9

The specs page on here says that there are (front panel) 4x usb 3.0 compatible. I only see (from the pics provided) 1x connector for USB 3.0.... Isn't that only for 2x front panel usb 3.0?

Accepted Answer

There's a special red USB front panel connector that gives you the other two. Its "special" because it sports MSIs fast charging technology. Basically if you connect your front panel usbs to this red connector, then plug a device into one of your front usb 3 ports, you can use MSI fast charging utility to activate the fast charge tech that coverts extra data channels into power channels, and makes your USB 3 ports act as if you were plugging your device into the wall for charging (their by charging much faster)

No data syncing can occur over those USB ports while the fast charging utility is on, so if you want to move music or other things to a phone/tablet or whatever else you have plugged in, you have to disable the utility.

I've used it to charge my phone and it did a pretty good job, it was akin to using my adapter / wall plug.

Question 10

Does this motherboard come with sound and graphics cards?

Accepted Answer

I have no issues with this motherboard it runs fine for me. It comes with sound but the usual stuff for it and pretty sure no  video card is included. Anyways other than that great video card

Questions & Answers