Question 1

Does this support two gpu's?

Accepted Answer

The PCIe3x4 lane configuration allows for Slot 1 at 16x, Slot 2 at 8x, Slot 3 at 16x, and Slot 5 at 0x. This configuration is only supported if you have a 44 lane processor, which is the Intel Skylake design. If you are considering the Kaby Lake processor, only 28 lanes are available, which means the two GPU's will run at 16x and 8x respectfully, not 16x and 16x. Common between both the Skylake and Kaby lake, is that Slot 1 and Slot 3 are used only for the GPU's, so best to keep that in mind when selecting and installing the components, since most high-end GPU's are two slots Wide. Trying to use Slot 2 for a GPU would defeat Slot 3 which is 16x lane in the Skylake group, and 8x lane in the Kaby Lake group, therefore, best to plan wisely.

Question 2

Does this board support Nvme?

Accepted Answer

I do not have NVMe modules installed on my MOBO, but I plan to in the future.  Page 9 of the ASRock X299 Taichi XE Quick Installation Guide says that this MOBO supports NVMe as boot disks.  That statement by ASRock is important because I have read about NVMe boot problems, not with this motherboard, but in general when builders use NVMe modules in a RAID configuration.  Page 34 and 35 of the Quick Installation Guide lists the supported M2 SSDs tested by ASRock and they spell out which M2 modules are NVMe.  ASRock does not test every NVMe in the market and theses lists are sometimes updated.  I encourage you to download the Quick installation Guide because Page 24 will tell you which modules will work in conjunction with SATA connections.

Question 3

Will this work with a i9-9900k?

Accepted Answer

This will not. This is for the x299 chipset, LGA 2066. You will need a core-x processor for this board.

You are looking for LGA1151 chipset if you want to use the i9-9900k line of processors. One like this I believe would work for you: 
ASRock Z390 Taichi LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z390 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard

Question 4

Can someone recommend PSU w/ dual XPS output for this MB? Or can you use PCI output into XPS? (high end CPU, single GTX 1080) thanks

Accepted Answer

The word "XPS" might imply that the power supply is from Dell? It depends on how you define XPS? I assume you need a PS that would have dual outputs, or two 12V rails for powering two high-end graphics cards, this is my guess. In this situation, I would narrow your search to PS's that produce at least 1000w max, and incorporate (2) independent 12v rails. This PS would be in the "server" class of PS's. Remember, it is never recommended that you use two PS's in tandem, and if so, you must be very careful about this configuration.

Question 5

I'm really confused about SATA "lanes". If I have one M.2 drive, how many normal SATA drives can I have without sharing lanes?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the type of m.2 drive.  This only becomes an issue if you use m.2 “SATA” drives (the ones with two notches in the pcb).

If you use m.2 “pcie” drives which have one notch in the pcb, you can still use all of the SATA ports.

I believe only two of the three m.2 slots are capable of taking an m.2 “SATA” drive, and for each one, you loose one SATA port.

Question 6

Do the dual NIC's on the TAICHI XE LGA 2066 support LACP link aggregation under Windows 10?

Accepted Answer

Teaming of 2 or more NIC'S from same vendor are supported by Windows 1607 Anniversary update, RS2 forward. These Teams will support Static Load Balanced links, and other types of Load Failover, and Load Aggregation setups. Currently, I use the Static Link Aggregation, since I use this board not as a server, more for content creation and games. Intel has very good documentation on Team types and their uses for these NIC's , the 219V, and 211AT, so you should have no problem setting the correct TEAM for your use.

Questions & Answers