EVGA X299 Dark Enthusiast Motherboard Takes Flight For Intel Core-X Series Processors
It is almost a given that any new motherboard appearing on the market will have a bunch of flashing lights, no matter which chipset it is based on. Not so with EVGA's X299 Dark motherboard. The company decided to go in a different direction with a sweet looking motherboard that is performance tuned for an Intel Core-X series processor. Power users will find many amenities here, including no less than three fans to keep critical components cool.
"Some motherboard companies believe it is enough to tell you that their boards are fast. Others put enough RGB LEDs on their boards to make you think racing lights will make your board go faster. EVGA could have designed a board like those...or it could engineer the X299 Dark—a motherboard line renowned for being the top choice of the world's best overclockers. A motherboard that has already broken 12 World Records…so far," EVGA brags.
The X299 Dark is a large size EATX motherboard with a 12-layer PCB design aimed at overclockers and enthusiasts. EVGA went heavy on the gold with this board, plating the edge of the X299 Dark with the precious substance for superior shielding and using 300 percent more gold in the CPU socket to improve conductivity and produce a cleaner signal with less resistance/impedance. Whether all that gold actually makes a difference is up for debate, but for anyone chasing a world overclocking record, every advantage is a welcome one.
Those who choose to the push the limit will also benefit from a highly efficient and actively cooled 16-phase PWM, 100 percent solid state capacitors, external BCLK / clock generators, switches to disable the PCIe slots, a ProbeIT connector for hooking up a digital multimeter to monitor accurate voltages in real-time, a toggle to switch between three BIOS profiles, a configurable LED post indicator, PCIe and DIMM status LEDs, and onboard clear CMOS, reset, and power buttons.
For storage, the X299 Dark has eight SATA ports, including six from Intel's PCH and two more from ASMedia's ASM1061 controller. There's also room to install up to three M.2 SSDs, all of which are covered in large, actively cooled shroud, and two U.2 ports.
Other notable features include four-way SLI support, four DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB of DDR4-4000+ memory, eight native USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.1 ports (one is Type-A and one is Type-C), two GbE LAN ports, Creative Sound Core3D audio with output amplifiers, and right-angle power, fan, and USB 3.0 headers.
EVGA is only offering up the X299 Dark to its Elite members. If you are part of the club, you can buy this motherboard for $500 (hit the source link). The kitchen sink is extra.
