GIGABYTE X99 DESIGNARE EX Motherboard Review

[section label=”Prices/Where to Buy”]

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Price / Where to Buy

US $419 – [easyazon_link identifier=”B01FY8CC4E” locale=”US” tag=”back2gaming-20″]GIGABYTE X99 DESIGNARE EX on Amazon[/easyazon_link] PH Php19100 – PCHub

[easyazon_infoblock align=”none” identifier=”B01FY8CC4E” locale=”US” tag=”back2gaming-20″]

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[section label=”Introduction”]

A few weeks ago we were witness to Intel’s launch of the new Broadwell-E processor including the most powerful consumer desktop processor right now, the Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition featuring 10-cores. Together with this launch, board partners are preparing new models for this launch and while its not really necessary and any of the older X99 boards will fully support this new release but with the arrival of U.2 drives as well as many new trends for motherboard design, its high-time the platform gets a new face lift thanks to board partners.

In this review we’ll tale a look at one of the new launch models we saw during Computex 2016 from GIGABYTE and is one of their new flagship models for the mainstream market dubbed the GIGABYTE X99 DESIGNARE EX. This new model boasts a new board design and theme for the GIGABYTE motherboard family and is the current flagship of their X99 lineup. Read on to find-out more about the new GIGABYTE X99 DESIGNARE EX!

Gigabyte X99 Designare Ex Motherboard Review — GIGABYTE X99 DESIGNARE EX Motherboard Review

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The X99 Chipset

The accompanying chipset for the Haswell-E (and now the Broadwell-E) CPUs is also a 9-series chipset, codenamed Wellsburg and official dubbed Intel X99. Much of the duties of the north bridge have been relegated and built-in to the CPU during the past couple of years and the X99 chipset is no difference. This means that Haswell-E CPUs will communicate directly with the chipset via DMI.

X99 will offer ten SATA3 connections, 8 USB2.0 and 6 USB3.0 ports, and depending on your CPU you can get up to 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes.

Together with the X99 chipset is support for DDR4 memory. DDR4 will offer timings far higher than DDR3 but at a lower voltage which starts out 1.2v. Most DDR4 memory will be XMP2.0 ready and make setting and getting the rated speeds easy. Also, as mentioned, Haswell-E supports quad-channel memory which offers more bandwidth than its normal dual-channel configurations. Couple that with the higher speed ratings of DDR4 and you get more memory bandwidth at lower voltages.

[section label=”Intel Broadwell-E”]

Broadwell-E Lineup
	6950X	6900K	6850K	6800K
Cores	10	8	6	6
Threads	20	16	12	12
Base CPU Freq	3.0 GHz	3.2 GHz	3.6 GHz	3.4 GHz
Turbo CPU Freq	3.5 GHz	3.7 GHz	3.8 GHz	3.6 GHz
TDP	140W
Memory Speed	DDR4-2400
L3 Cache	25MB	20MB	15MB	15MB
PCIe Lanes	40	40	40	28
Price	$1723	$1089	$617	$434

Computex 2016 saw the formal launch of Intel’s new Broadwell-E processor and as we’ve mentioned there may not be much to see in terms of features in the platform side for motherboard, the processors

[section label=”Features”]

Supports Intel Core i7 6950X Processor Extreme Edition
Support Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0
Quad Channel, Registered / Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 8 DIMMs
Intel USB 3.1 with USB Type-C & PD 2.0 36W Support
Premium 3-Way PCIe x16 Multi-Graphics Support

[section label=”Closer Look”]

GIGABYTE is basically taking the design of their last release and refining it to include shrouds for the audio area and the M.2 socket area. The X99 Designare EX features a white and blue motiff with a predominantly black and silver theme on the PCB. All the slots on this board is reinforced with a metal brace including both DIMM and PCIe slots.

There are a total of 5 PCI Express x16 slots here for multi-GPU configurations. The CPU will dictate just how much bandwidth you have if ever you want to utilize all these slots. A Core i7-6950X will be able to to accommodate all the slots. Do note that the M.2 and U.2 connectors share PCI-e bandwidth so kindly refer to the manual to see what kind of configuration you end up with if you decide to saturate those.

The X99 Designare EX is powered by an 8-phase power delivery design and is one of GIGABYTE’s most impressive design to date combining their digital driver designs and high-endurance components for the best power delivery for the latest CPUs.

There’s a really nice spacing between the primary x16 PCI-e slots and this is a nice touch for adequate cooling even with the ton of PCIe slots we have here. In-between the slots is a shroud cover for the M.2 slot.

GIGABYTE implements an amplified Realtek ALC1150 audio chip on the X99 Designare EX. In terms of audio quality, their implementation is really powerful compared to majority of tweaked ALC1150 solutions from mainstream offerings.

The rear I/O is a rich assortment of ports with a legacy PS/2 port, USB3.0 ports, USB3.1 port, a Thunderbolt3 Type C port, a DisplayPort-IN port, a a pair of Ethernet ports, audio ports and WIFI antenna plugs.

Internally we have a ton of SATA ports with a single SATA Express array in there, 10 SATAIII ports and a pair of U.2 connectors.

Here’s a close up of the rear I/O shield.

Taking off the M.2 shroud we see the WIFI card and a hidden x1 PCI-e slot as well as an M.2 slot.

GIGABYTE APP CENTER: AMBIENT LED

GIGABYTE APP Center Overview by back2gaming

[section label=”Performance Testing”]

As this is our first X99 motherboard, we’ll be sharing raw screenshots of our benchmarks and we’ll update it to reflect our actual benchmarks once we stock up on our final settings. We’re actually changing our format for this new release but for now we’ll share with you this way as our processor in-use will be the i7-6950X which we are still exploring.

These are presented for reference and relative comparison only. Our database will be up once we get a final setup for our X99 Broadwell E test system.

[section label=”User Experience & Conclusion”]

The GIGABYTE X99 Designare EX is one the first X99 refresh boards to hit the market straight off the launch of the Broadwell-E platform and given the experience GIGABYTE has had with their previous X99 run, this refresh seems a bit more mature than those releases with the X99 Designare EX showing off a multitude of features that really go well with today’s standards. The board has excellent layout and is perfect dual-GPU systems particularly dual-slot ones that need to breath in air beneath them.

The build quality is excellent is nothing short of spectacular. The subtle print on the PCB gives a nice touch on detailing and overall, the look of the board isn’t boring or tired like the one’s we’ve seen before (I’m looking at you, X99 GAMING G1 WIFI) and is a nice breath of fresh air for fans who don’t want to bother with those gaming things. Functionality, there’s not much in terms of added features but what’s on the board is excellent by themselves starting off with the BIOS and the board supporting quad-channel DDR4-3200 straight off the box. Thunderbolt3 Type C may still be trying to gain a foothold in the market but future devices will soon adopt it and professionals who may need to work with Mac devices will probably have this feature in mind as one of the deciding factors. The Ambient LED is a nice touch and gives the board an adaptability in terms of design although the blue highlights on the board may turn away some who are looking for a themed build.

Still, at $420 the GIGABYTE X99 DESIGNARE EX is quite possibly aimed at professionals and power users who need a solid platform to house their new Broadwell-E platform or at least step-up their Haswell-E system until they’re ready to upgrade. The features are all there and for the price, there’s really nothing much you can complain about. Certainly one of the most professionally tuned option in the market right now, the GIGABYTE X99 DESIGNARE EX motherboard is a great choice for content creators, power users and professionals with its excellent build quality and feature set.