ASRock has announced a new Motherboard - the X299E-ITX, that's right, X299 on an ITX board...

[WelshDdraig]

Source #1: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X299E-ITXac/index.asp
Source #2: https://overclock3d.net/news/cpu_mainboard/asrock_announces_their_x299e-itx_ac_motherboard/1

 

Yes, you read the title correctly, ASRock - in their infinite abilities, has managed to out-do themselves on the already crazy X99E-ITX, and has somehow

managed to get a full X299 socket onto the ITX platform. 

Of Course, some compromises have to be made, for example:

 

1) Rather than 2 full DDR4 DIMM slots, they have opted for SODIMM - on the upside, that now means Quad Channel Support

2) The M.2 slot now uses a vertical connection - similar to Asus' DIMM.2
(However, there are also another 2 M.2 on the back of the board)

3) The board DOES NOT support Kabylake-X CPUs (So no PCI-e 16 lane chips)

 

The one thing I'm not too sure on is the Power Delivery - I think its mounted vertical - Which would make sense due to the already limited space on an ITX board, even without the huge X299 socket.

As to how they plan on cooling the Power delivery, I have no idea - however, ASRock has announced that Bitspower has created a Monoblock for the CPU & VRM.

 

No leaks on Price or Availability, as of yet.  

All I can say personally is - How? 
Like obviously it was possible as they have managed it, but my brain is going how have they managed it?
The VRM itself will kick out a lot of heat and looking at it, it looks like it doesn't have any form of a heatsink on the thing. (I could be, and hope, I'm wrong)
Given how X299s VRM has been a controversy - I will find this to be very interesting to see how ASRock will take care of it.

Aesthetically, I think it looks gorgeous for an ITX board.
Shame that I (and many others), will likely never own it.

 

That's it for my opinion on the board, Please leave your's down below

 

Edit: Thanks to The Benjamins - it is slated to hit retail at a price of around $400 (depending on the store)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157786

[DocSwag]

They've done x99 on ITX before, tbh I'm not that surprised.

 

They really would surprise me if they managed to fit TR4 on ITX

[PCGuy_5960]

I really want to know if the VRM is going to melt if you overclock a 7980XE using this board.

[The Benjamins]

Newegg page, it is $400

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157786

 

If they can do a TR4 mITX board I will swear by AsRock forever.

[JoostinOnline]

Just now, PCGuy_5960 said:

I really want to know if the VRM is going to melt if you overclock a 7980XE using this board.

That would be one hell of a video review.

[Sir Asvald]

6 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

That would be one hell of a video review.

LUL, hell. LUL

 

 

[porina]

The earlier so called VRM issue was not really a surprise, once it was revealed it was only a problem if you overclock the nuts off it and run Prime95. Running close to stock, or with a mild overclock is unlikely to stress things too much. No sane person would pick this board for extreme OCs. It will offer a lot of potential in a small package if it suits your use case.

[Bananasplit_00]

Yay for crazy motherboards! 

[IntMD]

Damnit Asrock, I was going to skip X299 and build an itx rig next year...

[MyName13]

But why?Who would use this?

[WMGroomAK]

3 hours ago, Alexp10v2 said:

As to how they plan on cooling the Power delivery, I have no idea - however, ASRock has announced that Bitspower has created a Monoblock for the CPU & VRM.

Any idea on whether they are going to ship the Monoblock with the board?  Honestly, about the only good thing on this is that if they are making this only for the Sky-Lake X chips, there should be plenty of PCIe lanes to run all the M.2 and the PCIe slot directly through the CPU...  Doubt that you will be able to get much, if any, overclock on this board though as it only appears to have a single 8-pin CPU power and the VRM does not look robust enough, but maybe the Monoblock (and a delid) will make a difference.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

28 minutes ago, WMGroomAK said:

Any idea on whether they are going to ship the Monoblock with the board?  Honestly, about the only good thing on this is that if they are making this only for the Sky-Lake X chips, there should be plenty of PCIe lanes to run all the M.2 and the PCIe slot directly through the CPU...  Doubt that you will be able to get much, if any, overclock on this board though as it only appears to have a single 8-pin CPU power and the VRM does not look robust enough, but maybe the Monoblock (and a delid) will make a difference.

Gotta remember too, Skylake-X will pull a ton of current through the EPS 12V connectors when you overclock them, which could trip OCP, even if it's a spike. Sustained high current draws will also cause the wires and the connectors to heat up, so you're definitely going to need a heavy-duty power supply (as in it's built exceptionally well and meets or exceeds ATX specifications).

 

If you're getting this board and dropping in a CPU like the i9-7960X or the i9-7980XE Extreme Edition, I will advise against any kind of overclock with the VRM and the available EPS 12V connector, as you can overdraw the connector when you start to overvolt, even with a conservative amount. Lower-end i9's may allow you to get away with a slight bump in voltage, but either way, you're looking at premium cooling solutions.