MSI X99A WorkStation

[NumLock21]

More X99 motherboards! YAY!

 

• Socket 2011-3 for Intel Haswell-E and Broadwell-E
• 8x DDR4 up to 128GB max @DDR4 2133 to 3333(o.c.)
• ECC and Registered DIMM support
• 3-way SLI and CFX
• Metal plated x16 and ram slots
• 10x SATA 6G, with 2 part of SATA Express
• 1x SATA Express
• 1x U.2
• 1x M.2
• Debug LED
• Onboard power and reset switch
• RGB header
• Dual Intel Gigabit lan, PS/2 combo port, clear CMOS switch, 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2, 4x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 4x USB 2.0, Audio Jacks and Optical out
• New "WorkStation" design sticker on I/O shroud and heatsinks

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/X99A-WORKSTATION.html#hero-overview

[SurvivorNVL]

Hell.  Yes.

[patrickjp93]

Only supports up to 128GB?! You can get 512GB RAM kits now!

[PRTI]

That's legit like any other board

[PRTI]

Just now, patrickjp93 said:

Only supports up to 128GB?! You can get 512GB RAM kits now!

Its legit like any other board,there are already 128gb boards for X99

 

That's surely not a Workstation board

[Exotath]

Great looking board.

 

Wonder if EK will be making a block for the mosfets.

[2FA]

15 minutes ago, keNNySOC said:

Its legit like any other board,there are already 128gb boards for X99

 

That's surely not a Workstation board

Except for the ECC support, I think.

[PRTI]

Just now, DeadEyePsycho said:

Except for the ECC support, I think.

Yeah,but this is surely not a workstation motherboard,its just a gaming mobo supporting ECC and the name "Workstation"

[That Random Spork]

fancy

[ThinkWithPortals]

Ooh, sexy.

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 hour ago, patrickjp93 said:

Only supports up to 128GB?! You can get 512GB RAM kits now!

This is probably just what intel specifies as max for the xeons officially (which is obviously less than what they can really do), and they didn't bother to use more. 

 

You can easily get 128GB kits to work on any x99 mobo i've seen even ones that "don't support it".

 

That said, this mobo seems really barren for a WS board. I guess I'm just used to ASUS and Asrock balls-deep WS boards.

[NumLock21]

26 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

This is probably just what intel specifies as max for the xeons officially (which is obviously less than what they can really do), and they didn't bother to use more. 

 

You can easily get 128GB kits to work on any x99 mobo i've seen even ones that "don't support it".

 

That said, this mobo seems really barren for a WS board. I guess I'm just used to ASUS and Asrock balls-deep WS boards.

Max for Xeons is 768GB for Haswell-E and 1.5TB for Broadwell-E. Broadwell-E Core i7 officially supports 128GB, where as Haswell-E supports only up to 64GB.

[patrickjp93]

20 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

This is probably just what intel specifies as max for the xeons officially (which is obviously less than what they can really do), and they didn't bother to use more. 

 

You can easily get 128GB kits to work on any x99 mobo i've seen even ones that "don't support it".

 

That said, this mobo seems really barren for a WS board. I guess I'm just used to ASUS and Asrock balls-deep WS boards.

E5 Xeons are usually specced for 1TB of RAM, but mind you that's an amount you can only get with RAM you can't order yourself.

[Curufinwe_wins]

5 minutes ago, patrickjp93 said:

E5 Xeons are usually specced for 1TB of RAM, but mind you that's an amount you can only get with RAM you can't order yourself.

 

7 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Max for Xeons is 768GB for Haswell-E and 1.5TB for Broadwell-E. BD-E Core i7 officially supports 128GB, where as Haswell-E supports only up to 64GB.

Good to know. Perhaps the bw-e i7 spec was what was referenced. None of us can really know without testing higher ones.

[rattacko123]

2 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

4x USB 3.1 Gen 1

Also known as USB 3.0

I hate these stupid naming schemes, trying to make usb 3.0 seem more superior than usb 3.0

[2FA]

3 hours ago, keNNySOC said:

Yeah,but this is surely not a workstation motherboard,its just a gaming mobo supporting ECC and the name "Workstation"

I'm not sure why you think it wouldn't be a workstation board. It can support a Xeon along with 128GB of ECC RAM. There aren't really other features that classify them as different types of boards. Only thing I can think of is 10Gbps NICs which aren't that common for onboard yet and thunderbolt.

[NumLock21]

2 hours ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

I'm not sure why you think it wouldn't be a workstation board. It can support a Xeon along with 128GB of ECC RAM. There aren't really other features that classify them as different types of boards. Only thing I can think of is 10Gbps NICs which aren't that common for onboard yet and thunderbolt.

X99 don't have ECC functionality. 

[RZeroX]

2 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

X99 don't have ECC functionality. 

The Asus workstation board has support for ECC.

https://www.asus.com/nz/Motherboards/X99E_WS/specifications/

[BuckGup]

5 hours ago, patrickjp93 said:

Only supports up to 128GB?! You can get 512GB RAM kits now!

You laugh but I actually use 128gb. AE uses so much RAM. One effect takes 58gb at half res of 1080p. Then again what I am doing is more then color correction. 3D tracking, animation, and so on

[2FA]

21 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

X99 don't have ECC functionality. 

As long as the memory controller on the CPU supports ECC, the board will at least physically support ECC. Most OEMs don't enable ECC use in the UEFI though for really anything other than the Cxxx series chipset boards, except in special cases like this one.

[NumLock21]

20 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

As long as the memory controller on the CPU supports ECC, the board will at least physically support ECC. Most OEMs don't enable ECC use in the UEFI though for really anything other than the Cxxx series chipset boards, except in special cases like this one.

Both cpu and chipset needs to support it, and x99 does not have ecc. It just runs ecc as standard ram. 

 

http://www.passmark.com/forum/memtest86/4579-memtest86-ecc-ram-error-reporting-status?4470-MemTest86-ECC-RAM-error-reporting-status=

[patrickjp93]

3 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

Both cpu and chipset needs to support it, and x99 does not have ecc. It just runs ecc as standard ram. 

 

http://www.passmark.com/forum/memtest86/4579-memtest86-ecc-ram-error-reporting-status?4470-MemTest86-ECC-RAM-error-reporting-status=

That's not actually true for RAM where the chipset doesn't have anything to do with interactions between the CPU and RAM.

[2FA]

6 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Both cpu and chipset needs to support it, and x99 does not have ecc. It just runs ecc as standard ram. 

 

http://www.passmark.com/forum/memtest86/4579-memtest86-ecc-ram-error-reporting-status?4470-MemTest86-ECC-RAM-error-reporting-status=

The part of the chipset you are talking about exists on the CPU now so RAM is directly wired to the CPU. There is no North Bridge or South Bridge anymore, just the CPU and the PCH which is SATA, USB, accessory PCIe, PCI, etc.

[PRTI]

7 hours ago, SamStrecker said:

You laugh but I actually use 128gb. AE uses so much RAM. One effect takes 58gb at half res of 1080p. Then again what I am doing is more then color correction. 3D tracking, animation, and so on

Well its a workstation board,and workstations can use up to 1TB of ram,that's why its funny seeing a 128gb "workstation" board

[PRTI]

10 hours ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

I'm not sure why you think it wouldn't be a workstation board. It can support a Xeon along with 128GB of ECC RAM. There aren't really other features that classify them as different types of boards. Only thing I can think of is 10Gbps NICs which aren't that common for onboard yet and thunderbolt.

Workstation boards need to support more RAM,since RAM is crucial in a workstation,and for a heavy workstation 128gb is very small considering some can use 1TB,workstation boards usually have Dual CPU support

 

It does have Xeon and ECC support but lacks in other things and does not feel like a real workstation motherboard