Suggest me an x99 motherboard please!

[Puppetier]

I've been browsing motherboards for quite some time now, and I can't fing the one that tickles my pickle in all the right ways. First I wanted an ASUS x99 deluxe II, but that tankes 8+4 pins, and does not have a ps2. Then I looked at the MSI x99A gaming pro carbon, but later I read that the pump and the fan headers are not PWM, which I would like to have, to set the pc as silent as possible.

 

I need 4 things:

- a dedicated water pump header (pwm)

- a ps2 port for n-key rollover on my mechanical keyboard

- it only needs a 8 pin, not a 8+4 since I don't want to upgrade my PSU just yet (or it should not need the extra 4 pins without OC)
- the color theme will be black and white, I can handle RGB, but not colorful PCB/accessories

 

Does anyone know of a board that fits these parameters? Tanks!

[RoryDash]

I was gonna say Asus X-99 A [What I use for my 5820K] or the Asus X-99 Deluxe.. not sure about the dedicated water pump header but all the rest should be fine

[TidaLWaveZ]

15 minutes ago, RoryDash said:

I was gonna say Asus X-99 A [What I use for my 5829K] or the Asus X-99 Deluxe.. not sure about the dedicated water pump header but all the rest should be fine

Deluxe has 3 built in 4pin (CPU, CPU opt, Chassis Fan) and 1 built in 5pin for the included fan controller card, only 8pin power but no PS/2.

 

OP, really depends on your budget but X99 deluxe is the most solid board I've ever had.

[stealth80]

21 minutes ago, Puppetier said:

I've been browsing motherboards for quite some time now, and I can't fing the one that tickles my pickle in all the right ways. First I wanted an ASUS x99 deluxe II, but that tankes 8+4 pins, and does not have a ps2. Then I looked at the MSI x99A gaming pro carbon, but later I read that the pump and the fan headers are not PWM, which I would like to have, to set the pc as silent as possible.

 

I need 4 things:

- a dedicated water pump header (pwm)

- a ps2 port for n-key rollover on my mechanical keyboard

- it only needs a 8 pin, not a 8+4 since I don't want to upgrade my PSU just yet (or it should not need the extra 4 pins without OC)
- the color theme will be black and white, I can handle RGB, but not colorful PCB/accessories

 

Does anyone know of a board that fits these parameters? Tanks!

Do you already have the processor? What is the purpose of the build?

 

I'm asking as X99 has been replaced and depending on what chip you have (or intend to buy) there may be cheaper/alternate platforms available that do it better

[TidaLWaveZ]

Just now, stealth80 said:

Do you already have the processor? What is the purpose of the build?

 

I'm asking as X99 has been replaced and depending on what chip you have (or intend to buy) there may be cheaper/alternate platforms available that do it better

But now is the time to get X99 stuff dirt cheap!

 

Still great performance and strong overclocks with haswell-e.

[stealth80]

1 minute ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

But now is the time to get X99 stuff dirt cheap!

 

Still great performance and strong overclocks with haswell-e.

I don't know, for the resale money I made on 32gb Hyper X DDR3, Asus RoG Ranger Z97 and 4790K, I made enough to buy a Ryzen 1700 and Gigabyte gaming 5 X370 along with 50% of the funds for 16gb TridentZ RGB, so basically, I cost me £80 for a whole new platform, I wouldn't bank on cheap sales on Intel

[Puppetier]

15 minutes ago, RoryDash said:

I was gonna say Asus X-99 A [What I use for my 5820K] or the Asus X-99 Deluxe.. not sure about the dedicated water pump header but all the rest should be fine

 

3 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

Deluxe has 3 built in 4pin (CPU, CPU opt, Chassis Fan) and 1 built in 5pin for the included fan controller card.

 

OP, really depends on your budget but X99 deluxe is the most solid board I've ever had.

I looked it up, but it appears that the Deluxe is no longer available, there's only the Deluxe II.

By the way let's assume, that in the price range of x99 the budget is not the issue.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

I have the MSI X99A Gaming 7 and can verify that it doesn't have PWM on the case headers indeed. 

 

What I did was use the PWM signal from the CPU header and a splitter which allows me to send that signal to all (seven) case fans and both CPU fans (Dark Rock Pro 3 cooler, so dual fans).  The fans' power is handled via Molex, so the fan header only has to provide the pulses for the PWM.  

 

A cable like this one basically. 

I added some regular 4-pin Y-splitter cables on each end until I had enough to feed all fans. 

 

The one disadvantage is that all fans are directly linked to the CPU temperature.  So if the GPUs need to work hard while the CPU is idling, the case fans will remain on idle too.  But if you have enough airflow, that shouldn't be a problem.  Besides, you'll never be using the GPU only (unless you're mining), so when the GPU is working hard the CPU will be hot enough to ramp up the fans anyway. 

[TidaLWaveZ]

Just now, Puppetier said:

 

I looked it up, but it appears that the Deluxe is no longer available, there's only the Deluxe II.

By the way let's assume, that in the price range of x99 the budget is not the issue.

X99 Tomahawk is my reccomendation, it meets your demands.

[Puppetier]

12 minutes ago, stealth80 said:

Do you already have the processor? What is the purpose of the build?

 

I'm asking as X99 has been replaced and depending on what chip you have (or intend to buy) there may be cheaper/alternate platforms available that do it better

I chose the x99 platform, because they will be available pretty cheap, as x299 is here, but x299 looks rushed to me, so I'm gonna stick to the one that seems working. And it can also be converted into a server once the datacenters start to get rid of their xeons for newer stuff. I'm done with Z boards, especially Gigabyte, since their functions are quite limited. I have a Z170 from Gigabyte at the moment, which does not let me control the fans from the bios (you can set them to silent/normal/fullspeed, from which the first 2 are identical), or you can create a custom curve from their standalone app which does not work correctly. I'm not sure about AMD yet, that's why I'm sticking to intel for now.

5 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

I have the MSI X99A Gaming 7 and can verify that it doesn't have PWM on the case headers indeed. 

 

What I did was use the PWM signal from the CPU header and a splitter which allows me to send that signal to all (seven) case fans and both CPU fans (Dark Rock Pro 3 cooler, so dual fans).  The fans' power is handled via Molex, so the fan header only has to provide the pulses for the PWM.  

 

A cable like this one basically. 

I added some regular 4-pin Y-splitter cables on each end until I had enough to feed all fans. 

 

The one disadvantage is that all fans are directly linked to the CPU temperature.  So if the GPUs need to work hard while the CPU is idling, the case fans will remain on idle too.  But if you have enough airflow, that shouldn't be a problem.  Besides, you'll never be using the GPU only (unless you're mining), so when the GPU is working hard the CPU will be hot enough to ramp up the fans anyway. 

That is a solution indeed, but what I'm aiming for right now is a water cooling loop to keep it silent, while setting the fans to stop if the components are cool, so splitting the same pwm to the pump does not look like such a great idea, since that would stop too, and that way my components won't be able to benefit from the passive cooling of the rads.

5 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

X99 Tomahawk is my reccomendation, it meets your demands.

Wow, this actually looks great, I'm putting it on my list.

[TidaLWaveZ]

29 minutes ago, stealth80 said:

I don't know, for the resale money I made on 32gb Hyper X DDR3, Asus RoG Ranger Z97 and 4790K, I made enough to buy a Ryzen 1700 and Gigabyte gaming 5 X370 along with 50% of the funds for 16gb TridentZ RGB, so basically, I cost me £80 for a whole new platform, I wouldn't bank on cheap sales on Intel

Not talking about buying new, prices only go up as processors become more scarce. You can get a 5820k for about $200 or less used right now, it's base performance is slightly below 1700 but the 5820k still beats it almost across the board in gaming and haswell-e's are some of the best overclockers. You can easily find top level boards for around $100, I just saw an EVGA classified for $150 obo. Furthermore it's not a dead end, eventually you'll be able to score 6900k's and heavy duty Xeons for cheap.

[Puppetier]

22 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

X99 Tomahawk is my reccomendation, it meets your demands.

But wait apparently only the CPU header is PWM, the rest are voltage mode controllers. Which leaves me with the same problem, as with the Gaming Pro Carbon.

[RoryDash]

14 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

Not talking about buying new, prices only go up as processors become more scarce. You can get a 5820k for about $200 or less used right now, it's base performance is slightly below 1700 and haswell-e's are some of the best overclockers. You can easily find top level boards for around $100, I just saw an EVGA classified for $150 obo. Furthermore it's not a dead end, eventually you'll be able to score 6900k's and heavy duty Xeons for cheap.

The 5820K is a very OC-Happy Six core cpu, I can clarify on that.. base is about 3.6ghz and it will stick to 4.4ghz very happily all day long, they can go much higher than that but I've never gone beyond 4.4ghz myself

[TidaLWaveZ]

23 minutes ago, Puppetier said:

But wait apparently only the CPU header is PWM, the rest are voltage mode controllers. Which leaves me with the same problem, as with the Gaming Pro Carbon.

I'm not sure then, probably have to look through some higher end boards and I don't know any besides the Rampage V's and Strix gaming with PS/2 that might have multiple built in PWM connectors.

[brob]

As suggested, the X99-A/USB 3.1 is probably the best solution at the moment. Meets all but one of the listed requirements. Does not have a task specific pump header, but does have two cpu fan headers along with 4 chassis fan headers. All 3/4 pin DC/PWM. There is also a header for the hard to find fan extension addon card that supports an additional 3 fans and 3 temperature (motherboard has three) probes. Very good fan control software.

 

 

[stealth80]

2 hours ago, Puppetier said:

I chose the x99 platform, because they will be available pretty cheap, as x299 is here, but x299 looks rushed to me, so I'm gonna stick to the one that seems working. And it can also be converted into a server once the datacenters start to get rid of their xeons for newer stuff. I'm done with Z boards, especially Gigabyte, since their functions are quite limited. I have a Z170 from Gigabyte at the moment, which does not let me control the fans from the bios (you can set them to silent/normal/fullspeed, from which the first 2 are identical), or you can create a custom curve from their standalone app which does not work correctly. I'm not sure about AMD yet, that's why I'm sticking to intel for now.

 

Ok so what processor are putting in it? I'm asking cause you can probably build a ryzen system for less that will be better than pretty much all X99 based systems (depending on your uses of course)

[stealth80]

2 hours ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

Not talking about buying new, prices only go up as processors become more scarce. You can get a 5820k for about $200 or less used right now, it's base performance is slightly below 1700 but the 5820k still beats it almost across the board in gaming and haswell-e's are some of the best overclockers. You can easily find top level boards for around $100, I just saw an EVGA classified for $150 obo. Furthermore it's not a dead end, eventually you'll be able to score 6900k's and heavy duty Xeons for cheap.

I know you aren't, the prices I listed are what I sold my parts for at the time. A 5820k wont beat an overclocked Ryzen in gaming, my Ryzen is faster than my 4790k was at 4.9ghz, but it needs the ram speed for it to achieve that, than add in an extra 2 cores/4 threads and it really is a no brainer. If OP already has an X99 chip then ye get a board, but if its a new plan, I would suggest steering him/her to the newer tech

[Puppetier]

3 hours ago, stealth80 said:

Ok so what processor are putting in it? I'm asking cause you can probably build a ryzen system for less that will be better than pretty much all X99 based systems (depending on your uses of course)

I was planning on using a 6850K, but I do not have it yet. So I'm kind of intrigued. Please tell me more.

[stealth80]

1 hour ago, Puppetier said:

I was planning on using a 6850K, but I do not have it yet. So I'm kind of intrigued. Please tell me more.

ok well a 6850 is a 6 core/12 thread CPU, I'm not sure how much you can get one for, but its pretty much = to a Ryzen 1700 in gaming, only the 1700 has an extra 2 cores and 4 threads and can be had now for  The ryzen platform is newer but in all honesty, X99 is bulletproof in terms of stability, X370 is still immature tech wise. Also, if you are thinking of doing specific server stuff, again X99 is probably better. However, if its gaming with some photo and video editing, the Ryzen will be the better choice.

 

its kind of difficult without a budget and usage scenario 

 

but for an idea, this would be a decent Ryzen system

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($155.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($156.34 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Total: $602.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-17 18:21 EDT-0400

[Puppetier]

10 hours ago, stealth80 said:

ok well a 6850 is a 6 core/12 thread CPU, I'm not sure how much you can get one for, but its pretty much = to a Ryzen 1700 in gaming, only the 1700 has an extra 2 cores and 4 threads and can be had now for  The ryzen platform is newer but in all honesty, X99 is bulletproof in terms of stability, X370 is still immature tech wise. Also, if you are thinking of doing specific server stuff, again X99 is probably better. However, if its gaming with some photo and video editing, the Ryzen will be the better choice.

 

its kind of difficult without a budget and usage scenario 

 

but for an idea, this would be a decent Ryzen system

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($155.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($156.34 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Total: $602.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-17 18:21 EDT-0400

That is actually a great idea. Until now I did not check out the Asrock taichi, but both the ryzen and the x99 are well packed with features I need. So whichever platform I'll go with, it will probably be with a taichi.

My plan was to build a PC for gaming and programming, which later can be transformed into a server by getting an older xeon and jamming it in there.

I already have a Z170 system from which I want to change out the mobo and the cpu, I already have 32GB TridentZ ram, and all the other stuff. Budget is kind of difficult to pin down, because I'm not that limited, but also do not want to spend more than $1000.

[stealth80]

5 hours ago, Puppetier said:

That is actually a great idea. Until now I did not check out the Asrock taichi, but both the ryzen and the x99 are well packed with features I need. So whichever platform I'll go with, it will probably be with a taichi.

My plan was to build a PC for gaming and programming, which later can be transformed into a server by getting an older xeon and jamming it in there.

I already have a Z170 system from which I want to change out the mobo and the cpu, I already have 32GB TridentZ ram, and all the other stuff. Budget is kind of difficult to pin down, because I'm not that limited, but also do not want to spend more than $1000.

Well if you already have the ram, you're pretty much set. Keep in mind that if you have an i7 in that Z170 rig, you're probably gonna see no improvement in FPS, only in server functions and software that can utilise all the threads