Asus x99 strix review (full review)

Surely the Asus X99 Strix is one of the coolest Intel Broadwell-E compatible boards to be released today. With excellent power phases, a good layout of PCI Express connections, impeccable sound and a large overclocking capacity. You want to know more? Do not miss our exclusive internationally.

We appreciate the trust and the transfer of the product to Asus:

Asus X99 Strix technical features

Asus X99 Strix unboxing and design

The Asus X99 Strix is presented in a box with a black background and bright colors on its cover. While at the rear we find all the new technical characteristics.

Once we open the box we find the following bundle:

Asus X99 Strix motherboard.3 x SATA cable set. Rear hood. Screw to install M.2 disk. Flanges. Logo stickers and sata disks. Instruction manual and quick guide. Software CD. SLI and CrossFireX bridge.

As we can see, it is an ATX format plate with dimensions of 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm for the LGA 2011-3 socket. The board has a pleasing design to look at and a black PCB. It incorporates the X99 chipset that is compatible with all Intel Haswell-E processors and the new Intel Broadwell on the market: Intel Core i7-6950X, i7-6900k, i7-6850K and the only processor with 28 lanes: i7-6800k.

Rear view of the motherboard, for the most curious.

Note that the socket anchor has a reinforcement. It is the first time we have seen it on an Asus motherboard.

The Asus X99 Strix has excellent cooling in both the power phases and the X99 chipset. It has a total of 8 digital phases with Digi + VRM technology that are cooler and offer a longer durability. It also has the best trainers on the market: the high-end nichicon. After our tests we have found that it is really effective.

While the chipset is kept cool by the heatsink that comes standard. Also highlight its 8 + 4 EPS auxiliary power system.

The board incorporates a total of 8 128 GB compatible DDR4 RAM memory sockets with frequencies from 2400 MHz to 3333 MHz in Quad Channel and is compatible with the XMP 2.0 profile.

The Asus X99 Strix presents a really interesting distribution in its PCI Express connections. It has a total of 4 PCI Express to x16 and two complementary x1. It is also compatible with Nvidia's 3 Way SLI and CrossfireX 3 Way technology. How can we install graphics cards and their speeds? We detail it:

With 40 LANES processors: x16, x16 / x16, x8 / x16 / x8. With 28 LANES processors: x16, x16 / x8, x8 / x8 / x8.

This shield that we are seeing in the new X99 motherboards is called SafeSlot. What does it consist of? Its main function is to reduce the overweight of graphics cards tochas and allows a better transmission between card and processor. Great job Asus!

As expected, it incorporates an M.2 connection to install any SSD with type 2242/2260/2280/22110 format (42/60/80 and 110 mm). As we have already discussed, these devices are very fast and have a bandwidth speed of up to 32 GB / s.

Regarding storage, it has ten SATA III 6 GB / s connections with RAID 0.1, 5 and 10 support and two SATA Express connections (which are vertical).

It also incorporates U.2 technology that allows you to connect PCIe 3.0 x4 NVM Express storage. We will have the maximum speed on a high-end board at a fairly affordable price.

The sound card is the SupremeFX which incorporates the ALC1150 chipset with 7.1 channel compatibility but slightly modified with a shielding system that isolates EMI electromagnetic interference and allows a 115 dB signal to noise ratio.

View of the control panel, where we find a button to turn on the system, restart, a Debug LED, TPM connection and front USB connection.

Finally, I would like to highlight the excellent GameFirst network card with an improved design to lower tolerance to static electricity, voltage surges and reducing latency in your connection.

Finally we detail the rear connections of the Asus X99 Strix. They are made up of:

1 x FlashBIOS.PS/2.8 USB 3.0.1 x USB 3.1 type-A. 1 x USB 3.1 type-C. Wifi 802.11AC. 802.11 AC sound card.

WE RECOMMEND YOU YOUR Zephyrus G15 is the first notebook with Ryzen 7 4800HS

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel Core i7-6950X
Base plate:	Asus X99 Strix
Memory:	4 × 8 32GB DDR4 @ 3200 MHZ Corsair Dominator Platinum
Heatsink	Corsair H100i V2.
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 980 Ti 6GB.
Power supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2

To check the stability of the i7-6950X processor at 4300 MHZ and the motherboard we have stressed with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphics we have used is an Nvidia GTX 980 Ti, without further delay, let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 × 1080 monitor.

BIOS

The BIOS is one of the most complete we have seen in the Asus X99 range: modern, reliable and with many updates. Undoubtedly an example to follow.

Final words and conclusion about Asus X99 Strix

The Asus X99 Strix is an ATX motherboard with DIGI + components and 8 power phases capable of supporting the new 6, 8 and 10 core Intel Broadwell-E processors. It also allows installing 128 GB DDR4 at 3333 MHz and a multi-system of SLI and CrossFireX graphics cards.

In our tests it has given a great result both with overclock and in stock values. We have used the Intel Core i7-6950X that we have analyzed today and we have sincerely fallen in love with it.

A detail that incorporates an improved network card, a truly reliable sound system and an AURA RGB system with the possibility of customizing with 16.8 million colors.

Its sale price is estimated at about 300 euros approximately and its availability will be almost immediate in online stores.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE.	-
+ 8 PHASE DESIGN.	-
+ DIGI + AND ENHANCED SOUND CARD.
+ NETWORK CARD WITH LOW LATENCY.
+ ALLOWS A GREAT OVERCLOCK.