News ASRock Unveils the X299E-ITX/ac: Mini ITX + X299 + Quad-channel Memory

Mod edit:

Detailed overview of what we know about the X299E-ITX/ac thus far here: https://smallformfactor.net/news/asrock-x299e-itxac-little-monster-detailed

Original:

ASRock did it! Finally, there's an Intel HEDT platform motherboard with full quad-channel DDR4 memory. The new X299E-ITX/ac is for those who need up to 18 CPU cores and up to 64 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory in their SFF machines for reasons. The board manages its limited PCB real-estate by going vertical. It features two riser cards, one with a few onboard controllers, and a pair of 32 Gb/s M.2 slots), and the other riser with SATA 6 Gb/s ports, a third M.2 slot, and the headers such as USB 3.1. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the LGA2066 CPU using a 7-phase VRM. The lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 3.0 x16, memory is handled by four DDR4 SO-DIMM slots. Connectivity includes two Intel I219-V driven gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 802.11ac WLAN, and Bluetooth 4.1.

Source

 

[MarcParis]

For Intel, let's hope Z370 and coffee lake launch won't be as bad as X299 platform.

We need competition on CPU market..

 

[EdZ]

Looking at how he has presented it, I would say it's more like 30/70.

I'd spit it at 10/90 at most. The VRMs themselves were clearly specced sufficiently to handle even a massively overloaded i9 without a heatsink at all. All that would be required by the motherboard vendor would be to not install their 'heatsinks', and the boards would be functional as is. Either the heatsink design has been shifted entirely to the marketing department and nobody bothered to even check their thermal performance, or the 'heatsinks' are being used as insulation to artificially segregate 'overclocking' motherboards from 'normal' motherboards while technically complying with the Intel power delivery specifications.

I wonder if part of the blame also falls at the feet of the consumers. Much like chipsets, if they don't put something that at least looks like a heat sink, even if its not needed, the market will perceive it as cheap and shop elsewhere.

Same problem with pointless RAMsinks. Few - if any - manufacturers will release any DIMMs at all without heatsinks, and the few that are are usually the bottom-of-the-barrel line (or ECC/RDIMMS aimed at markets where pointless bling would not be tolerated). As a consumer, you don't even have the option to vote with your wallet against nonfunctional heatsinks.

 

[jeshikat]

On another note, do you think the overclocking potential will be on-par or comparable to future ATX motherboards?

Beefier VRMs on the mainstream Intel platform has been more of a marketing feature than anything for the last couple generations since the chips are so power efficient. With the power draw of OCed Skylake-X it matters though, and the X299E-ITX/ac has such limited space for the VRM section that I doubt it will OC as well as anything other than the cheapest X299 ATX boards.

That said, if it's a proper SFF case you very well may run into thermal limits for a heavy OC before VRM limits.

The Mini-Fit Jr itself is rated for 13A per pin, or 624W.

In an dual-row 8-circuit wire-to-board configuration it's rated for 10A on 16 AWG wire and 8.5A on 18 AWG, at a maximum temperature delta of 30°C over ambient. http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/ps/PS-45750-001.pdf (page 6)

Which works out to 480W and 408W respectively. So there's not quite as much leeway but should still be plenty, short of LN2 overclocking.

 

[Phuncz]

Same problem with pointless RAMsinks.

I think RAM heatsinks need to be grouped together with GPU backplates: it protects the product against ESD for a big part of the contact surface and thus reduces defective/returned products.

Motherboard heatsinks are more akin to rice rocket spoilers: the more ludicrious it gets, the more distance there is between form and function.

 

[QuantumBraced]

I don't know a lot about heatsink design, but the aluminum VRM heatsink on the X299E-ITX/ac seems pretty solid and actually designed to cool well with some fin-like structures. It looks better than some of the ATX boards. Unfortunately the riser card will block some airflow to it. I guess they can make it out of nickel-plated solid copper, which may add another $20-30 to the cost...

 

[jeshikat]

Interesting comment from Jon Gerow (jonnyGURU) on the video:

If you used the SuperFlower PSU in the video with the crystal connectors, that's part of your problem. Those "universal 9-pin connectors" have less conductors than most other modular PSUs because the same connector that's used for EPS12V, PCIe, etc. has to also support +5V and +3.3V for Molex and SATA and then there's an "LED pin" which, when grounded to a ground pin, turns on the interface's LED. A horribly bad design. This is why the wires would be so hot. I suggest checking the voltage at the PSU and then at the motherboard's EPS12V to see what the drop looks like under load. If the voltage is significantly lower than +12V, the board is going to have to pull more current than it normally would. I then suggest using that AX1500i you have on the shelf behind you and see if you end up with the same results since that modular cable for the EPS12V is four +12V pins and four grounds. -- jonny

from 3:24 in the video

I'm not sure which exact Super Flower model Roman is using, but it has to be a Leadex Gold or Leadex Platinum. According to this pinout on OCN, there are only 3x 12V pins on those stupidly bulky "Crystal Clear Cube Connectors".

In an dual-row 8-circuit wire-to-board configuration it's rated for 10A on 16 AWG wire and 8.5A on 18 AWG, at a maximum temperature delta of 30°C over ambient. http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/ps/PS-45750-001.pdf (page 6)

Looking at reviews for these PSUs, it looks like all but the highest end models come with 18 AWG wires for the EPS. It's hard to tell, but it looks like 18 AWG wires in the screencap above. So that would mean a max of 306W, which easily explains the 65°C wire temp he got in the video.

It'll have to tested and verified, but it looks like having just a single 8-pin CPU power connector may not necessarily be an issue as long as the PSU actually has 4x 12V wires of at least 18 AWG, but preferably 16 AWG.

Which for reference, the SilverStone SX700-LPT and SX800-LTI stock cables use 16 AWG for the CPU and PCIe, so you don't necessarily have to sacrifice wire flexibility to get the thicker gauge.

Unfortunately the riser card will block some airflow to it. I guess they can make it out of nickel-plated solid copper

They'd be way better off increasing surface area than switching the current design to copper.

 

[jeshikat]

We've discussed it on the jonnyGURU forums, and the 65°C temp on the EPS wire from the original video is almost certainly incorrect. Unfortunately that wasn't addressed in this update video, but he did try several different PSUs and has ruled that out as being related to the VRM throttling.

 

[3lfk1ng]

Glad to hear it!

 

[Ionrent]

 

 

[EdZ]

To tie this back to the X299E-ITX/ac, the tiny heatsink that's wedged under the riser card is far from ideal. I'm going to guess that even with some design changes before release, the practical limit for this board will be a moderately overclocked 7820X (delidded) or a stock 7900X.

The heatsink itself looks OK, it's got no plastic bits stuck on and a generous amount of slots cut in to increase surface area. Modern VRMs really don't need all that much cooling, they tolerate very high temperatures (150°C is not abnormal). Being 'only' a 7-phase design may be more of a liming factor to very high overclocks though.

 

[jeshikat]

and a generous amount of slots cut in to increase surface area.

I'm not sure I'd call four slots a generous amount

 

[Ionrent]

 

 

[EdZ]

I'm not sure I'd call four slots a generous amount

There's also at least one deep longitudinal groove:

Compare it to, for example, the Asus Prime X99 heatsink:

Which is for all intents and purposes just a solid lump.

 

[Ionrent]

 

 

[jeshikat]

Compare it to, for example, the Asus Prime X99 heatsink:

Oh wow, I didn't realize how bad the other VRM heatsinks were. That's utterly pathetic.

 

[QuantumBraced]

I'm so glad I went X99 last year, so I can completely skip this generation. Seem to be issues wherever you look. Clearly a rushed launch because of AMD. I hope this won't dissuade ASRock from making enthusiast platform ITX boards in the future.

 

[tjh1989]

Anyone know when this board comes out?

 

[jeshikat]

I'm so glad I went X99 last year, so I can completely skip this generation. Seem to be issues wherever you look. Clearly a rushed launch because of AMD. I hope this won't dissuade ASRock from making enthusiast platform ITX boards in the future.

Yup, if my CAD program wasn't so single-threaded and I didn't need a CPU to review this board I'm not sure I would bother to upgrade. But I can see this being popular because it's arguably the most specced out board if you need more than four cores in anything smaller than ATX.

Anyone know when this board comes out?

Someone on /r/sffpc said August, but I'm waiting on confirmation of that.

 

[VisualStim]

Compare it to, for example, the Asus Prime X99 heatsink:

Which is for all intents and purposes just a solid lump.

wouldnt it be better just to remove these heatsinks?

 

[BirdofPrey]

Maybe.

A chunk of metal IS a chunk of metal; it depends on how well the heat transfers to them vs what the bare VRMs are capable of dissipating. Neither option is promising, though.