News Asus X99M-WS microATX X99 motherboard

Edit 2: Better pics!

https://sff-forum.net/threads/asus-x99m-ws-microatx-x99-motherboard.54/page-2#post-941

Edit: Pics!

Here's the first picture of ASUS X99M-WS, an upcoming workstation-grade socket LGA2011v3 motherboard based on the Intel X99 Express chipset, which the company claims will be the "most powerful" motherboard of its kind in this form-factor. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX, and two 8-pin EPS power connectors, with an optional 6-pin PCIe power input to stabilize power to add-on cards. The socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory; and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 connectors.

http://www.techpowerup.com/213034/asus-x99m-ws-micro-atx-motherboard-pictured.html

Hope we get better pictures soon, I'm really looking forward to this motherboard.



Raja has been hinting about some kind of X99 microATX board from Asus but in a live stream JJ from Asus dropped that the new board would be under the WS brand and will hopefully release end of this month:


Transcript:

The main hole that we're now going to be filling out with the X99 platform is we will be releasing a X99 microATX board. So for this generation, at least right now, there won't be a Gene but there actually will be a board that will be very close to the Gene in terms of its overall design quality.

It'll be actually from the WS group but it's an absolute beast of a board, so it brings to it the kind of overbuilt nature, high-end quality design that you have from ROG but it'll be under the WS branding.

It's got the beautiful, monolithic, monochromatic design that the WS board has for X99, which I think looks awesome. I think that board looks really, really great. So you'll have that same kind of color aesthetic.

That board's probably going to be launching right around at the very end of this month. So at least we'll finally have now a microATX solution, but on the Mini-ITX side, definitely, at this time, nothing to report.

Something like this in mATX? I'll take it!

 

[Phuncz]

Interesting, although I'm personally reluctant to go with Asus in the future with their widespread lack of quality control on their Maximus VII Impact, the most expensive Z97 mITX board. If anything, I'd hold out on a reasonable amount of user reviews to make sure it doesn't have any issues with assembly.

I am curious what an mATX version of the X99 WS would mean, as it would make it shorter in both dimensions. Will it lose one of the potentially four PCIe x16 slots for M.2 perhaps ? Will they finally include a few SFF-8643 (HD mini SAS) connectors like the Asus Hyper Kit. Hopefully with a more elegant drive connector than is used now.

 

[jeshikat]

I'd hope it being part of the WS line means stricter QC. I'll be first in line to get it though because I've been waiting for an Asus mATX X99 board for over a year

It'll have M.2, JJ mentioned in a video last month that one reason they developed the HyperKit was for a possible upcoming mATX X99 board since it won't have all the PCIe slots that the bigger boards do:

 

[jeshikat]

Was looking for any new info on this board and came across these posts by Raja@Asus on the ROG forums:

"Surprisingly large" [referring to someone's claims about the mATX X99 market] would probably equate to no more than 10K boards (thats being exceedingly generous) sold worldwide. What makes the market seem surprisingly large is how vocal the users can be on forums which creates a false perception of reality. Such figures are't even hitting the 10% mark of the total X99 market.

Its probably even smaller than that [again referring to the mATX X99 market] - realistically I'd be surprised if it hits 4K. From a business point of view, hardly worth R&D time other than brand perception in certain places.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?60935-X99-mini-or-micro-atx&p=496425&viewfull=1#post496425

So apparently a workstation class microATX X99 board from a top-tier motherboard manufacturer like Asus only needs about 4000 units sold to cover R&D!

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

I just want that board One of the few that has a color scheme that I think is very tastefully done.

 

[Vittra]

I wish I had seen this post back on May 15th. Would have held off getting the Asrock board to see what this entails.

 

[jeshikat]

Here's the first picture of ASUS X99M-WS, an upcoming workstation-grade socket LGA2011v3 motherboard based on the Intel X99 Express chipset, which the company claims will be the "most powerful" motherboard of its kind in this form-factor. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX, and two 8-pin EPS power connectors, with an optional 6-pin PCIe power input to stabilize power to add-on cards. The socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory; and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 connectors.

http://www.techpowerup.com/213034/asus-x99m-ws-micro-atx-motherboard-pictured.html

Hope we get better pictures soon, I'm really looking forward to this motherboard.

 

[jeshikat]

Oh no, just realized the bottom slot is 2.0 x4

 

[Vittra]

Yeah, it's the same configuration the Asrock X99 Killer/3.1 uses, except Asus squeezed a PCI-E 2.0 1x slot next to the M.2, whereas Asrock did not.

With the PCI-E 3.0 x4 M.2 in the mix, this seems the only configuration they are willing to explore. The EVGA board has 16x/16x/8x PCI-E 3.0, but it's M.2 is Socket E, and PCI-E 2.0 x2.

It seems if someone wants to run 2x GPU and a PCI-E Intel 750, the Evga is the ticket, whereas those who want M.2 drives will be better off with the Asrock or Asus.

Edit - fixed a typo

 

[jeshikat]

Strange that they developed the HyperKit for the 2.5" Intel 750 and the board that could use it the most can't. It would block a video card in the top PCIe slot.

 

[Vittra]

Yeah, if you want to run SLI/Crossfire, the only way to avoid that is to watercool as the block will take it down to 1 slot.

For the EVGA setup I mentioned above, you have to go one step further and make sure the bottom GPU is a true single slot card that's being watercooled (980 Kingpin and the like), otherwise a dual card bracket will interfere with mounting any card in that last slot.

These types of compromises are probably why Asus was so wary of bothering with an X99 mATX board. On my X99-Deluxe, even though it's ATX, the M.2 connector is actually vertical, to the right of the CPU socket. Avoids any issues with GPUs, but is dangerously close to large dual tower coolers.

 

[jeshikat]

For the EVGA setup I mentioned above, you have to go one step further and make sure the bottom GPU is a true single slot card that's being watercooled (980 Kingpin and the like), otherwise a dual card bracket will interfere with mounting any card in that last slot.

With the 40-lane CPU on both the EVGA and Gigabyte mATX X99 boards the bottom slot is 3.0 x8 so what I did was have the second video card in the bottom slot and use the middle slot for the 750.

Needs a 5-slot case though and the SSD runs a bit toasty with everything at load.

 

[Vittra]

Yep, that's definitely a viable solution too. The EVGA setup I envisioned needs a 5-slot case anyway, so one way or another that's a given.

The only wrench in this idea is if Pascal and Arctic Islands manage to saturate PCI-E 3.0 x8. They both mark significant die shrinks and could change things drastically. Bit silly to look so far ahead though, I suppose

 

[Phuncz]

Sad to hear your dream-board being such a let-down Aiboh. But this might motivate you to sell the Intel SSD 750 and go with the much more 'SFF' Samsung SM951 NVMe that will hopefully be revealed this week at Computex.

 

[Vittra]

Do you mean the M.2 NVME SM951, or something else? The NVMe drive based on the AHCI one is OEM, and quite frankly kind of scary. A couple of reviews mentioned horrid write performance due to constant FUA due to a lack of power loss protection.

http://www.legitreviews.com/samsung-sm951-nvme-m-2-pcie-ssd-review_162219

 

[Phuncz]

I indeed meant the M.2 drive, but the retail one that is actually meant for consumer installation without custom UEFI stuff to get it running properly.
According to Samsung a while ago, the SM951 isn't meant for consumers and they would release a, I presume, new drive that's based on it.

I'm expecting it to be launched around the time Skylake is introduced and Windows 10 is available, to mitigate the issues currently found with the SM951 NVMe which seem to revolve around mediocre NVMe support on Z97 boards and Windows 8.1.

 

[jeshikat]

Sad to hear your dream-board being such a let-down Aiboh. But this might motivate you to sell the Intel SSD 750 and go with the much more 'SFF' Samsung SM951 NVMe that will hopefully be revealed this week at Computex.

The 750 with that massive heatsink doesn't fare well between the cards, I can't imagine a bare M.2 underneath one.

I'm considering my options. Maybe a 395X2?

 

[Phuncz]

I expect it not to need more than a small heatsink since it's a much lower power platform, or so I assume.
I'm going to get a small heatsink or two (to test) to try it out, since I believe a heatsink is needed. But the Intel SSD 750 seems to produce a lot of heat for an SSD. It must be the enterprise pedigree it's based on.

 

[jeshikat]

I just think it would thermal throttle down there in that M.2 slot underneath the video card, even with a small heatsink on it, since it won't get any airflow.

 

[Phuncz]

I think it wouldn't, since load during gaming is mimimal. The SSD-Review review said the high temps were only caused by stressing the peak continuous throughput for a long time. And that's just not going to happen often I'd guess. But I'm willing to test it out if Samsung is quick about it. I'm giving them until Windows 10 launch, then I'll be replacing my SSD most likely.