Gigabyte GA-X99-SLI 128GB DDR4 Intel Motherboard

DDR4 memory modules are available at a stock frequency of 2133MHz, but memory vendors encode XMP profiles which can automatically modify the frequency and timings of the supported memory modules to work in par with your CPU. With the X99 Champion Series, GIGABYTE is offering a tested and proven platform that ensures proper compatibility with profiles up to 3333MHz.

What is XMP?
The synchronization of the memory modules with the CPU is crucial for good performance of your system. DDR4 memory modules are available at a stock frequency of 2133MHz, but as frequency tweaking requires a considerable amount of effort and knowledge, memory vendors encode XMP profiles which can automatically modify the timings of the supported memory modules to work with your CPU and to achieve increased performance.

Genuine All Digital Power Design
GIGABYTE X99 series motherboards use an all digital CPU power design from International Rectifier which includes both 4th Generation digital PWM Controllers and industry-leading 3rd Generation PowIRstage controllers. These 100% digital controllers offer incredible precision in delivering power to the motherboard’s most power-hungry and energy-sensitive components, allowing enthusiasts to get the absolute maximum performance from their new Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition CPUs.

IR Digital PWM & IR PowIRstage ICs
This new generation of IR digital power controllers and PowIRstage ICs feature Isense technology, which provide more precise current sensing accuracy. This helps evenly distribute the thermal loading between the PowerIRstage ICs, preventing the overheating of each individual PowerIRstage, resulting in longer lifespan and better reliability.

Single Package Design
IR has leveraged it's world class packaging technology developed for the DirectFET, improving the thermal capability and layout of the PowIRstage significantly over that of other MCM packages.

Single Package Design* VS. Multi-Chip Design
Other MOSFET layout implementations use a multi-chip, side-by-side arrangement of the high and low side MOSFETs and driver ICs, taking up significant board real estate and creating more electrical leakage.

3-Way / 4-Way Graphics with Premium PCIe x16 Lane Up to *320Gb/s Bandwidth
GIGABYTE X99 motherboards feature a unique PCI Express design that utilizes 100% of all 40 lanes from the CPU when in a 4-Way or 3-Way graphics configuration. Standard designs limit all 4 main PCIe lanes to x8 (64Gb/s) bandwidth, but thanks to the onboard external clock generator combined with the direct connection of one of the x16 lanes to the CPU (switchless design), GIGABYTE X99 motherboards can unlock the full bandwidth available and provide the best graphics bandwidth possible to the user.

Dual M.2 Technology for SSD Drive and WIFI Card
Fast Data Transfer and Advanced WIFI Networking
GIGABYTE X99 motherboards featuring Dual M.2 technology provides users PCI-Express connectivity for SSD devices and for 11AC WIFI + Bluetooth 4.0 card. Delivering up to 10 Gb/s data transfer speeds, M.2 offers considerably faster storage performance than current mSATA and even SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/s) storage devices. GIGABYTE’s stacked design optimizes the PCB real-estate usage, allowing more components to be efficiently added without compromising any space.

Next Generation SATA Express Connector
GIGABYTE X99 series motherboards feature an onboard SATA Express connector which provides performance far superior to that of current SATA technologies. SATA Express features data transfer rates of up to 10Gb/s, considerably higher than SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/s), which won’t bottleneck faster NAND flash technologies in cutting edge SSDs. SATA Express combines the benefits of PCI-Express and SATA to provide much higher bandwidth, allowing SATA Express based drives to perform at similar speeds as PCI-Express based drives.

Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio with Built-in Rear Audio Amplifier
115dB SNR HD Audio
The Realtek ALC1150 is a high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec that delivers an exceptional audio listening experience with up to 115dB SNR, ensuring users get the best possible audio quality from their PC. The ALC1150 provides ten DAC channels that simultaneously support 7.1-channel sound playback, plus 2 channels of independent stereo sound output (multiple streaming) through the front panel stereo outputs. Two stereo ADCs are integrated and can support a microphone array with Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), Beam Forming (BF), and Noise Suppression (NS) technologies. The ALC1150 incorporates Realtek proprietary converter technology to achieve Front differential output 115dB Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) playback (DAC) quality and 104dB SNR recording (ADC) quality.

Independent Right and Left Audio Channel PCB Layers
Locating the right and left audio channels on separate PCB layers, GIGABYTE X99 series motherboards are able to eliminate channel crosstalk and maintain the best audio quality.

Intel Gigabit LAN
Intel Gigabit LAN networking, a popular choice with gamers that features several performance-enhancing features such as advanced interrupt handling to help reduce CPU overhead and Jumbo Frame support for extra large data packets.

Intel GbE LAN with cFos Internet Accelerator Software
Additional GIGABYTE X99 series motherboards feature cFos Speed, a network traffic management application which helps to improve network latency, maintaining low ping times to deliver better responsiveness in a crowded LAN environment. cFos Speed works in a similar way to an OS driver, monitoring network traffic packets at the application layer, allowing optimization and improved network performance for specific applications.

Gold Plated CPU Socket
GIGABYTE X99 motherboards come equipped with gold plating for the CPU socket, 4 PCIe slots and over the 8 DIMM slots, which means that enthusiasts can enjoy better connectivity, absolute reliability and longevity for the diverse connectors overtime, without having any concerns about corroded pins and bad contacts.

2x Copper PCB Design(2 oz Copper PCB)
GIGABYTE’s exclusive 2X Copper PCBs design provides sufficient power trace paths between components to handle greater than normal power loads and to remove heat from the critical CPU power delivery area. This is essential to ensure the motherboard is able to handle the increased power loading that is necessary when overclocking.

Safer Design Around Screw Mounting Holes
Don't worry anymore about accidental damage while mounting your motherboard to you chassis. GIGABYTE X99 motherboards all feature a wider copper ground pad and onboard components free area around the PCB screw mounting holes. This exclusive design reduces the chances of damaging any surrounding onboard components during the PC assembly process. Bigger copper ground pads also provide the added benefit of lower EMI disturbance for reduced noise interference across your system.

Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition CPUs(Haswell-E)
Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Processors are Intel’s first 8 core desktop CPUs and is the first to support DDR4 memory. These next generation 22nm CPUs delivers greater performance and energy efficiency as well as the industry's highest level of discrete graphics performance by sporting 40 PCIe Gen.3 lanes, which GIGABYTE X99 motherboards are able to take full advantage of, delivering bandwidth totaling 320 Gb/s for the most demanding gamers or graphics intensive creation tasks such as video editing. On top of that, Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition CPUs deliver 8 core (16 threaded) multitask processing, higher frequencies, as well as larger cache size. Additionally, GIGABYTE X99 users can draw even more performance out of their Extreme Edition CPUs, as they are fully unlocked for overclocking. With enhanced overclocking oriented options available on all GIGABYTE X99 series motherboards, users will be able to take full advantage of all the performance potential of Intel Extreme Edition CPUs.

4 Channel DDR4
The next generation of DRAM is here with DDR4. Featuring stock frequencies starting at 2133 MHz, DDR4 delivers up to 20% less energy consumption and twice as much density as the previous generation DDR3. DDR4 can help GIGABYTE X99 users to load their programs faster, increase responsiveness of their system and help them to handle heavy data tasks in a flash. GIGABYTE X99 motherboards provide 4 Channel DDR4 memory support across the entire range, bringing exceptionally fast memory access.

GIGABYTE APP Center
The GIGABYTE APP Center gives you easy access to a wealth of GIGABYTE apps that help you get the most from your GIGABYTE motherboard. Using a simple, unified user interface, GIGABYTE APP Center allows you to easily launch all GIGABYTE apps installed on your system, check related updates online, and download the latest apps, drivers, and BIOS.

Features
Supports New Intel Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition
Support for DDR4 XMP up to 3333MHz
Genuine All Digital Power Design with IR Digital PWM & IR PowIRstage ICs
4-Way Graphics with Premium PCIe Lane
Dual M.2 Technology for SSD Drive and WIFI card
Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD audio with built-in Rear Audio Amplifier
Independent Right and Left Audio Channel PCB Layers
High end Nichicon audio capacitors
LED lighting for the audio guard light path
All Stainless Steel connectors on rear panel
SATA Express support for up to 10 Gb/s data transfer
GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS with Q-Flash Plus USB port
Long lifespan Durable Black Solid caps
APP Center including EasyTune and Cloud Station utilities
Thunderbolt Ready
Safer design around screw mounting holes

Technical details

General
Brand : Gigabyte
Model : GA-X99-SLI

CPU
Support for Intel Core i7 processors in the LGA2011-3 package
L3 cache varies with CPU

Chipset    
Intel X99 Express Chipset

Memory
8 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 128 GB of system memory
4 channel memory architecture
Support for DDR4 3333(O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2133 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Support for RDIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx4/2Rx4 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)

Audio    
Realtek ALC1150 codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF Out

LAN    
Intel GbE LAN chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots
2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIE_1, PCIE_2)
2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x8 (PCIE_3, PCIE_4)
3 x PCI Express x1 slots
1 x M.2 Socket 1 connector for the wireless communication module (M2_WIFI)

Multi-Graphics Technology
Support for 4-Way/3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire/NVIDIA SLI technology

Storage Interface
Chipset
1 x M.2 PCIe connector
1 x SATA Express connector
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0~5)
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
Chipset : 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (sSATA3 0~3), supporting IDE and AHCI modes only

USB
Chipset
4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (available through the internal USB headers)
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)
Chipset + Renesas uPD720210 USB 3.0 Hub : 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel

Internal I/O Connectors    
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x PCIe power connector
1 x M.2 Socket 3 connector
1 x SATA Express connector
10 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU fan header
1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)
3 x system fan headers
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
2 x USB 3.0/2.0 header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
1 x Thunderbolt add-in card connector
1 x Clear CMOS jumper

Back Panel Connectors    
1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x RJ-45 port
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
2 x Wi-Fi antenna connector holes

I/O Controller    
iTE I/O Controller Chip

H/W Monitoring    
System voltage detection
CPU/System/Chipset temperature detection
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed detection
CPU/System/Chipset overheating warning
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan fail warning
CPU/CPU OPT/System fan speed control

BIOS    
2 x 128 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS
Support for DualBIOS
Support for Q-Flash Plus
PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0

Unique Features
Support for APP Center
@BIOS
Ambient LED
EasyTune
EZ Setup
Fast Boot
Cloud Station
ON/OFF Charge
Smart TimeLock
Smart Recovery 2
System Information Viewer
USB Blocker
V-Tuner
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Smart Switch
Support for Xpress Install

Bundle Software
Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
Intel Smart Response Technology
cFosSpeed

Operating System
Support for Windows 10/8.1/8/7

Form Factor
ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm