Skip to content

Main Navigation

Puget Systems Logo
  • Solutions
    • Recommended Systems For:
    • Content Creation
      • Photo Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe Lightroom Classic
        • Adobe Photoshop
      • Video Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe After Effects
        • Adobe Premiere Pro
        • DaVinci Resolve
        • Foundry Nuke
      • 3D Design & Animation
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk 3ds Max
        • Autodesk Maya
        • Blender
        • Cinema 4D
        • Houdini
        • ZBrush
      • Real-Time Engines
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Game Development
        • Unity
        • Unreal Engine
        • Virtual Production
      • Rendering
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Keyshot
        • OctaneRender
        • Redshift
        • V-Ray
      • Digital Audio
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Ableton Live
        • FL Studio
        • Pro Tools
    • Engineering
      • Architecture & CAD
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk AutoCAD
        • Autodesk Inventor
        • Autodesk Revit
        • SOLIDWORKS
      • Visualization
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Enscape
        • Lumion
        • Twinmotion
      • Photogrammetry & GIS
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • ArcGIS Pro
        • Agisoft Metashape
        • Pix4D
        • RealityCapture
    • Scientific Computing
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Data Science
      • Machine Learning / AI
      • Scientific Computing
    • More
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Compact Size
      • Live Streaming
      • NVIDIA RTX Studio
      • Quiet Operation
      • Virtual Reality
    • Business & Enterprise
      We can empower your company
    • Government & Education
      Services tailored for your organization
  • Products
    • AMD Ryzen 7 & 9
      Workstations with AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors on B650 and X670 chipsets
    • Intel Core i7 & i9
      Workstations with 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core processors on Z690 and Z790 chipsets
    • AMD Threadripper
      Workstations with AMD Threadripper 7000 and Threadripper PRO 5000 WX processors
    • Intel Xeon W
      Workstations with Intel Xeon W 2400 and 3400 processors on the W790 chipset
    • Rackmount & Server
      Servers and workstations in rackmount chassis
    • Custom Computers
      Customize a workstation PC from scratch
    • Custom Servers
      Customize a rackmount server from scratch
    • QNAP Network Attached Storage
      Puget Systems is an authorized QNAP reseller
    • Recommended Third Party Peripherals
      Curated list of accessories for your workstation
  • Publications
    • Articles
    • Blog Posts
    • Case Studies
    • HPC Blog
    • Podcasts
    • Press
    • PugetBench
  • Support
    • Contact Support
    • Support Articles
    • Warranty Details
    • Onsite Services
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Our Customers
    • Enterprise
    • Gov & Edu
    • Press Kit
    • Testimonials
    • Careers
  • Talk to an Expert
  • My Account
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Hardware Articles
  4. /
  5. X299 vs X99: What is the Difference?

X299 vs X99: What is the Difference?

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Matt Bach
Always look at the date when you read an article. Some of the content in this article is most likely out of date, as it was written on July 11, 2017. For newer information, see our more recent articles.

Introduction

Alongside the new Skylake-X (Core i7-78xx & i9-79xx) and Kaby Lake-X (Core i7-77xx & i5-76xx) CPUs, Intel has also released the accompanying X299 Chipset. These days, new chipsets are rarely very exciting as more and more functionality is moved onto the CPU, but we wanted to cover what differences there are between X299 and the previous generation X99 chipset. 

If you are curious how the new Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X CPUs themselves perform, we currently have articles looking at how they compare to the Intel Broadwell-E and Skylake CPUs as well as the AMD Ryzen 7 CPUs for the following applications:

  • Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017.1.2
  • Adobe After Effects CC 2017.2
  • Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.1.1
  • Adobe Lightroom CC 2015.10.1

X299 vs X99 Chipset Specifications

There are a number of changes between X299 and X99 and we marked the major differences in the chart below with red. Note that this chart doesn't include all the features available in each chipset, but rather the key points we feel are important. If you wish to see the full set of differences between X299 and X99, Intel.com has a comparison chart you can view.

X299 X99
Processor Support Skylake-X (Core i7-78xx & i9-79xx)
Kaby Lake-X (Core i7-77xx & i5-76xx)
Haswell-E (Core i7-59xx/58xx)
Broadwell-E (Core i7-69xx/68xx)
Socket LGA-2066 LGA-2011 v3
DRAM Support DDR4 DDR4
Mem/DIMMs Per Channel 4/1 4/1
DMI Version 3.0 3.0
Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) Yes Yes
Intel RST for PCI-E Storage Yes No
Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT) Yes Yes
Intel Optane Technology Yes No
USB Total (USB 3.0) 14(10) 14(6)
Max SATA 6Gb/s 8 10
Max Additional PCI-E lanes* 24x PCI-E 3.0 8x PCI-E 2.0
CPU Overclocking Yes Yes

*In addition to the 16-44 PCI-E 3.0 lanes from the CPU

Starting from the top, X299 supports the new LGA-2066 socket necessary for the new CPUs, but it has not seen much of a change from a RAM compatibility perspective. Since the memory controller was moved onto the CPU a number of years ago, things like the supported RAM frequency depends on the capabilities of the CPU rather than the chipst. Because of this, the X299 chipset still supports the same 4 channels of memory with one DIMM per channel resulting in most X299 motherboards allowing either four or eight sticks of DDR4 RAM.

The first major addition to the X299 chipset is the support for Intel RST for PCI-E storage devices rather than just SATA storage devices. X299 also adds support for Optane technology which has great potential, but has not really taken off quite yet.

Moving on to connectivity, X299 supports the same total number of USB ports although the number of USB 3.0 has gone up from 6 to 10. Oddly, the number of SATA 6Gb/s ports has been reduced from 10 to 8. It is extremely rare for more than even 4 SATA drives to be used in a system without a 3rd party RAID controller, however, so this reduction really isn't that big of a deal for the vast majority of users.

The biggest change in X299 from a feature standpoint is the number and speed of PCI-E lanes available through the chipset. Where X99 only had 8 PCI-E 2.0 lanes, X299 now has 24 PCI-E 3.0 lanes. This is a massive increase and should make it much easier to use devices like M.2 storage drives or even Thunderbolt without having to worry about how you are going to divide up a small number of PCI-E lanes.

Conclusion

Overall, most of the changes in X299 are quite minor. The extra USB 3.0 ports are nice and while the support for Intel Optane has the potential to be significant, the current implementation is fairly underwhelming for most users.

The most exciting change is the inclusion of 24 PCI-E 3.0 lanes – up from just 8 PCI-E 2.0 lanes on X99. This should greatly help the transition from the somewhat dated SATA 6Gb/s technology to the much higher performance M.2 specification. Since each high speed M.2 drive requires four dedicated PCI-E 3.0 lanes, the inclusion of 24 PCI-E 3.0 lanes is terrific. In fact, a number of ATX X299 boards already on the market include support for up to three full speed M.2 drives. Given that current M.2 drives can run at up to 3.5GB/s for only a ~20% price increase over a high quality SATA drive, we see this as the largest single benefit to X299 for end users.

However, as is often the case, the main reason to use X299 is simply to be able to use the new Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X CPUs. These CPUs are not supported by the previous generation X99 chipset, so if you want to use these newer CPUs, X299 is really your only option.

3x M.2 on the Gigabyte X299 AORUS Gaming 7

Tags: Kaby Lake-X, Skylake X, X299, X99

Who is Puget Systems?

Puget Systems builds custom PCs tailored for your workflow

Extensive in-house testing
making you more productive and giving you more performance for your dollar

Reliable workstations
with fewer crashes and blue screens means more time working, less time waiting on your computer

Support that understands
your complex workflows and can get you back up and running ASAP

Proven track record
check out our customer testimonials and Reseller Ratings

Get Started

Browse Our Workstations

Fractal Design Define 7 Chassis with Puget Systems Logo

Select your workflow:

Content Creation
Engineering
Scientific Computing
More

Latest Articles

  • All About Thermal Throttling
  • AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7995WX Content Creation Preview
  • AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000: Performance vs Previous Generations
  • LLM Server Setup Part 2 — Container Tools
  • Power Analysis: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000
View All

Post navigation

 After Effects CC 2017.2 CPU Comparison: Skylake-X, Kaby Lake-X, Broadwell-E, Kaby Lake, Ryzen 7Unreal Engine 4.16 CPU Comparison: Skylake-X, Kaby Lake-X, Broadwell-E, Skylake, Ryzen 7 
Puget Systems Logo
Build Your Own PC Site Map FAQ
facebook instagram linkedin rss twitter youtube

Optimized Solutions

  • Adobe Premiere
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Solidworks
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Machine Learning

Workstations

  • Content Creation
  • Engineering
  • Scientific PCs
  • More

Support

  • Online Guides
  • Request Support
  • Remote Help

Publications

  • All News
  • Puget Blog
  • HPC Blog
  • Hardware Articles
  • Case Studies

Policies

  • Warranty & Return
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Delivery Times
  • Accessibility

About Us

  • Testimonials
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

© Copyright 2023 - Puget Systems, All Rights Reserved.