Gigabyte X299 Designare EX

Motherboard

Gigabyte X299 Designare EX Main Picture


Gigabyte X299 Designare EX Picture 44586Gigabyte X299 Designare EX Picture 44587
The Gigabyte X299 Designare is an ATX size, workstation-grade motherboard utilizing the X299 chipset from Intel. That chipset is built to support Intel's Core-X series i7 and i9 processors, along with eight DDR4 memory slots.

A wide range of connectivity is provided as well: six standard USB ports, a pair of Thunderbolt 3 (Type C) ports, dual Gb Ethernet, WiFi, audio, and even a legacy PS/2 port. Internally it has eight SATA ports, three M.2 connectors, and a mix of PCI-Express 3.0 slots.

Note the following:
When middle M.2 slot is populated it will disable PCIEX4_1 (Slot 3)
When bottom M.2 slot is populated it will disable SATA ports 4-7.

William George (Marketing Project Manager)
William George (Marketing Project Manager) Says:
Please note that the PCI-Express slot speeds depend on the processor installed. Some older, lower-end chips have fewer PCI-E lanes, so if you plan on getting a lot of expansion cards you may want to check with our consultants to make sure you get a CPU that will support everything you need.
John Dinning (Research and Development Engineer)
John Dinning (Research and Development Engineer) Says:
The Gigabytle X299 Designare is a solid X299 board with support for up to three dual-slot GPUs and a good array of rear-panel connectivity. It even has built-in dual Thunderbolt 3 ports and two gigabit Ethernet ports, which saves a couple slots worth of potential expansion cards. Large heatsinks for the chipset and voltage regulators round out the package, and there are even dedicated heatsinks for all three M.2 slots!

Model: Gigabyte X299 DESIGNARE EX (rev. 1.0)

Specifications

Socket 2066
CPU Compatibility  SkyLake-X
Form Factor ATX
Chipset Manufacturer Intel
Chipset X299
Network Connectivity Dual Gigabit Networking + 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC
Network Controller Intel
Audio Controller Onboard Realtek ALC 1220
Cooling System Heatsink and Fan
Number of Fans 1
Color Grey
Memory Support
Type DDR4
Maximum Speed 2666 MHz
Number of Slots 8
Maximum Size per Slot 32 GB
Maximum Amount Supported 256 GB
External Connections
USB 2.0 2
USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) 4
PS/2 Keyboard Yes
PS/2 Mouse Yes
Audio Out Surround Sound (7.1)
Audio In Line-In/Microphone
S/PDIF Optical
LAN (RJ45) 2
Wireless Antenna Port Yes
Thunderbolt Ports 2
Thunderbolt Version 3
Internal Connections
USB 2.0 2 (providing 4 ports)
USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) 2
USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type C 1
SATA III 6.0Gbps 8
M.2 Connector 3
M.2 Support M Key x4
TPM (module sold separately) 1
Compatible TPM Gigabyte GC-TPM2.0_S 2.0
SATA Controllers
SATA III 6.0Gbps Controller 1 -Intel (6 Ports)
SATA III 6.0Gbps Controller 2 -ASMedia (2 Ports)
Expansion Slots
Slot 1 PCI Express 3.0 x16
Slot 2 Slot not available on this board
Slot 3 PCI Express 3.0 x4 in a x16 size
Slot 4 PCI Express 3.0 x16
Slot 5 PCI Express 3.0 x4 in a x16 size
Slot 6 PCI Express 3.0 x8 in a x16 size
Additional Information
SLI Compatible Yes
Crossfire Compatible Yes
RAID Support 0/1/5/10
Bluetooth Yes (4.2)
Dual GPU Slot Spacing 3-Slot
Integrated IO Shield Yes
BIOS Features
UEFI BIOS Yes
EZ Flash Yes
OC Profiles Yes
Dimensions
Height 305 mm (12.0 in)
Width 244 mm (9.6 in)

32GB DIMMs only compatible with X-10000 series CPUs