ASUS has unveiled their latest workstation motherboard for Kaby Lake-X and Skylake-X CPUs called the WS X299 Pro. It supports LGA2066 socket Core CPUs and it has eight DIMM slots in total. Depending on the CPU, users can take advantage of either all eight DIMM slots or just four for 4-core X-series HEDT CPUs.
New ASUS “Pro” Workstation Design
Unlike previous workstation motherboards from ASUS for the X79 and X99 chipset which use a CEB form factor, the new WS X299 Pro uses a standard ATX measuring 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm. ASUS also has scaled back noticeably on some of the features. Take the expansion slot design for example. Previous workstation boards have seven full-size PCIe expansion slots. The new WS X299 Pro however, only has four full-size PCIe slots and one PCIex4 slot with an open end. That is despite the latest Intel HEDT platform offering as much as 44-lanes from the CPU without the need for a multiplexer chip like before.
The VRM is also scaled back, dropping the ASUS blackwing chokes and scaling back on the VRM cooling system. There is only a single heatpipe extension now rather than a fully networked four-piece with the X299. Then again, this is the PRO version, while the previous two were workstation boards under the EXTREME moniker. The WS X299 Pro keeps the dual EATX12V power for the CPU however so you can still feed it for extreme overclocking. It even retains many of the on-board buttons.
Other Features
In terms of storage, there are six SATA3 6G SATA ports, dual M.2 slots and a U.2 slot. As for external storage, there are three USB 3.1 Gen2 via an ASMedia controller at the rear (one of which is Type-C), 6x USB 3.1 Gen1 and 6x USB 2.0.
The audio subsystem also uses the Realtek ALC S1220A 7.1-Channel HD audio codec used on many of ASUS’ mainstream and high-end boards.
Does it have RGB LED headers? You bet. One for standard RGB LEDs and one for addressable RGB LED lights.
Pricing and Availability
The product page just went up with the specifications and not much else, so there is no pricing information or availability yet. The non-10G X99E-WS motherboard retails for around $500 USD, so expecting this board with less “extreme” features to be around $300-$350 USD when it hits retail stores is reasonable.
X299 WS is massive let down compared to superb X99WS. Previous generation board was no compromises beast. X299WS is full of compromises from the start.
Only 6 SATA ports, no 7 full length PCIe slots. VRM cooling section looks very weak to say the least. They went with standard ATX format instead EATX which is available on every other X299 board from Asus. WTH?! No DIMM.2 slot for NVMe drives – have you tried to remove M.2 from underneath full size cards when you cooling rig with liquid? Good luck with that.
If you talking like crunching/rendering machines this is really poor choice. In a blink of the eye I would pick older X99WS or X299 R6E. The only good feature is lack of RGB, but that is small consolation prize in a sea of poor decisions and werid choices.