ASUS X99 Deluxe LGA2011-v3 Motherboard Review

Despite being on the market for going on 3 years now the X79 LGA2011 platform was still a powerhouse in most respects, but it was starting to feel a little antiquated when compared directly to the newer Z97 LGA1150 platform and its next generation capabilities. With only two native SATA 6GB/s ports, no native USB 3.0, and not a hint of M.2 or SATA Express support, the flagship platform wasn't looking so grand anymore. Enter the brand new X99 LGA2011-v3 platform led by the monster Core i7-5960X and two wallet-friendly K parts. Not only does the X99 chipset have all the features of its mainstream cousin, but it has more of them, much more!

The ASUS X99 Deluxe motherboard that we are reviewing today is by far the most feature-rich model in the company's LGA2011-v3 lineup. It might sound cliché but this is definitely one of those Swiss Army Knife models that makes you question how they shoehorned so much functionality into one motherboard. With a retail price of about $400USD/$420CAD, the X99-Deluxe is very high-end motherboard that caters to the “I want it all” crowd, and as you will see it really does not disappoint.

With five physical PCI-E x16 slots, 3-way CrossFire and 3-way SLI capabilities, one PCI-E x4 slot, two M.2 x4 connectors, two SATA Express ports, eight SATA 6Gb/s port (plus the four on the SATAe ports), ten USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0/3.0 headers, two Intel-powered Gigabit LAN ports, Thunderbolt 2.0 header, a dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi module with Bluetooth v4.0, a fan extension card with an included thermal probe, Realtek's latest ten-channel HD audio controller with DTS Connect, diagnostic LEDs, a bunch of onboard buttons and switches, and…well, you get the idea.

DDR4 memory wise - which is a cornerstone of this new platform - the Deluxe can handle up to 64GB of RAM and been certified for memory speeds up to DDR4-3200. As you will see in our overclocking section, that frequency is very much within reach if you have a capable memory kit. When it comes to overclocking the processor, there are a number of excellent automatic overclocking options to choose from, and ASUS have even developed a proprietary OC Socket that supposedly improves Haswell-E overclocking and voltage regulation too.

Now features and specs are great, but they are kind of pointless if the motherboard is unstable, overclocks poorly, and has a wonky software package. Therefore, we are here to find out if ASUS have managed to deliver a truly complete high-end package with the X99-Deluxe.