Introduction and Technical Specifications

The X299 Designare EX is GIGABYTE’s latest flagship offering in their X299 chipset board line…

Introduction

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The X299 Designare EX motherboard is GIGiABYTE's latest flagship product offering support for Intel's HEDT chipset and processor line. With it's late entry into the fray, GIGABYTE was able to tweak its layout and feature set to make the Designare board a more appealing product over previously introduced boards. Built around the Intel X299 chlipset, the board supports the Intel LGA2066 processor line, including the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors, with support for Quad-Channel DDR4 memory running at a 2667MHz speed. The X299 Designare EX can be found in retail with an MRSP of around $500.00.

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GIGABYTE integrated the following features into the X299 Designare EX motherboard: eight SATA III 6Gbps ports; three M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 32Gbps capable ports with Intel Optane support built-in; dual Intel Gigabit RJ-45 ports – Intel I219-V Gigabit and Intel I211 controllers; an Intel 8265 802.11ac WiFi controller; five PCI-Express x16 slots; Realtek® ALC1220 8-Channel audio subsystem; and USB 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 Type-A and Type-C port support. GIGABYTE also integrated there steel-based armor slots for the board's PCIe and memory slots, giving them added strength and durability.

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

For added strength, rigidity, and underside protection, GIGABYTE integrated a metal armor under plate onto the board's underside much like that seen on ASUS' TUF board line. The under plate also acts as a secondary heat dissipation path. Further, GIGABYTE integrated a metal rear I/O Shield over the rear panel components, adding out of the box protection for those normal exposed ports.

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To power the board, GIGABYTE integrated integrated a 13-phase digital power delivery system into the X299 Designare EX's design. The digital power system was designed with IR digital power controllers and PowIRstage ICs, Server Level Chokes, and Durable Black capacitors.

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

Courtesy of GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE integrated two zones of RGB LEDs into the surface of the X299 Designare EX – integrated into the audio chipset and rear panel housing and into the chipset cooler. The LEDs can be configured in up to nine pre-configured operation modes or configured for independent operation using the Advanced mode. GIGABYTE supports LED configuration via the UEFI or the RGB Fusion Windows applet. In addition, LED strips attached to the board's headers can be configured to operate in up to 10 different modes.

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For the integrated audio solution, GIGABYTE paired the board with a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio processor, a dedicated headphone AMP, and high-end WIMA and audio capacitors for a superior integrated audio experience.

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The board's rear panel contains the following integrated ports: a hybrid PS/2 port, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and 3.1 ports, Intel I219-V and I211-AT RJ-45 GigE ports, dual Intel 8265 802.11ac antennae ports, dual DisplayPort input ports (for use with the Thunderbolt 3 pass-thru capabilities), and both digital and analogue audio ports.

Technical Specifications (taken from the GIGABYTE website)