X299 Motherboard Recommendation for i9-10900X?

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Dec 16, 2014
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I looking at building a workstation based on an i9-10900X processor for some simulation code that needs both high single threaded CPU performance and memory bandwidth (4+ memory channels) with at least 8 cores. Fast memory might help with the simulations I am planning and I might overclock the memory. Some of the simulation codes were likely compiled with Intel's MKL.

Does anyone have any motherboard recommendations for the i9-10900X?
 
I like my MSI Creation board so since you didn't seem to be doing heavy OC their cheaper Pro board should be fine I would imagine, I've not used it personally though.

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/X299-PRO without 10G card
https://www.newegg.com/msi-x299-pro/p/N82E16813144275?Item=N82E16813144275

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/X299-PRO-10G with 10G card

Asus is fine too and has a few new models designed for the 10 series X processors which have better vrm and overall design.
prime https://www.newegg.com/asus-prime-x299-a-ii/p/N82E16813119213?Item=N82E16813119213

MSI and Asus based on my experience have the best XMP settings out of the box if you intend to use them.

If you need PCIE Bifurcation then Asrock is the only one that really has that in the bios.

Prices on the boards get a bit absurd when you get to the mid-to-high end.
 
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The X299 MEG Creation board was awesome. ASUS' X299 Prime Deluxe II and X299 Prime Edition 30 are also good. I reviewed a bunch of X299 boards, but frankly they've been around for long enough that I don't remember a whole lot of them. The ones I mentioned are ones I remember specifically, or have had recent experience with.
 
I recommend Evga X299 mobo's they have worked well for me and the service they provide in my experience has been great. I'm currently looking at getting another as well for my new build I have under way
 
EVGA X299 Dark, Asrock OC Formula, or whatever MSI board you like. Avoid Gigabyte. Their X299 bios is literally trash and they are very poor at OC. Though after using x299 dark it puts all of them to shame.
 
I looking at building a workstation based on an i9-10900X processor for some simulation code that needs both high single threaded CPU performance and memory bandwidth (4+ memory channels) with at least 8 cores. Fast memory might help with the simulations I am planning and I might overclock the memory. Some of the simulation codes were likely compiled with Intel's MKL.

Does anyone have any motherboard recommendations for the i9-10900X?
So high single thread performance and at least eight cores. So if it is at least eight cores does that mean there is more advantage to more cores? Also high single core performance is relative to the task. That is some very specific CPU task that seems to match all of Intel's marketing materials. What software are we talking here?
 
I have the EVGA X299 Dark and MSI X299 Creation for an i9-10900X. The X299 Creation is far more feature rich and both overclock the CPU to 4.9 GHz all-core. The X299 Dark does one CL lower on the memory overclock. I would get the newer MSI X299 Creator which exposes all 48 lanes of the i9-10900X. The X299 Dark only exposes 44 lanes.

The MSI X299 boards don't explicitly support PCIe bifurcation, but if you enable VROC on a PCIe slot and don't configure a VMD, the individual drives are accessible in Windows. I don't know if the X299 Dark does the same.
 
I have the EVGA X299 Dark and MSI X299 Creation for an i9-10900X. The X299 Creation is far more feature rich and both overclock the CPU to 4.9 GHz all-core. The X299 Dark does one CL lower on the memory overclock. I would get the newer MSI X299 Creator which exposes all 48 lanes of the i9-10900X. The X299 Dark only exposes 44 lanes.

The MSI X299 boards don't explicitly support PCIe bifurcation, but if you enable VROC on a PCIe slot and don't configure a VMD, the individual drives are accessible in Windows. I don't know if the X299 Dark does the same.
x299 dark does support bifurcation and VROC raid on m.2.

Also keep in mind the extra lanes of a cascake lake x cpu are reserved for the NIC upgrade in all boards that support the extra lanes.
 
x299 dark does support bifurcation and VROC raid on m.2.

Also keep in mind the extra lanes of a cascake lake x cpu are reserved for the NIC upgrade in all boards that support the extra lanes.
Neither EVGA nor MSI support bifurcation outside of VROC. If you attach 4x NVMe drives without enabling VROC, only the first drive is detected. If you enable VROC on the PCIe slot but leave it unconfigured, the individual drives are exposed by the VROC driver under the VMD controller (not the drives' native NVMe controllers). Bifurcation without VROC can be enabled by modding the BIOS yourself.

The additional lanes in Cascade Lake-X are used for the M.2 slot on the MSI Creator X299 - the 10 GbE NIC is still attached to the PCH.
 
Yep was talking to Monstieur over on evga about it, if you install the VROC driver you can use the drives but it is VROC and not native bifurcation which Asrock supports, Asus does too (on my R6E and R6A) but theirs is called Hyper M.2 data mode or data/only hidden in the CPU storage section.

Using the VROC driver is alright but annoying since you shouldn't have to in order to do it that way. If you want to use something besides NVMe storage then you'll need actual bifurcation so the MSI and EVGA won't work in that case.

I asked MSI and EVGA if they could add bifurcation to the bios, MSI said they didn't plan on doing it (wow great) and EVGA said they could not.
 
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I could not agree more. EVGA X299 Dark+ i9-10980XE = STABILITY. (Updated 27 JAN 2022)

I got an ‘open box’ deal on eBay this time: The package was perfect, the product box a bit scruffy but inner box and everything else perfect, sealed bags, perfect manual and the board even had most of the protective plastic wrapping on it. But the board was even better than new: It had been tested (and perhaps used) and arrived with the latest BIOS. Can’t beat that. And everything works perfectly with a brand new i9-10980XE.
It is a hot chip for sure, but I run it very differently from most other folks: HyperThreading off, undervolting as much as I can, limiting boost to 4.3 GHz for the best core, 4,2 GHz for two second best ones, the rest at 4.1 and down the scale to 3.6 GHz on the worst of the 18 cores. That way I get a good performance boost compared to the X99/i7-6950X (OC’d to max 4,1 GHz on 2 cores, the rest were on 3.9) The X99 had to go, as performance just fell constantly since 2018 after the Spectre/Meltdown affair and successive bad Microsoft updates.
And it was getting unstable, due to missing updates to its Killer 2400 NICs… Other people on the ‘net advised me well, here. The clincher was January 2021 MS-updates which deteriorated the situation for Windows’ performance and was not improved by February 2021; that’s when I hit the ‘buy’ button.
The performance now is really good on X299, even if limited by me, but still 3.0 times better than my X58-i7-990X (OC’d to 4.1 GHz) and still in active duty. Both machines are on air and very quiet fan settings – a great machine should be seen, not heard. I have also not had a single blue screen from either Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 10 PRO or Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 – at all. Each on their own SSD, booted via BCD menu. I have never tried a more stable platform from the get-go, ever. And the BIOS is fantastic: Integrated testing, which really cuts down on tuning time, at least for me. Compatibility is tops too: All MS-Office applications, Visio, MS-Project, Adobe products, Hauppauge TV-card and system, etc.
All up I tested around 50 applications on Windows 7 and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019. And that’s without re-installing the OS’es – just changing the board (Win-7 was a bit difficult). Re-installing, which is optimal, has gone in the ‘Too Hard’ basket’ – it’ just too traumatic with so many applications with all of their bespoke settings :-(
Finally, in September I took the plunge with Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019, due to driver issues with nVidia BROADCAST causing unstable sound. That did it.

GhostBuster was used after first tests to remove more than 170 ‘ghosts’ (unused old devices, like the i7-5960X, i7-6950X and a lot of old USB-devices, Killer Network, etc. ) After that, a run with Registry First Aid and then registry compression saved 32 MB. After all that, boot times have improved. Same thing with Windows 10 LTSC when that was transferred; here registry compression saved 7 MB.

Temps are great too: At office work, Package temp is 40 C and hottest core 35 C with the CPU fan at 525 - 545 rpm. Very relaxed and silent.
That is also running a very tight (and a bit resource heavy) security system, so the machine is doing work for its money in my security business.

Lowest CoreVID idle in Windows 7, 0.692 V - stays there often. Also in Windows 10.
Idle power from the wall: Windows 10: 69 W and Windows 7: 68.5x W at 230V~

Fairly ‘green’, as there is 64GB DDR4 2400 XMP1, EVGA RTX3070-Founders Edition, 3 PCIe SSDs, 6 SATA3 SSDs and optical drive on board with 3 fans + MB-fans.

Performance under Windows 7 in CineBench R20: 6820 points (screenshot). What's not to like? (Corrected with latest optimizations)
 

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The x299 dark may be stable but I’ve had a lot of stability issues with the FTW-K With an i9-9820x

Fees like I’m always tinkering with it. My Threadrippers have been infinitely more stable than this. If I hadn’t built it primarily because EVGA had the boards for like $89 over Labor Day weekend and had a more critical use for it I’d be pretty frustrated. Performs great when it works though.
 
The x299 dark may be stable but I’ve had a lot of stability issues with the FTW-K With an i9-9820x

Fees like I’m always tinkering with it. My Threadrippers have been infinitely more stable than this. If I hadn’t built it primarily because EVGA had the boards for like $89 over Labor Day weekend and had a more critical use for it I’d be pretty frustrated. Performs great when it works though.

I've tested a lot of X299 motherboards. I've found them to be just as stable as the many Threadripper boards I've tested.
 
Stability issues on Intel are almost always voltage related misconfigurations - Load Line Calibration, load / idle transitions, poor defaults etc.
 
Stability issues on Intel are almost always voltage related misconfigurations - Load Line Calibration, load / idle transitions, poor defaults etc.
It actually seems to have something to do with the USB drivers and possibly the Killer Ethernet and it got worse after the latest rounds of windows updates. May have something to do with using a card that has its own USB bridge to the PCI but haven’t been able to pin point it to that. Outside of test running a different OS I can’t think of any real remedy.
 
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