ASUS Rolls Out Four New Motherboards In Advance Of Intel’s Broadwell-E Launch

It’s widely expected that Intel will be unveiling its next series of enthusiast processors at Taipei’s Computex at the start of June, and furthering that rumor is ASUS. Why? Well, why else would it choose to unveil a line of brand-new X99 motherboards right now? Exactly.

In total, there are four X99 boards en route from ASUS, all part of the ‘ASUS Signature’ series. This lineup of boards is being treated as the best of the best by ASUS, and the specs and designs back that up. At the top-end is the X99-DELUXE II, at $419, and right beneath it is the ROG Strix X99, a $339 option. For those who don’t want to open their wallets quite so far, your other options are the $249 X99-A II and $219 X99-E.

Outside of some general aesthetic enhancements, ASUS has piled on all of its latest motherboard technologies into these boards. That includes Fan Xpert 4, which now allows you to control all PWM headers on a motherboard, to use high-amp fans, and even control your water cooling pumps. Once again, ASUS has given these latest boards its 5-way optimization technology, which lets you optimize your board’s behavior with a click of a button.

Another notable feature is SafeSlot, which is in effect added metal bracing for the PCIe slots. This is implemented to protect the slots and the board itself from excess weight caused by heavier graphics cards.

As you’d expect for top-end boards, these ones include all of the fun toys you’d expect nowadays, including U.2 and M.2 slots, 3×3 802.11ac Wi-Fi (on select models), as well as USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C. On the DELUXE II, an add-in board is included that adds Thunderbolt 3.0 support, enabling your TB 3.0 devices to peak at an impressive 40Gbps.

For hardcore gamers, the ROG Strix X99 might be the more attractive choice. It includes everything above outside of the Thunderbolt 3.0 add-in card, but adds a customizable LED light strip, RAMCache software, and SupremeFX audio.

ASUS hasn’t said exactly when these boards will hit e-tail, but given pricing has been revealed, that probably won’t be too far off.