Product Showcase

The Optmius Prime Deluxe X299 motherboard is to be considered the more high-end class solution in that enthusiast segment of X299 series motherboards. The board is built using the best components, assuring high reliability and a long life-span. Some interesting features are 2x2 802.11ad Wi-Fi, Thunderbolt 3, U.2 and dual M.2 as well as and front USB 3.1 Gen 2 connector.
 

 
The motherboard includes all of the standardized X299 enhancements with two M.2 SSD slots and will support SLI and Crossfire (3-way). Your PCIe lane configuration will be highly dependant on the processor you purchase, unfortunately.

• 44-Lane CPU-
  • 3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16, x16/x16, x16/x16/x8) 
  • 1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode)
• 28-Lane CPU-
  • 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16, x16/x8) 
  • 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode)
• 16-Lane CPU-
  • 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8) 
  • 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x2 mode)
  • 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1 (x1 mode)

Only the 10-core (and more core versions) CPU will get a full 44 PCIe lanes available. The board follows a 12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm ) ATX Form Factor.

The I/O panel of the Prime  reveals twelve USB 3.1 ports one with type-c connector. Intel does not have native USB 3.1 Gen 2 support from the processor hence the motherboard manufacturers make use of external 3rd party controllers like ASMedia's 3142. USB 3.1 is coming from the chipset though. The motherboard features four PCIe x16 Gen 3.0 expansion slots. A Realtek ALC1220S audio codec is the source for audio which will uses enhanced quality capacitors, used on most motherboards these days.

The board gets two 10/100/1000 Ethernet controller from Intel I219-V. There is no PS/2 combo port that can be used for either a keyboard or mouse.

• 2 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
• 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 ()Type-A
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 ()USB Type-CTM
• 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 
• 4 x USB 2.0 (one port can be switched to USB BIOS Flashback) 
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
• 5 x Audio jack(s)
• 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button(s)
• 1 x ASUS Wi-Fi GO! module (Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac+ WiGig 802.11ad and Bluetooth v4.1)

The board has seriously proper WIFI on-board. It's a good one though, offering 5G AC WIFI Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band (2.4GHz, 5GHz) up to 867 Mbps speed as well as the new AD standard which goes to the 60 Hz band. That and having a very narrow signal when it comes to distance and say going through walls. Still, lovely to see it embedded! 

 
The board is powered by one 8-pin and 4-pin ATX power header to the processor, that second 4-pin connector can be use optionally. Depending on your processor you can opt for dual and quad channel memory. Kaby Lake-X is limited to dual-channel and Skylake-X processors will support quad channel memory. This board is rated to support up to DDR4 4000 MHz memory (overclocked), you may install up-to 128 GB of it or 64GB of it when using Kaby-Lake-X processors. If you look at the overview of the board you'll spot a nice black design with white styled elements on the heatsink plating. 

• User's manual
• ASUS Q-Shield
• 1 x Vertical M.2 bracket set
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)
• 1 x M.2 Screw Package
• 1 x Supporting DVD
• 1 x ASUS WiGig 802.11ad moving antenna *7
• 1 x ASUS 2T2R dual band Wi-Fi moving antennas (Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compliant)
• 1 x Fan Extension Card (3 x 4-pin fan out)
• 1 x Fan Extension card screw pack
• 1 x ThunderboltEX 3
• 1 x mini DisplayPort Cable 
• 1 x ThunderboltEX 3 GPIO cable
• 1 x 3-Way SLI bridge(s)
• 1 x SLI HB BRIDGE(2-WAY-M)
• 1 x Q-Connector
• 3 x Thermistor cable(s)

Included in the bundle is standard kit as well as two WIFI (shark fin design?) antennas and an RGB extended LED cable. Also included is a SLI bridge, this is the new HB (high-bandwidth) version. Nice to see that ASUS has stepped that up as well.