![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , March 05, 2015
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Share:
GIGABYTE X99 SOC Champion LGA 2011-v3 Review
The X99 SOC Champion LGA 2011-v3 socketed motherboard from GIGABYTE has all the ingredients for record breaking performance, rock solid stability, and outstanding performance. GIGABYTE's hardware design has been moving in the right direction lately so how does this "Super OverClocking" motherboard hold up to stress?
Introduction
GIGABYTE is a popular brand known the world over. GIGABYTE currently produces some of the world’s most innovative and feature rich motherboards. Founded in 1986, GIGABYTE has become a juggernaut with over a billion dollars in annual revenue with over 7,000 employees worldwide. In recent years the company has diversified its interests branching out into cases, network hardware, laptops, wireless equipment, power supplies, smart phones and even server equipment.
Despite the vast branching out GIGABYTE remains known first and foremost for its motherboards. GIGABYTE, like many other companies has a large product portfolio with motherboards in every imaginable price bracket supporting all CPU types and possible usage scenarios. Like its contemporaries GIGABYTE has additional or rather specific branding for some products in order to better target customers most suited to using those products. GIGABYTE’s G1 lineup for example targets the PC gamer and the SOC Champion specifically targets the overclocker. The X99 SOC Champion was crafted for the enthusiast whether they are looking to gain a few extra MHz out of their system or break world records. GIGABYTE launched the X99 SOC Champion during the 2015 CES Press Day in Las Vegas breaking several world overclocking records in a public demonstration.
The X99 SOC Champion is the latest in the GIGABYTTE overclocking line. The X99 SOC Champion features an all new 4th generation IR PowIRstage digital power CPU power design from International Rectifier. The X99 SOC Champion utilizes Cooper Bussmann server level chokes. The CPU socket and DDR4 DIMM slots features gold plated contacts, as do all the PCI-Express slots. Everything about the SOC Champion was designed for improving overclockability. Onboard controls for overclocking are provided for open test bench types looking to push their hardware. A supplementary power connection using a 6 pin PCI-Express power cable has been provided to increase power delivery. Onboard voltage measurement points, extra pins in the CPU socket, BIOS ROMs, 10k DuraBlack solid electrolytic capacitors and POSCAPs mounted on the motherboard backside. The X99 SOC Champion seems a bit light on the feature set but I think of it as a motherboard featuring all the things you want and nothing you don’t.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Specifications Overview:
Packaging
The color scheme of the X99 OC Champion is orange and black. This theme extends to the motherboard packaging. The box is actually basic aside from the box art. Inside is a lean but complete bundle of accessories. Included is a user manual, installation guidebook, driver disc, 2-Way, 3-Way, and 4-Way SLI bridges, 1x Crossfire bridge, SATA cables, and an I/O shield.
Board Layout
The motherboard layout is excellent. There are two decisions GIGABYTE made that I’m not thrilled about. I don’t care for the supplementary power being a secondary 6 pin PCI-Express power connector. I don’t like motherboard manufacturers wasting valuable power cables I would ordinarily use for video cards. This is less of an issue for people who are using a single GPU of course.
The CPU socket area is as clean as it could possibly be given the need to have the memory slots so close to the CPU’s memory controller. GIGABYTE employs the use of a modified LGA2011-v3 socket with an actual pin count of 2083. The power phases are cooled by black and orange heat sinks which have embedded heat pipes.
The X99 SOC Champion is a little different than most X99 motherboards. Instead of eight 288-pin DDR4 DIMM slots the X99 SOC Champion has only four. The idea behind this is fewer memory slots will allow for higher memory clocks due to lower stress on the CPUs memory controller. Fewer slots also allows for cleaner signaling and less electrical demand.
The motherboard chipset is cooled with a flat heat sink sporting the same orange and black color scheme found elsewhere on the motherboard. The heat sink is low profile and doesn’t cause clearance issues with the expansion slots. The motherboard’s 10x SATA ports and SATA Express are directly in front of the chipset and heat sink. A switch for toggling between LGA 2011 and LGA-2083 modes is also present in this area. The M.2 slot is directly behind the chipset and is sandwiched between the second and third PCI-Express slots.
The expansion slot area is effectively as close to perfect as you can get. There is no wasted space, no auxiliary power connectors are at the bottom edge of the motherboard to create problems with video card installation. The slot setup for four GPUs does create an issue with the last card hanging off the edge of the motherboard PCB which is only going to work in specific computer cases. The X99 SOC Champion supports up to four GPUs in a 8x8x16x8 or 16x0x16x8 configuration.
The I/O panel has dedicated PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, 4x USB 2.0 ports, 4x USB 3.0 ports, 1x RJ-45 port, 1x optical output and 5 mini-stereo jacks.