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Questions for Strix X299-XE gaming board

MoonMan2
Level 7

‎05-23-2019 11:04 AM - last edited on ‎03-06-2024 08:15 PM by Community Admin

I intend on buying this board soon and have a few questions:

1) Will dual channel memory configuration work for a processor that says it supports quad channel memory?

2) What is the onboard sound quality like from this motherboard, is it comparable to creative Xi-fi?

3) Which make of SSD drives are best suited for this board? I intend to buy 2x1Tb and use in Raid 0.

4) On page 2-18 of the manual it reads “USB 3.1 Gen 1/Gen 2 devices can only be used as data storage only”. Does this mean I CAN’T use the USB 3.1 ports (6 in all) for USB 2.0 peripherals such as mouse, keyboard, printer, VR etc?
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4 REPLIES 4

Retired
Not applicable

‎05-24-2019 07:09 AM

MoonMan2,
1) Yes, it will work. The motherboard is designed for quad-channel memory configuration, however when you install 2 sticks in slot's A1/C1, it will work just fine for dual channel.
2) Generally, the on-board sound is quite good. In truth, it really depends on your sense of hearing. To some, the on-board sound's like a nightmare, to other's it's pleasant. If you decide to connect speakers for a 6 or 8 channel configuration, the sound output relies on the clarity of your speaker's. If you decide to buy Logitech or other manufacturer's, you won't regret the expense 🙂
3) There's so many SSD manufacturer's out there nowadays, that it frankly doesn't matter which one you choose. Generally, the read/write speed's won't differ to much. You will find a couple SSD's with a bit faster sequence's but honestly, I doubt you will see the difference. I have Crucial's model, MX500 1TB, for a total of four. I can't complain about anything. Which model's are you intended on buying? Conventional SSD, M.2 or PCIE 3.0 x4? The last two option's are dissimilar because the read/write speed's are much faster.
4) Well, to be honest, from reading your post, I discovered that my motherboard has the same definition for the USB 3.1 ports. I'm not sure what exactly it mean's, however I have my mouse, keyboard and Razer pad connected and it all work's fine 🙂
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MoonMan2
Level 7
In response to Retired

‎05-24-2019 08:30 AM

Thanks for answering my questions, useful information to help for my forthcoming build. I have three further questions – for now…

They relate to building a RAID system:

1) There appears to be TWO sets of DIFFERENT instructions in the manual (pages 4-2 onwards and pages 4-12) on how to set up RAID disks. One appears to be UEFI and the other intel.

I’m assuming you can only use one, which one should I use?

Is one more functional than the other?

Is one more stable than the other?

2) On page 4-10 of the manual it gives instruction for installing the RAID controller (driver) from supplied support DVD disk during windows 10 installation. I’m concerned the manual doesn’t give a specific name for the driver to select. Are there separate drivers for the UEFI one and intel one? Is it obvious which one is which? I’d hate to select the wrong one by mistake.

3) On page 4-2 it reads: “Due to chipset limitation, when SATA ports are set to RAID mode, all SATA ports run at RAID mode together.” Does this mean if I connect a DVD rom drive via a SATA cable, that the controller will try to fuse the optical drive together with the SSD drives in a triple RAID 0 configuration? Can’t I have the DVD rom drive operate separately from the SSD drives in RAID 0 mode?
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Retired
Not applicable
In response to MoonMan2

‎05-30-2019 12:32 AM

For this motherboard, the chipset has only Intel Rapid Storage Technology. You may create a raid volume within the BIOS in 2 ways: through the Advanced menu or through the Option ROM, which is by pressing Ctrl+I. I'm not sure on what the KEY module for Virtual Raid on cpu is. Never seen this before but it must be a nice feature 🙂 All in all, it's all Intel RST.
The drivers will be the same. You just have to download them from Asuses website.
Now, this is very interesting on what you noted for the last question. I believe that once you have a Raid 0 running on 2 or 3 ports, technically they will be running under that mode but the remaining should be standard sata mode. After thinking about a couple minutes, unfortunately, as stated from the motherboard manual, all sata ports will be running in RAID mode. You might want to think about that 🙂
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Vlada011
Level 10

‎05-30-2019 12:55 AM

On back side of motherboard you have 4 USB 3.0 Gen 1 (Blue) Ports and you can use them for keyboard or mouse.
Or you can buy always ASUS 2x USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 Bracket Adapter to connect on Internal USB 3.0 port and use them.

Dual Channel memory will work but why??? If you have chance to use Quad Channel use 4 DIMMs.

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