I really wish they had a formula version like they have for the z170 or the previous rampage iv formula. I like the Rampage Extreme but it has all that unnecessary sub zero stuff which I will never use and drives up the price of the board. I'd expect the latest R5E will be $600+. A formula with a focus on gaming/overclocking/water cooling would be perfect like it was with the rampage iv formula.

Fully agreed here. Much of the current RVE contents are based around the sub-zero community, which I suppose is a niche and thus they need a board for them, I just wish it wasn't this board.

I wish they had a RVE board for SLI folks, who love to game and overclock and a special Sub-zero version. It will never happen as it would cost them more money and they probably wouldn't get their R&A back on it.

The Strix board is pretty and has some nice features. The only downside for me is the lack of safepci port for the second SLI card. Why they didn't add is I have no idea. I don't know of anyone who has one of these boards with their 6-8 cores and DON'T have a second GPU.

For me i wouldn't mind the Strix board because I honestly don't believe that the RVE board that will come out will be any better in overclocking than the Strix unless you are doing sub-zero cooling. That being said, i don't think there is enough new stuff to warrant "upgrading". The only other thing that interests me is the dedicated pump fan header, but I can live without it.

Personally I have a friend with a x99 Deluxe and the -a version and they can overclock and do everything that I can do with my board. The only thing that I have above them is the audio and frankly I can't tell if there really is any big difference. I don't need/use the overclocking do-dad that comes with this MB.

All In all i think it is more money for the ROG brand. As Linus and Jay from Jayztwocents say, RVE aren't owned by enough people for them to do proper testing on, so in the end the user ends up being the beta tester for many things. The Deluxe and -A versions have more people buying them and are often more solid choices. I know I'll never to RVE again, not worth it for me. Hell I may never go Asus again with their horrible tech support.

I've been needing an RMA for this MB for 3 months and they haven't had any in stock so I'm left with a MB that isnt functioning properly, they can't get a replacement and refuse to give me a new one. yay me.

Yeah when I buy an Asus motherboard I pretty much cringe and pray it's good. That's why I test the heck out of it the first 30 days. It's a good idea to opt for another warranty like Newegg's or Squaretrade. Not sure if they kick in right away though. I want the new board for the dual U.2 ports and 4 3.0 x16 safeslots that the other boards don't have. So I will either get an Intel 2.5 U.2 drive(s), Samsung 950 Pro or Toshiba/OCZ RD400 with the Angelbird PX1 pcie heatsink adapter. I've never had a DOA or board go bad on me from Asus so that's why I keep coning back.

The STRIX has 3 safeslots and supports 2way / 3way SLI. It also has better storage controllers, supports more storage modes, has better audio, newer audio and LAN chipsets, has improved Digi+ power delivery and supports 5 way optimization.

How is this not better than an RVE for 90% of the people that buy an RVE and don't use the Sub Zero nonsense? Seems like a high end board that's an upgrade for most people.

I only see one safeslot (the one that has the metal reinforcement).

The thing that bugs me about the strix is why have "stickers" when the board has RGB everywhere already. Why not use the RGB lighting like the R5E obviously does. Makes the board seem cheap imho.

Interestingly, the USB seems to be mapped differently thus potentially solving/alleviating the many issues we had with RVe and USB... 🙂 BTW there's only one SafeSlot which is something I don't understand at all. At the very least there should be two safe slot. Not just one...

I think the Strix will become one of there most popular X99 boards, everything most people want for a high end gaming system at a lower price than the Extreme boards, essentially a X99 Formula
we seem to have gotten along until now without safe slots, I wouldn't make that a determining factor over quality components, and the features/looks that you want for your system

The Rampage V Edition 10 will be the true upgrade to the RVE and that's what I'm waiting for. Also these mid range boards don't have dual bios which is a deal breaker for my by itself. And the clear cmos button is not on the rear I/O. Not a deal breaker but annoying.