ASUS Announces X99-E WS

X99 chipset-based workstation motherboard supports PCI Express 3.0 x16 four-way graphics power, leading connectivity and premium components for premium efficiency

ASUS today announced X99-E WS, a new Compact Electronics Bay (CEB) workstation motherboard based on the Intel® X99 chipset and with support for four-way multi-GPU setups at full PCI Express 3.0 x16 speed for extreme graphics power.

X99-E WS is engineered with premium components for premium efficiency, including an integrated Driver-MOSFET (Dr. MOS), exclusive Beat Thermal Chokes II, ultra-durable 12K capacitors and ProCool power connector.

X99-E WS offers industry-leading storage opportunities with onboard M.2 x4 and support for the exclusive ASUS PIKE II (Proprietary I/O Kit Expansion) and ThunderboltEX II expansion cards. It also has many simple, efficient and ASUS-exclusive easy-maintenance tools, including Q-Code Logger and Dr. Power.

Ultimate PCI Express 3.0 four-way graphics power

X99-E WS is equipped with seven PCI Express 3.0 slots and is able to accommodate up to four dual-slot graphics cards at x16 speed. Both four-way (quad-GPU) NVIDIA® GeForce® SLI™ and AMD® CrossFireX™. are supported, making X99-E WS an excellent choice for graphics professionals who depend on powerful graphics in areas such as design and modeling, or medical research. It is also ideal for processing-intensive simulation and rendering applications. X99-E WS also has ample room for RAID cards, PCI Express-based solid-state drives (SSDs), video-capture cards and other components.

Premium components for premium efficiency

X99-E WS benefits from premium components hand-chosen and carefully arranged by ASUS engineers to provide premium efficiency. These include an integrated Dr. MOS to save space and reduce operating temperatures for more efficient operation, and ASUS-exclusive Beat Thermal Chokes II. The new-design Beat Thermal Chokes II deliver greater durability and up to 94% power efficiency under normal operation. A special fin design results in up to 5°C-lower choke temperatures for added stability, further bolstered by use of a highly-conductive gold coating. This translates into minimal-loss power delivery.

ASUS is the world’s first server manufacturer to introduce 12K solid capacitors — X99-E WS has these ultra-resilient components on board. These Japanese-made capacitors are able to withstand up to 12,000 hours of temperatures as high as 105°C, far exceeding everyday demands. At a typical operating temperature of 65°C, our 12K capacitors have an expected lifespan of 1.2m hours — or well over a century of real-world use.

X99-E WS also employs ProCool, the ASUS-exclusive reinvented power connector. ProCool eliminates the hollow areas associated with traditional power connectors, ensuring an exceptionally close and secure connection with the motherboard. This design is much stronger, and it also benefits power efficiency: the flush connection enables lower impedance and better heat dissipation, allowing cooler operating temperatures.

Flexible storage and quick and easy troubleshooting

X99-E WS has superb storage flexibility, with onboard M.2 x4 and support for both ASUS PIKE II and ThunderboltEX II cards. M.2 is an increasingly popular choice for operating system drives, with M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) able to get a system up and running in just moments — and X99-E WS’s M.2 x4 connector supports 2260 (60mm) and 2280 (80mm) devices. The new motherboard also has two SATA Express ports, for data-transfer speeds of up to 6Gbit/s.

With PIKE II fitted, X99-E WS becomes high-performance, high-reliability enterprise 12Gbit/s SAS solution, with multiple host bus adapters (HBAs) on a single board for performance-driven applications. X99-E WS is also compatible with ThunderboltEX II, the first Intel-certified Thunderbolt™ 2 add-on card from ASUS, which offers the flexibility to upgrade to Thunderbolt 2 at any time for bi-directional transfer speeds up to 20Gbit/s — that's four times (4X) faster than USB 3.0.

X99-E WS also benefits from ASUS Q-Code Logger, an easy-maintenance button that records four-digit port 80 code logs to a flash drive with one touch, so administrators can diagnose problems quickly and easily. Similarly, the conveniently-located Dr. Power LED displays messages to clearly indicate any unusual power statuses.