slidey
lamrogue do you think cable management will still work well if you leave the grommets in, or is that too tight?

Sajin
 
14 7900x's? 

Why so many?

Iamrogue

tusharsingal
Great manuals! Any idea when the board might actually come out?
 
Any concerns regarding OC'ing a 7900X on the X299 Micro's single 8-pin connector? 

4,7GHz is 100%
all my chips do this clock, and i tried 14 so far :)

TECH_DaveB

willdearborn

TECH_DaveB

willdearborn
@TECH_DaveB
 
Hey Dave sorry but I just have one more question about the X299 Dark.
 
I know you said PE6 would only get 4x lanes from the PCH with a 28 lane CPU. My question is would that be adequate for a card that is there simply to drive extra DVI displays? I'm sure the 4x lanes are fine for a card I'm not gaming on but since they would go through the PCH is this okay? Would it effect M.2 or SATA? I plan on using all 8x SATA and 2x M.2 slots.
 
My setup would be 2x GTX 1080s in SLI in PE1 and PE3. And then a GTX 660 in PE6 simply because I have 2 extra dual link DVI only displays. All the card does is drive those monitors. Could I get away with a 28 lane CPU in that case? I don't want to have to buy active DP to Dual Link DVI adapters simply for his purpose for many reasons. #1 Cost #2 DP hot plug detect #3 No adapters are just preferable.
 
Thanks so much for the info!

PE6 will be x4 from PCH, which in most cases will not support a GPU, as when used for video output they are supposed to be minimum of x8.  Now I have seen cards work fine, albeit SLOWLY on x4 slots, and other times not detect, since they are meant to be used on x8 I cannot say 100% that it will work as you want.  Enabling PE6 will disable the 80mm M.2 slot, which will also by default remove the Optane support for the board. 
Also you cannot run a card in PE3 with a 28 lane CPU, it will be PE1 and PE4, you can run the 3 cards in PE1, PE2, PE4 and they should work as intended, but I know that is a bit more cramped than you wanted.
 

Thanks for the reply Dave that helps a lot. I guess I'll have to opt for a 44 lane CPU to get the setup I want. So with a 44 lane CPU I would be able to use PE1 (x16), PE3 (x8), PE6 (x8), but I see that you mention that if PE6 is used the 80mm M.2 slot switches to PCH lanes. Would this stop me from using 2x M.2 slots for RAID 0? Since one is using CPU lanes and the other PCH lanes? And why would this even happen being that with the 3 GPUs we are only at 32 lanes, shouldn't that be enough to still use 8 more lanes for 2x M.2's from the CPU? 

I think it will prevent it as I do not think you can use RAID across CPU and PCH controlled slots.
 
As for  the 32 lane argument, it is not as simple lanes being in a pool to be used.  CPU based lanes are assigned in blocks of 4, 0-3, 4-7, 8-11, 12-15, now the last 2 segments are (typically) the sharable items, as the first 4 lanes have to be there for the next 4 to work and so on.  Now there is a component that the lanes that are shared between 2 slots will go through, and it is a detection based allocation, so, when if PE2 shares with PE1 when PE2 is populated then PE1 looses its 8 lanes (8-11 & 12-15) to PE2, it can't just pull 12-15 is it is a sound card, because 12-15 are traced (wired in essence) to the second set of 4 on the slot.  So you would have the first 4 lanes not being there then the second set, which cannot work without the primary 4 being filled which are the 8-11, so plugging in a video card, or a USB add in card, will pull the 3rd and 4th block of PCIE lanes form PE1.
Because this board has 5 x16 slots that means there was some interesting routing done to make this work, 4 is MUCH easier.  A component that helps with lane allocation and sharing like mentioned above assigns the lanes to PE6 and 80mm M.2.  PE6 has 2 sets of 4 lanes form the CPU, and one block of 4 lanes from the PCH, and when a card using x8 lanes is in PE6, the M.2 receives x4 form PCH.  When PE6 is empty, or is using a x4 or x1 slot the M.2 receives x4 lanes from the CPU.  All of this is assuming that you have a 44 lane processor.
 
This is also where some of the juggling act comes in, with a 44, 28, and 16 lane procs.  Because not all segments can pull lanes form the CPU because some sections are empty.  For the sake of a diagram, think the CPUs are represented in excel in horizontal columns, the 44 lane proc on top with 11 groups of 4 lanes, now the 28 lane under it with 7 groups of 4 and the x16 with 4 groups of 4, however the 28 and 16 lane procs do NOT have their  lanes all grouped together, so there are 4 lane sections that are blank, on top of that there are only so many layers, and so much additional components you want to add to handle allocation based off of different configs, so it is basically, look at the 16 lane proc and see what it take to make that have PE1 @ x16/x8 and PE2 be x8, and make sure that lines up with the lanes for the 28 lane proc AND the 44 (the 44 is easy) and how to allocate the best combo of parts between 5 x8 slots (when all are used), 1 x4 slot, U.2 and M.2, and where all the break points are for what is lost with a given CPU, and which peripheral will be disabled due to lack or lanes or sharing of lanes, and have this all work around the limitations of traces and iirc a 12 layer PCB.  Because crosstalk, and various other electrical concerns exist as well, not just how to allocate the resources.
 
If PCIE lanes were a pool, you would be 100% right about having the spare, however that is simply not how that works.  I do not have access to the wiring diagrams anymore as I am no longer an employee, however if that was confusing I can make a quick and dirty diagram to clarify if this left you with more questions than it answered.  I know PCIE lane routing is kinda a pain, but I hope this sheds a little light on the questions I have received many times over the years regarding "But I am not using all the lanes, why can't I use xxx and yyy together".

TECH_DaveB
What is you exact monitor config again?  If you are using the SLI set for a high end monitor, and a smaller card just to have access to other screens but not be part of a surround system or something like that, there are some options that you might consider.
If you are needing 2 DVI @ 1080p form the other card, how about PE1 and PE4 for the SLI set, then PE3 you use a single slot dual DVI card, or PE2 use  any dual DVI card.
If you are running the HP monitors in your sig that will be more of a challenge, you will need DL-DVI ports to run at their native resolution of 2560x1600, that will be a different challenge altogether.  If you can give a little more detail on the exact end-game you are looking for I think I can help find a solution that will work, just maybe not HOW you originally thought it would work.

TECH_DaveB
Well, I have 2 suggestions, as the end game is SLI w/4k, +3x1600p monitors, and Nvme RAID.
 
I would have to check with one of the PM guys internal in the company, as I am about 90% sure this would work, run your cards in PE1/4/6 like originally suggested, then in PE2/3 run M.2 PCIE risers and put the nvme's there, I think you can put them into RAID form there, but I know the inhouse PM guys can check on that for you.
 
OR
 
X299 supports VROC (Virtual RAID on CPU) natively.  Out of the box it should support it, VROC supports nvme RAID0, and if you have the VROC header for the port it should support other RAID functions as well.  As this is a new technology there may be some growing pains involved, and I have not used one personally, however I am pretty well read on it as of 1-1.5 months ago and it seems like a really viable option, but I have not seen the VROC cards hit the market yet.
 
OR
 
OK, 3 suggestions, and this may not be a great idea, but since you are not stressing the 660 very hard, maybe run one of the riser ribbons on it and place the card OVER PE6 without plugging into it.  I have seen them used to mount GPUs vertically in full tower cases, so in theory that should work just fine.  That would be cheap and easy.  Run the 1080s ins PE1/3, then PE4 has the ribbon, and it runs under the edge of the lower 1080, that might work out quite well, I haven't tried it but it seems viable.  Some of that will depend on your case though.

TECH_DaveB

willdearborn
 
Thanks for the suggestions Dave. I will definitely put some thought into those. One of those might end up working for me.
 
Or what about if I was to forget about nvme RAID 0 and just run a single M.2. Using a 44 lane CPU would I then be able to use PE1/PE3/PE6 at 16x/8x/8x and still use a single M.2 on PCH lanes?
 
Or would that same config (PE1/PE3/PE6) work but with 2x M.2s both off the PCH lanes? From what I see RAID 0 is possible with both M.2s on PCH lanes. Or are any of the M.2 slots on this board CPU lanes only?
 
Thanks for all you help. Also do you know if they are planning on posting the Dark manual soon?

Honestly, I am not sure how much difference you will see between NVMe and NVMe in RAID0, granted I would love to find out. 
You can use your desired PCIE config and run 1 NVMe drive, it would have to be on the 110mm slot, not the 80mm.  Also, the 110mm slot is PCIE only, does not get lanes form PCH.  Again, would have to have one of the PM guys check with the engineers, but it may be possible to run a M.2 on the 110mm slot, and use a PCIE riser and put the other M.2 on a slot.  The reason we need to check on that, is that these are things that are possible, however I am not sure if it is built to do so, as this board is more about overclocking than running really tricked out storage configs; it may work, just can't say 100%.

TECH_DaveB
 
Not a problem, always happy to help.
OK, if you populate PE6 with a x8/x16 card yes, you will set the 80mm M.2 to PCH, however if you use a x4 or x1 card, like a sound card or Ethernet then it should stay using 4 CPU lanes.
 
#1: No, the 110mm M.2 is only using CPU based lanes when using a 44 lane processor.
 
#2: VROC will only be through the CPU based lanes (Virtual RAID on CPU) as long as the config allows for adequate CPU lanes to the given slot, and the config you suggested would give you x8/x8/x16 and up to x8 for VROC on PE6
 
Scenario 2 would work well I think.
 
And not a problem, I am glad to help, I find the technical stuff interesting, which is why I planned to stick around with the community when I left anyway, then they made me a moderator.  Always feel free to ask me ANYTHING (computer wise) and I will do my best to help out, and I am a no bs kinda guy if I don't know I will tell you.