Hi, I'm the excited new owner of the X299 dark M/board, still waiting for my i9 9700X chip to land, decided to familiarize myself with all the functions that are available on the board.
 
Page 131 of the manual states that BIOS 3 is removable and should always be replaced in correct orientation, circle on chip- bottom right, well on my board it's opposite, circle is top left, as though the BIOS is upside down, this is looking at board with VRM at top.
 
Is the manual wrong or has the chip been inserted the incorrect way on assembly?
 
I removed all the M2 cooling solution plastic to insert new battery and install my M2 Nvme drive (WD 1tb black), mainly because I didn't know how long this M/board had been stuck in someones shop and I have read stories about batteries being screwed at purchase on these M/boards. Whilst removed I noticed a 5th fan header under the shroud, top left near the audio socket I/O, is this usable and addressable in software?
 
Concerning that whole plastic shroud, can I leave it off and just use my in case airflow solutions for cooling and use the included I/O shroud that fits to case?
 
 
Thanks in advance, looking forward to having an awesome system.

Hi, thanks for the welcome.
 
The manual does have a picture but it is extremely blurry, so inconclusive as you can't actually make out the circle, so no help there, this is the same in PDF version, it states that the locating circle is highlighted with a white circle in the picture, yet no circle is overlaid at all in any picture, ATM, I have removed that BIOS and stored safely until I get a definite answer, this board has never been booted and there is at least one story of M/board failure when trying to use that BIOS as a boot BIOS online.
 
AS for the fan header, yes it is marked as I/O fan and it is under the cover, so hidden unless you did what I have done.

Tin EE was part of the Team that worked with EVGA ... his article usually have more details than most people need
 
 
xDevs.com | OC Guide for EVGA X299 DARK motherboard

Cool GTX
I see that BIOS has a cover in the photos Might have to call Customer Service - Or - wait for another member to reply 

 
Thank you for your replies, yeah, seems the manual is 'very' inconclusive but a LOT better than most manuals.
 
I would have added photos, which I have but somehow I get stuck in a loop trying to upload them so apologies for that.

manual page 131 Picture of BIOS chip
 
https://www.evga.com/support/manuals/files/151-SX-E299.pdf
 
- "female" cover plate on Left - has indented part for overlap of other side of the cover with the external tab
 - resistors on Left of BIOS chip
 
- BIOS1 under chip
 
- Circle on lower Right of chip
 
***** See the "Arrowhead" printed on MB points to the BIOS chip circle side
 
 NOTE: forums are having some sort of issues .. I can't upload a simple 64k jpg