I got one from Amazon last week. It had a 3 way connector and 6 SATA connectors. I think the manual says there are only 2. What other things did you notice?

JK_DC
I got one from Amazon last week. It had a 3 way connector and 6 SATA connectors. I think the manual says there are only 2. What other things did you notice?

 
Which country you are in, please?
 
Here is a list of all differences I was able to identify so far:
 
- Serial numbers on two X299 Darks I purchased from EVGA year+ ago start with 1922930. One from Amazon starts with 1822930.
 
- Ones from EVGA came with 3-way SLI connector, one from Amazon came with 2-way.
 
- Ones from EVGA came with 3 bags of SATA cables. One from Amazon came with 4 bags of SATA cables. All bags with 2 cables in each.
 
- U.2 ports on ones from EVGA are marked 1637 on PU1 and 1806 on PU2. One from Amazon is marked 1806 on both.
 
- Number on bottom of AMI BIOS sticker on ones from Amazon starts with XQ70. One from Amazon starts with XQ72.
 
- BIOS firmware chip on ones from EVGA doesn’t have paint over orientation dot and one of them has marking BH1743 25Q127CSIG P1E949. One from Amazon has red paint over orientation dot and marking is AH1924 25Q127CSIG U95562.

Yeah, this sounds like a return/refurb etc... something. Got my board in nov 2019, bios chip that came with it had white dot in corner, evga had to send me a chip and it had no coloring in the corner. Red in the corner seems odd. I got 3 packs of sata x2/pack and my board starts with 192 in the serial also. Have you checked the warranty? https://www.evga.com/warranty/check.asp  This thing could be so old that its outta warranty now too. I would dump it asap, it sounds like a heap of trouble.

ZoranC

wmmills
Have you checked the warranty? https://www.evga.com/warranty/check.asp

Thank you for letting me know of this tool. I just checked it and status is In Warranty, Days Left 715

NP, thats what were all about here. So it is a refurb then if it only has a little over 2 years left and you bought it as new.

HA! ok, i gotcha. Well, thats a interesting way of keeping track of your inventory.At least your all set and thats what counts. Thank you for sharing that info.

JK_DC
I have the same beginning serial number …

 
Same serial number as in one that starts with 18 or one that starts with 19?
 

JK_DC
It is strange that you got a 2 way and 4 bags of cables even though the other things are the same.

 
Explanation provided by EVGA how/why that could’ve happened was perfectly logical to me so after that I focused just on is board return to Amazon / refurb or not, and are there any actual differences on electronics level between “older” and “newer”. From my conversation with EVGA and from what Windows is telling me there aren’t any.
 

JK_DC
I haven't checked the U2 ports or the BIOS sticker, but it looks like you got it sorted with EVGA.

 
From my conversation with EVGA markings on U2 ports do not seem to signify any functional/spec differences, nor part # of U2 connector manufacturer, they just seem to be indicating manufacturer’s “batch” stamp, so everything indicates that shouldn’t be a concern.
 

JK_DC
I have  … red paint.
…
I got a newer BIOS from Ebay so I could put a 10980XE in it. The BIOS in these Darks must be 1.19 or earlier because they wouldn't boot the board.

 
Interesting. From what I heard red paint dot indicates chip that has been updated to version that supports Cascade Lake X. I was able to boot i9-10920X with it and it showed version is 1.20.
 
However, when I tried to swap in chip from different X299 Dark with V 1.26 on it I wasn’t able to, it wouldn’t even show any POST codes on onboard BIOS LED, no matter how hard I tried, I had to swap “red dot” one back in and flash it to 1.26.

Hillguy
For what it's worth ...  I have a red dot on mine too, bios version 1.20 is on the chip (same red dot model number as yours listed above), my serial number starts 1822930 .... amazon.ca Dec 2020

 
Thank you for sharing that info! It further confirms what everything else indicates so far (that even though manufacture date might be older there wasn’t any funny business going on) and reinforces a peace of mind.

JK_DC
I got the 1822 beginning serial number.

 
It seems number of us, not just me, got Darks recently from Amazon with 1822 serial number which further confirms what EVGA was telling me how this could’ve happened and that I shouldn’t worry about it.
 

JK_DC
I tested the other 2 that are built in and they didn't boot. I guess I have an extra BIOS then. I assumed they were old and bought the extra BIOS chip just in case. I didn't want to wait a week to put my rig together over a $15 BIOS chip.

 
If I were you I too wouldn’t have wanted to wait. Yeah, way I understand it mb that arrives with newer firmware chip is unlikely to have newer firmware on built in BIOS too unless it has been manufactured with it. Which makes sense, to update other two requires installed CPU and cooler and if I was EVGA or any other manufacturer I wouldn’t want to do that, not only it would require number of CPUs and slow down process enormously but also risk of damage during that would increase significantly.
 

JK_DC
Did EVGA say how you could have gotten a 2 way bridge instead?

 
Yeah, it was about order of timeline that orders were arriving at various warehouses vs. being fulfilled vs. when they switched SLI part from 2-way to 3-way. It all made sense.
 

JK_DC
My CMOS battery was dead, but didn't know there were problems with them until after it was installed. I might replace it eventually. Hopefully you guys did before installing.

 
Thanks to experience with CMOS battery on one of Darks I got from EVGA (it was deader than dead, literally 0.00V) I replaced one in Amazon’s immediately. It is good that I did because multimeter showed it was on its last legs and replacing it later would be a major pain.
 
Whoever designed this in a manner that makes battery impossible to replace once system is built without tearing whole system down needs to be given an F in “ease of post-build repair design” class and sent back to the drawing board for all future motherboards.
 
Same goes for not being able to use one of mounting screws because it is covered by shroud and not being able to remove shroud without taking mb out of the system having to tear apart whole system.

213NSX
Another reason why I always suggest avoid buying from outside the channel ...

Only reason I didn't purchase directly from EVGA, like I always do, is because EVGA didn't have it in stock.

Nexosu
I just got one from Amazon as well, but it has the old bios chip. EVGA said they are shipping out a new bios chip Monday, and I'm still waiting for it. Anyone know how long it takes? I'm only 2 states over in New Mexico. I may have to return it if I can't check the board before the return window is up. 

When I needed new BIOS chip EVGA would always ship it within few days of my call and rest was on USPS. So if we assume EVGA dropped it off Monday afternoon and USPS says nationally it takes 4 business days for first class mail you should expect yours Monday or so.

Nexosu
Thanks. It helps that I know to expect it through USPS now. They didn't provide me with any shipping info. 

You are welcome :) Both times I needed new BIOS chip I wasn't provided any shipping info either. However check of post time stamps showed they shipped it exactly when promised and rest was on USPS.