Various leaks and image teasers of upcoming X99 motherboards have been seen here and there on the internet recently as the launch date for this new motherboard chipset and associated Haswell E processor range nears. From previous news on this launch event we expect the platform launch to be on or around Friday, 29th August.
Gigabyte has been teasing us with images of its upcoming motherboards including the likes of the X99 SOC Force (above) and most recently the X99-UD4 motherboard. This latest teaser image, below, shows the UD4 in the dark so we can enjoy the aura of its LED lighting around the board edges and highlighting the 'Ultra Durable' and 'Gigabyte' branded heatsink areas.
We can closely scrutinise these teaser images and try and ascertain exactly what parts, components and connections are supported by these motherboards but there's a better way. A member of the TechPowerUp forums has posted a range of links for a total of seven Gigabyte motherboards based on the Intel X99 chipset.
All the files are hosted on Gigabyte's US download servers and, at the time of writing, all the links are live and allow you to download any of the manuals for the motherboards listed to peruse at your pleasure.
Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming 5
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x99-gaming5_e.pdf
Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming 7 WIFI
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x99-gaming7-wifi_e.pdf
Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming G1 WIFI
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x99-gaming-g1-wifi_e.pdf
Gigabyte GA-X99-SOC Force
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x99-soc-force_e.pdf
Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x99-ud4_e.pdf
Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WIFI
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x99-ud5-wifi_e.pdf
Gigabyte GA-X99-UD7 WIFI
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x99-ud7-wifi_e.pdf
So if you think you may be interested in the teased X99 UD (Ultra Durable) 4 board then you can grab the manual and see exactly what is coming up from Gigabyte next week...
The Gigabyte manuals don't just reveal the specs of the boards themselves. As noted by Guru3D, the documentation discusses the use of various Intel processors which are yet to be launched. One particularly interesting fact is that the cheapest 6-core Intel processor SKU, called the Core i7 5820K, is confirmed by the Gigabyte documentation to get less PCIe lanes than its higher priced stablemates.
