It has been three years since the launch of x79 chipset without a new version being launched, but now intel came up with this new feature loaded x99 chipset which is quite an improvemnet over x79. The x79 seriously lagged some featuers like the onboard usb 3.0 support and limited SATA 6Gb/s ports. Since x99 was under development for quite a long time hence it comes loaded with features like it comes with 14 usb ports out of which 6 are usb 3.0ports, and ten 6Gb/s SATA connectors.The new x99 also support for ddr4 ram, finaly leaving out the old ddr3 rams which are out in the market since 2007. The default ddr4 speed will be 2133MHz which can go as high upto 4266MHz. x99 is completely a gamers platform, it comes in the same socket size with 2011 pins hence the name LGA 2011-3. However the 2011-3 is physically different from the LGA-2011 socket so the ivy bridge e processors will not be compitable with the new chipset. With the increasing number of core support from 6 to 8 in a processor and with the new advanced ddr4 rams it’s heaven for power users.
The architecture of x99 is completely changed, its based on PCH(platform controller hub). PCH is successor to the intel hub architecture which uses northbridge and southbridge. In PCH the graphics and the memory are directly linked to the CPU while the slower peripherals like the usb, storage etc to the x99 chipset via DMI(direct media interface).This gives direct access of memory and graphics to the processor thus reducing the lag beacuse of the northbridge.
Image courtesy: intel.com
Talking about the gamers perspective, x99 came a long way after x79 and has some serious improvements. x99 lacks an integrated gpu so you definately have to put a dedicated one. The motherboards designed for x99 chipset are high end and there is a lot of scope for overcloking. x99 has got 5 PCI express 3.0 x16 slots which can be used for 4 way or 3 way SLI or crossfire setups for ultraHD gaming. So the thing is if you want to make a future safe gamers pc then x99 might be the right chipset for you.
