Review: Asus Prime X299-A

Conclusion

Asus is riding the Core X-Series wave with a wide portfolio of X299 motherboards priced from £230 right the way up to £400.

Nearer the more affordable end of that range, the Prime X299-A, at £275, offers stylish looks and a comprehensive feature set that includes everything from RGB lighting to quad-channel memory.

Select niceties such as WiFi and dual Ethernet have been reserved for pricier models, yet aside from the omission of an onboard reset button, there isn't a great deal missing from the Prime X299-A's arsenal. The fact that this board will support the 18-core Core i9-7980XE later this year holds plenty of appeal, yet as part of Intel's HEDT platform there remains an inevitable premium.

Certain features are only available when paired to a costly Skylake-X processor - you'll need to splash out £900 on a CPU to obtain the maximum 44 PCIe lanes - and Intel no longer has the market to itself; AMD's rival X370 offers impressive multi-core performance for a much lower fee.

Bottom line: the decision to go down the Intel route is no longer clear cut, but for those who choose Core i9 the Asus Prime X299-A is a solid performer and a safe bet.

Asus Prime X299-A

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The Asus Prime X299-A motherboard is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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