Solved X299 WS Compatibility - Will it work?

Scannerman · Jan 24, 2025

Was thinking about getting my hands on a SAGE but would have to save up for the CPU. Some sites have stated that an LGA 2011-3 type CPU will work in a 2066 socket. Others have said not surely. I'm thinking I'd probably have to get something like this to run a legitimate (supported) Windows 11 OS i9-10980XE on an older style work station that doesn't use WiFi. Any thoughts?

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*edit* Right. Almost forgot. I was thinking of dropping in my Broadwell CPU until I could get the newer one.

Berton · Jan 24, 2025

This is a page I refer clients to that are contemplating a Custom computer:

How Many Pins Does a CPU Have? - PC Guide 101

All CPUs have pins to form an electrical connection with the motherboard. However, the amount of pins a CPU has is not uniform. So how many pins does a CPU

pcguide101.com

Matching a motherboard, CPU and RAM can be daunting, especially where a budget may be involved.

Scannerman · Jan 24, 2025

Berton said:
This is a page I refer clients to that are contemplating a Custom computer:

How Many Pins Does a CPU Have? - PC Guide 101

All CPUs have pins to form an electrical connection with the motherboard. However, the amount of pins a CPU has is not uniform. So how many pins does a CPU

pcguide101.com

Matching a motherboard, CPU and RAM can be daunting, especially where a budget may be involved.

Yup. That's pretty basic stuff and good information for novice builders. The 2066 socket allows for some LGA 2011 CPUs to run in them. I was wondering if the 6900K happened to be one of those chips that fit that category. Although this wouldn't exactly be a 'budget build' it would be a shame to fork out 1k on a system board only to discover the CPU wasn't compatible with the board. Indubitably, if it does fit I'll have to flash the BIOS.

Scannerman · Jan 25, 2025

No input anyone? I mean, I realize it'll cost me a few thousand before I can get a proper work station again — at least one comparable to this old crate I'm currently using. The real PITA will be transferring all the drives and configuring the RAID arrays. I was just surprised to learn that an LGA 2011 CPU could even be used in a 2066 socket at all. One would almost think Intel was taking lessons from AMD. Of course, I don't expect that my Broadwell chip will support Win 11 even on an X299 platform but who knows? Stranger stuff has happened.

MrPig · Feb 2, 2025

Could try eBay for a low rent CPU for now that supports Win11 & upgrade when the big stuff drops in price.

bobbybluz · Feb 2, 2025

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Revolutionize your tech journey with Pro WS X299 SAGE II, boasting AI Overclocking, DDR4 4266 MHz support, and Intel Dual 2.5G LAN.

www.asus.com

Scannerman · Feb 2, 2025

MrPig said:
Could try eBay for a low rent CPU for now that supports Win11 & upgrade when the big stuff drops in price.

Too late! I already bought the chip and the system board I plan to use. It's a bit milder and slightly older but it's still an X299 SAGE. I managed to save about 1K $ going with this option and the older board is Windows 11 ready so essentially that's pretty much what I did. I got the CPU from eBay and I sure hope it works. lol

Scannerman · Feb 2, 2025

bobbybluz said:
Pro WS X299 SAGE II｜Motherboards｜ASUS Canada

Revolutionize your tech journey with Pro WS X299 SAGE II, boasting AI Overclocking, DDR4 4266 MHz support, and Intel Dual 2.5G LAN.

www.asus.com

Yes, I was looking at that one. Very tempting indeed. Alas, my budget is limited and I found out that intel's 2066 socket does not support the 6900K CPU. So, I also had to buy a replacement CPU. The system board alone cost well over $1200 Canadian (new) and that's the original Sage — not the Sage II. No idea what a Sage II costs but I rather doubt it would be less. BTW that's one sweet high performance rig you have, bobbybluz.

bobbybluz · Feb 2, 2025

Scannerman said:
Yes, I was looking at that one. Very tempting indeed. Alas, my budget is limited and I found out that intel's 2066 socket does not support the 6900K CPU. So, I also had to buy a replacement CPU. The system board alone cost well over $1200 Canadian (new) and that's the original Sage — not the Sage II. No idea what a Sage II costs but I rather doubt it would be less. BTW that's one sweet high performance rig you have, bobbybluz.

Thanks, that's my top PC. I have several including other Z690, Z790, X79 and X99 systems in use. I have Xeons in all my X79 and X99 boxes. For X99 the E5 2683 V4 is a great budget option and the E5 2699 V4 is the top of the heap. I have both in use for A/V production. If you're not a gamer the E5 26xx V4 series Xeons are the way to go. I have 5960X and 6950X CPU's in my spare parts collection, the Xeons run far cooler and accept more RAM even though they aren't overclockable.

There's a X299 owners thread on TechPowerUp. Any questions you may have about that platform can be expertly answered there. I've been a TPU member for years.

Scannerman · Feb 2, 2025

bobbybluz said:
Thanks, that's my top PC. I have several including other Z690, Z790, X79 and X99 systems in use. I have Xeons in all my X79 and X99 boxes. For X99 the E5 2683 V4 is a great budget option and the E5 2699 V4 is the top of the heap. I have both in use for A/V production. If you're not a gamer the E5 26xx V4 series Xeons are the way to go. I have 5960X and 6950X CPU's in my spare parts collection, the Xeons run far cooler and accept more RAM even though they aren't overclockable.

I do a little OC'ing myself — nothing extreme (like Buildzoid) and I certainly don't do LN2. I have this 6900K running stable @4.1 GHz and it comes out of the box running @ 3.2 GHz stock. In retrospect I probably should have got a Xeon. I'm thinking that I'm so used to having that extra cache that a Xeon would be too disappointing. I do hope to OC the 7960X that I settled for. I probably won't see 5GHz but it would be nice to try to see what I can get out of it. IF my 6900K (which, ironically, is also an X series chip) supported Windows 11 I wouldn't have bothered to jump through all these hurdles. I used to have a 6850K and had to return it because Intel was really eager to get it back. I think this was an exceptionally rare event, but that chip was behaving sooo strangely that even Intel wanted me to return it to them. I remember drooling all over my monitor and wishing I could afford a 6950X, but had to settle for the 6900K because I had hungry mouths to feed other than my own. This 6900K has never given me any problems. Win 11 has given me plenty of problems.

If I ever have to do this all over again I'll seriously consider getting a Xeon. For the multitude of drives and arrays I run in this unit it probably would have been the wiser choice. Thank you for the input! :)

bobbybluz · Feb 3, 2025

Scannerman said:
I do a little OC'ing myself — nothing extreme (like Buildzoid) and I certainly don't do LN2. I have this 6900K running stable @4.1 GHz and it comes out of the box running @ 3.2 GHz stock. In retrospect I probably should have got a Xeon. I'm thinking I'm so used to having that extra cache that a Xeon would be too disappointing. I do hope to OC the 7960X that I settled for. I probably won't see 5GHz but it would be nice to try to see what I can get out of it. IF my 6900K (which, ironically, is also an X series chip) supported Windows 11 I wouldn't have bothered to jump through all these hurdles. I used to have a 6850K and had to return it because Intel was really eager to get it back. I think this was an exceptionally rare event, but that chip was behaving sooo strangely that even Intel wanted me to return it to them. I remember drooling all over my monitor and wishing I could afford a 6950X, but had to settle for the 6900K because I had hungry mouths to feed other than my own. This 6900K has never given me any problems. Win 11 has given me plenty of problems.

If I ever have to do this all over again I'll seriously consider getting a Xeon. For the multitude of drives and arrays I run in this unit it probably would have been the wiser choice. Thank you for the input! :)

The Xeons are the top of the line silicon. My 5960K ran for years at 4.7GHz with no problems but the 6950X maxed out at 4.3GHz and ran far hotter under load. Xeons have more cache depending upon the number of cores (55MB L3 for my 22 core E5-2699 V4). Adequate cooling and core voltage are keys to longevity as well as your luck with the silicon lottery as all CPU's are slightly different. I had a 3930K running at 5.05GHz in an X79 rig for over 5 years before signs of core degradation began appearing. I have an E5 1680 V2 at 4.7GHz in it now and use it as my main daily driver for web surfing and watching movies. Not bad for a rig I originally built in late November of 2012 and has been in use 24/7 since then. Only the case and mobo remain from the original build.

I'm retired IT and still have access to legit KMS keys so I use the IoT Enterprise LTSC editions of 10 & 11. No hardware restrictions or bloat and far longer support from MS. I haven't had any issues with 10 or 11 versions. All my Alder Lake, Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh units run 11, the other are on 10. X299 was Intel's final hurrah for HEDT quad channel chipsets but I've never had one of my own. The memory bandwidth and PCIe lanes are great but as you've likely seen Ebay prices are insane for now ancient hardware. Properly configured any Intel HEDT system is bulletproof unless the mobo dies.

Scannerman · Feb 14, 2025

Many PC enthusiasts are not aware that Xeon was the inspiration for the original i7 Bloomfield quad core as many gamers were taking advantage of the over clocking capability of a Xeon that would give them better performance at a third of the price. Xeons made hyper threading a thing on the domestic end user market. I've never been able to O.C. a CPU at over 5 GHz yet. I've always been a little shy of pushing it past 4.5 on air cooling and I simply don't prefer liquid cooling at all.

So far, this X299 seems to be running rather nicely with an i9 7960X CPU. Not quite as fast as the chip I originally thought of getting but fast enough for my purposes. I don't plan on over clocking it any time soon but I will certainly be overclocking the RAM.

JB6789 · Mar 9, 2025

Very pleased with the turbo-unlocked performance of my E5-2696v3. Used MiyConst's software (Mi899) on my HuananZhi X99TF. Installed...a few clicks after picking the desired undervolt/offset...and voila. Done. Also, easily upgraded to Win11Pro (.iso install) and my system runs very well on air. Even stressed, the CPU stays below 53C at 20C ambient. Pairs nicely with a RTX 2080Ti. For a budget build, it's been terrific these past 4+ years.

Thought about moving to v4...but the gains are limited (for my general-use use case) considering the advantages of the turbo-unlock with v3.

E5-2696v3 is compatible with both DDR3 or DDR4. Higher turbo-boost (3.8Ghz) vs 2699v3 (3.6 Ghz)...else pretty much the same. All core, they both have the same TDP...so not much of a difference in most use cases.

This was my most recent upgrade from E5-1680v2 (OC 4.5 Ghz) + Asus P9X79 Pro. Another great system...but long in the tooth. No regrets on the upgrade to the X99 + E5-2696v3.

PS: The Chinese HZ X99TF has given me ZERO issues these past 4 years, with two builds in the house.

Scannerman · Mar 9, 2025

JB6789 said:
PS: The Chinese HZ X99TF has given me ZERO issues these past 4 years, with two builds in the house.

I remember that board and wondered about it. Nearly bought it but didn't really have a need for it although it was being offered for a very affordable price on NewEgg. X99 Work Station boards are a bit of a niche thing, I suppose. I can't imagine going back to anything else for a main PC. I also remember the P9X79 Pro and nearly purchased it but, waited too long to collect the other hardware for my build which is why I settled on a brand new Asus X99 work station board for my ThermalTake Level 10 GT case. No complaints there. Back then USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt was the latest craze.

Now that I've discovered a potential "work around" for the TBMT 3.0 on my X99 I've decided to take my time with the X299 SAGE. TBMT isn't really all that essential for me as I oc'd the CPU ages ago to run considerably faster anyway. I just despised the fact that I had a nasty bang in my device manager that neither Intel nor MS were willing to deal with. So despite running TPM2 and all that jazz I still had to cheat a little to keep that bang out of my device manager. At least this way my Intel Turdo Bust Maximum Technology 3.0 Driver isn't driving me out of my mind.

Solved X299 WS Compatibility - Will it work?

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