Need assistance finding a motherboard?
Need assistance finding a motherboard?
The new production cheap boards appear functional. They combine QA-rejected X-series or server chipsets with low-quality parts and a basic BIOS, which means you might miss out on many settings. Long-term reliability seems uncertain. Still, they work, so if you can't find an authentic board at a fair price, they’re at least practical. I’m checking eBay in the US right now—seems legitimate X99 boards are available for around $150, while server boards (with different form factors or connectors depending on the OEM) cost about $100 to $120. If you're within budget, those would be worth considering.
Yep, I haven't heard about any X99 boards having issues with Xeons. I've ran X58, X79, and X99, only MSI boards for X58 were iffy with Xeons, I'd assume that was fixed by the time X99 came around.
I currently run a Gigabyte X99 Gaming 5P board with an Xeon E5 2678 v3 processor. It functions properly. Since the CPU was an OEM-only choice, it wasn't included in the official supported list, though many comparable models are available. If you review the supported CPU lists on the motherboard manufacturer's site and notice several Xeon SKUs, you should be all set.