14 DAY TRIAL // Many gaming-grade and enthusiast-level motherboards have been launched over time, almost all of them with some area where something could have been done just a little bit better. X99S SLI Krait Edition is MSI's attempt at eliminating all possible weaknesses.
Micro-Star International chose a pretty distinctive color theme. By which we mean that it technically didn't use any color at all, save for some ports on the back. After all, black and white aren't, technically speaking, real colors.
Art definitions aside, the new motherboard is about as overpowered as you can expect a flagship motherboard to be, especially in absence of a new CPU whose coattails it could otherwise ride.
The specs of the MSI X99S SLI Krait Edition
A glance over the board will reveal the core things: one LGA 2011 central processing unit socket, eight DDR4 memory slots, four PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, two mini PCI Express slots, and a whole bunch of SATA ports, USB 3.0 connectors and pin headers.
One of the things that deserve special attention is the Turbo M.2 SSD slot. While this technology is said to reach 32 Gbps, most motherboards which feature it limit it to 6 Gbps, due to it being wired through the SATA root complex instead of PCI Express.
That's three times better performance than for any “normal” M.2 slot actually, which are usually limited to 10 Gbps even when wired through PCIe.
Fortunately, in this case, MSI used the full might of PCI Express technology, which means that SSDs installed in the slot will have the whole 32 Gbps bandwidth available. A SATA Express port is also available, allowing for up to 12 Gbps transfers.
All the features are supplemented by all the overclocking-ready features and protections MSI has in its portfolio, down to Military Class 4 components and the corresponding endurance and energy efficiency (Dark Caps, SFC and Dark chokes are among the most important PCB parts).
ESD protection and EMI protection are, of course, included. MSI didn't spare any expense when it designed this thing, that's for certain.
Finally, Audio Boost technology (exactly what it says on the tin) uses a built-in 600Ω headphone amplifier and high quality audio capacitors, plus illuminated audio PCB separation of all things.
Availability and pricing
The MSI X99S SLI Krait Edition motherboard, complete with Quad-SLI support (four-card NVIDIA setups, though AMD CrossFire isn't out of the question either) hasn't been priced, but shipments should begin soon.
