ASUS X79 DELUXE Motherboard

On Board Peripherals

The Intel X79 chipset is a single-chip solution, which is also known as a PCH (Platform Controller Hub). This chip supports two SATA-600 ports and four SATA-300 ports, supporting RAID (0, 1, 10, and 5).

The ASUS X79 DELUXE has another six SATA-600 ports, four controlled by a Marvell 88SE9230 chip and two controlled by an ASMedia ASM1061 chip. All SATA ports are located at the motherboard’s edge and rotated 90°, so that video cards will not block them. The SATA-300 and SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset are black, and the SATA-600 ports controlled by the other chips use a dark brown color. ASUS could have used more distinguishable colors for different ports.

Figure 4: SATA-600 ports (dark brown) controlled by the additional chips; and SATA-300 and SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset (black)

This motherboard also has two eSATA-600 ports, controlled by another ASMedia ASM1061 chip.

The Intel X79 chipset supports 14 USB 2.0 ports. Unfortunately, support for USB 3.0 ports is not integrated in the chipset yet. The ASUS X79 DELUXE offers 12 USB 2.0 ports, four soldered on the rear panel and eight available through four headers located on the motherboard. It also supports eight USB 3.0 ports, six soldered on the motherboard rear panel and two available through a header on the motherboard, controlled by one ASMedia ASM1074 chip and three ASMedia ASM1042 chips.

The ASUS X79 DELUXE does not support FireWire ports.

This motherboard supports 7.1+2 audio format, i.e., eight channels plus two independent channels for audio streaming. On this motherboard, the audio is generated by the chipset using the Realtek ALC1150 codec, which is an excellent audio codec, providing 115 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog outputs, 104 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog inputs, and up to 192 kHz sampling rate for both inputs and outputs, with 24-bit resolution. These specifications are good even for the user who wants to work professionally capturing and editing analog audio (e.g., converting LPs to CDs or MP3, converting VHS to DVDs or any other digital format, etc.)

The analog audio outputs are independent and the motherboard also comes with an on-board optical SPDIF output. It also has a header labeled “SPDIF_OUT”, where you can install an adapter to have a coaxial SPDIF output or to connect a cable to older video cards that required a physical connection to have audio on their HDMI outputs.

The analog audio outputs are independent only if you use a 5.1 analog speaker set. If you install a 7.1 analog speaker set, you will need to use the “line in” jack.

The portrayed motherboard has two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one controlled by an Intel WG82579V chip and one controlled by a Realtek RTL8111GR chip.

The X79 DELUXE has an integrated dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi interface. It comes with a stylish dual-band MIMO antenna, shown in Figure 5. The board also supports Bluetooth 4.0.

Figure 5: Wi-Fi antenna

This motherboard comes with a button in the rear panel named “BIOS Flashback” that allows the user to update the BIOS even with no installed CPU and memory. Just insert a flash drive containing the BIOS file in an USB port, press the button for three seconds, and the BIOS will be flashed.

In Figure 6, you can see the motherboard rear panel, with four USB 2.0 ports, six USB 3.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, the “BIOS Flashback” button, two eSATA-600 ports, two Wi-Fi antenna connectors, one optical SPDIF output, and the analog audio jacks.

Figure 6: Motherboard rear panel