any other motherboards you can recommend without the RGB crap. for Ubuntu 16.04
Asrock X99 Taichi.
@wendell did a review on the Asrock X99 Taichi.
Not sure if he also tested it with Linux.
But they basicly should work fine for linux.
Unfortunatly its on crit tv.
Another option would be to just grab the Asus X99-A II.
This board also comes with RGB lighting effects but very minimal.
You can also just disable it in the bios.
But yeah if you realy need a ton of connectivity,
and you could afford the Deluxe II over the A-II then i would definitely concider that.
AsRock is pretty good value for money imo. I've had very good experiences with AsRock boards in the last two years. The only downside of Ubuntu 16.04 is the old kernel. That's easy to fix though, you can backport a newer kernel quite easily. With kernel 4.8.3 and higher, the hardware support of linux is actually the best of any operating system for the moment, there are almost no hardware issues any more, even with hardware from manufacturers that refuse to provide open source firmware or drivers, there are seldom any problems any more because the community has reversed engineered drivers or has engineered open source drivers from scratch. That being said, the source of annoyance with kernel 4.4, the one used in Ubuntu 16.04, is not the motherboard, but is the P-States and iGPU's of modern Intel CPU's. To work entirely without manual patching and with full functionality, you really need to run kernel 4.7 upwards, but 4.7 is not the best kernel altogether, which is why it was defunct quite rapidly, 4.8 is much better. From 4.8.3 onwards, Dirty Cow is patched and everything works honky dory with the Intel P6 state and Beignet and stuff.
For its price point the Asrock X99 taichi is one of the best feutured X99 board out there yes.
for arround $230,- you get dual intel nic´s, and onboard wifi and bluetooth aswell.
Okay the onboard wifi module isnt the fastest in the world but with 430 ish mbits more then fine for most wifi connections if even be used.
And they have a pretty good onboard audio with dual Ti amps aswell.
For the rest the vrm implementation is pretty decent aswell.
VRM specs:
ISL6379 pwm which is a 6+1 true phase hybrid pwm.
They doubled the 6 phases to 12 using ISL6611A driver/doublers for the main cpu v-core
Highside and low side fet in one package comming from Fairchild semicon FDMS3668 Powerpacks.
Nichcon 12K capacitors and 60A inductors.
Memory VR´s.
Using the same ISL6379 pwm´s aswell.
One on the left side and one on the right side of the motherboard.
2 phases of each pwm is used to control each set of 4 dimm slots.
And also the same fairchild FDMS3668 powerpacks.
Aren't the chokes also extended thermal range ones? I'm not sure, but I though they were. That is a nice feature on modern premium boards.
I suppose so yes, since those are blackwings rated upto 60A.
I don't know the specs on them though, I'm not as thorough with the specs as you are Angel, I just go by sight lolz... I don't know what their normal operational thermal envelope is, but I thought they had a casing with a dilatation groove for better mechanical and material stability at high temps. 60A chokes should not run that hot, but can get hotter for the same form factor, so I would expect them to have more thermal stress, which is why they are engineered to deal with that and more. With modern Intel chips, the load is much more variable than on older systems, I would definitely go for a board with good MOS-FET's, good capacitors and extended thermal range chokes, especially the latter in my mind is an important feature. But I would like someone to chime in on that though. It would be interesting to hear from an engineer that has worked on modern mobos for latest gen Intel chips.
I dont have the exact specs on the inductors by hands.
But i suppose we eventualy could look them up.
I can tell you that the vrm implementation is not as good as something you would find on the more higherend Asus boards like the Rampage 5 Edition 10 for example.
Which realy has the best of the best on it.
PWM: IR3580 8 true phase pwm.
powerstages: IR3555 60A fully intergrated.
Inductors: 60A microfine Alloy chokes.
caps: 10K Polymer ceramic + tantalum.
memory VRx2.
PWM: ASP1250 probably IR. 2 phases each.
Mosfets: Texas instruments CSD97374Q4M NexFet.
which can output 15A at 92% efficiency.
25A continuously or 60A peak.
VPP rail: GSTek all in one converter.
Those IR3555 powerstages have a safe operational temp upto 125°C if i remember correclty.
But of course you can find that back at the price of the motherboard.
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Currently running the Asus x99-m WS. It's a mAtx board that packs a lot of stuff and ubuntu runs flawlessly on it. Minor driver installation is needed if you want to user the onboard wifi and BT with the bcmw drivers but thats a 30second job.
Been running an Asrock x99 WS everything works out of the box has good power delivery can easily get 4.5Ghz on my 5820k.
On the sound side look at a DAC they deliver very good sound and they use genetic drive so they will work out of the Box with Linux.
HOLY SHIT! Where have you been?
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Running Mint on an MSI X99A Gaming 7. Zero issues. the Killer network card didn't require any attention whatsoever, it just worked.
Not sure on Audio though, I use a set of USB speakers (Bose Companion 5) so the sound card gets bypassed.
Likea i said just worried lol. I really don't like windows anymore ever since i started using linux on the laptop i am on now