When we wrote up our list of 10GBase-T capable consumer motherboards back in July, we noted that out of the two main ways to get 10GBase-T on a motherboard, either by and add-in card or via an integrated controller, only one example of the latter existed on the market. For almost two years, that sole motherboard has been the only integrated solution ? since then, ASUS launched the Maximus VIII Assembly which comes with a single port add-in card, and we saw a micro-ATX C236 model with a single port from MSI at Computex. We also listed the X99-E-10G WS from ASUS, a new board set to come to the market and we had an early sample. We?re still testing the board, but ASUS is officially announcing it today.

The X99-E-10G WS is built like a brick outhouse, with the focus on premium workstation parts and the latest set of features ASUS could put together while still under the X99 chipset banner, rather than a Xeon chipset. The board is designed for any Broadwell-E CPU, either consumer i7 or Xeon E5 v4, with extensive heatsink arrangements to carry both the Intel X550-AT2 controller (11W), the chipset, the upgraded power delivery and additional controllers.