Yes, forgot the 'x' ...

It's an M.2 card in an M.2 slot, not in a PCIe - there may be 5 of those in the X99 but only one M.2 slot.

And yes it's bootable....I'm using it right here.

500.  Mine's No.221 ...

Benchmarking....

Previously I had used the Resident Evil 5 Benchmark Demo to test my i7-920 with the GTX285 and achieved a handy 106.0 fps at my default 1680x1050x32 DX10.

The GTX590 got to 144.4 fps. ....a 40% increase.

This thing gets 250.8 fps. ...

ahh ok...
the small thing with the screws, honestly i havent tested one yet 
enlighten me ^^ what is the difference beetween m2 and pci-e supertalent for example ?
I found something that says that they save up space but that cant be the only reason or is it?
 

Yes, you are quite correct.... can't even blame it on a typo, either.   I knew it was one or the other and figured the larger number made more sense... like why would they even start up the production line for just 500. 

I could have checked I suppose, but at the time it just seemed like waaaay too much effort. 

M.2 is just a newer, smaller connection method.  It's no different from a normal SATA connection, performance wise.  Space wise it's a relatlvely tiny chip instead of a full 2.5 inch form, and plugs into a connector on the board.  It's the standard for mobile applications because of it's size, but there are quite a few performance motherboards coming with them in the desktop environment as well.

PCI-E has a much higher bandwidth capability than SATA, the supertalent cards can be in the 2GB/s range, massively faster than the sub 600MB/s you can get on a SATA3 port.

They're also leaving SATA for PCI-E, just using the same connection methods going forward.  the SATA-Express standard is a PCI-E interface in there for faster speeds.

Jafo

reply 4

[doing this in 'bits' because the ISP is flaky] ...

What I ended up getting, less what I might add [matching mouse and a Blueray burner]-------------->

Prices are in AUD so [these days] multiply by 80% for USD.

************************************************

Thermaltake Level 10 VL300A9N1N Titanium Limited Edition Case   $1299   

Corsair ASX 1200I Platinum Certified 1200w Modular PSU    $  439   

ASUS X99 Deluxe LGA2011v3 MotherBoard      $  529   

Intel i7 5960 3.00Ghz @3.50Ghz LGA2011v3 CPU     $1279   

Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 LGA2011 CPU Cooler     $    88   

32G Corsair Dominator Platinum [4x8G] 2666MHz DDR4 Ram   $1020   

ASUS Strix GTX980 4GB GPU       $  869   

512G Samsung XP941 M.2 PCIe x4 SSD [C]=Win7 Ultimate [H]=Games $  611 

240G Corsair Neutron GTX SSD [E]=[Office + Proggies]  [hotswap] $  279

240G Corsair Neutron GTX SSD [F]=[Games 2]   [hotswap] $  279

3TB Western Digital Caviar Green Sata2 HD [G + D]  [hotswap]  $  128

2TB Western Digital Caviar Green Sata2 HD [I]   [hotswap]  $    99

2TB Western Digital Caviar Green Sata2 HD [J]   [hotswap] $    99

LG Sata DVD-RW [M] [black]        $    19

3X SATA 3 Cables         $      9   

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.        $ Technet    

MS Office 2007 Ultimate 64bit       $ Technet    

          $7037    TOTAL

... and FSX still brings it to its knees.

M.2 is just a newer, smaller connection method.  It's no different from a normal PCIe connection, performance wise....except can be better...

Third gen m.2x4 has a throughput up to 32 gig/sec.  SATA3 is quite a bit less than that.

Specs I got once installed....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 Shizuku Edition x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :   968.661 MB/s
          Sequential Write :   899.165 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :   657.540 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :   827.227 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    34.918 MB/s [  8524.8 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :   105.197 MB/s [ 25683.0 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   199.841 MB/s [ 48789.4 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :   146.707 MB/s [ 35817.2 IOPS]

  Test : 1000 MB [C: 50.6% (99.1/195.8 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2015/01/08 9:05:50
    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Edit....

Just ran Passmark's Performance Test 8.0 to see what it found with the m.2 .... came out at 7736 when the nearest best in the default listing was a Kingston SH100S3120G at 3822.

Perhaps I should have shut down FSX, etc first before running benchmarks....

Just about....though I've seen quite an improvement [as you'd hope]... staying in the double figures frame-rate-wise even in the high load/detail addons such as 3rd party airports...

Paul...........You sure that's going to fit under the bonnet of your Saab? Oh! my bad its a PC build..........thought it was a new engine for your car!

this ain't the one with modules where the cpu/gpu bits are cooled in mineral oil or something, is it?

ps.. not waiting 6 months or what not for skylake?

If you keep waiting for 'the next best thing' you will just be holding on to that older less good thing as it gets even older and less gooder...

Life.....the thing that happens to you while you are making plans.....

Re the cooling...it's all fans...no liquid [other than what's involved with the heatpipes on the various coolers...

One of the nice things about the GPU and the PSU choice in particular is when they're not feeling 'taxed' they simply shut down their fans totally.....ain't no cooler quieter than silent.

When they're sleeping there's only 5 in operation....one in and one out in the Mobo box, the CPU, and two littlies in the HD 'high-rise tower'.

A sea of fans is for people who blow-wave their hair....

WTF is Skylake?  And is it worth waiting for?

This

Hmmm, very interesting, and it'll likely be available by the time I'm ready to build,  but it'll also have 'new tech' pricing and I really don't see a need to outlay more cash than budgeted  for when the CPU mobo I plan to get will be more than adequate to my needs in the PCIE dep't 

So anyway, I've answered my own question "is it worth waiting for?".   For me/my needs, it's a no.

As it is I'm waiting for prices on the CPU, RAM and mobo to drop from 'newish tech' levels so the rig is more affordable. without having to compromise on the key components.

The weather gadgets decided to stop working yesterday.  Seems MS isn't interested in them anymore....

Got some others though....always nice to check how much better Melbourne's weather is to Michigan's... [like currently -9c vs 27c]

System seems stable....if one ignores the WEI not working and having to cold boot 4 times to light the engine....