Question Asus Pro WS X299 SAGE II - is it any good.

Ivan Ivanov

Distinguished
Apr 28, 2009
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Hi All

I've decided to build a PC which represents the last hurrah of the "High End DeskTop" (HEDT) platforms. I also believe this kind of PC would still be a beast and I plan to use it for my main PC for a long time.

I plan to use all new components for the build, and I of course know that the main components (CPU and MB) are long out of production, but plenty of old-new stock can be found on eBay and such.

I originally planned to use ASUS Rampage VI Extreme but the ones (new) available for my location cost upwards of 2300$ o_O! That's just too much. I'm willing to spend 1000 to 1200$ max and even that's pushing it. (OK I just checked: The Rampage VI Extreme is still available on Amazon for 1,286.86$ but the Pro WS X299 SAGE II is 969$ (brand new) so my question stays)

So I'm asking for general opinions of course but also much more specifically: The packaging! Why? 'cause I had X99-E WS - the board with 1 star on Amazon! And the most atrocious RMA rate ever! OK I'm exaggerating a bit, but this board is bad - plain and simple. And a big reason for that was the packaging. The board was not well secured in the box and could literally tumble in side of it! I personally ordered one but ended up receiving three board subsequently as part of my troubleshooting process. I kept one and returned the other two. ALL of them had transport damage. No wander that board had such large failure rate. And here is the problem: from what I can see watching unboxing videos of Asus Pro WS X299 SAGE II - it has the same packaging! I think the only reason it (and all other ASUS WS motherboards) don't have such a bad reputation is because relatively few people bought one.

So do you have experience with Asus Pro WS X299 SAGE II? Does it resemble mine with X99-E WS? Are there any other concerns you might have about it?

Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

P.S: My X99-E WS was the only MB that I ever owned that died on me. Yes it worked of a long time but few ports died as time went by - and then it finally died completely. No other Mobo I owned ever died on me like that.
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
IMHO, I'd forgo the last hoorah idea and spend the money on concurrent tech if finances are not in abundance for you. The platform is actually well beyond it's Life Cycle which is why I'm suggesting going for something more concurrent,. You could even um into Intel's bandwagon if you're concerned about AMD's AM5 fiasco...or drop down to AM4's last lineup of Ryzen's.