The X299 Designare EX motherboard is GIGiABYTEs latest flagship product offering support for Intels HEDT chipset and processor line. With its late entry into the fray, GIGABYTE was able to tweak its layout and feature set to make the Designare board a more appealing product over previously introduced boards. Built around the Intel X299 chlipset, the board supports the Intel LGA2066 processor line, including the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors, with support for Quad-Channel DDR4 memory running at a 2667MHz speed. The X299 Designare EX can be found in retail with an MRSP of around $500.00.

GIGABYTE integrated the following features into the X299 Designare EX motherboard: eight SATA III 6Gbps ports; three M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 32Gbps capable ports with Intel Optane support built-in; dual Intel Gigabit RJ-45 ports - Intel I219-V Gigabit and Intel I211 controllers; an Intel 8265 802.11ac WiFi controller; five PCI-Express x16 slots; Realtek® ALC1220 8-Channel audio subsystem; and USB 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 Type-A and Type-C port support. GIGABYTE also integrated there steel-based armor slots for the boards PCIe and memory slots, giving them added strength and durability.