Intel Core-X series and X299 motherboards are now up for pre-order

At Computex earlier this month, Intel officially lifted the curtain on its new family of processors- the Core-X series, alongside the new X299 chipset. Now with retail availability not too far off, we are starting to see the first X299 motherboards and Core-X CPUs go up for pre-order.

Let's start off with the CPUs, there will be five Core-X SKUs available to start off with, ranging from the quad-core Kaby Lake-X parts, all the way up to the 10C/20T Core i9 7900x. There will be more Core i9 CPUs available later this year, ranging from 12C/24T all the way up to 18C/36T. For now though, here is what you can get:

• Core i9-7900X: 10C/20T (£949.99).
• Core i7-7820X: 8C/16T (£578.99).
• Core i7-7800X: 6C/12T (£379.99).
• Core i7-7740X: 4C/8T (£311.99).
• Core i5-7640X: 4C/4T (£224.99).

We currently don't have a firm release date for the rest of the Core i9 lineup. However, some reports have indicated that these higher core/thread count SKUs will arrive in August, alongside AMD's Threadripper launch.

Now if you are planning on picking up a new Core-X CPU, then you are also going to need a new motherboard. Fortunately, Overclockers UK appear to have gathered a nice selection for launch, from the likes of MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS.

If you are searching for a Gigabyte board, then you will find three Aorus Gaming editions available currently. The Aorus Gaming 9 is the flagship at £479.99, followed by the Aorus Gaming 7 at £399.95 and finally, the Aorus Gaming 3 (which we unboxed recently), at £269.99. We took a peek at Gigabyte's X299 range at Computex earlier this month, so if you'd like to see these boards up close, you can find our previous coverage HERE.

If you'd like to go with an ASUS board, then there are a few of those too. Right now, the Prime X299-Deluxe is the flagship, sitting at £409.99, followed by the Strix X299-E Gaming board at £299.99. The TUF X299 Mark 1 is £289.99, the Prime X299-A is £274.99 and the RUF X299 Mark 2 is the cheapest at £229.99. ASUS does have ROG branded X299 boards coming, as we saw at Computex earlier this month. In the meantime, if any of you are planning to pick up one of these motherboards, you will also get to pick a free game from a rather impressive selection.

Finally, there are five MSI X299 motherboards also on the way. The X299 Gaming M7 ACK currently takes the pricing crown at £389.99, followed by the X299 Gaming Carbon Pro at £299.99. The X299 Tomahawk and Tomahawk Arctic are £269.99 and £274.99 respectively. Finally, the X299 SLI Plus is £259.99. We have covered MSI's X299 range of motherboards in greater detail in a previous post, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It looks like X299 is almost finally here and with pre-orders now up, shipments shouldn't be too far off. Are any of you planning on building a new X299 rig? Do you have your eye on a particular CPU/motherboard already?

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