Intel Socket LGA 2066 Motherboards

Intel Socket 2066 Mainboards / Motherboards

Motherboards with the Socket 2066 and X299 chipset are the mainboards for Intel's Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors. The Socket 2066 replaces the Socket 2011-V3 as the processor socket for Intel's high-end consumer segment. Also known as LGA 2066, the Socket 2066 forms the perfect foundation for enthusiast gaming PCs and powerful workstation PCs. Motherboards with the X299 chipset and Socket 2066 offer very high connectivity and allow overclocking of Intel CPUs with an unlocked multiplier.

Socket 2066 Motherboards with Intel's X299 Chipset

Socket 2066 motherboards with the X299 chipset serve as the high-end platform for Intel's Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X generation processors. This chipset, codenamed "Lewisburg," proves to be a true all-rounder with up to 30 HSIO lanes (High-Speed Input/Output) and the maximum usage of 24 PCIe Express 3.0 lanes, allowing the simultaneous use of multiple internal connections.

Here is a brief overview of the maximum possible I/O connections:

• Up to 10 USB 3.0 ports
• Up to 14 USB 3.2 ports
• Up to 8 SATA 6G connections
• Possible RAID modes: 0, 1, 5, 10

X299 motherboards also support memory (RAM) up to 2,666 megahertz in a particularly fast quad-channel mode, and motherboards with the Socket 2066 generally support overclocking of the RAM, enabling significantly higher RAM clock rates. Another advantage of the new enthusiast platform is the increasing number of M.2 slots for the extremely fast NVMe SSDs. The X299 chipset provides 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes for the simultaneous use of multiple NVME SSDs.

Socket 2066 Motherboards and Intel's Skylake-X CPUs & Kaby Lake-X CPUs

The Socket 2066 along with the X299 chipset forms the perfect basis for Intel's extreme CPUs from the Skylake-X generation with up to 44 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes. With up to 18 cores and SMT, the Core i9 and Core i7 CPUs are not only interesting for enthusiast gamers but also for content creators. Multi-GPU setups with up to three high-end graphics cards on a Socket 2066 motherboard are the ultimate combination for 4K gaming and playing in Virtual Reality (VR), while the high number of processing cores is ideal for rendering videos.

Kaby Lake-X CPUs offer fewer cores than Skylake-X CPUs but have a significantly higher CPU clock speed. Kaby Lake-X CPUs are particularly well overclockable on the Socket 2066, and many games benefit more from higher CPU clock rates than from a high number of cores. Depending on your favorite game or workload, both Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X offer perfect performance.