The GA-X99-SLI uses the Intel Socket 2011-3 / R3 / LGA2011-3 CPU socket. Any compatible Intel CPU will have the same socket entry. It uses the DDR4 memory type, with maximum speeds of up to 3200 MHz, and 0 DDR4 slots allowing for a maximum total of 4 GB RAM.

Conforming to the ATX standard, the GA-X99-SLI should fit into the majority of cases. ATX is the most common form factor, and as such has a high degree of compatibility with other components while providing a decent number of slots to widen your expansion options.

The GA-X99-SLI does not support onboard graphics. Any system build that uses this motherboard therefore requires a separate graphics card, or a processor that has a GPU on the same die, such as AMD APU processors. There are 2 PCIe x16 slots on this motherboard. This means it is perfectly capable of accommodating the latest graphics cards, although it is important to try and use a graphics card with the same graphics card interface of Not sure, as anything below will not reach the motherboard's potential, and anything above will have its performance slashed to the bandwidth maximum of the GA-X99-SLI's Not sure. The GA-X99-SLI does not support multiple graphics cards via Nvidia SLI or AMD Crossfire.

The GA-X99-SLI has 8 USB 2.0 slots and 8 USB 3.0 slots. USB 3.0 slots are theoretically capable of data transfer speeds of up to 5 Gbit/s, which is over 10 times faster than the USB 2.0 top speed of 480 Mbit/s. Although USB 2.0 slots alone currently serve as well as ever, an upgrade would better future-proof your system as more USB 3.0 compatible peripherals emerge. USB 3.0 is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0, which means you do not even have to use the newer slot functionality if you do not wish to.