I'll try to be as brief as possible cause the list is practically endless & won't go a lot into technical details
Features missing on Intel boards that EVERY other major company has made available on their boards:
"specific to the x79"
- Native PCIE 3.0 support:
While every board on the market supports PCIE Gen. 3, Intel's DX79xx doesn't support it. Which means if you have a high end graphic card like the GTX 690 or the soon coming GTX 790 it will bottleneck on the PCIE 2.0
- GUI BIOS:
Graphical User Interface BIOS has been implemented on the all x79 boards except the ones from Intel. Generally speaking professional over clockers prefer the conventional BIOS, that's why you can switch from conventional BIOS to GUI in all motherboards except the ones from Intel "only old BIOS". Hence, that's one step towards being basic. Some non Intel boards offer two BIOS one for OCing and one for regular use.
- Better Over Clocking:
While the DX79SR or DX79SI offer 8 phase PWM other boards have up to 12 phase PWM "note that 8 is not bad but, 12 is much better"
- Aesthetics, Finishing, & components:
Right now I have the DX79SR & the Asrock x79 extreme 11. Take a look at both & you will visually realize the better layout design, better gold plated components etc...
Maybe, you will think that these non Intel boards are loaded with features that you won't use. However, the price doesn't differ that much. In some cases, the are cheaper X79 boards then the one you want to buy "DX79SR". The Asrock is a 600USD board but, there are plenty of others out there that are cheaper. It all depends on your budget.
Intel doesn't really care for the enthusiast segment. However, the x79 chipset is specifically designed for the enthusiast segment & the CPU you are buying is the most powerful CPU up to date.
Bottom line, don't get that confused with the negative reviews & positive ones "every product has both". I'm not saying that the DX79SR is a bad board but, for that price you can get a much better board. Maybe, if I know what your budget is, I will be able to help you much better with the hardware starting from A to Z. Surely, if I knew what it would be primarily used for I would be able to recommend one.
If I had to recommend an x79 board it will be the MSI Big Bang-XPower II "you can't go wrong with that board".
