Introduction

It has been almost two months now that the big public is able to enjoy the wonders of the new Core i7 technology, codenamed Nehalem, but although we use the word wonder, there are no dramatic improvements over the previous high-end Intel quad-core processors. In fact, the novelties of the Core i7 can be broken down into four points:

Small clock-per-clock performance increase

Integrated memory controller in the processor

Introducing triple channel memory configuration, which improves memory bandwidth

Re-introduction of HyperThreading

Let's have a look at the conclusion of our launch article regarding the Core i7:

The Core i7 delivers what it promised: better performance. But there isn’t a huge boost in single threaded applications. We compared triple to dual and single, but that just gave close to 0 extra performances. Although it is working correctly, delivering up to 25 Gigabyte per second memory bandwidth, this platform doesn't need it for the moment.

The current crop of mainboards based on the Intel X58 are feature rich and offer everything you'll need, including Crossfire and SLI support on a select group of third party motherboards.

Price wise we were not expecting this new platform to be cheap, and we are not proven wrong; the cheapest Core i7 capable motherboards hover around €300, while the entry level i7 920 is also close to €300, combine this with a capable DDR3 memory kit and you’re looking at ~€1000 for CPU/Motherboard/RAM. Knowing that you can build a fast Core 2 Duo (or even Quad) system for less than half of that, the current pricing of the Core i7 doesn’t make it very cost effective.

Referring back to the four points of change, we can conclude that:

The small increase in performance is indeed visible, be it in multi-threaded applications only due to the HyperTreading mostly. In single-threaded or very limited multi-threaded applications, such as most of the recent games, the increase in performance is not noteworthy.

The integrated memory controller does its job perfectly: no complaints in this area

The triple channel memory configuration does increase the memory bandwidth, although the difference with single and dual channel configurations is negligible. As Intel already confirmed: the added channel is only to feed the processor in 8-threaded applications.

In multi-threaded applications, the HT feature does help. It's a pitty though that the HT package comes with extra heat production.

It has become very clear that the LGA1366 platform is not meant for the mainstream users, but only for high-end enthusiasts who are willing to spend a few extra bucks for the highest possible performance. The LGA1366 is an expensive platform (as mentioned in above paragraph); not only because there are only three types of processors that will fit onto you motherboard (920-940-965), which means no low-budget variants, not only because the only memory supported is expensive DDR3, but also because the motherboards are in fact very expensive. At least, expensive when comparing to the middle-end LGA775 motherboards, which show up around €100-€125, whereas we have not found an LGA1366 motherboard under €200 ... a significant difference isn't it.
In this 7-way X58 motherboard round-up, we'll be comparing the following motherboards both on raw performance as on the overclocking capabilities, which often indicates the maturity of a motherboard:

Asrock X58 Supercomputer

Asus Rampage 2 Extreme

DFI Lanparty DK X58-T3eH6

Foxconn Bloodrage

Gigabyte X58-Extreme

Intel DX58SO

MSI X58 Eclipse SLI

ASRock Inc., established in 2002, is an energetic company with the combination of technology and humanity. Devoting efforts to bring customers the innovative and reliable motherboards with the design concept of 3C, "Creative, Considerate, Cost-effective", ASRock has successfully established a well-known leading brand of the best price-performance motherboard in the industry. Facing the constantly changing technologies of motherboard, ASRock will always keep the vision of the future and develop future-proof products upon our 3C design concept to our customers. It is the commitment to our customers and products, like the spirit presented in our 2004 maxim: "Fly to the Future with ASRock!"

Previous reviews containing Asrock motherboards:

Asrock Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi S775 Motherboard Review

Tweaking the fastest AGP Based System - Part 1

ASRock 4Core1600 P35 WiFi+ S775 Motherboard Review

ASRock 4Core1333-eSATA2 R5.0 Intel P31 Motherboard Review

ASRock 4Core1333-Viiv and Intel E4400 Performance Review

ASRock ConRoe 1333-DVI/H & Intel E2140 Budget System Review

BOX AND ACCESSOIRES




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Unlike the looks of the boxes of my previous Asrock motherboards, this one looks absolutely fantastic! The Supercomputer motherboard presents itself in, literally, glitter and glamour. For those who are wondering about the term supercomputer, it's actually quite simple: by using the four pci-express slots you can switch your desktop computer into a fully functional workstation with Nvidia's CUDA technology in combination with three dual core video cards and one Quattro, you can obtain the processing speed of, according to Asrock, 250 workstations. This may sound rather crazy, but have a look at the Fastra project of the University of Antwerp, Belgium:

How much computing power can you cram into a single desktop PC? In our research on image reconstruction we often have to perform large-scale scientific computations, which can easily take weeks on a normal PC. To tackle this problem, we have developed a special PC that is capable of performing our computations just as fast as a cluster consisting of hundreds of PCs. Using this superPC, which consists mainly of gaming hardware and costs less than 4000 euro, we can now perform our three-dimensional reconstructions within a few hours: over 100 times as fast.

Inside the box, you will find the following accessories:

6 x SATA Data Cables

2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables

2 x ASRock XFire Bridge 3S Cards

1 x ASRock SLI Bridge

1 x ASRock SLI Bridge 3S Card

1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI Bridge Card

1 x Quick Installation Guide

1 x Support CD

1 x I/O Shield

1 x Floppy Cable

1 x ATA cable

MOTHERBOARD




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The six memory banks have been placed as far as possible near the outside of the motherboard to provide more space around the socket, which is ideal for large air coolers. Next to that, we do notice the four pci-express slots of which only the two blue ones can run at native x16 mode. The two orange slots are limited to x8 speed, which can be a bottle neck when running Tri-way SLI or Crossfire-X, be it only theoretical. The 24-pin power connector is placed perfect, in the contrary to the 8-pin power connector which has been placed, as seems to be Asrock's trademark, in between the external IO connectors and the mosfet heatsink; a place which is in fact quite difficult to reach, especially when the setup is built in a case.

Underneath you find a list of the motherboard's features:

6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports

2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)

1 x PS/2 Mouse Port

1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port

1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port

1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

1 x Powered eSATAII/USB Connector

1 x IEEE 1394 Port

1 x HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone

4 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (blue @ x8 / x16 mode, orange @ x8 / N/A mode)

3 x PCI slots

Supports ATI™ CrossFireX™, Quad CrossFireX™

Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™, 3-Way SLI™ and SLI™

Supports NVIDIA® Tesla Personal Supercomputer with three Tesla and one Quadro graphics cards

6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5 and Intel® Matrix Storage), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions

3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 5 USB 2.0 ports)

1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)

1 x Floppy connector

1 x IR header

1 x COM port header

1 x HDMI_SPDIF header

1 x IEEE 1394 header

1 x CPU/Chassis/NB/Power FAN connector

1 x 24 pin ATX power connector

1 x 8 pin 12V power connector

1 x CD in header

1 x Front panel audio connector

Usual bios options




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If you have previously owned an Asrock motherboard already, you will find the bios to be pretty much the same style as usual, however if you have never touched an Asrock, you'll have to get used to the design of the bios as the options are not always placed where you'd expect them to be. Once you get to know the bios, there's no problem finding your way to a particular setting though.

The bios you find photographed here version 1.20, which is the bios that was delivered with this motherboard. Newer bios versions may differ a little bit, although most revisions only contain behind-the-scenes improvements.

Overclocking options




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Only six screenshots are necessary to show you all the overclocking-related options and settings; that can only mean two things, either the bios is extremely well designed or there are not a lot of tweaking features. In this case, we have to go for option number two, although we shouldn't panic too much. All the necessary tweaking options are available: frequencies, multipliers, voltages, timings and, yes, even overclocking profiles. Asrock even included an easy way to overclock your configuration instantly by using the EZ-overclocking profiles. These profiles are constantly updated in newer bios revisions.

One feature is worth to be highlighted: the flexibility option provides more flexibility when overclocking the memory. I've seen this feature working on other motherboards (cfr: ASRock AGP tweaking article) and it actually helped when overclocking. In my particular case I found no increase in memory frequency, but know that the advantages of this option are limited by the cpu/memory configuration you're using. In other words, I may have experienced no difference, you might! It doesn't hurt to try, does it?

Bios: overclocking variables

ASUS, a technology-oriented company blessed with one of the world's top R&D teams, is well known for high-quality and innovative technology. As a leading provider of 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) total solutions, ASUS offers a complete product portfolio to compete in the new millennium. In 2006, the company shipped 55 million motherboards, which means one in three desktop PCs sold last year was powered by an ASUS motherboard. Our 2006 revenues reached US$16.5 billion, and is expected to garner US$23 billion in 2007. ASUS products' top quality stems from product development. It's like learning Chinese Kung-Fu; one must begin with cultivating the "Chi" and inner strength. Besides innovating cutting-edge features, ASUS engineers also pay special attention to EMI (electromagnetic interference), thermal, acoustics and details that usually go unnoticed to achieve complete customer satisfaction. ASUS notebooks are the first TCO'99-certified notebooks worldwide. The requirements for this honor include radiation emission control, energy (battery consumption), ecology (environment friendly) and ergonomics. To succeed in this ultra-competitive industry, great products need to be complimented by speed-to-market, cost and service. That's why all 100,000 over employees of ASUS strive for the "ASUS Way of Total Quality Management" to offer the best quality without compromising cost and time-to-market while providing maximum value to all customers through world-class services. With unyielding commitment to innovation and quality, ASUS won 2,168 awards in 2006, meaning on average, the company received over 5 awards everyday last year.

Previous reviews containing Asus motherboards:

Asus P6T-Deluxe X58 Nehalem Motherboard Presentation

P45 head-to-head: MSI P45 Platinum and Asus Maximus II Formula

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

Asus Blitz Formula S775 P35 Motherboard OC Review

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Intel nForce4 SLI Overclocking Review

Asus A8V revision 2.0: Exploring Max HTT Adventure

BOX AND ACCESSOIRES




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The Rampage II Extreme is the successor of the extremely popular amongst overclockers Rampage Extreme, which is said to be the best LGA775 DDR3 overclocking motherboard available. Not only is this motherboard directed to the extreme overclocking market segment, the board is also part of the Republic of Gamers association of Asus, which means that this motherboard is built for gamers as well. How does that show? Well, the list of added features is enormous and the board looks quite aggressive with its one-piece cooling solution for mosfets, northbridge and southbridge.

Underneath a list of everything you find inside the package.

6 x SATA cable

2 x Thermal sensor cables

1 x ProbeIt Cable

1 x 3-Way SLI Cable

1 x SLI Cable

1 x ASUS Optional Fan

1 x SupremeFX X-Fi Audio Card

1 x External LCD Poster

1 x 3 in 1 ASUS Q-Connector Kit

1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable

1 x SATA power cables

1 x 2-port USB2.0 + IEEE 1394a module

1 x EL I/O Shield

1 x Cable Ties

1 x User's manual

1 x Support DVD

MOTHERBOARD




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I am not joking when I tell you that this motherboard is in fact a possible murder weapon. Agreed, it doesn't really have the looks of it, but its size (bigger than ATX) and weight will certainly do damage to your opponent. However, don't use the board as a weapon, but, please, use it in your gaming/overclocking system: believe me, it's a lot more fun than jail. The six memory slots have been placed rather close to the socket, which might be a problem when installing a big air cooler in combination with memory that have a bigger heatsink than usual. On the right side of the motherboard, we find the Extreme OC section, which is an unique ROG feature which allows people to overclock their system on-the-fly, thus without using either the bios or software applications. Extreme overclockers use it, for instance, to tweak each section of the 3DMark benchmarks as some are more stressful than others. Included in the Extreme OC section are some plugs with which you can measure the voltage using your own digital multimeter, which is much more precise than either bios or software read-outs.

Underneath a list of all features:

6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

2 x LAN (RJ45) port

1 x PS/2 Keyboard port(purple)

1 x External SATA port

1 x IEEE1394a port

1 x Clr CMOS switch

3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 support at x16, x8, x8, or dual x16 speed

2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 ( the PCIEx1_1 (black) is compatible with audio slot)

1 x PCI 2.2

8 x ProbeIt connectors

8 x Fan connectors: 1 x CPU / 1 x PWR / 3 x Chassis / 3 x Optional

7 x SATA connectors

3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 5 USB 2.0 ports)

3 x USB connectors supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports

3 x Thermal sensor connector

1 x Floppy disk drive connector

1 x IDE connector

1 x IEEE 1394a connector

1 x Chassis Fan connector

1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector

1 x 24-pin ATX Power connector

1 x EL I/O Shield Connector

1 x En/Dis-able Clr CMOS connector

1 x System Panel

1 x LCD Poster connector

1 x BIOS FlashBack boot up selection header

1 x ROG light connector

1 x Front panel audio connector

Usual bios options




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The, as you might have seen already, huge Asus bios is in the same style as previous Asus motherboards: full of features, options and settings. Nearly everything you can think of can be either switched on and off or set to a different value. Although it may sound great, I have mixed feelings regarding the way Asus designed the bios: YES, I absolutely adore elaborate biosses in which I can tweak my configuration the way I want, however the bios comes across as too full, almost chaotic. It's not the many options that are problem, it's the many sub pages of the bios, which sometimes contain only one option. Of course, its logic to make a sub page for options for a different aspect of the motherboards, but sometimes logic is not always the best way. Personally, I'd prefer more options on the same page, risking a little bit of confusion, but gaining a lot more structure.

The bios pictured is version 0901, which was at that time the latest version. Know that Asus releases updated bioses frequently, often containing performance and support increments. Definitely worth to update, especially since it's possible to have two different bioses at the same time. Overclockers, for instance, use this feature to flash two different biosses each performing better in different benchmarks. Also noteworthy: there's an option to disable every I/O feature (besides USB) by disabling one setting. Very handy if you're focused on maximum frequencies.

Overclocking options




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Even more impressive than the usual bios stuff are the overclocking features: it takes an equal amount of pictures to give you all the overclocking options as the rest of the bios! Go through the pictures and you'll find the design to be less chaotic than the rest of the bios, at least when you're familiar with the technical terms. For those who have little to no experience with overclocking, or those who have but not in detail, the many options may scare off. In despite of the 'chaos', I find the bios to be as elaborate as an overclockers wants, which is the target audience Asus aims at ... in other words: thumbs up!

Bios: overclocking variables

Diamond Flowers International, in short DFI, is an international IT expert based in Taiwan, with headquarters in Hsi-Chih City. DFI was established in 1981 by Mr. Y.C. Lu. dedicated to serving customers with high technology, DFI has been earning a worldwide reputation for quality, owing much to the continuing support from our customers, suppliers and affiliates as well as our own efforts over the past twenty years. With more than 20 years of computer product development and manufacturing, our team of highly skilled engineers helps DFI position ourselves as the standard setter of price-performance solutions in the manufacturing and marketing of computer products. DFI offers a complete line-up of advanced motherboards as well as graphics solutions and Applied Computing Platforms, to meet the expanding needs of the IT market. DFI also co-develops with Intel and 3rd party developers for the latest technology on IT solution. These relationships lead customers to adopt DFI products with confidence. With our Headquarter in Taiwan and Regional Offices in the States, Europe, China and Japan, DFI has been stably growing from its start 20 years ago into a leader in the IT field today. Close relationships with Intel, AMD, VIA and SiS ensure that DFI products reach the market with leading timing. DFI products are built with Quality as the rock base.

Previous reviews containing DFI motherboards:

DFI LanParty DK 790GX-M2RS Motherboard Review

DFI X48-T3RS review - redefining the high end ?

DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS Plus Motherboard Review

DFI Lanparty LT X38-T2R S775 Motherboard Review

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

DFI nForce 680i LT-T2R Overclocking Motherboard Review

DFI Lanparty UT NF590 SLI-M2RG AM2 Motherboard Review

KT400A vs nForce2 vs SiS746

BOX AND ACCESSOIRES




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The Lanparty DK series contains motherboards that have pretty much the same technical features as its big brother from the Lanparty UT series, but often contains less accessories and gives less expansion possibilities to the user. In line with the UT light package, one pays less for the DK motherboard and in many cases the overclockability, for which DFI is known, is pretty much the same, as seen in other articles regarding an LP DK motherboard. In the spirit of cheapen things up a bit, the box isn't as fancy as the two we've seen already: small and thus only containing the necessary.

4 x SATA cable

1 x Pata HDD cable

1 x Floppy cable

1 x Crossfire link cable

1 x SLI cable

1 x Molex to 2 x SATA connector

1 x I/O back panel

1 x Set of jumpers

1 x User manual

1 x ABS installation guide

1 x Driver disk

MOTHERBOARD




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For those thinking they've already seen this motherboard, yes ... you're correct. When I opened the box, it reminded me of the Lanparty UT P35 motherboard, which I've tested a year ago: the same green colored lay-out. The memory slots have been placed near the socket which creates the same problems as mentioned at the Asus R2E page: a large cooler in combination with big-heatsinked memories may be problematic. Next to that, there's the analogue PWM area, which has been replaced with a digital one on the UT variant. Not a big deal, although the digital version might be better in terms of overclocking (although we experienced no issues as you'll notice in the overclocking pages). The 90° angled SATA ports offer a decent solution for those who have a lengthy video card.

Below a list of all the features:

6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

1 x mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port

1 x mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port

1 x optical S/PDIF-out port

1 x coaxial RCA S/PDIF-out port

1 x IEEE 1394 port

1 x RJ45 LAN port

1 x Center/subwoofer, rear R/L and side R/L jacks

1 x Line-in, line-out (front R/L) and mic-in jacks

3 x PCI Express (Gen 2) x16 slots - 2-way SLI or Quad CrossFireX configuration at x16/x16/x4 transfer rate lanes

1 x PCI Express x4 slot

2 x PCI slots

8 x Serial ATA connectors

6 x fan connectors

3 x connectors for 6 additional external USB 2.0 ports

2 x 4-pin 5V/12V power connectors (FDD type)

1 x connector for an external COM port

1 x connector for an external IEEE 1394 port

1 x front audio connector

1 x CD-in connector

1 x IrDA connector and 1 CIR connector

1 x 40-pin IDE connector and 1 floppy connector

1 x 24-pin ATX power connector

1 x 8-pin 12V power connector

1 x front panel connector

1 x download flash BIOS connector

1 x diagnostic LED

1 x EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch)

Usual bios options




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If you've ever used a DFI motherboard, you'll find the bios to feel extremely natural as it's the same design as they've been using since years. Actually, that's one of the reasons I adore to spend time in the DFI bios: what motherboard you install, what bios you flash, you will find you way through the bios in no time as nearly every option is in the place it's always been. Agreed, it may vary in overclocking options (all placed in the genie bios), but the normal harddisk, usb and fan options will be in the same place.

Overclocking options




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Personally, I find the overclocking part of the bios of a DFI motherboard one of the least chaotic available, although I've heard other people complain about the (too) in-depth technical options being placed near the basic oc functions. Browsing through the bios, I can't really disagree as, for instance, the voltage settings are indeed crowded with very in-depth tuning features, of which most are not for the common user. Other motherboards, such as the 790GX I reviewed, had a basic and advanced switch, with which the user could disable the technical options and only have the absolute basic tuning options at his disposal, a function which I don't find in this bios, which is a little bit disappointing as I found it one of the best novelties in bios design. The memory tuning options are a bit less elaborate than expected, which is probably due to the 'DK' mark on the box.

Dfi has added a .PDF file to their website which explains each bios setting very clearly: Bios guide @ DFI

Bios: overclocking variables

Foxconn is the trade name of the Taiwan based firm Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Foxconn is one of the largest manufacturers of electronics and computer components worldwide, and mainly manufactures on contract to other companies. Although sometimes referred to as an original equipment manufacturer, Foxconn would be more accurately described as an original design manufacturer. Among other things, Foxconn produces the Mac mini, the iPod and the iPhone for Apple Computer; Intel-branded motherboards for Intel; various orders for American computer retailers Dell, Inc. and Hewlett Packard; the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 for Sony; the Wii for Nintendo; the Xbox 360 for Microsoft, cell phones for Motorola, and Amazon Kindle.

Previous reviews containing Foxconn motherboards:

790GX and SB750 explored and reviewed

Foxconn P35AP-S Motherboard Revisited: New BIOS

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

BOX AND ACCESSOIRES




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The Bloodrage motherboard is the successor of Foxconn's BlackOps motherboard, which was one of the first made-by-overclockers motherboards featuring the X48 chipset. As you might or might not know, the Quantum Force motherboard series is directed to overclockers and to satisfy the needs of the overclockers, Foxconn hired Peter Tan, better known as Shamino, and Sascha Krohn, known amongst overclockers as Saaya. Peter Tan recently left the Foxconn building, continuing his career as EVGA employee, but Sascha continues to help the Quantum Force engineers designing thé overclocking motherboards. Not only Sascha, but in fact a very large group of overclocking enthousiasts tests beta motherboards and checks for bugs and oddities, hence why there are a lot of bios updates available.

That this is an overclockers' board ... well, it's obvious. No other company has been delivering an extreme cooling unit for the northbridge, which is suitable for both dry ice and liquid nitrogen!

Underneath you find a list of what's in the box:

5 x SATA Data Cables

2 x Molex to sata

1 x SLI Bridge

1 x Fly-bracket with 2 USB2.0 and a mini-FireWire400 port

1 x Northbridge fan

1 x Northbridge watercooling block

1 x Northbridge Dry ice/LN2 container

1 x I/O Shield

1 x ATA cable

1 x Sonar X-Fi card

1 x Motherboard user's manual

1 x Specification summary

1 x Support CD

MOTHERBOARD




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People who know me will agree with me: I love manufacturers who think outside the box. In the past, I've been spending hours and hours on a, for most users, outdated and with AGP equipped Asrock motherboard which featured both DDR1 and DDR2; I've been testing the MSI Memory-Lover because it features DDR2 and DDR3 ... when there's a novelty, I'm happy. And, frankly, I've been spoiled with this motherboard, because there are at least three different aspects of the motherboard that convince me of the geniality of the Quantum Force team.

First of all, please check the socket as you will find EIGHT mounting holes: one set for the LGA1366 coolers and one set for the LGA775 coolers! Instead of having to order a new mounting kit for your cooling units, which I have had to do myself for this review, you can just use your old mounting kit on this motherboard. The difficulty of adding four extra holes is close to zero, but that's what makes it so brilliant.

Next to that, there's the big red button near the 24-pin power supply, which is called the Force-reset button. As you may have guessed already, this button is one step further than a normal reset button as Foxconn promises that your system will always reboot when pressing this button, no matter what bios settings you've used. In fact, its function is quite simple: it's a light cmos clear and a reset in one: the bios settings regarding overclocking will be reset to normal values, whereas the other settings remain untouched (in the contrary to a normal cmos clear). Once again: brilliant!

The last aspect is the, obviously different, lack of three extra memory banks: only three are provided and thus a 6 x 2GB configuration is no option. However, it's not at all that stupid: after all, there are not that many people who invest in 12GB of memory as 6GB is already more than sufficient and in addition, it gives the Quantum Force team more room to tweak the memory overclockability. People have been reporting 50MHz better overclocking than the other motherboards, which is not insignificant. Our overclocking results can be found in the overclocking section of this review. Note that the three memory banks are place quite close to the memory socket, which may make it difficult for people to install a large cooling unit.

Underneath a list of the features of the motherboard:

8 x USB 2.0 ports

2 x eSATA ports

2 x RJ45 LAN ports

1 x PS/2 keyboard port

1 x S/PDIF Coaxial port

1 x 1394 port

4 x PCIe2.0 x16

1 x PCIe2.0 x1

1 x PCI

6 x SATAII connectors

3 x Onboard On/Off/CCMOS/Force Reset buttons

2 x 3-Pin Fan connectors

2 x USB 2.0 connectors support additional 4 ports

1 x IDE connector

1 x HDA header

1 x Front Panel header

1 x 1394 header

1 x ATX 24-Pin power connector

1 x 8-Pin ATX 12V power connector

1 x 4-Pin CPU Fan connector

1 x 3-Pin System Fan connector

1 x 3-Pin NB Fan connector

Usual bios options




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For an overclocker's motherboard, the bios settings relevant for the normal user are pretty well spread over the different sections of the bios. Agreed, there aren't too many fancy bios options to set up your harddisk drive configuration, but everything that is needed is there.

Overclocking options




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The Foxconn bios engineers are being helped by a very large community of high-end users, so most of the bios bugs are found within a few days after the initial release of the motherboard. Furthermore, the bios engineers are quick to work out issues and updated biosses are released nearly every week. Note that the so-called beta biosses are named Gxx and contain only very small updates, mostly solving only a few minor issues. The official release biosses are named Pxx and contain a larger set of bios updates. For an overclocker, it's always interesting to check the different overclocking fora for user experience with certain bios/motherboard combinations, because sometimes older bios works better than an updated one and new beta biosses can show improvements as well.

For an overclocker's motherboard, I'd expect the bios to be much more elaborate than it is now: the amount of tweakable subtimings is rather low and, although it suffices for most people, there aren't special cpu tweaking options such as changeable cpu amplitudes. However, because there are fewer options, the bios is very clean and it's actually quite easy to find the options you need. As most boards, the bios offers a special profile saving utility and you can flash two different biosses on one motherboard. All in all, a solid bios.

Bios: overclocking variables

Founded in 1986, Gigabyte started as a research and development team and has since taken the lead in the world's motherboard and graphics accelerator markets. To truly reach out to all consumers, GIGABYTE further expanded its product portfolio to include more diverse digital products such as Notebook and desktop PCs, digital home appliances, networking servers, communications, mobile and handheld devices, servicing every facet of people's lives at home or at work.

Everyday, GIGABYTE aims to “Upgrade Your Life” by knitting a global network to effectively honor its commitment to world wide customers. What's more important, GIGABYTE wishes all users to see and feel the brand through its products and all the touch points from GIGABYTE to the hands of all users.

Previous reviews containing Gigabyte motherboards:

Gigabyte GA-X58-Extreme Motherboard Preview

Overclocking with Gigabyte P35C-DS3R and Intel Q6600

Gigabyte P965-DS3 Motherboard Overclocking Review

Gigabyte GA-G1975X Turbo S775 Motherboard Review

VIA KT400 Chipset Overclocking

BOX AND ACCESSOIRES




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Hold on, let's take a moment to take a mental picture of this historical moment! Yes, this is actually my first high-end Gigabyte motherboard and from the moment I take a peek at the box, I was excited to test it. The brightly colored sparkling white box turned me into that six-year old boy who recieves his birthday present: not capable of waiting to rip off the package material. Before we look at the board itself, let's sum up all the accessoires that you will find inside the package:

4 x SATA cable

4 x Manual / quickinstall guide

1 x Drivers disc

1 x ATA-133 cable

1 x Floppy cable

1 x Rear panel shield

1 x Power connectors for internal SATA 2 ports and eSATA ports

1 x 2-Way SLI connector

1 x 3-Way SLI connector

1 x Hybrid Silent Pipe 2 chipset cooling

Motherboard




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The X58-Extreme is a very feature rich motherboard, as you can already tell from the pictures: more than enough USB ports, more than enough Sata ports and 3 x PCIe for those who prefer an 3-Way SLI configuration. The color lay-out is easy on the eyes, but that's only good if you have a case with window of course. The motherboard is practically covered with heatsink material, which may be a little bit overdone since neither the North- or Southbridge get really hot.

Maybe not entirely motherboard related, but I have to mention it somewhere: the overclocking software is one of the best I've seen so far. Every voltage level can be tweaked in Windows and I have never had any issues with the software freezing the system.

Underneath you find a list of all features of this motherboard:

8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

2 x RJ-45 ports

1 x PS/2 keyboard port

1 x PS/2 mouse port

1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector

1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector

1 x IEEE 1394a port

1 x clearing CMOS switch

2 x PCI slots

2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2)

1 x PCI Express x8 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1)

1 x PCI Express x4 slot

1 x PCI Express x1 slot

10 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors

3 x system fan headers

2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers

2 x IEEE 1394a headers

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector

1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector

1 x floppy disk drive connector

1 x IDE connector

1 x CPU fan header

1 x power fan header

1 x North Bridge fan header

1 x front panel header

1 x front panel audio header

1 x CD In connector

1 x S/PDIF In header

1 x S/PDIF Out header

1 x power LED header

1 x chassis intrusion header

1 x power switch

1 x reset switch

Usual bios options




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Considering the amount of bios options, Gigabyte did a fantastic job keeping the bios so clarifying, which makes the time you have to spend in the bios setting up your system less frustrating. The bios offers the same usual settings as other boards in this round-up with in addition some extra features. For instance, there's a possibility to set up a raid system from the bios, not via an external utility, which is definitely handy. There's also the feature of Smart Lan in which you can check whether the network is indeed functional or not using the built-in software. If you're used to Dfi biosses, you'll find you way through this bios without any problem.

Overclocking options




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For the overclockers, this bios is a dream to work with: clean and literally filled with options. It's remarkable that, just like the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme, this board offers the functionality to tweak each memory stick. Not that many people actually spend time doing that, though. The voltage options are easy to find and are in fact ordened in the one most clarifying manners I've seen. Even if you have never overclocked before, you will be able to understand this bios! As any other overclocker's motherboard, the Gigabyte X58-Extreme offers the possibility to save your bios settings, but unlike any other board, you can also load bios settings from your HDD or USB drive. A bit like the DFI ABS function we explained to you in the Dfi P45 review, you can share your working overclocking settings with your friends.

Gigabyte has made a guide to i7 overclocking for those who are interested: Click here (pdf)

Bios: overclocking variables

This company needs no introduction as it's one of the biggest hardware companies in the world. Next to processors, Intel always provides a motherboard to accompany new technologies or chipsets, not really to make big sales, but more to show how the new technology works.

Previous reviews containing intel motherboards:

Intel Core i7 920 and 965 XE CPU Review

Intel SkullTrail Super High End PC Platform Review

Intel Core 2 Performance, Overclocking, Power Usage Review

MOTHERBOARD




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Since the motherboard was sent as a reviewer's kit, containing both the memory and the 965 processor, we have no box or accessoires to show. Focussing on the motherboard, we see that Intel only provided four memory banks, which is two less than what most other boards offer. Next to the missing slots, the memory is also placed rather unusual: not on the right, but above the cpu socket. People might remember this lay-out from the S939 days where some other motherboards had the same placement, for instance the well-known DFI Lanparty Ultra-D. Furthermore, Intel has chosen not to add ATA and Floppy support, neither did they add PS2 keyboard and memory connectors, which would make the motherboard more next-gen then others we've seen. If this is such a good choice, I'm not sure, but to be honest, I prefer those legacy connectors to be added to the board just in case. We've had issues when installing windows because of the lack of PS/2 connectors and ATA as it was quite difficult to attach our DVD-player and even more difficult to enter the bios without having an USB-keyboard (yes, there are still people who use those). Another oddity is the obvious choice for PCI Express technology: 3 PCI express x4 slots, where one would expect conventional PCI slots.

Underneat a list of features that are added to the board:

12 x USB 2.0 ports (8 external ports, 2 internal headers)

6 x Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, including 2 eSATA port with RAID support supplied by a Marvell* controller

2 x IEEE-1394a ports (1 external port, 1 internal header)

1 x Consumer IR receiver and emitter (via internal headers)

1 x Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem

1 x Intel® High Definition Audio subsystem

3 x PCI Express* 1.0a x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connector

1 x PCI Conventional* bus add-in card connectors (SMBus routed to PCI Conventional bus add-in card connector)

1 x primary PCI Express* 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector

1 x secondary PCI Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector

Usual bios options




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Intel motherboards are not known for their extensive amount of bios options, nor for their easy handling, which is exactly what we see in this bios again. Yes, everything you need is adjustable, but that's all: no extra's, no nothing, just the bare minimum. It takes some time to get use to the lay-out of the bios as its style is very much alike the OEM motherboard biosses. Those OEM motherboards very rarely find their way to our test benches, which explains why we need time to get to know the bios. It seems, by the way, that the + and - keys have no function in the bios and it's also impossible to just enter the frequencies with numeric keys. This serves as a fine example of how 'rough' the bios is to handle.

Overclocking options




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This is the only bios where I need to explicitly agree with the terms of agreement when I want to overclock! After accepting the terms, the bios options that handle overclocking are revealed, but don't be too happy: there isn’t much. Yes, again, you can change the basic stuff, but anything beyond basic frequency/voltage is simply not available.

Bios: overclocking variables

Micro Star International was founded 22 years ago, back in 1986. From then on MSI grew to become one of the world largest mainboard manufacturer as well as being a market leader in the video card industry. But there is more, MSI is specialized in the server industry, notebooks, barebone systems, add-on cards, communication and many more consumer electronics. When you go visit your nearby computer retailer the chance that you stumble upon a MSI product is very real, not just because MSI offers a wide range of products but also because of their large availability in the entire world. Everyone who has done something with computers probable recognize these three letters in group.

Previous reviews containing MSI motherboards:

MSI P45-8D Memory Lover Motherboard Review

P45 head-to-head: MSI P45 Platinum and Asus Maximus II Formula

MSI P7N SLI Platinum (750i) Motherboard Review

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

MSI K9N SLI Platinum AM2 Motherboard Preview

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum A64 S939 Review

MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum Athlon XP nForce2 Review

VIA KT400 Chipset Overclocking

BOX AND ACCESSOIRES




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As you can see from the pictures, MSI was in a generous mood when they decided what should come with the motherboard: an extreme amount of extra's are coming along your way if your order the Eclipse SLI. Not just the amount of extra features, such as the Greenpower, D-Led and audio module, blow my mind away, have a look at the amount of manuals you find inside the package! Next to that, you also find crossfire and SLI connectors, although I'm missing a 3-Way SLI bridge. In any case, MSI has done a fantastic job in the accessories department!

Underneath you find a list of what's inside the box:

6 x SATA cables

2 x ATI CrossFire bridges

2 x Driver discs (XP and Vista)

1 x eSATA to SATA cable

1 x PCI bracket with two USB 2.0 ports

1 x PCI Bracket with two SATA to two eSATA connectors and plus Molex power adapter

1 x Molex to eSATA power connector

1 x I/O shield

1 x Molex to two SATA power connector

1 x IDE cable

1 x floppy cables

1 x Nvidia SLI bridge

1 x MSI extras disc

1 x Creative X-Fi driver disc

1 x MSI quick install guide

1 x Quick guide

1 x User's manual

1 x HDD Backup manual

1 x X-Fi Xtreme Audio manual

1 x GreenPower Genie guide

1 x D-LED 2 guide

1 x MSI GreenPower Genie

1 x Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio soundcard

Motherboard




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The board itself is a typical looking high-end motherboard: a nice color scheme, power-on, reset and cmos reset buttons and a LED display which tells you what stage of the booting process your system is at. As you can see, there is in fact more than enough room for three high-end video cards, even if they have a big cooling unit on top of it.

Here's a list of the features of this motherboard:

8 x USB 2.0 port

2 x eSATA port

2 x PS2 port

2 x RJ45 Ethernet connector

1 x Firewire port

1 x Clear CMOS button

3 x PCI-Ex16

2 x PCI-Ex1

2 x PCI

12 x USB 2.0 port

10 x SATA port

2 x eSATA

1 x Ide

1 x Power button

1 x Reset button

1 x D-Led button

1 x Cmos reset button

1 x D-LED 2 module

Usual bios options




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As mentioned when going over the bios of the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme, a bios filled with options is great, but if the options are spread out too much, things get a little chaotic which can lead to frustration. Again, the bios is indeed elaborate, no issues with that, but sadly, the options are spread out in so many different menu's and submenu's that it sometimes takes a while before you find what you're looking for. I find it not optimal to have submenus containing only one bios option: wouldn't it be easier just to but it in the first submenu instead of putting it in a submenu in a submenu?

In the bios, you can set up a raid config just like the Gigabyte X58-Extreme. For those who have already owned an MSI P45 motherboard: the GreenPower menu is still in place, so if you're interested, you can save our planet by tuning the different power saving features of this motherboard.

Overclocking options




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I know what you're thinking: a lot of options, but probably a chaotic design. Well, yes, you're right: the amount of options is again very impressive and an overclocker will be able to spend hours and hours tweaking and tuning each aspect of his configuration, but the options are not always placed that logical. It's good to see that MSI has kept the Memory-Z utility and actually has added a Cpu-Z utility as well. You won't learn that much from it, but it can come in handy sometimes. The last thing I want to mention is the integration of a flash utility, M-Flash, will is great news for those who won't want to risk a bios flash in Windows, but have thrown away their last floppy drive already.

Bios: overclocking variables

Test setup

Madshrimps' X58 Test Setup
CPU	Intel Core i7 965 (click for picture)
Cooling	Intel stock cooler Noctua NH-U12P
Mainboard	Asrock X58 Supercomputer Asus Rampage 2 Extreme DFI Lanparty DK X58-T3eH6 Foxconn Bloodrage Gigabyte X58-Extreme Intel DX58SO MSI X58 Eclipse SLI
Memory	3 * 2GB OCZ Reaper PC-14400
Other	Sapphire 4870X2 (Catalyst 8.12, 750/900) Antec 1000W PSU Western Digital 320Gb SATA HDD Western Digital 500Gb SATA HDD Windows XP SP3 32-bit Windows Vista SP1 64-bit OCZ Freeze thermal paste

Methodology: performance tests

The following benchmarks were used:

Lavalys Everest (V)

SuperPi (X)

PCMark05 (V)

TechArp X264 HD benchmark (X)

Cinebench 10 (X)

3DMark Vantage (V)

3DMark06 (V)

Benchmarks with (V) were run on the Vista OS, benchmarks with (X) were run under the XP OS.

Each test was ran using two different test scenario's:

3.2GHz: 133x24, QPI at 6.4G, 800MHz CL8-8-8-24 1T

3.6GHz: 200x18, QPI at 4.8G, 800MHz CL8-8-8-24 1T(*)

Since the Intel DX58SO was incapable of running a BCLK frequency of 200MHz, we used the following settings in the 3.6GHz test scenario:

3.6GHz: 150x24, QPI at 4.8G, 750MHz CL8-8-8-24 1T

Methodology: overclocking tests

The overclocking part of this article is broken into two different sections, each containing 4 different aspects of the overclocking process. First of all, we have the two voltage levels:

Stock: 1.15v vcore / 1.2v vtt (*) / 1.8v vpll / 1.65v vdimm

Increased: 1.2v vcore / 1.45v vtt (*) / 1.9vpll / 1.85v vdimm

(*): also known as qpi/dram

Next to that the different overclocking tests:

BCLK frequency: SuperPi 4M stable and CPU-Z stable

Memory frequency: CL7 (7-7-7-21 1T) and CL9 (9-9-9-27 1T)

CPU frequency: HT enabled and HT disabled

Fastest overclocking result: combining the results of previous tests in one SuperPi 4M run using highest stable settings

For those who want to use 3rd-party applications to overclock their setup in Windows, here's a list of the clock generators used on the different motherboards. This list may come in handy for SetFSB users.



Special thanks to: TONES

Before we continue I like to mention Tones (www.tones.be), without whom this review would never have been possible. Thanks to their continued support, Madshrimps is able to give you reviews with the latest high-end hardware. If you live in Belgium, check out their online store for sharp prices, quick delivery and excellent support:

Futuremark benchmarks

These synthetic 3D benchmarks from Futuremark allow you to evaluate the expected performance of a system with different generation games. As each 3DMark uses different feature and quality settings, it allows you to get an idea of how a video card will perform in games. But be aware that since Futuremark takes DirectX guide lines to build their stress tests with all features available, performance can differ from real world games when those games don’t fully support/implement all DX features. So take these results with a grain of salt, and always compare them to our game benchmarks.

3DMark06

The last of the DX9 benches in their series is still a graphics card benchmark; however, there's a place for CPU testing as well, as Futuremark developed a CPU test for this benchmark. The more cores, the merrier, so results with four cores will always be better than with two cores.



Most motherboards perform pretty much the same; the Asus and Foxconn stand out in each of the two test settings regarding total score.

Futuremark benchmarks

These synthetic 3D benchmarks from Futuremark allow you to evaluate the expected performance of a system with different generation games. As each 3DMark uses different feature and quality settings, it allows you to get an idea of how a video card will perform in games. But be aware that since Futuremark takes DirectX guide lines to build their stress tests with all features available, performance can differ from real world games when those games don’t fully support/implement all DX features. So take these results with a grain of salt, and always compare them to our game benchmarks.

3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage is Futuremark's latest 3D benchmark featuring DX10 rendering. This makes it impossible for users to run the benchmark in XP, but only in Vista.



None of the motherboards really outperforms the rest. Note that the Intel DX58SO is performing worse in the 3.6GHz test setting due to incapable of running 200BCLK.

SuperPi

The mother of all “enthusiast” benchmarks, SuperPi, still is a good single core measurement tool to determine what's fast and what's not.



Very little difference between the motherboards; if any difference, it can be considered insignificant.

SuperPi

The mother of all “enthusiast” benchmarks, SuperPi, still is a good single core measurement tool to determine what's fast and what's not.



In the 3.2GHz setting, the Foxconn Bloodrage is noticeably faster than the other motherboards. We re-checked the results, but the outcome was the same. Other than that, most motherboards perform equal.

Lavalys Everest 4.50



We used the memory benchmark utility to measure the performance of the memory management.



Due to hardware limitations, the Intel DX58SO has noticeably less bandwidth available in the 3.6GHz test setting than the other motherboards.



In the 3.6GHz test setting, the latency of the Asrock motherboard is actually very high. Again we double-checked, but the results were consistently higher. Note that in both scenario's the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme has the lowest latencies.

Cinebench R10



Cinebench is a benchmark that fully stresses the CPU and measures the raw power of your processing unit by rendering a high-quality image.



In general, all seven samples are pretty much performing the same with exception of the Intel and Dfi motherboard in the 3.6GHz test scenario.

TechArp X264 HD benchmark



This benchmark has been introduced to me by Piotke, who used it in his QX9650 review. Using multiple cores it gives us quite a decent view on how fast our setup can encode a short DVD-MPEG2 video clip into an X264 clip. We used the latest HD resolution version of the benchmark to run our tests.



Certain motherboards seem to be able to encode much faster than others for a reason that is still unknown. We tried installing a new operating system, but the results were, again, consistent. We'll try to figure out what is exactly causing the motherboards to run faster/slower.

Note that in the 3.6GHz scenario, the Intel DX58SO loses almost 2FPS (~7%) due to a memory frequency of 750MHz instead of 800MHz.

PCMark05

PCMark05 is the last benchmark of the PCMark series which works in Windows XP and it still offers the simplicity of multiple small benchmarks in one. We've selected the most interesting subtest and put the all in one chart.



Not surprisingly, the Intel motherboard loses in the 3.6GHz setting.

BCLK: introduction

The term BCLK, or base clock frequency, is the clock signal from which the CPU frequency, the QPI frequency and the memory frequency are derived. It has been used in all Pentium Family processors although many people confused it with the FSB. Why? The Front Side Bus, a bus connecting the CPU to the North Bridge, was running at BCLK speed. Over years processors became many times faster but the FSB remained nearly untouched. Intel used AGTL+ bus terminology to have more transactions per second, Quad Pumped like they named it, to increase the system performance since the FSB begin to become a bottleneck. They even increased the bus speed within the same micro architecture family, now they've finally made the step to go with a totally new approach where the bus interconnection between CPU and chipset has become twice as fast as a FSB running at 400MHz. Named QPI, the new bus should not form any kind of obstacle in system performance for the next few years.

For the processor used in this configuration, namely the Core i7 Extreme 965, the BCLK overclockability does not play such a big role, but in the lower binned i7 products, it's vital in the overclocking process. 920 owners will most likely be limited by the BCLK frequency even on air cooling!

We tested the BCLK overclockability in a 2x2 test setting:

CPU-Z: stable enough for a CPU-Z screenshot

4M: stable enough to run the Superpi 4M benchmark without errors.



Findings and remarks

First of all, although it does not show in our tests, the maximum BCLK frequency seems to be influenced by the Vtt (QPI/dram) voltage level and, strangely enough, the memory configuration (as reported by various overclockers). The maximum BCLK frequency also varies from processor to processor.

Secondly, various motherboard manufacturers report that 222MHz is the theoretical maximum of the X58 chips, which would explain why so many people are actually limited at around 222MHz. Although there are people who are able to go beyond this barrier, 24/7 stability is very rare and the range beyond 222MHz is very limited. At the moment, the world record is set at 241.32MHz, by RunMC.

Thirdly, any of the seven motherboards have been reported to overclock beyond 210MHz BCLK and most of them even beyond 220MHz. Our overclocking results can therefore not be considered as conclusive and/or the absolute maximum of the product in question. Note that there's one exception to this rule: the Intel DX58SO has never been reported to go higher than 200MHz; most of the samples only reach 175-180MHz.

Asrock, Asus, Gigabyte: each board was very easy to overclock over 220MHz; near perfection!

Memory overclocking: introduction

Since a few years, memory overclocking has become a significant part of the overclocking process. Not only does it determine the outcome of certain benchmarks, such as SuperPi, quite a bit, it seems to help in 3D-related benchmarks as well. Overclocking the memory requires more than just playing with the memory (sub)timings and Vdimm, it's important that the memory data addressing is stable and that the memory controller works fluently. With the release of the i7, we now have a memory controller placed on the processor, which doesn't make it easier for the engineers to tweak the memory data and voltage lanes.

We'll be testing the capabilities regarding memory overclocking in a 2x2 test setting:

CL7: 7-7-7-21 1T

CL9: 9-9-9-27 1T

Stock: 1.65v Vdimm / 1.2v Vtt

Increased: 1.85v Vdimm / 1.4v Vtt



Findings and remarks

First of all it's important to understand that these results are actually biased by the memory kit itself: even if the motherboard is capable of reaching higher frequencies, the memory kit itself may be limiting the overclock. We always used the same three memory sticks of two 2x2GB OCZ Reaper PC14400 kits in the same order (stick 1 - bank 1; stick 2 - bank 2 - stick 3 - bank 3) to minimize the bias effect. Note that these kits are NOT 1.65v rated, but 1.9v rated, unlike the more common triple channel memory kits we find on the shelves of the hardware shops today.

Secondly, different members of the international overclocking forums have reported inconsistent overclocking results with the same kit, but different cpu. Apparently, the quality of the processor (IMC!) partially determines the overclock as well: for instance, the new Elpida-based memory kits are rated at 1GHz CL7 at 1.65v, but people report instability issues even at stock settings due to a problem with the IMC.

Thirdly, it has come to our attention that not only the Vdimm is of importance, also the Vtt (or QPI/Dram) voltage plays a big role in the overclocking capabilities. More Vtt will allow a higher overclock, which is quite understandable since the same applied to the C2D platform where a higher voltage set to the Northbridge allowed higher memory overclocks as well.

Most motherboards max out at pretty much the same frequencies, which clearly indicates the limitation by the memory, which in itself proves that the motherboards are capable of getting the most out of the memory kit.

Foxconn: In the stock CL9 setting, this board seems to be able to outperform the other motherboards by quite a bit. This result has been double-checked, but the findings were exactly the same. Other users confirm that the Foxconn Bloodrage offers a little extra in terms of memory overclocking - reported as +/- 50MHz more than any other board. This may be related to the three dimms instead of six.

Asus, Dfi, Foxconn: Three motherboards were capable of breaking the 1GHz barrier, which is quite remarkable with this memory kit.

Asrock: This motherboard performs worse than the other boards; maybe due to the voltage line issues (see Vdroop section)?

CPU overclocking: introduction

As the Core i7 platform hasn't been around for so long, overclocking the processor still is mainly trail-and-error, especially when it's your first Core i7 setup. There are new limits to be taken into account, new voltages, new features and, more importantly, this technology reacts differently to an increase in voltage. Furthermore, due to the IMC and Hyper threading the PWM design of the motherboard is being stressed more than on, for instance, a C2D platform.

The cpu overclocking capabilities of the motherboards were tested in a 3x2 test setting:

Stock: 1.15v Vcore / 1.2v Vtt / 1.8v Vpll

1.2v: 1.2v Vcore / 1.4v Vtt / 1.9v Vpll

1.4v: 1.4v Vcore / 1.4v Vtt / 1.9v Vpll

Hyperthreading enabled

Hyperthreading disabled

In each setting, all four cores were fully functional. The stability of the overclock was determined by one SuperPi 4M run.



Findings and remarks

First of all, the value given in this chart are, obviously, biased by the CPU overclockability: after all, the maximum frequency of a processor is mainly determined by the processor itself. Note that overclocking results can vary using different cooling; all tests were performed with a room temp around 18°C.

Secondly, it may sound obvious, but the results in this chart are partially determined by the voltage line stability of the motherboard. Since we did NOT check the real voltage with a digital multimeter, but solely relied on what we set in the bios, the results are biased by the bios settings. If the bios values do not correspond with real voltage levels, the result may be worse (lower voltage) or better (higher voltage).

Thirdly, following point two, we analysed the cpu overclocking results comparing them to the Vdroop results we obtained. A correlation of more than 0.9 indicates that the hypothesis formulated in point two is probably indeed correct, which means that the voltages set in the bios partially determine the maximum overclock. For instance, if a motherboard gives 1.1v when 1.5v was set in the bios, the maximum overclock at 1.5v will not be determined by the quality of the motherboard itself, but by the bios quality.

Note that it's important to take into account the difference in overclocking results between HT on and HT off setting. The smaller the difference, the better as Hyper threading is known for being highly stressful for the PWM. The bigger the difference, the less capable a motherboard is to hold to load of the processor.

Asrock: The Asrock motherboard performs noticeably worse than the other motherboards in our round-up. As you will read in the Vdroop section, that's because the voltage set in the bios does not equal the real voltage measured with a digital multimeter.

Asus, Dfi, Foxconn, Gigabyte, MSI: these motherboards were all capable of hitting frequencies over 4.4GHz on air cooling, which is pretty decent.

Performance results: Introduction

Most hardware reviews you find on the web already contain a separate section in which the reviewer talks about the overclockability of the product. It is a pity, though, that most overclocking sections are only filled with two or three screenshots of overclocking results, which are not bad, but does not give a great insight in the overclockability of the product. Although we rather see in-depth overclocking results, we want to offer our readers the same sort of overclocking results as other reviewers do ... hence, this section.

Basically, we took into account the overclocking results of the previous three sections, threw them together and tried to find the highest stable 4M frequency and noted down the time of the 4M run. Obviously, a higher cpu frequency means a lower (= better) score, but also the memory and BCLK frequency play a role in the end result.

None of the setups were tweaked to obtain better results. Underneath you find a set of screenshots containing cpu and memory information of the run.



Results: screenshots

(from left to right: Asrock - Asus - Dfi - Foxconn - Intel - Gigabyte - MSI)

STOCK:


(Clickable)

INCREASED:


(Clickable)

Vdroop: introduction

Although it's not the most accurate definition of Vdroop, most people understand Vdroop as the voltage dropping under heavy load. Basically, when a system is working at full power, the voltage levels drop because of the heavy load. In overclocking environments, a big difference between the voltage levels at idle and load state can result in a very unstable setup causing it to crash and limiting your overclock. Since it's thus very important for the end-user to have a stable Vcore setting, we measured the voltage level using a digital multimeter in both idle and load state at 1.4v in the bios.

For those who would like to read more about the Vdroop (technical!), please refer to this article of Kris Boughton posted on TheTechRepository: Intel Processor Power Delivery Design Guidelines and Specifications: Vdroop Explained

Idle: Windows desktop

Load: 8-thread Wprime 1024M

Note that the 1.4v was set in the bios, all 4 core and 8 threads of the cpu were enabled.



Findings and remarks

First of all, please make sure you interpreted the chart correctly. In the contrary to the previous charts, better does not equal higher or lower. On the one hand, it's important to have values as close as possible to 1.4v, as that is the value what people will expect to be set by the bios. Not many people measure the real voltage with a digital multimeter, so a lot below or over the value set in the bios, may damage your processor or decrease the overclockability. On the other hand, please pay attention to the difference between idle and load state. Even if the real voltage is not equal to the voltage you set in the bios, if the difference between idle and load is close to none, you will be able to have a stable overclock easier than if the difference is big.

Asrock: The first oddity we noticed was the very low voltage level of the Asrock motherboard, which is probably why the overclocking results are less good than the others. Since 1.4v in the bios does not equal a real voltage level of 1.4v, but much lower, the processor is more limited on the Asrock motherboard than on others. Note that we have informed Asrock of this issue and they are at the moment working on the issue.

Asrock: Next to the lowered voltage level, there's also the problem of the difference between idle and load state. This issue has also been reported and is under investigation at the Asrock R&D labs.

Asus, Dfi, Foxconn: Unlike what would expect from the effect of idle and load states on the voltage lines, these three motherboards seem to work their way around the Vdroop by adding more volt instead of dropping. At this point, I am still in the unknown why this happens, but do know that these findings were checked and double-checked.

Gigabyte, MSI: Kudos on the voltage line stability; if it's good, it has to be said!

General look at the test results

Although I am in fact heavily opposed to using one (average) number to evaluate the performance of a product, I'm afraid I'll have to rely on it this time, not only because the amount of participants, but also because of the number of tests we ran. I've split up the test results in four categories:

Processor performance (SuperPi, Cinebench, Techarp, PCMark05 system test suite and PCMark05 CPU test suite)

Memory/periphiral performance (Lavalys Everest, PCMark05 memory test suite and PCMark05 HDD test suite)

3D performance (3DMark06, 3DMark Vantage and PCMark05 graphics test suite)

Overclockability (All overclocking tests)

Now, because there's no need to over-stimulate your brain by adding all the different formulas used to obtain the final result, I won't go in deeper on the mathematical techniques we used. In short: we evaluated the performance of each board in each test comparing it to the best result in each test.


(clickable)

Now, to help you jump to conclusions: everything above 9800 can be considered as good, everything below 9700 should be considered as bad. However, the word 'bad' may be an unwise choice, as the difference is almost none in daily computing; only the difference in overclockability can be considered as valuable.

In terms of raw performance, we see that most motherboards are delivering what they should do; only the Intel DX58SO is trailing a bit, but that's because the board was set to 150x24 in the 3.6GHz test setting with the memory divider set at x10, which means that the memory clock was in fact 100MHz slower than on the other boards. On stock settings, the Intel board is perfectly capable of giving equal amount of performance.

In terms of overclockability, we have two obvious winners: the Asus Rampage II Extreme and the Gigabyte X58-Extreme, both motherboards targeting the high-end enthusiast market. However, the reason why they're in the lead is because of the excellent BCLK overclocking results, which are, as already explained on the BCLK overclocking page, biased by the memory/cpu/voltage combination. As said before, nearly all boards (except for the Intel DX58SO) are capable of running 220MHz BCLK with the right cpu/memory/voltages: you can check the different overclocking forums for examples. If we take this into account and recalculate the scores using 220MHz BCLK for both DFI and Foxconn motherboard, we get the following results:

DFI: 9905

Foxconn: 9931

That would make those two the best overclocking motherboards. Please take note of this when choosing your motherboard!

Pricing

We looked up the current (23rd of february 2009) prices of the different motherboards in both Euro (€) and US Dollar ($). For our European-based readers, we used the pricewatch feature found on Geizhals.eu, for our US-based readers, we used the price tables found on Froogle.com.



Note: The Bloodrage is the only board that is more expensive in Europe than in the USA, most likely due to the fact it's very difficult to find the motherboard in Europe. At Geizhals, we found one(!) shop that listed the Bloodrage, at Hardware.info, we found four shops, but none of those had the board in stock.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

So, after 30 pages of gathering information of the seven motherboards regarding the package, motherboard, accessories, bios, performance, overclockability and pricing rates, it's time for a final verdict. To help you to form your own idea about each board and to help you choose one of these seven X58 products, we'll freshen up your memory and give you a list of the pros and cons of each motherboard. In addition, we will add awards to the products that stand out in the comparison.

Note that we feel that it's important to go over the performance and overclocking test charts carefully and read through the notes before jumping to conclusions. Only relying on the charts may give you an incorrect impression of the quality of the product.

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Asrock X58 Supercomputer

The Asrock X58 Supercomputer definitely is a very decent motherboard: the performance is not bad, the price is quite good (especially in Europe) and you get more than a sufficient amount of extras. In terms of overclocking, I wouldn't say it's bad, but the Vdroop and bios issues can give you more trouble than usual tuning the board. The 4 PCIe slots make the board interesting for those who want to build their personal supercomputer (using CUDA technology), although there's also an (untested) alternative from Asus, namely the P6T WS Professional, which offers 6 PCIe slots and is about €10 more expensive. You have to sacrifice the PCI slots then, though.

+ 4x PCIe
+ Excellent BCLK overclocking
+ R&D feedback
+ Complete package
+ Price
- Vdroop
- Not the best performing

Asrock X58 Supercomputer

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Asus Rampage 2 Extreme

The Rampage 2 Extreme has proven it's one of the better motherboards available in terms of performance and overclocking and, in addition, it comes with a extensive range of extra's. The main issue with this product is its price, though, which is in the USA by far the most expensive. However, if you want to have the ultimate X58 setup, the R2E is definitely one of the better choices. Note that for those who want a bare bone setup, there's also a mini version of the Rampage 2 Extreme: Rampage II GENE

+ Very, very complete package
+ Looks awesome
+ Amount of overclocking options in bios
+ Excellent overclocking results
+ Overclocking software
- Bios is a bit chaotic
- Price

Asus Rampage 2 Extreme recommended For

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Dfi Lanparty DK X58-T3eH6

If it wasn't for the low BCLK overclockability, this board would've been the second best in terms of overclocking. However, as already pointed out, our BCLK overclocking results are not the highest ever seen using this motherboard and it's thus quite possible that you will be able to hit higher frequencies using the right combination of cpu/memory/voltage. Due to its price, however, it's my personal favorite if you are only interested in overclocking and don't care for any accessories.

+ Price
+ Overclocking results
+ Bios is very clean
- Not that much accessories

Dfi Lanparty DK X58-T3eH6 recommended For

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Foxconn Bloodrage

As already pointed out, the Bloodrage is quite the product. Not only would it have been the best overclocking motherboard (if not for the BCLK frequency results), it also has three brilliant features: LGA775 mounting holes, Force-reset button and three memory banks. However, that last feature may also be an argument to not buy the board: after all, it's impossible to use more than 6GB. Due to its price and low availability, I'm not entirely sure if I should recommend this motherboard as thé overclocking product. If the price drops a bit and the availability issues are resolved, this is more than a justified choice.

+ Overclocking results
+ Looks amazing
+ Three genial features
+ Bios is updated very often
- Price
- Availability
- Only three DIMM sockets

Foxconn Bloodrage recommended For

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Gigabyte X58-Extreme

The Gigabyte X58-Extreme is, next to the R2E, more than excellent in terms of performance and overclockability. There are a bit less extras or special features, but then again ... the price is lower as well, although still very high. If you have to decide between this motherboard and the R2E, this last argument may be decisive. All in all, makes for an excellent choice.

+ Overal performance results
+ Elaborate bios
+ Watercooling + extra heatpipe cooling system
+ Overclockability
+ Overclocking software
- Price

Gigabyte X58-Extreme recommended For

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Intel DX58SO

Although this is indeed the cheapest X58 motherboard we tested, I wouldn't recommend the board to people who are interested in overclocking OR who do not own a SATA DVD-rom drive. I have been troubleshooting this motherboard for a few weeks, due to the no IDE, no PS/2 'features', but eventually I got this board up and running. As a colleague reviewer pointed out to me: this motherboard is more likely to be used in OEM configurations than to be sold to end-users. Even if you're looking for a cheap X58 solution, this is not the best choice as there are over six different other products that are in fact cheaper.

+ Price
- Overclockability
- No IDE, no PS/2

Intel DX58SO

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MSI X58 Eclipse SLI

Don't let the charts fool you, although this motherboard doesn't really excel in any aspect of the performance and overclocking tests, it's perfectly capable of satisfying your needs. The BCLK frequency has been pushed to 215MHz by other overclockers, so you might get higher than we did in this review. All in all, a pretty solid product.

+ General performance
+ Accessories
+ A lot of bios options
- The bios is a bit chaotic
- Availability

MSI X58 Eclipse SLI

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Conclusive thoughts

Choosing a motherboard has become a very difficult job, mostly because there are so many flavours available. In the end, you need to find the balance between what you want in terms of performance, overclockability, features and price. If you only care about the money, there are already motherboards available under €200 (none of them tested in this review). If you only care about overclocking, the Dfi Lanparty DK X58-T3eH6 seems to me as the most obvious choice, since it a lot cheaper than the three other excellent overclocking motherboards. If you don't really care about the money, the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme and Gigabyte X58-Extreme are more than excellent choices and will offer you both performance and overclocking-wise a lot of pleasure. Foxconn's Bloodrage is very promising, but to become really interesting the availability must go up (and the price down). The Asrock X58 Supercomputer and MSI X58 Eclipse SLI are both solid motherboards and will not disappoint you if you're looking for a cheaper solution with lot of extras. The only board I would not consider to buy is the Intel DX58SO, as it lacks legacy support, overclocking capabilities and is price-wise not the cheapest product available.

To end with, I'd like to thank:

Rob for the X58 Supercomputer and William for the R&D feedback from Asrock

Milan for the Rampage 2 Extreme from Asus

Wendell and Eric for the Lanparty DK X58-T3eH6 from DFI

Maurice for the Bloodrage from Foxconn

Manu for the DX58SO and 965 from Tones

Bernice for the X58-Extreme from Gigabyte

Janneke for the X58 Eclipse from MSI

'Till the next time!