EVGA X58 Classified - Trophy Board
by Rajinder Gill on May 8, 2009 3:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Taking Things Down Another Notch
Next up we were eager to see if using liquid nitrogen to cool the processor would allow further scaling in any of these benchmarks. A previous attempt at finding the "cold" limit of this CPU on the ASUS Rampage II Extreme had showed a maximum temperature limit of around -125C for booting from BIOS and a maximum -128C while idling within the OS (to be honest, other boards from several manufacturers fall into this same category and perform worse). However, this was misleading as it turned out the processor was capable of far lower temperatures on the Classified, which has onboard jumpers for disabling thermal motherboard cut-off thresholds.
Much to our surprise the CPU was capable of booting on the Classified at a brutally cold -160C, and being benchmarked all the way down to -190C during peak CPU loads; that's an instant 35C gain over the ASUS board. In the world of extreme overclocking, this is a big deal. The following picture pretty much says it all, with the CPU test of 3DMark06 running in the background with a pot temperature of -186C.
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We only had approximately 15 liters of LN2 for the Classified testing, and with a little bit of BIOS voltage tinkering were able to extend our 3DMark06 run all the way out to a scintillating 248BCLK with HT enabled.
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 A landmark believed to be "unobtainium" is squashed by the EVGA X58 Classified, Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 modules, and a retail 920 D0 stepping processor. |
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TA152H - Saturday, May 16, 2009 - link
You're really an idiot if you don't see any difference here.PCI-Express can, in rare, situations offer additional performance to AGP, or the AT-Bus (ISA is properly called the AT-Bus, IBM invented it, so they get to name it).
USB gives no additional benefits for keyboards or mice, and in fact cost performance.
There's no parallel here. If you admit they use clock cycles, then what system you use is irrelevant. They waste clock cycles for no reason. As I mentioned, it's very, very slight, but why pay for it at all? Especially with a board geared for performance, why waste clock cycles on USB? It makes no sense. If USB keyboards or Mice did something PS/2 port versions couldn't, I'd at least see some point. But, they don't, so there's no point. This is different from the moronic examples you gave, where there can be some advantages.
takumsawsherman - Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - link
I completely agree. This unit forces you to use a USB mouse, which is ridiculous at $450. I was being sarcastic. Personally, I use all PS/2 input devices, because they just work. Every time. That can't even nearly be said about USB.TA152H - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
You make $450 sound like a real lot of money for people. I remember when the 386 was out, you'd pay over a grand for it, if you wanted the 82385 and 32K cache. That's when a grand was worth almost twice that now. $450 is nothing, I'd buy it just so I got a warm fuzzy feeling, if it were actually worth it.For that price, throw some SRAM on the motherboard, and get a few extra percentages of performance at any speed. Why sell a half-rate motherboard for $450, when you could slap a nice L4 cache on the motherboard, for not too much more, and then boast real performance improvements no matter how you run it? Seems silly to me.
Besides, who would get a warm fuzzy from buying a motherboard from a EVGA? It's a stupid name, it sounds like a video card of the late 80s that ran VGA resolutions on an EGA, digital card. Supermicro, yes, or a killer Intel motherboard, or even IBM if they still made them. EVGA????? Well, I guess they have to start to build a reputation somewhere, and maybe this is a good move by them to get some press, and become known as a high end motherboard maker. So, I guess I understand it. Just add some SRAM and make it a real killer!
bob4432 - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - link
weak. evga is for the Microphallus crowd.i wouldn't own one of their items and really wonder why anandtech is wasting the time on this that 99% of the readers wouldn't even give too looks at.
Screammit - Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - link
I like to see a company raising the bar, even if it is ridiculously priced. Someone has the cash and the will to buy it, which hopefully will prompt other manufacturers to compete with similar devices, eventually driving prices down. It may be a microphallus product, but it has only positive effects on the market as a whole. What could be wrong with that?Rajinder Gill - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
As I stated on page 1 of the comments, this is a perf product and generally speaking these reviews fall under my duristiction for the audience these products are aimed at (nobody said they were the majority). We're in the process of introducing someone new to take over the more mainstream stuff. The perf review will continue as is, while the lower-mid market stuff gets a boost in article frequency by adding somebody else to the mix.later
Raja
Rajinder Gill - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
*jurisdiction*..lolhemipowered - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - link
For absolute OC'ing I haven't seen any better. But I bought mine for looks and its ability to OC, it is a shame Anandtech didn't report/show screenshots of what the board does when running with the Lights on itrazorsimon - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - link
I'm really disapointed that you guys have given EVGA the free marketing on this board. Thier treatment of us in Europe over supply is so shamefull that I will always look to buy another brand from now on.The Classified is unique and the only EVGA product worth waiting for. I really hope another manufacturer comes up with something better and blows the Classified and EVGA where they belong.
Just to clarify the situation - my supplier in the UK gets told every week by EVGA europe that they are due this week. This has been going on for 2 months and so far about 20 boards have come through... yet they are in stock with suppliers in USA.
EVGA are not being honest and stringing us poor customers and thier retailers along.
EVGA's credability in Europe has been destroyed.
Fluxcored Arcweld - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
Made me laugh cause at the same time I'm unable to get the German watercooling I want for my i7 build here in the US. Low production products in a niche market segment trans Atlantic; we have to be realistic about availability methinks...Shout out to watercool.de !!