The Test Bed-
We are utilizing the Intel i7 920 processor in our limited testing today. We believe this processor will be the top selling i7 processor for the near term due to its reasonable cost and performance capability. Our 6GB memory kit is provided by Corsair and this particular kit will reach about DDR-3 1800 on 1.70V, thus providing reasonable overclocking headroom for our i7 920. We have several different kits from Kingston, OCZ, Patriot, GSkill, and Mushkin that have all provided excellent results from 1066 up to 2000 speeds depending on the kit. We will take a look at all of the available DDR3 tri-channel kits in early December.
Our video card choice is the Sapphire HD 4870 512MB edition. We originally had decided to test with the Sapphire 4870X2 card but constant driver problems prevented us from effectively utilizing the card in our first benchmark results. The latest 8.11 drivers were a welcome relief but problems still exist in a few games with AA disabled. We will show CF results with the 4870 and SLI capabilities with the GTX260 in our X58 mini-roundups. At this point, at least in motherboard testing, we prefer the NVIDIA GTX260/280 series on the X58 due to better driver support.
We stored everything in the ABS Canyon 695 for these particular tests. This is case you have to see and touch in person to really appreciate it. We also have the Thermaltake Spedo in-house to handle our i7 965/Rampage II Extreme setup for an upcoming i7 OC guide. We might add that the Spedo is an excellent case for the money. For those of you who have spent most of your money on upgrading to the X58 platform but still need a case on a budget, the Antec Nine Hundred Series worked very well for us during thermal testing. If you already have a case like the Cooler Master 830 Stacker or Cosmos 1000, then you are set.
Cooling is provided via the Vigor Monsoon II with our CoolIT Systems Freezone Elite handling overclocking duties when we push our CPUs to the limit. The majority of cooling companies are offering LGA1366 upgrade kits for their most popular cooling devices with specific i7 coolers coming to market in the near future. Storage comes via the trustworthy Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB hard drive although an imminent upgrade to the WD Black Edition 1TB drive is upon us. Power delivery is provided by the Corsair 1000HX.
Quick Tests-
The results are typical of what we will see in the majority of applications and games, an X58 is an X58 for the most part. Instead, the differences between boards will be in overclocking, compatibility, features, and support. We will address these differences and more in the upcoming roundups.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
![1000HX](<p> The Test Bed- </p> <p align="center"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/reviews/motherboards/2008/x58blog/x58testbed.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="314" /> </p> <p> We are utilizing the Intel i7 920 processor in our limited testing today. We believe this processor will be the top selling i7 processor for the near term due to its reasonable cost and performance capability. Our memory is provided by Corsair and this particular kit will reach about DDR-3 1800 on 1.70V, thus providing reasonable overclocking headroom for our i7 920. We also have kits from Kingston, OCZ, Patriot, GSkill, and Mushkin that have all provided excellent results from 1066 up to 2000 speeds. We will take a look at all of the available DDR3 tri-channel kits in early December. </p> <p> Our video card choice is the Sapphire HD 4870 512MB edition for the time being. We originally had decided to test with the 4870X2 card but constant driver problems prevented us from effectively utilizing the card in our first benchmark results. The latest 8.11 drivers were a welcome relief but problems still exist in a few games with AA disabled. We will show CF results with this card and SLI capabilities with the GTX260 in our X58 mini-roundups. At this point, at least in motherboard testing, we prefer the NVIDIA GTX260/280 series on the X58 due to better driver support. </p> <p> We stored everything in the ABD Canyon 695 for these particular tests. This is case you have to physically use to appreciate it. We also have the Thermaltake Spedo in-house to handle our i7 965/Rampage II Extreme setup for an upcoming i7 guide. We might add that the Spedo is an excellent case for the money. For those of you who have spent most of your money on upgrading to the X58 platform but still need a case, the Antec Nine Hundred Series worked well for us during thermal testing. </p> <p> Cooling is provided via the Vigor Monsoon II with our CoolIT Systems Freezone Elite handling overclocking duties when we push our CPUs to the limit. The majority of cooling companies are offering LGA1366 upgrade kits for their most popular cooling devices with specific i7 coolers coming to market in the near future. Storage comes via the trustworthy Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB hard drive although imminent upgrades to the WD Black Edition 1TB drive is upon us. Power delivery is provided by the Corsair 1000HX. </p> <p> Quick Tests- </p> <p> <img src="https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/x58_111808165242/17820.png" border="0" width="550" height="350" alt="Far Cry 2 - Ranch Medium"></p> <p> <img src="https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/x58_111808165242/17821.png" border="0" width="550" height="350" alt="Company of Heroes"></p> <p> <img src="https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/x58_111808165242/17823.png" border="0" width="550" height="350" alt="PC Mark Vantage - Total Score"></p> <p> The results are typical of what we will see in the majority of applications and games, an X58 is an X58 for the most part. Instead, the differences between boards will be in overclocking, compatibility, features, and support. We will address these differences and more in the upcoming roundups. </p> ){kind=link}
21 Comments
View All Comments
Mr Roboto - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
I'm pretty sure all EVGA motherboards are reference designs so I wouldn't expect anything different in terms of performance from the other x58 reference chipsets.aleek2die - Friday, November 21, 2008 - link
Is this a possible configuration with the EVGA X58?2 GTX 280 in SLI 2 in furthest PCI-E slots
1 8400 GS in Third in PCI-E Slot in middle
1 X-Fi in PCI Slot in bewteen 2nd and 3rd PCI-E slots
If possible, would this not make for best hardware accelarated 2 Way SLI configuration with Dedicated PhysX (8400GS)?
marsbound2024 - Thursday, November 20, 2008 - link
Someone else talked about there seeming to be little difference in specs between this board and higher end boards. I am really curious why this board is at the $220 mark and others are around $300 or greater. Can anyone enlighten me on this? I am at a loss on which motherboard to purchase for an i7 setup. Though I may be waiting a month or two just to see where things settle.CEO Ballmer - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - link
X56 is better!http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Jedi2155 - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - link
I was debating moving to this the Core i7, from my eVGA 680i + E6600 @ 3.6 Ghz combo....mighty good and lasted me great for the past 2 years....but is it worth it?Nfarce - Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - link
"At this point, at least in motherboard testing, we prefer the NVIDIA GTX260/280 series on the X58 due to better driver support."For quite some time now that exact issue has kept me away from a Crossfire build. If Catalyst driver support still sucks when I build an i7 setup next spring, that trend will continue for me.
cyburzaki - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - link
AMD just released a Catalyst 8.11 hotfix for X58 platforms (although it's not encouraging that they've written "X85" for the chipset):http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?dep...">http://support.ati.com/ics/support/defa...mp;task=...
Gary Key - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - link
We received those drivers early this morning. I am running the benchmarks now for the fourth time in two weeks. I tried to stick it out during testing of the X58s and allowed AMD to respond to our problems, but enough is enough. ;) Although I continue to love the 4870 and 4870X2 cards, NV is just better on the X58 at this point, especially with the 180.48 drivers.However, maybe my opinion will change later today, but so far, still seeing micro-stuttering in Far Cry 2 and Crysis Warhead still crashes at 2560x1600 unless I back off on the DDR3 memory timings, which are fine on the 260s. We are trying a new image right now, just in case.
Lord 666 - Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - link
Wow, surprised on how low that is. My IN9-32max *supports* 32gig and most of the P45's support 16gig. Curious on why so low for a board that is supposed to pave the way for the next year or so.Maybe i7 really means iWait for me.
Gary Key - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - link
The MSI Eclipse officially supports 24GB, the six slot boards from ASUS, Gigabyte, EVGA, Biostar, and DFI should support 24GB in the future, they have not qualified the new 4GB modules yet.