Test Settings
Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
CPU | Intel Core i7 920 (2.66 GHz, 8.0 MB Cache) |
CPU Cooler | Swiftech Apogee GTZ Liquid Cooling |
RAM | Kingston KHX16000D3ULT1K3/6GX (6.0 GB) |
Graphics | XFX GeForce GTX 285 XXX Edition |
Hard Drive | Western Digital WD5000AAKS, 500 GB |
Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
Power | Coolermaster RS850-EMBA |
Software | |
OS | Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 |
Graphics | Nvidia Forceware 181.20 WHQL |
Chipset | Intel INF 9.1.0.1007 |
We left power-savings features and Turbo mode enabled for our Core i7 processor during benchmarks and power tests, since most users can benefit from these in daily use. We then disabled EIST and enhanced C-States during our overclocking tests to assure all motherboards would be stressed equally and continuously.
Kingston won our 6GB DDR3 overclocking shootout with memory that can actually clock farther than the memory controller of our Core i7 processors, making it the perfect choice for testing the overclocking stability of each motherboard. The company even sent a second set so we could test six-module stability in addition to our standard three-module test. For benchmarks, we set six of the seven motherboards to DDR3-1866 CAS 7-8-7-20 where possible: The Biostar TPower X58 would not boot at any DDR3-1866 settings, so we had to choose DDR3-1600 mode instead. Also, the MSI X58 Platinum SLI was unstable at a DDR3-1866 CAS 7 setting, so we had to use 8-8-7-20 timings with this motherboard sample.
Quick set-in time, excellent thermal characteristics, and no-mess/no-waste application make Zalman’s ZM-STG1 the perfect thermal compound for bench testing. The company sent enough for us to equip the entire U.S. hardware team with two bottles per tester.
Swiftech’s Apogee GTZ allows us to maintain low temperatures, even during our Core i7 overclocking tests. An MCP-655b pumps the warm liquid into Swiftech’s 3x120mm radiator.
Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
3D Games | |
Call of Duty: World at War | Patch 1.1, FRAPS/saved game |
Crysis | Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool |
Far Cry 2 | DirectX 10, Steam Version, in-game benchmark |
World in Conflict | Patch 1009, DirectX 10, timedemo |
Audio/Video Encoding | |
iTunes | Version: 7.7.0.43 |
Lame MP3 | Version: 3.98 Beta 3 (05-22-2007) |
TMPEG 4.5 | Version: 4.5.1.254 |
DivX 6.8.3 | Encoding mode: Insane Quality |
XviD 1.1.3 | Display encoding status = off |
Mainconcept Reference 1.5.1 | MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264), MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG2), Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 kbp/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS) |
Productivity | |
Autodesk 3ds Max 9 | Version: 9.0, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus 8 | Version: 8.0.134, Virus base: 270.4.5/1533, Benchmark: Scan 334 MB Folder of ZIP/RAR compressed files |
Winrar 3.80 | Version 3.70 BETA 8, WinZIP Commandline Version 2.3, Compression = Best, Dictionary = 4,096 KB, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
Winzip 11 | Version 11.2, Compression = Best, Benchmark: THG-Workload (139 MB) |
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.02, GPU and CPU scores |
PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.00, System, Memory, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks, Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646 |
SiSoftware Sandra XII SP2 | Version 2008.5.14.24, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Multimedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
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hey guys good info - its 4am i should not be posting with one eye closed to see the screen!
Warpedsystems has tested a least half of these, my Evga failed out of the box, i would normally let that slide but with all the 680i and 780i issues and failures over the years - beware. So i can not speak of the evga - i will say the 780i FTW is kick butt mobo!
Asus is asus and 90% or so of my stuff i ship, i switched to the new P6t from the deluxe and have had some issues - i am sitll working on the P6T tonight as i type. Opps- my jr tech set the blk to 180 and over clocked the QPI to max - i think he smoked the mobo ran amd cpu = its first in 5 years if so?
Some did not make it? no gigabyte? gigabyte is really pushing on asus for number one - really! Ya, all the evga fans are what? I can say how many evga mobos break and fail: pci-e slot fail, pressure around the cpu mounting failure, lock ups - evga lock ups are just accepted as part of life! We all know that evga error code!
I have to say the gigabyte and the higher end asus deluxe version sure seem a lot more reliable for 4ghz systems - again - we only took 1 evga and it locked up and i said "that is it the last time" - the FTW 780i gives me faith evga will come around on x58.
what ever you do - do not oc the blk and QPI - poof!
nice stuff THG!
hey guys good info - its 4am i should not be posting with one eye closed to see the screen!Warpedsystems has tested a least half of these, my Evga failed out of the box, i would normally let that slide but with all the 680i and 780i issues and failures over the years - beware. So i can not speak of the evga - i will say the 780i FTW is kick butt mobo!Asus is asus and 90% or so of my stuff i ship, i switched to the new P6t from the deluxe and have had some issues - i am sitll working on the P6T tonight as i type. Opps- my jr tech set the blk to 180 and over clocked the QPI to max - i think he smoked the mobo ran amd cpu = its first in 5 years if so?Some did not make it? no gigabyte? gigabyte is really pushing on asus for number one - really! Ya, all the evga fans are what? I can say how many evga mobos break and fail: pci-e slot fail, pressure around the cpu mounting failure, lock ups - evga lock ups are just accepted as part of life! We all know that evga error code!I have to say the gigabyte and the higher end asus deluxe version sure seem a lot more reliable for 4ghz systems - again - we only took 1 evga and it locked up and i said "that is it the last time" - the FTW 780i gives me faith evga will come around on x58.what ever you do - do not oc the blk and QPI - poof!nice stuff THG!
One of the companies forgot to send a board and didn't respond in time to the reminder...see the introduction of the article. What makes you think that company wasn't Gigabyte?
Which ASUS board was actually tested - the plain "P6T" or "P6T SE?" There are subtle differences, like JMB322 in P6T but not in P6T SE. Also, some difference in e.g. back panel IO and advertised overclocking capabilities.
Judging from the feature list, the board was plain P6T, but all pictures seem to be of P6T SE.
Which ASUS board was actually tested - the plain "P6T" or "P6T SE?" There are subtle differences, like JMB322 in P6T but not in P6T SE. Also, some difference in e.g. back panel IO and advertised overclocking capabilities.Judging from the feature list, the board was plain P6T, but all pictures seem to be of P6T SE.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/7/3/1 [...] 6t_kit.jpg
Sadly, none of the good mobos in this review are sub 300$ in Canada.. what a damn ripoff.
Could you expound on "Catastrophic Failure?" I'd be interested to know what all went wrong in the fray. I've been using an ASRock Mobo recently, and noticed it full-out sucked at Overclocking when compared to my MSI board, so I'd like to know what exactly caused the thing to bomb out.
No Gigabyte.
Sorry, but you can't make a good review without including one of the top manufacturers of X58 motherboards.
No Gigabyte.
Sorry, but you can't make a good review without including one of the top manufacturers of X58 motherboards.
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R and MSI X58 Pro are the cheapest X58 motherboards out there at the moment. (~250$ CAD - NCIX) Could you guys give me your input on those two particuliar boards?
I am not the extreme overclocking kinda guy. In fact, I still am running on default settings on my Core 2 Duo E6750. I don't plan to overclock over 3,2Ghz on my new 920, if I ever do overclock.
Neither boards support SLI, but I'd be interrested in a dual Radeon 4870 1GB Crossfire config.
Thanks in advance
i was just wondering if the "more on this topic" could be omitted in future articles, i like to skip to the conclusion in the mornings and its annoying to hit more on this topic and get a little window than to go to the conclusion
where is my GIGABYTE 1366 EX58-UD4P? supports crossfire and it's cheap
No Gigabyte. Sorry, but you can't make a good review without including one of the top manufacturers of X58 motherboards.
Tell that to Gigabyte.
No Gigabyte. Sorry, but you can't make a good review without including one of the top manufacturers of X58 motherboards.
No salavat23. Sorry but you can't make a good reader without reading the introduction.
What happens when 4 PCIe x16 slots share two sets of x16 lanes? I mean, if I plug an x1 card into a secondary slot, is it going to reduce my graphics card in the primary slot down to x8 lanes? So in other words, if I have two GPUs in the two primary slots, and I want to plug in a x1 PCIe TV Tuner, its going to reduce one of the GPUs down to x8? Seems to me they should have made one of those PCI slots a x1 PCIe.
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R and MSI X58 Pro are the cheapest X58 motherboards out there at the moment. (~250$ CAD - NCIX) Could you guys give me your input on those two particuliar boards?I am not the extreme overclocking kinda guy. In fact, I still am running on default settings on my Core 2 Duo E6750. I don't plan to overclock over 3,2Ghz on my new 920, if I ever do overclock.Neither boards support SLI, but I'd be interrested in a dual Radeon 4870 1GB Crossfire config.Thanks in advance
I have the P6T and love it. 3.8 GHz using DDR3 1333 RAM. All I need to do is change these settings:
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
CPU Ratio: Auto
Intel Speed Step: Disable
Bclk: 190
DRAM: DDR3- 1523
DRAM: Bus 1.66
That's all that you need to do to get 3.8 GHz out of it. Works like a charm.
Could you expound on "Catastrophic Failure?" I'd be interested to know what all went wrong in the fray. I've been using an ASRock Mobo recently, and noticed it full-out sucked at Overclocking when compared to my MSI board, so I'd like to know what exactly caused the thing to bomb out.
Agreed. While manufacturers not meeting the deadline is somewhat annoying, I'd really like to know which brand, and especially which motherboard model had the spectacular failure. I'm about to buy components for a Core i7 build, and knowing which one had issues would add some piece of mind to the decision.
Tom's guys, can you help us readers out on on this?
I find it very interesting that review after review on just about every other site are GLEAMING about the Asrock X58. Everyone has been pleasantly surprised by the fact a budget board maker could make one of the top overclockers on their tests. This was a consistent theme it seemed.
I'm curious what's the difference between their reviews and the ones here?
I'm hoping Toms just got a bad batch of boards because mine is waiting at home for it's new case to arrive.
As for the reviews here you go..
http://www.motherboards.org/review [...] 61_16.html
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/inde [...] 43&page=11
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1 [...] index.html
I guess my concern is who is right??
I find it very interesting that review after review on just about every other site are GLEAMING about the Asrock X58. Everyone has been pleasantly surprised by the fact a budget board maker could make one of the top overclockers on their tests. This was a consistent theme it seemed.I'm curious what's the difference between their reviews and the ones here?
From my discussions with Thomas, it seemed that this board was solid until you started overclocking it, after which we had two different boards burn up. Thomas can clarify, though.