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X58 To The Max: Three New Flagship LGA 1366 Motherboards

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Supporting Intel’s highest-performance processors with twice the bandwidth of its mainstream counterpart, the X58 chipset proves the staying power of good ideas. We take a closer look at what makes the latest generation of premium motherboards special.

Power, Heat, And Efficiency

We manually set a 133 MHz base clock with all power-saving features enabled during both our benchmark and power consumption tests. MSI wins big here with power consumption numbers that are close to those we’ve seen on less-overclockable products.

MSI makes a lot of noise about its Icy Choke design, but this is the first time we’ve seen it produce noticeably lower voltage regulator temperatures. This alone could explain the XPower’s lower power consumption.

A quick comparison of the total performance for today’s three motherboards shows a difference of only 1.25%, even though the clock speed difference between the top and bottom boards was only around 0.4%

Dividing average performance by average power consumption could get ugly:

MSI leads by a huge margin, a fact that should excite efficiency fans, such as our own Patrick Schmid.

67 Comments Comment from the forums
  • one-shot 20 July 2010 13:07
    No EVGA SR-2? :(

    Ok, Hold on. Three Flagship LGA 1366 Boards and no overclocked power consumption results? These boards are obviously made for overclocking and those results would be very interesting to see.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc 20 July 2010 13:12
    A good 250$ X58 board is enough for most people.
    Reply
  • Lmeow 20 July 2010 13:17
    9498281 said:
    No EVGA SR-2? :(

    The EVGA Classified SR-2 is based on the Intel 5520 chipset and uses Xeons, so it's not an X58 board technically speaking which is why it doesn't qualify. ;)

    If I could spend that much on a motherboard I'd have chosen the Rampage III Extreme, not only does it have good features it also has the best colour scheme. ^^

    Does anyone know why I try to submit a comment it doesn't show up, and I have to use the forums instead to post a comment instead?
    Reply
  • lashabane 20 July 2010 13:41
    I want more.
    Reply
  • sudeshc 20 July 2010 13:44
    I am totally impressed by ASUS they always come up with best solution in every category, but the price is a killer for me :(
    Reply
  • rottingsheep 20 July 2010 14:12
    IMO, the only interesting part about motherboard reviews is the overclocking and power consumption portion.
    Reply
  • avatar_raq 20 July 2010 14:24
    Nice article..I have only catch: Of all the mobos tested, Quad SLI is not possible on the ASUS R3E, courtesy of nVIDIA's drivers
    http://www.guru3d.com/news/quad-sli-on-asus-rampage-iii-extreme-is-not-possible/
    Reply
  • dragonfang18 20 July 2010 14:28
    Whats the point when Intel will come out with new processors with different sockets next year?
    Reply
  • Crashman 20 July 2010 14:29
    avatar_raqNice article..I have only catch: Of all the mobos tested, Quad SLI is not possible on the ASUS R3E, courtesy of nVIDIA's drivershttp://www.guru3d.com/news/quad-sl -possible/Awesome, thanks. Manufacturers don't actually discuss this stuff.
    dragonfang18Whats the point when Intel will come out with new processors with different sockets next year?That's what people like you were saying months before LGA 1156 was released. We see which direction that went.
    Reply
  • dragonfang18 20 July 2010 14:54
    That's what people like you were saying months before LGA 1156 was released. We see which direction that went.

    Yeah... they are changing 1366 to some socket R... Well... At least I can look forward to these motherboards going down in price by next year when they go to Socket R's for performance than 1366's. I guess ill be happy with 1366's. Hopefully they go down by at least $100.
    Reply