Features Comparison
| X58 Motherboard Features |
|---|
| Asus Rampage III Extreme | Gigabyte X58A-UD9 | MSI Big Bang XPower |
|---|
| PCB Revision | 1.00GT | 1.0 | 1.0 |
|---|
| Chipset | Intel X58 Express | Intel X58 Express | Intel X58 Express |
|---|
| Voltage Regulator | 8 Phases | 24 Phases | 16 Phases |
|---|
| BIOS | 0602 (05/18/2010) | F3 (05/28/2010) | V1.2 (06/09/2010) |
|---|
| 133.3 MHz BCLK | 133.4 MHz (+0.05%) | 132.9 MHz (-0.32%) | 133.2 MHz (-0.1%) |
|---|
| Clock Generator | ICS 9LPRS918JKLF | ICS 9LPRS914EKLF | ICS 9LPRS134BKLF |
|---|
| Internal Interfaces |
|---|
| PCIe x16 | 32 lanes to 4 slots (x16/x0/x16/x0, x8/x8/x8/x8) | 64 lanes to 7 slots (x16/x0/x16/x0/x16/x0/x16, x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x16) | 32 lanes to 6 slots (x16/x0/x0/x16/x0/x0, x8/x0/x8/x8/x8/x0, x8/x4/x4/x8/x4/x4) |
|---|
| PCIe x1/x4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 1/0 |
|---|
| Legacy PCI | 1 | None | None |
|---|
| USB 2.0 | 1 (2 ports) | 3 (6 ports) | 2 (4 ports) |
|---|
| IEEE-1394 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|---|
| Serial Port | | None | None |
|---|
| Parallel Port | None | None | None |
|---|
| Floppy | None | Yes | None |
|---|
| Ultra-ATA 133 | None | Yes | None |
|---|
| SATA 3.0 Gb/s | 7 | 8 | 6 |
|---|
| SATA 6.0 Gb/s | 2 | 2 | 2 |
|---|
| 4-Pin Fan | 8 | 2 | 1 |
|---|
| 3-Pin Fan | 0 | 4 | 3 |
|---|
| FP-Audio | Yes | Yes | On Riser Card |
|---|
| CD-Audio | Yes | Yes | On Riser Card |
|---|
| S/PDIF I/O | Output Only | Both | Output Only |
|---|
| Power Button | Yes | Yes | Touch Sensor |
|---|
| Reset Button | Yes | Yes | Touch Sensor |
|---|
| CLR_CMOS Button | Yes | No | Jumper Only |
|---|
| Diagnostics Panel | Pass/Fail LEDs | Numeric | Pass/Fail LEDs |
|---|
| I/O Panel Connectors |
|---|
| P/S 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
|---|
| USB 2.0 | 6 | 6 (2 shared w/eSATA) | 6 (1 shared w/eSATA) |
|---|
| USB 3.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
|---|
| IEEE-1394 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
|---|
| Network | Single | Dual | Dual |
|---|
| eSATA | 1 | 2 (Shared with USB) | 2 (1 Shared w/USB) |
|---|
| CLR_CMOS Button | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Digital Audio Out | Optical | Optical + Coaxial | Optical + Coaxial |
|---|
| Digital Audio In | None | None | None |
|---|
| Analog Audio | 6 | 6 | 6 |
|---|
| Mass Storage Controllers |
|---|
| Chipset SATA | 6 x SATA 3Gb/s | 6 x SATA 3Gb/s | 6 x SATA 3Gb/s |
|---|
| Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 | 0, 1, 5, 10 |
|---|
| Add-In SATA | Marvell 9128 PCIe 2 x SATA 6 Gb/sJMB363 PCIe 1 x SATA 3 Gb/s 1 x eSATA 3 Gb/s | Marvell 9128 PCIe 2 x SATA 6 Gb/sJMB363 PCIe 2 x SATA 3 Gb/sJMB362 PCIe 2 x eSATA 3 Gb/s | Marvell 9128 PCIe 2 x SATA 6 Gb/sJMB362 PCIe 2 x eSATA 3 Gb/s |
|---|
| Add-In Ultra ATA | JMB363 PCIe | JMB363 PCIe | None |
|---|
| USB 3.0 | NEC D720200F1 | NEC D720200F1 | NEC D720200F1 |
|---|
| IEEE-1394 | VT6308P PCI 2 x 400 Mb/s | TSB43AB23 PCI 3 x 400 Mb/s | VT6315N PCIe 2 x 400 Mb/s |
|---|
| Gigabit Ethernet |
|---|
| Primary LAN | Intel WG82567V PHY | RTL8111E PCIe | RTL8111DL PCIe |
|---|
| Secondary LAN | None | RTL8111E PCIe | RTL8111DL PCIe |
|---|
| Audio |
|---|
| HD Audio Codec | ALC889 | ALC889 | ALC889 |
|---|
| DDL/DTS Connect | Unspecified | Dolby Digital Live | Unspecified |
|---|
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
