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7 Intel Core i7 X58 Motherboards Tested and Compared

Motherboards/Intel S1366 by massman @ 2009-02-25

We put seven feature rich X58 motherboards for Intel´s latest Core i7 CPU to the test. Comparing performance, overclocking scaling in a multitude of applications and games. Which one comes out on top? Read on to find out!

Asus Rampage 2 Extreme - Pictures

ASUS, a technology-oriented company blessed with one of the world's top R&D teams, is well known for high-quality and innovative technology. As a leading provider of 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) total solutions, ASUS offers a complete product portfolio to compete in the new millennium. In 2006, the company shipped 55 million motherboards, which means one in three desktop PCs sold last year was powered by an ASUS motherboard. Our 2006 revenues reached US$16.5 billion, and is expected to garner US$23 billion in 2007. ASUS products' top quality stems from product development. It's like learning Chinese Kung-Fu; one must begin with cultivating the "Chi" and inner strength. Besides innovating cutting-edge features, ASUS engineers also pay special attention to EMI (electromagnetic interference), thermal, acoustics and details that usually go unnoticed to achieve complete customer satisfaction. ASUS notebooks are the first TCO'99-certified notebooks worldwide. The requirements for this honor include radiation emission control, energy (battery consumption), ecology (environment friendly) and ergonomics. To succeed in this ultra-competitive industry, great products need to be complimented by speed-to-market, cost and service. That's why all 100,000 over employees of ASUS strive for the "ASUS Way of Total Quality Management" to offer the best quality without compromising cost and time-to-market while providing maximum value to all customers through world-class services. With unyielding commitment to innovation and quality, ASUS won 2,168 awards in 2006, meaning on average, the company received over 5 awards everyday last year.

Previous reviews containing Asus motherboards:

Asus P6T-Deluxe X58 Nehalem Motherboard Presentation

P45 head-to-head: MSI P45 Platinum and Asus Maximus II Formula

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

Asus Blitz Formula S775 P35 Motherboard OC Review

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Intel nForce4 SLI Overclocking Review

Asus A8V revision 2.0: Exploring Max HTT Adventure

BOX AND ACCESSOIRES

(Click for bigger version)

The Rampage II Extreme is the successor of the extremely popular amongst overclockers Rampage Extreme, which is said to be the best LGA775 DDR3 overclocking motherboard available. Not only is this motherboard directed to the extreme overclocking market segment, the board is also part of the Republic of Gamers association of Asus, which means that this motherboard is built for gamers as well. How does that show? Well, the list of added features is enormous and the board looks quite aggressive with its one-piece cooling solution for mosfets, northbridge and southbridge.

Underneath a list of everything you find inside the package.

6 x SATA cable

2 x Thermal sensor cables

1 x ProbeIt Cable

1 x 3-Way SLI Cable

1 x SLI Cable

1 x ASUS Optional Fan

1 x SupremeFX X-Fi Audio Card

1 x External LCD Poster

1 x 3 in 1 ASUS Q-Connector Kit

1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable

1 x SATA power cables

1 x 2-port USB2.0 + IEEE 1394a module

1 x EL I/O Shield

1 x Cable Ties

1 x User's manual

1 x Support DVD

MOTHERBOARD

(Click for bigger version)

I am not joking when I tell you that this motherboard is in fact a possible murder weapon. Agreed, it doesn't really have the looks of it, but its size (bigger than ATX) and weight will certainly do damage to your opponent. However, don't use the board as a weapon, but, please, use it in your gaming/overclocking system: believe me, it's a lot more fun than jail. The six memory slots have been placed rather close to the socket, which might be a problem when installing a big air cooler in combination with memory that have a bigger heatsink than usual. On the right side of the motherboard, we find the Extreme OC section, which is an unique ROG feature which allows people to overclock their system on-the-fly, thus without using either the bios or software applications. Extreme overclockers use it, for instance, to tweak each section of the 3DMark benchmarks as some are more stressful than others. Included in the Extreme OC section are some plugs with which you can measure the voltage using your own digital multimeter, which is much more precise than either bios or software read-outs.

Underneath a list of all features:

6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

2 x LAN (RJ45) port

1 x PS/2 Keyboard port(purple)

1 x External SATA port

1 x IEEE1394a port

1 x Clr CMOS switch

3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 support at x16, x8, x8, or dual x16 speed

2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 ( the PCIEx1_1 (black) is compatible with audio slot)

1 x PCI 2.2

8 x ProbeIt connectors

8 x Fan connectors: 1 x CPU / 1 x PWR / 3 x Chassis / 3 x Optional

7 x SATA connectors

3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 5 USB 2.0 ports)

3 x USB connectors supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports

3 x Thermal sensor connector

1 x Floppy disk drive connector

1 x IDE connector

1 x IEEE 1394a connector

1 x Chassis Fan connector

1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector

1 x 24-pin ATX Power connector

1 x EL I/O Shield Connector

1 x En/Dis-able Clr CMOS connector

1 x System Panel

1 x LCD Poster connector

1 x BIOS FlashBack boot up selection header

1 x ROG light connector

1 x Front panel audio connector

Comment from Kougar @ 2009/02/26

I think this thread was meant to be in the Articles section?

Good review, nice to see almost all of the major boards together in one thorough review.

I like how the OC tests were split up and the specific areas focused upon.

I know it would have lengthened the time with testing/overclocking but I would have much preferred to see 5-10 minutes of IntelBurn for stability testing... SuperPi 4M or even 32M only proves the system won't BSOD at desktop randomly. As overclocking is one of my top factors in deciding which board to chose to buy, this is important to me as a future X58 buyer.

Testing all the boards with the same processor in a single review (after plenty of BIOS revisions have already been released) means this review is one of the best comparisons for showing which board overclocks the best... but SuperPi 4M means nothing in terms of stability so I can't really draw definitive conclusions from the OC tests.

The only other thing I could ask was maybe throwing some UD3 or UD4 and either vanilla or deluxe P6T results in to show how they compare with the flagship boards in the OC tests. Just wishing, anyway...

Comment from geoffrey @ 2009/02/26

Huge!!!

Comment from Massman @ 2009/02/26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

I know it would have lengthened the time with testing/overclocking but I would have much preferred to see 5-10 minutes of IntelBurn for stability testing... SuperPi 4M or even 32M only proves the system won't BSOD at desktop randomly. As overclocking is one of my top factors in deciding which board to chose to buy, this is important to me as a future X58 buyer.

Testing all the boards with the same processor in a single review (after plenty of BIOS revisions have already been released) means this review is one of the best comparisons for showing which board overclocks the best... but SuperPi 4M means nothing in terms of stability so I can't really draw definitive conclusions from the OC tests.

I can't disagree: 4M is not really a good estimate for 24/7 overclocks, but for me it was the better choice in terms of stability testing and available time. Testing one motherboard's overclocking capabilities took me 1 full day, and that's only if everything went alright. Take into account the troubleshooting and you're off for a long journey :-).

The conclusions you draw are not supposed to be conlcusive in terms of absolute overclocking capabilities, but should be comparison ONLY. The overclocking process is being affected by more than just the motherboard (as you know): for instance, the memory overclocking results can be slightly better or worse depending on the quality of your memory chips. That's what the comments under the graphs are for, btw :-).

Next time, I'm going to change some things, though. I now already know that the maximum CPU-Z BCLK frequency will be replaced by maximum boot BCLK frequency. Actual stability tests are not an issue, as long as I have the time to do propper testing; with 7 motherboards on the testbed, that was kinda impossible. In stand-alone reviews, it shouldn't be a problem, though

Comment from Kougar @ 2009/02/27

Quote:

The conclusions you draw are not supposed to be conlcusive in terms of absolute overclocking capabilities, but should be comparison ONLY.

I just think having done this much, it would be worth doing that extra bit more to make it a comprehensive OC article. For all intents and purposes, I think I can safely say most X58 users will be overclockers.

Even 5 minutes of IntelBurn is not much longer than SuperPi 4M, and more simple to use than 4x1 instances of SuperPi. If time is that critical, perhaps you could set arbitrary CPU, VTT, QPI (etc) voltages/BCLK settings and just see what boards pass or fail at given settings? Just a thought, not sure if it was a good one.

Quote:

The overclocking process is being affected by more than just the motherboard (as you know): for instance, the memory overclocking results can be slightly better or worse depending on the quality of your memory chips.

Yes, of course. But for your review you used the same kit of memory. Just as everything else except the motherboard was kept identical. Which is why your overclocking results have the potential to be the most useful to readers than any other single-board review. Same CPU, memory, tests, OS, and same date that takes into account revised BIOS's. This review is as close to apples-to-apples OC comparisons as one can get.

Quote:

In stand-alone reviews, it shouldn't be a problem, though

That is partly my point. In a stand alone review often memory/CPUs and other hardware gets changed, more time elapses so BIOS's get updated and further refined, general OC knowledge for a new platform is improved, etc. All of those make it less of a direct comparison if doing ~ 7 individual reviews verses 1 large roundup. I know "ideal" is very often different from "practical", but still it would be "ideal" to have.

Comment from jmke @ 2009/03/01

those prefab voltage read out points are just awesome for the overclockers and testers out there, too cool

Comment from Massman @ 2009/03/01

Foxconn Bloodrage has them too.

There's quite an interesting story to tell about who 'invented' those pre-fab voltage read-outs, by the way

Comment from jmke @ 2009/03/01

where are they located on this board? Can't spot them in the pics at first sight

Comment from Massman @ 2009/03/01

Next to the DIMM sockets. In the article, they're not visible (at least, not if you don't know where they are). I only noticed them when I prepared the board for this OC session :-)

Comment from jmke @ 2009/03/01

pics!

Comment from Massman @ 2009/03/01

Comment from jmke @ 2009/03/01

thanks

added to article. Not as fancy as the Asus board it seems.

Comment from Massman @ 2009/03/01

No, but it does the job

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