Intel DX58SO Motherboard Review
Intel DX58SO Motherboard Review - Alright you're, looking at the Intel, DX58S0 And SO stands for Smack Over And smack over, is what this board does to other boards and other processors, because this supports the new Core i7 Intel Platform, Which is awesome. This is your first board that you're gon na see from me.
This is the first once I've seen Had some time to mess with it And it's pretty fun to play with Ha-ha. You don't have one. I got a couple, but this is my first. This one took me popped, my cherry, Very nice. Let'S talk about the DX58SO `` smack over'' board. Now you guys need an intro real, quick to Core i7, All new architecture.
It'S been the biggest jump since we went from Pentium 4 and Pentium D to Core 2 Duo and when we went from NetBurst Core 2 Duo huge increase of performance, It's the same thing going from Core 2 to this Huge performance gains Sometimes 20-25 % over the next closest fastest Intel processors, which are the very fast QX9770s Now there's 3 processors that fit in here so far.
There'S a lot more coming next year for now it's the 920, the 940 and the 965, which is the extreme 3.2 Ghz quad quarter, Which are now true, quad quarters. And if you don't know this about Core i7, yet the memory controller is built into the chip.
So there is no memory controller on the northbridge. As you will see, the board's layout looks a little bit different because of this Okay. The northbridge is not as prominent It's there, but it doesn't have a big memory controller in there. So you're not gon na really see that kinda stuff Also you're gon na notice. The socket is different.
This is LGA Socket 1366. This is the new socket, It has 1366 pins on there and it has a different layout, which I just kinda thought of. I might as well show you. Let me pop this open here. Show you what it looks like on the inside
Look at that, It's a different design and it looks cool So definitely a bigger socket for a bigger processor. Still 45 NM Will support all your Core i7's, Another thing you're gon na notice, these dims - These dims - are a little odd. Now, since that has that on board memory controller, you can only use 1 type of memory, and that is DDR3. We are moving into the future. Ladies and gentlemen, Thank the lord
Ddr3 triple channel, So if you didn't know that it's triple channel memory That increases the theoretical band width by over 50 % Instead of acting, you know accessing 2 chips at once reading and writing the 2 chips. It can read and write up to 3 chips at once: Again: 50 % increase over dual channel.
Which is again a 50 % increase over single channel. This does have you know 4 dims. If you put 1 here, it's gon na be single channel. The rest of these are gon na, be triple channel. You can put up to 16 GB, but most people are gon na be doing 2, 4 and 6 Or 1, 2 and 3, depending on your system.
Ddr3 triple channel, So if you didn't know that it's triple channel memory That increases the theoretical band width by over 50 % Instead of acting, you know accessing 2 chips at once reading and writing the 2 chips. It can read and write up to 3 chips at once: Again: 50 % increase over dual channel.
Which is again a 50 % increase over single channel. This does have you know 4 dims. If you put 1 here, it's gon na be single channel. The rest of these are gon na, be triple channel. You can put up to 16 GB, but most people are gon na be doing 2, 4 and 6 Or 1, 2 and 3, depending on your system.
If you're gon na go for X58 in Core i7 2,4,6 is gon na, be obviously the much better solution. Also I wan na, let you guys know that you have an unlocked, CPU memory multiplier on here. So all these dims need to be under 1.7 1.6 volts Okay,
You're not going to be putting your 2.0 volt very high speed DDR3 in here, It's gon na support 1066 and 1333 from Factory The 1333. Although it's not supported just yet from the Core i7s from Factory core i7s, it will take 1333 because again it has an unlocked memory, multiplier.
Pretty much it's a multiplier multiplying by 133, which is your base reference number. It doesn't really mean anything. There is no front side bus, It is using the QuickPath interface QPI, so it's a little bit different. Alright, let's continue looking at the tour The board up here. You'Ll notice, your 24-Pin power connector
That is where you are gon na hook up your 24 power connector. This is gon na, be where you are gon na hook up your 8-Pin pus 12 volt power, connector And you're gon na notice a couple weird things: You're gon na notice, this weird thing, which is a molex connector and you're gon na notice down here. Another weird thing:
Pretty much it's a multiplier multiplying by 133, which is your base reference number. It doesn't really mean anything. There is no front side bus, It is using the QuickPath interface QPI, so it's a little bit different. Alright, let's continue looking at the tour The board up here. You'Ll notice, your 24-Pin power connector
That is where you are gon na hook up your 24 power connector. This is gon na, be where you are gon na hook up your 8-Pin pus 12 volt power, connector And you're gon na notice a couple weird things: You're gon na notice, this weird thing, which is a molex connector and you're gon na notice down here. Another weird thing:
That's a SATA connector And you're gon na ask yourself what's going on here I mean this is just .This is ridiculous. This - and this are power connectors for your PCI Express slots And they're, not powering the video card, they're powering the actual slots.
You don't need both you need one or the other. Whenever you have a video card that takes over more than 70 watts, which is almost all the big ones, now all the big cards, any 8800 GT and up you're gon na have to plug in one or the other, whichever you prefer. I prefer SATA because it's down here and you can hide the cable easier
Now, let's talk about ports, Awesome, You have alright. This is a weird one. This is a new one right here. I don't know if you can see it very well'cuz. It'S black That is a PCI Express x4 slot. You can run dedicated video card on there for physics or you can run a separate card for the second monitor.
It'Ll only run at x4 speed. This is a PCI Express 2.0 x16, This is a PCI Express, 2.0 x16. You can do Crossfire Now, unlike the rest of the X58 boards. This one is straight from Intel Them and NVideo they're not getting along too well. So this board does not support SLI like the rest of the X58 boards, do or will.
But it does support Crossfire X, which is very important. You also have 2 PCI Express x1 slots here and here for your peripherals. You can add audio cards or whatever you want, And you also have this PCI 2.2 right. There.
Now, coming back over here to the top, these are your SATA headers, 1-2-3-4-5-6 6 SATA headers right there on the board And they do support rate 0 rate 1 rate. 0. 1. Raid 5. That'S all on there, so you pretty much have everything you wan na do And now is where I get to tell you something that I've been waiting to. Tell you for a very long time.
Now, let's talk about ports, Awesome, You have alright. This is a weird one. This is a new one right here. I don't know if you can see it very well'cuz. It'S black That is a PCI Express x4 slot. You can run dedicated video card on there for physics or you can run a separate card for the second monitor.
It'Ll only run at x4 speed. This is a PCI Express 2.0 x16, This is a PCI Express, 2.0 x16. You can do Crossfire Now, unlike the rest of the X58 boards. This one is straight from Intel Them and NVideo they're not getting along too well. So this board does not support SLI like the rest of the X58 boards, do or will.
But it does support Crossfire X, which is very important. You also have 2 PCI Express x1 slots here and here for your peripherals. You can add audio cards or whatever you want, And you also have this PCI 2.2 right. There.
Now, coming back over here to the top, these are your SATA headers, 1-2-3-4-5-6 6 SATA headers right there on the board And they do support rate 0 rate 1 rate. 0. 1. Raid 5. That'S all on there, so you pretty much have everything you wan na do And now is where I get to tell you something that I've been waiting to. Tell you for a very long time.
Can anybody point to me where the floppy disk drive and ID headers are? Do you see it Herald No -No Lance Intel DX58SO Motherboard Nope Because they don't exist, Thank God. Finally, after all this time, no IDE, no floppy and guess what No PS2s.
So we're in a bold new world here, ladies and gentlemen, where no man has gone before No PS2s, you have to use a USB keyboard and mouse. So if you're, still using your PS2 from 1999 you're gon na have to upgrade to a USB.
Usb in case you don't know, is this new technology. It'S called Universal Serial Bus and there's a 2.0 specification that works really good; Okay, I'm sorry for being sarcastic and cynical. I'M a jerk Check it out. Let'S start off from the top.
Cool stuff here: 2 eSATA ports - Amazing Great Over here 4 USB 2.0, ports and another 4 USB 2.0 ports - That's 8 in total there And guess what There's more on the inside.
You have another 4 on the inside, So now you're at 12, USB 2.0 ports, including headers. This is your Firewire Gigabit ethernet, and this is your awesome. Awesome awesome, onboard audio. It'S not like the rest of them.
It'S actually using the Realtek ALC889 Kodak and it's gon na have 5.1 analog or, if you wan na plug in an S/PDIF with a toss link. Cable it'll do 7.1 through there So that's really cool And over here that's pretty much nothingness.
And that's it, We went into nothingness. There is nothing left, You have seen it Sweet, sweet board. Again triple channel memory DDR3, so you're gon na need 3 dims of whatever you're gon na get They're gon na go in the blue slots, Black one you're, probably not gon na use it. I don't recommend it, But if you want to, you can add more memory. If you need to go higher.
It will support up to 16 GB up to 1333. You have the new socket. Lga 1366 supports the Core i7s, the 920, the 940, the 965 and whatever's gon na come in the future. I don't know You know who knows I can't read minds:
I can't read the Intel guy's mind. I don't know what he's thinking So a lot of great stuff on here. This is the DX58SO S-O stands for smack over
So we're in a bold new world here, ladies and gentlemen, where no man has gone before No PS2s, you have to use a USB keyboard and mouse. So if you're, still using your PS2 from 1999 you're gon na have to upgrade to a USB.
Usb in case you don't know, is this new technology. It'S called Universal Serial Bus and there's a 2.0 specification that works really good; Okay, I'm sorry for being sarcastic and cynical. I'M a jerk Check it out. Let'S start off from the top.
Cool stuff here: 2 eSATA ports - Amazing Great Over here 4 USB 2.0, ports and another 4 USB 2.0 ports - That's 8 in total there And guess what There's more on the inside.
You have another 4 on the inside, So now you're at 12, USB 2.0 ports, including headers. This is your Firewire Gigabit ethernet, and this is your awesome. Awesome awesome, onboard audio. It'S not like the rest of them.
It'S actually using the Realtek ALC889 Kodak and it's gon na have 5.1 analog or, if you wan na plug in an S/PDIF with a toss link. Cable it'll do 7.1 through there So that's really cool And over here that's pretty much nothingness.
And that's it, We went into nothingness. There is nothing left, You have seen it Sweet, sweet board. Again triple channel memory DDR3, so you're gon na need 3 dims of whatever you're gon na get They're gon na go in the blue slots, Black one you're, probably not gon na use it. I don't recommend it, But if you want to, you can add more memory. If you need to go higher.
It will support up to 16 GB up to 1333. You have the new socket. Lga 1366 supports the Core i7s, the 920, the 940, the 965 and whatever's gon na come in the future. I don't know You know who knows I can't read minds:
I can't read the Intel guy's mind. I don't know what he's thinking So a lot of great stuff on here. This is the DX58SO S-O stands for smack over
It'S got cool plating on the back. You will need to get a new socket 1366 cooler, even though the new Core i7s come with one in the box. You'Re also not gon na use, it'cuz you're gon na be overclocking, And you know what Before I let you go, I almost forgot to show you what comes in the box.
So let's jump right back into the review like if it was not about to end ,'cuz. I was about to end it. Because I forgot Check it out: SATA, cable, SATA, cable, SATA, cable, SATA, cable, Intel, disc, Ghost, Recon 2, which you'll be playing with your new uber fast computer. It'S gon na be like ridiculously stupidly, dumbly fast and good.
Looking Input/Output shield, pretty plain, Intel doesn't usually give you the crazy ones. This is a black card And that's pretty much it It's an advertisement for their X25 Extreme Solid State Drives Guys. Can you believe it.
X58 Solid State Drives Windows. 7 is coming out soon. Here'S a little fan for your chipset. You can pretty much bolt that on right there with this attached bracket, And this is a cool little tag for your chipset And it doesn't do much, but it makes your case look cool And it goes right there. There you go. Watch watch Coolness factor. 9.95, Coolness factor 11.95 Awesome, Very cool Little skull.
X58 Solid State Drives Windows. 7 is coming out soon. Here'S a little fan for your chipset. You can pretty much bolt that on right there with this attached bracket, And this is a cool little tag for your chipset And it doesn't do much, but it makes your case look cool And it goes right there. There you go. Watch watch Coolness factor. 9.95, Coolness factor 11.95 Awesome, Very cool Little skull.
Has tape on the back to secure it? And hang on, there's more Entry at Risk, Fraggers! Only Nubes! Beware! You will be poned And then a lot of like Intel propaganda, some stickers, This is the explanation for your pin-out front panel, connectors input/output. If you need help with that, This is where you come.
It'S got everything labeled very clearly Very nice, And it shows you what dims are, which Etcetera, Quick installation guide for the blind people because they made huge pictures Instead of having little pictures, they have really big ones. I mean, if you can't build it with this. You can't build it at all And a post card from FARCRY2 check that out.