X58 In 2010: Four LGA 1366 Boards With USB 3.0 And SATA 6Gb/s

[Crashman]

The March 2010 launch of Intel's hexa-core Core i7-980X gave us a good reason to revisit the LGA 1366 interface. Today, we're looking at four new X58 Express-based motherboards that tie USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s support in to Intel's flagship platform.

X58 In 2010: Four LGA 1366 Boards With USB 3.0 And SATA 6Gb/s : Read more

 

[Tindytim]

First Intel punishes me by not releasing a proper 32nm 920 replacement for the 1366, and then Tom's publishes this article only days after I purchase components for yet another 1366 build.

I must be a BYOPC masochist.

 

[Stardude82]

Nice to see that mobo makers aren't charging too much of a premium for USB 3.0 and SATA-6. On the other hand, what an embarrassing for ASRock just as I thought they were getting out the shadow of ASUS.

I would have liked to see those new ports put to use on these boards...

 

[omoronovo]

I very recently decided to take the plunge in an i7-based build, and I chose the UD3R for it. I couldn't be happier - this little monster pushes my i7 to 4ghz stable on stock vcore.

One thing I haven't seen anywhere though, but would like to, is the overclocking variance added through differing ram capacities. Even though I reached 4ghz on stock vcore, I had to push my QPI to 1.35 to keep the system stable with 6 modules installed. With 4 modules, this was reduced to 1.28, and with 3 it was around 1.24 and with only 2 I could run the QPI volts at 1.2.

Perhaps an idea for an in-depth article at some point in the future Toms?

 

[liquidsnake718]

Thank you TS. I think you may have built and benched my new computer. I see you still chose the 920 over the 930. Even before reading this article, I had my eyes on the UD3R because of the price and the decent features, save the sound card. However because of this article, I am going to reserve this mb and start building a newbie!

The next step would be to see how these boards stack up using 6 cores and letting people know what power with 6 cores means using a 1 & a half year old motherboard. Although knowing that 6 cores, USB3.0 and SATA 6.0gb are a long way from being standard, it is by no means premature to have this board as one knows that they will be paying and buying for the long haul! The smartest ones do, and seeing as you guys chose the best parts for the price in terms of quality/performance, the UD3 is a perfect fit for a 5850 or maybe 2!

You should send this article to someone at Intel and maybe they will want to soon follow the way of USB3.0 for their vanilla board! I guess these builds are the new standard for high end or borderline excellent.

 

[anders_w]

An error/typo in the table page 2?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/x58-usb-3.0-sata-6-gbps,2614-2.html
The table claims Asus P6X58D-E have Chipset S-ata 6 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s
Should probably be 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s...

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]anders_w[/nom]An error/typo in the table page 2?http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 614-2.htmlThe table claims Asus P6X58D-E have Chipset S-ata 6 x SATA 6.0 Gb/sShould probably be 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s...[/citation]

Thanks.

 

[C 64]

At first quick look at the picture I almost fell from my chair... a quad processor MB, but then I realized Tom had problems squeezing the MBs in the pic.

 

[wa1]

nice...

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]zipzoomflyhigh[/nom]Another X58 reviews. Just what we all wanted. NOT.[/citation]
Yeh, X58 is obviously exceeds your needs but there hasn't been much news on the Via Apollo Pro front.

 

[abhishekk89]

i'd been planning on a p55 chipset + i5 750... now i'm thinking of i7 930 + gigabyte ud3r

 

[vvhocare5]

why oh why would anyone buy Asrock???

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]vvhocare5[/nom]why oh why would anyone buy Asrock???[/citation]
same reason people buy asus .... ignorance

 

[ta152h]

[citation][nom]vvhocare5[/nom]why oh why would anyone buy Asrock???[/citation]

Obviously, this board doesn't have intended performance. So, as is, probably very few would, but, once fixed, it's got a very good chance of being successful. Price is a very important consideration, and when you have USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s to go with it, it's got all the "headline" stuff at a low price.

Keep in mind that motherboards are also sold to OEMs, who can make more of these features on their specific models.

Put another way, assuming they will fix this motherboard (which is a very safe assumption, I think), would you rather have someone waste money on brain-damaged P55 motherboard, or spend the $200 on an x58 and still get USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s ? If you only need a basic machine, the 32nm LGA1156 processors are fine, but for a serious machine, x58 does have a lot of advantages and far fewer compromises.

 

[Sihastru]

AsRock is one of the manufacturers that is best to be avoided, anyway, the article is interesting at least in comparing the UD3R with the UD7, and while there is a price difference, there isn't really any performance difference. UD3R should also allow for OK overclocks, even if not quite on par with UD7... The small lead the Asus board has is because of it's almost 1MHz bus speed advantage.

 

[gwolfman]

Why didn't you test USB3.0 performance? USB3.0 can be (and probably is) implemented differently on each of the boards.

 

[Guest]

Any specific reason the ASUS rampage III extreme wasnt included in this article?

 

[zyzeast]

I bought the UD3R when it first came out after doing a ton of research between it and an Asus board. I've had absolutely no regret since buying it. The board is packed with features and all the things it's missing from its bigger brother are features I don't need anyway. Glad to know that I made the right choice.

 

[Guest]

hahaha a friend of mine who i helped build his pc got the asus mobo for $180 a week ago cuz of coupon code and discount... so gigabyte can su** it lol

 

[Talon]

I think the Asrock may be the one to get reading other reviews. I have read no less than 3 other Asrock Extreme 3 reviews prior to this one and none of the other sites saw any noticable difference in performance like is seen here. Is it possible there is a more recent BIOS than was used in this review?

Anyway, every other site has raved about the Asrock board especially factoring in cost with no mention at all of any performance hit. It's possible it is just the sample Tom's received?

Anyway, now that I see this I will hold off on purchasing and give it a few more days to see if anything comes of this issue followup.However I tend to think something was amiss with this one instance of motherboard since everything else I've read has been "glowing".

 

[steiner666]

i'm liking that Asus one, think i'll get that.

 

[CaptainBib]

All of the gigabyte boards (UD3r, UD5, UD7) are solid, the UD7 is more board than most people will need, but the UD3R is the best sub $300 mobo around.

Almost makes me sad I went with the UD5

 

[Guest]

This confirms what I thought when I was decided what to buy 3 weeks ago. I decided to go with Asus because I'm more familiar w it's BIOS settings and since it was the 'latest' i figured it's probably a safe bet. Having said that, for those friends that wanted to squeeze every penny from the budget, I suggested the UD3R. Seems like those two will continue to be my recommendation for now. Until x68 late next year I guess. ; )

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]gwolfman[/nom]Why didn't you test USB3.0 performance? USB3.0 can be (and probably is) implemented differently on each of the boards.[/citation]
It's implemented the same way, all three boards use one of the four "left over" PCIe 2.0 lanes to power the same NEC controller. So the test isn't necessary in theory, but what might practice reveal?

Unfortunately, there's no USB 3.0 drive that's fast enough to find out. Furthermore, the C300 drive and adapter this editor used last time is suffering the slowdown bug already, likely due to poorly implemented TRIM, and Crucial hasn't provided the firmware update to fix it yet.
[citation][nom]defectoreq[/nom]Any specific reason the ASUS rampage III extreme wasnt included in this article?[/citation]
Asus specifically chose NOT to send it and would not discuss the reason. Shortly after that it disappeared from the Asus website. I see now that it's back, but I think there must have been a problem with the board.
[citation][nom]prdtr101[/nom]hahaha a friend of mine who i helped build his pc got the asus mobo for $180 a week ago cuz of coupon code and discount... so gigabyte can su** it lol[/citation]No, your friend did not get this particular motherboard model at that price. Perhaps he got a P6T SE.
[citation][nom]Talon[/nom]Is it possible there is a more recent BIOS than was used in this review? Anyway, every other site has raved about the Asrock board especially factoring in cost with no mention at all of any performance hit. It's possible it is just the sample Tom's received?.[/citation]Completely possible, and that's why ASRock is sending a second sample.

 

[dark_lord69]

With no space between the pictures of the motherboards at first glance I thought it was like a super computer motherboard. Then I click on the article and now it's obvious that it's 4 motherboards with no gaps in the pictures.