EVGA 132-BL-E758-TR x58 SLI Mainboard with Intel LGA 1366 chipset Review

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(More customer reviews)Just finished building this out with an i7 920, and am really pleased so far. It's going to be a monster gaming machine, and runs Ubuntu (64 bit) with no issues. On-board RAID card is nice, though you'll want to ditch the stock CPU cooler if you plan on doing any overclocking.
A few things to be aware of:
- There are some issues with component layout. Right under that big heat sink near the chip is where they decided to place both CPU fan and board power sockets. It's a really bad place, as it's hard to get to and places cables near a component known to get hot.
- The audio plug is between the two PCIe slots, which will be a cable routing challenge if you're doing SLI with monster video cards.
- Not a big fan of how they did the 9 SATA ports (10 really, if you count the eSata port on the backplane). Sata 0-5 are run off the Intel southbridge, and SATA 6-7 and 8-9 are run off separate chipsests. SATA 7 is a port in the middle of the board, designed to drive a port on the front of the case. Anyway, you can only RAID each of the chipsets, meaning any big array you build will need to run off 0-5. There are also pauses during start for each chipset, which is annoying.
- A minor annoyance, but this board takes a while to POST (~20s).
Some things I really like:
- There are power, reset, and CMOS reset switches on the board, so you don't need to make case hookups while you debug stuff.
- There a 2-digit LED on the board, which shows error codes for anything wrong during POST, then turns into a CPU temperature monitor.
- Overclocker's dream. Control over all multipliers voltages needed to take your chip well past 4GHz.
My rig:
This board, with i7 920 (modest overclock to 3.5GHz)
Zalman CNPS9900LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler, with Arctic Silver 5
CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
GIGABYTE GV-N275UD-896I GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Video
3 x Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
(2 running in RAID1, the spare running as a scratch).
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Very nice!

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The nForce x58 SLI Motherboard from EVGA is designed for the win. With VDroop control for maximum stability while overclocking, 100% solid state capacitors, Onboard Clear CMOS, Onboard power and reset buttons, E-LEET tuning ability, and onboard Debug LED's for current temperature reading, your system will be able to handle the latest games, high definition digital video, and Windows Vista with aplomb. The features of the 132-BL-E758-TR include support for Intel Core I7 processors, Triple Channel DDR3 up to 1600MHz, Enthusiast Layout supporting 2-way SLI, 3-way SLI, and Crossfire X, 10 SATA II 3 GB ports with 1 e-SATA, 2 GB ethernet ports, 8 channel audio, support for up to 12 USB 2.0 ports, and 2 1394 slots.Built for Microsoft Vista with Intel LGA1366 chipset and innovative chipset fan with sideways exhaust. Product comes with a 1 year warranty and a second year free if registered at www.evga.com within 30 days of purchase.

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ASUS LGA 1366 Intel X58 Republic of Gamers ATX Motherboard Rampage III Formula Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this motherboard to overclock my new Intel Core i7-950 processor. It does exactly that. Without any problems I can overclock it from 3.07GHz to 4.4GHz on air. I run it at 4GHz on a daily basis to keep the temps in an acceptable range, also have Intel Speedstep enabled to reduce power consumption and component stress during idle times. I got a Noctua CPU cooler installed.
The mobo has so many options to play around with and the Windows monitoring software is really great. You can tweak all settings to perfection.
I tested the mobo in triple SLI setup with 3 x GTX 470. It runs great and scales very well. However due to thermal considerations I am using it permanently in dual SLI setup with 2 x MSI GTX 470 Twin Frozr II. This keeps the temps in an acceptable range and the Twin Frozr cooling fans are keeping quiet. Together with the CPU the graphics cards have no problem running MoH and CoD Black Ops at 120 FPS with all graphic settings maxed out (32AF for example). There is still overhead for more FPS as both CPU and Graphics card don't hit 100%.
Reason to get 120 FPS in games is nVidia 3D vision. I have bought an Alienware 3d Vision ready display and the 3D Vision set from nVidia with the shutter glasses. Stereoscopic 3D is awesome. I can play games, watch movies and photos in 3D now. CoD Black Ops looks great in 3D and my systems achieves 60 FPS left/right shutter (= 120FPS total) on the 120Hz 23" LCD display.
I also tested 3D Vision Surround on three monitors in none stereoscopic 3D. That runs well in a couple of games.
Apps run blazing fast. Office 2010 apps start in less than one second.
I am using 2 x SSD drives for Windows and applications on the two Marvel SATA III ports which support AHCI. After reading through newsgroups I decided to not install the Marvel drivers in Windows but use the Microsoft drivers. My system is really quite and ultra fast with 0.1 milliseconds access time and read speeds up to 250MB/sec. When running a benchmark test one SSD achieved an access time of 0.0934 milliseconds. Wow! Compare that to a regular HDD.
The integrated JMicron eSata controller works very well and guaranties high speed access. Much better than USB 2. I have two external eSata disks which I use as backup disks. The transfer rates are excellent.
This is the best and fastest system I ever had and I would recommend this to anyone as first choice.
Only thing I have to complain about is that I did not manage to get some manufacturer recommended memory to run at stock 2000MHz using XMP or manual settings, even none overclocked at CPU stock speed. Maximum speed achieved was 1600MHz. So I returned the 2000MHz RAM and got DDR3-1600 memory with the fastest timing available (6-8-6-20) instead which runs fine even while fully over-clocked.
I read somewhere that the next Intel generation CPU will run on socket 1366 (this mobo). So, upgrades will be probably affordable without replacing the entire system.

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ASUS Rampage III Formula is an R.O.G. motherboard that delivers maximum performance for hardcore gamers and PC enthusiasts. Featuring the Intel X58 chipset and supporting DDR3 triple-channel memory architecture, the Rampage III Formula offers tremendous memory bandwidth at speeds up to 2200MHz. For maximum tuning capability, ASUS' ROG Connect allows users to overclock on-the-fly at a purely hardware level. GameFirst prioritizes gaming network traffic to help you dominate your opponents. Be immersed in the game with true-to-life THX TruStudio Pro and EAX 5.0 in-game surround sound effects provided by an onboard SupremeFX X-Fi 2. Improve CPU utilization with the premium Intel Ethernet Gigabit LAN for high performance gigabit network connectivity with unbeatable network data transfer performance and stability during gaming. Extreme Engine Digi+ combines powerful analog and digital design elements to create the optimum power solution. Dual BIOS chips provide flexibility and easy backup. Furthermore, switching between the two BIOS can be done via BIOS or the onboard switch.

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Intel Core i7-2600K Processor with 8 MB Cache, 3.40 GHz for Socket LGA1155 - Unlocked Boxed Review

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(More customer reviews)During my most recent build I upgraded from a Q6600 -- which was a good chip back in its day. This chip SCREAMS, however.
I have it overclocked to 4.5 Ghz on ASUS P8P67 PRO motherboard with 8 gigs of G Skill ripjaws ram using the Asus AI Suite. Windows Experience Index gives this a score of 7.8 in my system. Passmark Software CPU Benchmark (google them) ranks this processor the 7th best performing CPU, in the following order (it was Number 3 when I bought it):
Intel Core i7 990X @ 3.47GHzcpu mark: 10,917 NA
Intel Core i7 995X @ 3.60GHzcpu mark: 10,795 NA
Intel Core i7 980X @ 3.33GHzcpu mark: 10,482 $999.99*
Intel Core i7 970 @ 3.20GHzcpu mark: 9,925 $899.99**
Intel Xeon X5680 @ 3.33GHzcpu mark: 9,721 $1,676.49*
Intel Xeon W3680 @ 3.33GHzcpu mark: 9,655 $1,127.12*
Intel Xeon X5675 @ 3.07GHzcpu mark: 9,326 NA
Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.40GHzcpu mark: 9,291 $329.99**
Note that three of the CPU's that have better performance scores are NOT commercially available at the current time, and the remaining three processors are three to five times the price of this one. The closest desktop AMD processor is the AMD Phenom II X6 1100T, which has cpu mark scores only in the 6000 range. Passmark also has a price-to-performance chart that rates your best bang for the buck, though many of the highest scoring processors on that chart are simply much slower and much cheaper.
I am very happy with this: it overclocks extremely well and stays very cool. It runs all my programs with blazing speed, including BFBC2 with all settings on high. At 4.5 Ghz and full load, it doesn't go over 38 degrees Celsius.
Get it at this price while they're still available. Highly recommended.

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Unlock Your Full Potential: Unlocked 2nd gen Intel Core processors enable system tuning, providing extra performance and flexibility for more complex multimedia applications and immersive gaming. The Intel Core i7 processor is the top of the line, offering both Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and 8-way multitasking with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology. This quad-core processor with built-in visuals, complimented by 8 MB L3 cache, provides incredible performance. The 2nd gen Intel Core processor family delivers a visibly smarter PC experience. Improved performance, greater adaptability, and unique visual features combine for a better computing experience you can see. Whether you use the PC to be creative, play games, or for everyday tasks such as homework, these new processors make it easier for you to design, render, edit, play, and share. The 2nd gen Intel Core processors feature Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, delivering a burst of processor speed automatically when the workload demands additional performance and Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, allowing each processor core to work on two tasks at the same time, improving multitasking, speeding up the workflow, and getting more done in less time.

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