EVGA X58 SLI - First Look

The Test Bed-

We are utilizing the Intel i7 920 processor in our limited testing today. We believe this processor will be the top selling i7 processor for the near term due to its reasonable cost and performance capability. Our 6GB memory kit is provided by Corsair and this particular kit will reach about DDR-3 1800 on 1.70V, thus providing reasonable overclocking headroom for our i7 920. We have several different kits from Kingston, OCZ, Patriot, GSkill, and Mushkin that have all provided excellent results from 1066 up to 2000 speeds depending on the kit. We will take a look at all of the available DDR3 tri-channel kits in early December.

Our video card choice is the Sapphire HD 4870 512MB edition. We originally had decided to test with the Sapphire 4870X2 card but constant driver problems prevented us from effectively utilizing the card in our first benchmark results. The latest 8.11 drivers were a welcome relief but problems still exist in a few games with AA disabled. We will show CF results with the 4870 and SLI capabilities with the GTX260 in our X58 mini-roundups. At this point, at least in motherboard testing, we prefer the NVIDIA GTX260/280 series on the X58 due to better driver support.

We stored everything in the ABS Canyon 695 for these particular tests. This is case you have to see and touch in person to really appreciate it. We also have the Thermaltake Spedo in-house to handle our i7 965/Rampage II Extreme setup for an upcoming i7 OC guide. We might add that the Spedo is an excellent case for the money. For those of you who have spent most of your money on upgrading to the X58 platform but still need a case on a budget, the Antec Nine Hundred Series worked very well for us during thermal testing.  If you already have a case like the Cooler Master 830 Stacker or Cosmos 1000, then you are set.

Cooling is provided via the Vigor Monsoon II with our CoolIT Systems Freezone Elite handling overclocking duties when we push our CPUs to the limit. The majority of cooling companies are offering LGA1366 upgrade kits for their most popular cooling devices with specific i7 coolers coming to market in the near future. Storage comes via the trustworthy Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB hard drive although an imminent upgrade to the WD Black Edition 1TB drive is upon us. Power delivery is provided by the Corsair 1000HX.

Quick Tests-

The results are typical of what we will see in the majority of applications and games, an X58 is an X58 for the most part. Instead, the differences between boards will be in overclocking, compatibility, features, and support. We will address these differences and more in the upcoming roundups.