ECS X58B-A (Intel X58)
Author:
Date: 10.02.2009 |
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Performance tests
When determining the starting FSB speed, it turned out that the board overstated it by merely 0.3 MHz.
However, with the Turbo technology enabled, ECS X58B-A raised the multiplier by not 1 (as it should be as per Intel's specs) but a somehow higher value:
But in running the tests (e.g. WinRAR), the board set the required multiplier (i.e. = 21). In any case, the mix-up with the multiplier does not give much credit to the test results.
In our test setup, we used the following hardware:
| Test setup |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7 920 (LGA1366; 2.66 GHz; Bloomfield) |
| Cooler |
Boxed; |
| Video card |
ASUS 8800 GT (GeForce 8800 GT; PCI Express x16)
Driver version: 180.48 WHQL |
| Sound card |
- |
| HDD |
Samsung HD160JJ |
| Memory |
3x1024 MB Qimonda DDR3-1333; |
| Housing |
FSP 550 W |
| OS |
MS Vista |
Let's first take a look at the results of synthetic benchmarks.
Now on to the gaming benchmarks.
Tests of application software.
Video encoding (DivX, Xvid) was measured in seconds, i.e. the less the better.
Data compression (WinRAR) was measured in K/sec, i.e. the more, the better.
Final Words
To start with, ECS X58B-A has left a dubious impression. On the one hand, it is quite a good implementation of capabilities of the Intel X58 chipset and, provided there is a stable operation, it could serve a good basis for a value system based on the LGA1366 processor. However, we had some issues to complain about the stability of our specimen. The cause of these issues is in the overheating of the north bridge.
However, technical flaws can be found in all the manufacturers, and as the practice shows these flaws are solved promptly. For instance, new batches of ASUS Maximus II Formula have been freed up of the issue of overheating the north bridge which we came across during the test.
However, the issue is not at all about overheating or manipulations with the CPU multiplier. The situation is in that for the whole period Elitegroup has not offered a best-selling motherboard of the high-end level yet. There have been good and stable motherboards, but their price did not make the buyer give up purchasing products made by eminent leaders- ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI.
As regards ECS X58B-A, its retail price is not yet known. In case the price for the model is much lower than at competitors', we could recommend X58B-A for purchase. Otherwise, we recommend an Intel's motherboard without overclocking tools and the produce by the "big three" for overclockers and enthusiasts.
Conclusion
Pros:
- two PCI Express x16 v2.0 slots;
- support for NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire;
- support for SerialATA II /RAID (8 links; ICH10R + JMB362);
- High Definition Audio 7.1 + two Gigabit Ethernet LAN controllers;
- support for USB2.0 (12 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire; 2 ports);
- passive system for cooling the chipset and the power supply module;
- Power and Reset buttons;
- CMOS reset button;
- 7-stage POST indicator.
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- on the rear panel, there are no LPT and COM ports;
- no support for ParallelATA, FDD.
- Discuss the material in the conference
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