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| April 23, 2010 |
| ASUS P6X58D-E Intel X58 ATX Motherboard SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 |
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The ASUS P6X58D-E Intel motherboard provides you a host of new features and the latest technologies. The ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard supports Core i7 (LGA1366), triple channel DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 memory support and breaks the boundaries to bring you the multi-GPU choice of either SLI or CrossFireX. Based on Intel X58 chipset, ASUS P6X58D-E Intel motherboard features a dedicated graphics engine to optimize PCI Express allocation in multiple GPU configurations.The layout of the ASUS P6X58D-E Intel motherboard is generally superb. The memory ports have been positioned at a height where they won't interfere with the primary video card while there is plenty of room around the CPU socket for even the largest of 3rd party coolers. There is a slight worry where some users may not have enough PCI slots for their existing peripheral cards. This is because one of the two PCI slots provided is directly underneath the main video card slot. Fortunately PCI Express cards are amply provided for by a single 1x slot and three 16x slots. Unlike Intel's other current platforms, the X58 has PCI Express lanes in abundance, so you get to enjoy these important new features at full speed. The headline-grabbing features of the ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard are its next generation storage interfaces, where SATA III support is provided by a Marvell controller while two USB 3.0 ports are supplied by a chip from NEC. The majority of its SATA ports are angled at 90 degrees to aid users of dual video cards while the other two sit along the bottom edge out of the way. On the rear panel, six USB ports are provided (two of which are USB 3.0) along with a single Firewire port. However, there are no e-SATA on the I/O panel of this Intel motherboard. The USB 3.0 option will end up offering better performance, but some people who have a couple of eSATA devices will need it. Home theatre enthusiasts are well catered for with both optical and coaxial audio connectivity, and you'll find a rear-mounted clear-CMOS button which saves you the bother of entering your case if you overclock a little too far. There aren't any serious cons on ASUS P6X58D-E Intel motherboard, but there are a few things which need to noticed. You can't keep your RAID array and primary single hard drive on the same controller, especially in Windows 7. BIOS of the ASUS P6X58D-E Intel motherboard is great, but has poor labeling for some overclocking features. For example, if you're trying to find the uncore frequency, you probably won't have much luck unless you look in the manual. All in all the ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard is exactly what we were looking for in a P6T replacement. Users looking for a fantastic and well-priced next generation X58 motherboard should certainly check ASUS P6X58D-E Intel motherboard out, it renders most flagship products from other manufacturers all but redundant.
Labels: ASUS, Intel
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| posted by admin |
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| April 17, 2010 |
| EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 XL-ATX Intel X58 Motherboard 4-Way SLI Classified LGA 1366 |
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The EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 X58 Classified 4-Way SLI is one of the Intel motherboards based on the XL-ATX form-factor, with the board measuring 13.58 x 10.375 inches (L x W). With condition like this, be sure you read the list of compatible cases on the website due to this Intel mainboard will not fit in most cases. A case with 9 or more expansion slots is required, in case you plan to use 4-Way SLI. Based on the Intel X58 + ICH10R chipset, EVGA X58 Classified 4-Way SLI (170-BL-E762-A1) motherboard supports Intel socket 1366 i7 processors, six DDR3-1600 (max. 24 GB), seven PCI Express slots (supporting 2-way, 3-way, 4-way SLI or CrossFireX), nine SATA-300 ports, 8-channels audio, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, 10-phase voltage regulator circuit and 100% solid capasitors. An enthusiast layout allows for multiple configurations, including 2-Way SLI + PhysX, 3-Way SLI +PhysX or 4-Way SLI, and the incredible 10 Phase Digital PWM allows for switching frequencies of up to 1333KHz. Please keep in mind, when they mean this EVGA motherboard can support Quad SLI, they mean 4 separate single GPU cards. This does not mean it can hold 4 ATI Radeon 5970's or 4 nVidia GTX 295's (8 GPU's and a single one of these cards take up 2 PCIe slots), so please do not get mixed up. There is no board, case, or power supply out that can support this. So, what they mean by Quad SLI, for example, is 4 nVidia GTX 285's or 4 ATI Radeon 5780's. There is no manual for this Intel motherboard. The manual that comes with the board is the same as the EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED Intel Motherboard . The EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 X58 Classified 4-Way SLI has everything you could as for, but USB 3.0, SATA 6Gbp and onboard Optical sound output cause this Intel board rely on HDMI receivers If you are a serious gamer and love to overclock, upgrade, and futureproof, this EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 X58 Classified 4-Way SLI is the computer motherboard for you.
Labels: EVGA, Intel
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| posted by admin |
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| April 15, 2010 |
| MSI 890GXM-G65 Micro ATX AMD 890GX Motherboard USB 3.0 HDMI SATA 6Gbps |
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On the early March, AMD released the first of their 800-Series motherboard chipsets, the AMD 890GX, to replace their previous high-end 790GX chipset which is showing its age. The AMD 890GX chipset supports AMD socket AM3 processors, including upcoming 6-core Phenom II X6 processors, and it features an integrated, DX10.1-class graphics core with 40 shader units and a 64 / 128-bit memory interface. You should also note that the graphics core within the 890GX is branded the Radeon HD 4290, but it supports Hybrid CrossFire modes with the Radeon HD 5450. Paired with AMD SB850 Southbridge chip, keywords for this chipset are more processor compatibility, better IGP performance and increased bandwidth for the new technologies. AMD SB850 Southbridge chip is embedded with a Gigabit Ethernet and a SATA 6G controller. To add their AMD motherboards collection, MSI was planted this AMD 890GX chipset on their 890GXM-G65. With micro ATX form factor makes this motherboard as on of AMD motherboards for gaming with Small Form Factor (SFF) system thanks to its Crossfire support with a pair of full-length PCIe ports (which run in x8 mode when Crossfire is enabled). The 890GXM-G65 motherboard sports MSI’s typical blue on black color scheme, and has a nice clean layout. MSI has done a great job utilizing the small amount of real estate available in the mATX form factor. The two PCIe slots are spaced far enough apart for dual-slot video cards, while leaving enough room at the bottom for easily accessing the OC Switch and USB headers. This AMD motherboard from MSI only has a total of two fan headers, the CPU fan and the one near the SATA ports. For any additional fans, you’ve gotta run adapters straight from the power supply. The DDR3 slot placement is typical of most AMD motherboards. It’s all too common for memory slots on these boards to use adjacent slots for dual channel, instead of every other slot like the majority of Intel motherboards. There's 14 USB 2.0 ports available from the MSI 890GXM-G65 motherboard in total and the two blue ports are the USB 3.0 ones. There are DVI, D-Sub and HDMI outputs in the rear I/O block, of which only one digital output can be used at once. There's also an eSATA port, a PS/2 port that can accept either mouse or keyboard, plenty of sound outputs (including optical S/PDIF out) and Gigabit Ethernet too. Overall this is a decent mix of ports, and has enough future upgradability for most people looking for a micro-ATX board. The MSI 890GXM-G65 board has a little something for everybody. It's an awesome net PC or work PC that is power efficient yet delivers a good punch for your business. The wide connectivity feature set and embedded IGP make this AMD motherboard a truly excellent HTPC as well. Still, 1it's not the reason enough to upgrade from the AMD 785/790 series motherboard. But if you are out on the market for an update or new PC, then this MSI 890GXM-G65 motherboard obviously is what you need to take.
Labels: AMD, MSI
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| posted by admin |
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| Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 X58 ATX Intel Motherboard USB 3.0 SATA 6Gbps |
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Based on the Intel X58 and ICH10R chipset, which is the high-end platform for Intel's LGA 1366 Core i7 processors with QPI 6.4 GT/s makes the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R as an Intel motherboard for gaming ready. The Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R includes Gigabyte's 333 Onboard Acceleration features. The 333 Onboard Acceleration is Gigabyte's way of saying that the motherboard has USB 3.0, SATA 3.0, and 3x the USB power. Three manuals are included with this Intel motherboard, one user manual, one installation guidebook, and one Smart 6 user manual. The Smart 6 manual helps users use the management suite to best make use of the motherboard. This manual is of better quality than the installation guidebook. Four bright yellow SATA cables are included with latching mechanisms, two have a 90 degree end as well. The Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard comes with SLI and Tri-SLI bridges but no CrossFire connectors (they come with the ATI graphics cards). A small Gigabyte sticker is included and the I/O panel bracket also has a sticker that color codes everything. An IDE cable stamped with the Gigabyte name is also included. A driver disk is included to help load drivers for the motherboard. However, the driver disk is hard to use due to glitches on the autorun executable, so you can download the drivers from Gigabyte's website instead. Motherboard cooling is an important thing to enthusiasts since this usually translates into higher overclocks. Using a 120mm fan normally run over the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard to simulate a normal amount of case cooling, none of the heatsinks are ever hot to the touch. The CPU socket area is fairly clean and open except for one side where two rows of capacitors come nearby, they sit low so heatsink installation should still be fine. Near the RAM slots are LED groups that display information such as phase level and activity. The Southbridge heatsink is alone, mounting a fan to it would be a bit harder though due to how it is shaped and because video cards would be blocked in the upper three PCI Express slots. Overclocking on this Gigabyte's Intel motherboard is smooth and easy, however there is no way to save your profile information in case of a failed overclock.
Labels: Gigabyte, Intel
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| posted by admin |
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| April 12, 2010 |
| Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 Micro ATX Motherboard Intel Core i7/Core i5/Core i3 |
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Since the release of Intel H57 chipset, the motherboard manufactures follow this release by producting Intel motherboards based Intel H57 chipset, and Gigabyte was one of the first out there to ship out one of their H57 based motherboards by releasing GA-H57M-USB3 motherboard. As its name, this motherboard from Gigabyte is one of motherboards with USB 3.0 support through NEC uPD720200 host controller. Like another Intel motherboards from Gigabyte, GA-H57M-USB3 also entails Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 3 design, 2 Oz copper and additional functions such as Smart6 PC management tools, Dynamic Energy Saver 2 utilities for power saving, and DualBIOS. Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 motherboard features a 3x USB power boost, delivering greater compatibility and extra power for USB devices. Howerver, Gigabyte is not adding an extra PLX chip for additional bandwidth to their motherboards while implementing that USB3.0 controller. If Gigabyte in the near future adds say a SATA 6GBPs controller to their motherboards then these motherboards in their current design can run into bandwidth issues. This Gigabyte's decision can be understand, cause adding that PLX chip also increases pricing and the PLX costs 20~25 USD a piece. The baseline performance of Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 is on par with all Intel H55/H57 motherboards, but where it really shines is overclockability and it's feature set. You get to play around with heaps of SATA ports, USB ports, and then the monitor I/O wowzers, you get VGA, DVI, HDMI and Display port, that's quite a bunch of connectivity and options alright. The stability of Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 mainboard is perfect, it is seem that the Gigabyte's Ultra Durable design is working and the BIOS options are wide, extensive and will allow you to pull a trick or two overclocking wise. Don't forget that for the display outputs to work, you will need an Intel Clarkdale processor (Core i3 500 and Core i5 600 series). A processor like the Core i5 750, will work just fine, but does not have an embedded graphics unit inside the processor.
Labels: Gigabyte, Intel
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| posted by admin |
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| April 11, 2010 |
| ECS A790GXM-AD3 AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard |
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The ECS 790GXM-AD3 is an AMD motherboard based of the 790GX/SB750 chipset and supports both CrossFire and Hybrid CrossFireX with the integrated HD 3300 graphics and onboard video memory buffer. To keep the A790GXM-AD3 AM3 board cool while operating, ECS has placed a large amount of copper in their heatsinks. There is one over the voltage regulators, one over the Northbridge to cool the NB and the Sideport memory, and one over the Southbridge. ECS A790GXM-AD3 mainboard has two PCI Express x16 slots which support both CrossFire and Hybrid CrossFireX with the onboard ATI HD 3300 graphics. There are also two PCI Express x1 slots and two legacy PCI slots for additional expansion card such as networking, audio, and more. Back panel of this AMD motherboard offers a whole lot of connections to get you up and running with minimal fuss. There are a PS/2 mouse and keyboard port, a clear CMOS button, a VGA port, an HDMI port, six USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, one LAN port, and the audio port which supports 8 channel HD audio and SPDIF. A few things of note is the inclusion of an eSATA port is almost necessary with external storage having high capacities these days, so it is nice to see ECS keeping up with current and future technology. Although ECS 790GXM-AD3 motherboard has a VGA port and an HDMI port, there is no DVI port on it.
Labels: AMD, ECS
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