Intel X58 Extreme DX58SO Motherboard and Intel Core i7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hugely anticipated Intel "Nehalem" series of processors is out tests show it is a performance beast. Now, it is such a beast that it deserves a chipset that can tame the beast. That is exactly what x58 does. It supports triple channel DDR 3 memory and Socket 1366. It uses the same ICH10 southbridge but that's where the similarities end. Another excellent feature of this motherboard is that it is the motherboard apart from "Skulltrail" to support both Crossfire X and SLi making it the perfect choice for hardcore gamers.

The Processor

The processors we are testing are i7 920 and i7 965. The former is mid-range while the latter is high-end. But make no mistakes i7 920 can easily slaughter previous generation High end Core 2 Duos and Core 2 Quads.Both of them are quad core processors like Core 2 Quad series.

SLi and Crossfire X
Finally, an Intel motherboard that supports SLi. Manufacturers though will have to get the motherboard certified by Nvidia which will release new drivers supporting SLi on the board. Anywhere between 2 to 4 (yes! FOUR) Nvidia cards can be set up in SLi. The fourth card will be dedicated to PhysX processing.

DhryStone CPU Test

It is clear from the test that Core i7 is really fast and overclocking makes it even faster.

Memory Test

Here, x58 demolishes the others by a huge margin due DDR-3 memory kicking in.

3D Mark06 CPU Test

Call of Duty 4 (2 x ATi Radeon 4870 X2)

Well the performance of the Core i7 is earth shattering. The performance difference between the two processors is huge even at higher resolutions. Please note that we have used the highest possible settings.

Far Cry 2 (2 x Ati Radeon 4870 X2)

Even Core i7 is not powerful enough to use two 4870 X2 to their full potential. We run into CPU benchmark which is ideal for testing processors.

Verdict

It is not often that I recommend a new processor for gaming but this one definitely falls into that category. The sheer power of this processor makes a huge impact in your FPS count let alone other tasks. And the chipset, well I cannot comment on its performance because its socket is not backward compatible but it shines in the features department.