Those wishing to build the most powerful, most extreme computer on the planet surely will be weighing up the costs of a new Intel Core i7 processor. Even with the imminent launch of the AMD Phenom II X4, we have reasons to believe the Core i7 will remain as the heavyweight champion.The Gigabyte EX58-UD4P is meant to offer value for Core i7 users, retaining some of the X58 chipset's most interesting features like 3-way SLI and CrossfireX support, which should come extra handy for gamers willing to burn cash for the ultimate performance.
Just recently we reviewed the Asus P6T Deluxe (also Intel X58 based) which is a bit more expensive, but adds a few features not found on this motherboard. As we look closer into the Gigabyte EX58-UD4P, we will certainly keep in mind how it compares to another top contender like the P6T.
View: Gigabyte EX58-UD4P Intel X58 motherboard review
Compare that to this Gigabyte EX58-UD4P board, and there we see 16/16/8 lanes instead of 16/16/16 PCIe 2.0 lanes on the x16 slots in SLI/Crossfire, no SAS support, just one Gigabit LAN port, and only three PCIe x16 slots (not the six the P6T6 WS Revolution has.)
Now, the Gigabyte EX58-UD4P board is a good board, and I'm sure one of you will give it a good home a build a nice little gaming rig out of it... but if you wanna go all the way and build your system to the extreme (and money is no object), then there's only one choice.
I think you know what you have to do.
Indeed - stick with my E6750 until the prices don't make me cringe.
Unless you need more than 12GB of RAM then that Asus board isn't so hot.
Last edited by iamwhoiam on 05 Jan 2009 - 16:38
Thank you for completely missing the points I was making. For you next trick, please attempt to point out how much more effective a cat can be as a rodent control device than the ASUS board I was talking about.
You kind of reinforce our point in the review. There are more extreme motherboards based on the X58 platform, but for those who can do with the basics + all the X58 essential high-end goodies you can save some money and get this instead.
The Asus board you mention costs $110 more than the Gigabyte reviewed here.
I didn't miss anything. It doesn't matter to me what features a board has as "extras" if it can't support the RAM capacities that I need. Besides, that board you refer to only supports 16x/16x/16x when slots 2 and 4 are empty. So that precludes tripple SLI when other things like hidef TV tuners and the like are also present in the system. In those instances, you'd be paying for something that you would never take advantage of to begin with.
I don't see anything in what I posted above for you to get all bent out of shape over. Oh yeah, I see your reasoning now, it was a comment that didn't support your over zealous opinion. If you don't like that someone's opinion on something that doesn't jive with yours, do uall a favor and ignore it.
Last edited by iamwhoiam on 05 Jan 2009 - 22:55
If it's as good as it's said to be, game over
Nevermind, just found the answer, and it's yes:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=607&type=expert
Also, it'll distribute the workload based on the capabilities of the graphics card... so if one graphics card is old, while one is a lot better, it'll distribute the workload in a way that both cards are being effectively used. Would be silly to give the old card the same amount of workload as the new card, since new card is capable of doing more, so it takes that into account as well
To bad this hasn't been done for CPU's though
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