Hardware Early Look: Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme

All the x58 boards where pictures have shown up on the web including the gigabyte one mentioned here look very cramped, I think they should move to eatx as a standard for highend boards.

 

Mobo wish List:
- Drop legacy stuff (IDE, PS2 etc)
- Start using EFI or whatever its called
- Drop onboard audio
- Drop PCI - Have like 1 or 2 PCI-E x16 slots and the rest PCI-E x4
- Drop all the extra stupid little thing they add on

I think buy trimming off all the crap that 'gamers' and 'hardcore whatevers' dont need we could end with with a fast and cheap mobo.

 

Quality onboard audio, or the choice of audio is very useful.
PS2 keyboard - still very useful for BIOS compatibility.
PCI - still selling on many things, but by having WiFi and Ethernet onboard means fewer of these slots are needed.

If you don't want to use the stuff - disable it in the BIOS. They do do vanilla cheap boards like the DS3Rs for example.

 

/me wonders why mobo makers don't just dump the IDE slot & bundle a SATA > IDE dongle with the board?
(Or is this a Microsoft thing? )

Sublym3 - You want fast+cheap mobo? Look at Asrock.

 

I still use both ide hdd's and a ps2 mouse, not to mention my Digital audio convertor is pci based

 

errr make that a ps2 keyboard... I don't know anyone who uses a ps2 mouse.

my next keyboard will invariably be usb though

 

Should have just gone ahead to E-ATX with this board. In this end of enthusiast boards, from Gigabte, the price for such a derivative would not have be intolerable.

Out of curiosity, is this obscenely cramped board made any thicker to also support an oversize aftermarket cooler?

 

Greetings!

All X58 boards that we've seen to date have an eight-layer PCB...

 

Don't you mean PATA or IDE?
Cause BR drives use the SATA connector. Dumping the PATA/IDE connector would make more sense.

 

To colour or not to colour

I have seen different Gigabyte X58 boards, and the latest one is looking very, very nice
I guess Gigabyte is listening to the people.

 

This is an Intel requirement.
The X58 is a triple-channel DDR3 memory only architecture, so 6 memory slots will become standard.
Also, Intel have now linked the memory to speak directly to the CPU – the same type of technology with AMD has been using for some time now.

 

Greetings!

I know. For a triple channel RAM system, you need three RAM slots, not six.

 

True, but 12GB is impossible with 3 slots as the only 4GB sticks are horribly overpriced (even more so than normal ddr3) and have crappy clocks and latencies.
No, there is no use yet for 12GB in a desktop, but what will you do in a year if you go for 6 with nehalem this year?, yes, exactly, go for 12GB.
4GB is the standard now, so upgrading to 6GB is a given with nehalem as 3 would be a downgrade, so any future upgrade = min 12GB.

 

Not impossible with three slots, but improbable at the moment. With six slots Intel supports a total of 24GB of memory.

 

Greetings!

Naokaji, as you say, if going the Nehalem route this year what makes sense is using 6GB RAM (3x2GB).
However, when the need for more than 6GB RAM comes, 4GB sticks will have a decent price/speed/latencies and 3x4GB would make sense.

It depends on the way someone upgrades the RAM sub-system. I always go for the least number of slots occupied.
Currently am at 2X2GB, with two slots empty.
Before was at 2x1GB, with two slots empty.
Before that was at 2x512MB, with two slots empty.

For me, and probably many others, the extra slots are just useless. Having three empty slots in a motherboard PCB looks like a waste of space.

 

Greetings!

Just to add that there will be X58 motherboards with only three RAM slots:

From here:
http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Foxconn_Quantum_Force_Blood_Rage_X58_Sneak_Preview/6126.html

 

Yes Foxconn's board looks good, so does DFI's (that's six slots mind).

I just found out Gigabyte are making an inexpensive DS4 too that should be available in December.

By Jan it should be an interesting market.