EVGA X58 SLI LGA 1366 Motherboard Review



Price: $359+ CND Price Comparison
TechWiki Info: EVGA X58 SLI LGA 1366
Manufacturer Product Page: EVGA Corporation
Manufacturer's Part Number: 132-BL-E758-A1
Warranty: Lifetime limited warranty (with registration)


Tick-tock, which cycle we are on? We have no clue, but we do know that another stroke from the arm of the Intel clock has proliferated throughout the universe. The new Intel Core i7 processors have dropped and are doing what they do best: overpowering the competition. Our resident news hound Mac recently introduced us to the new "Nehalem" processors also known as Intel Core i7 in his Intel Core i7 Processor Review. We have also looked at one of the hottest boards out of the i7 gate in the Rampage Extreme II here at HWC. Well today, we continue down the i7 road with another highly anticipated X58 based motherboard; the EVGA X58 SLI.

Hot off the heels of their recently successful nForce 790i SLI FTW Digital, the announcement that EVGA - an industry leader in customer service - would be jumping the NVIDIA ship and offering an Intel X58 motherboard; sent the enthusiast forums into a frenzy. It makes perfect sense since NVIDIA has licensed SLI for use on the Intel X58 chipset, but we were still all so thrilled to hear the good news as nothing was certain on the EVGA motherboard future up to that point. As mentioned, EVGA isn't just another company that sells computer hardware. Their legion of followers, fans, and customers will attest to EVGA being one of those companies that actually takes care of its customers. Based in the Los Angeles area of California, EVGA is off the beaten silicon valley path and able to really concentrate on the task at hand...satisfying customers.

Their presence in enthusiast forums is strong, and their "24/7 Tech Support" sets them apart from other hardware manufacturers. In addition to this, the EVGA home forum is a bustling activity of EVGA staffers helping customers out, but more importantly, EVGA customers helping each other out. The community EVGA has built with their customers is rivaled by none and I have even found myself caught up in the spirit of helping out other EVGA users. This mentality seems to be contagious amongst EVGA users and it all originates from the EVGA support, service, and amenities offered by EVGA.com. As much as we could go on all day about EVGA service, we are not here to only talk about EVGA though, we have a motherboard to look at as well.

The X58 SLI still bleeds green blood and is advertised as an SLI ready motherboard but is quite capable of running ATI CrossFireX as well. The X58 SLI offers three PCI-E 16X slots for the craziest of video card setups, six DDR3 DIMM slots capable of handling up to 12GB of RAM, a total of nine onboard SATA II ports, 8 Channel High Definition audio, and a host of features that cater to the enthusiast. In typical EVGA fashion, this board has everything anyone could ask for...well, that is what we are going to attempt to find out right now.