EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified LGA1366 Motherboard Review

Extreme Overclocking & Benching

The EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified is not only a feature rich motherboard that is an easily tamed beast for overclocking with air or water cooling. The Classified is an all out monster designed to not only handle, but excel at extreme loads on highly overclocked i7 processors. This section is really what the Classified is all about and where it gets to spread its wings and show everyone what it is capable of. Before we get to the results, let's first go over insulation preparation and the setup we will be benching with in this section as it varies slightly from our 24/7 testing.

Currently there are a couple predominant schools of thought on insulation for sub-zero benching. We ran both methods on the Classified with excellent results. Insulation was quite easy using either method so no matter how you prefer to insulate, the Classified shouldn't give you any headaches. The first - shown above - involves using armacell neoprene sheets to insulate the motherboard from condensing air. With this method we remove the CPU socket hold down in order to get a better air tight seal around the socket. Our base layer using a 1/2" thick layer was simply cut to fit the CPU socket area then measured to cut holes for the few capacitors it needed to accommodate.

We then stack another 1/2" thick layer with only a cutout for our CPU pot in the middle. On top of this layer is where our CPU pot insulation mates providing an air tight seal all around the CPU socket. You'll notice we don't use any dielectric grease in the socket or nail polish/liquid electrical tape on the motherboard first. This is because we are only insulating for single sessions, not 24/7 use. Although sometimes a session can go for 12 hours or more, without constant cooling down and heating up of the CPU, measures don't need to be taken that would be for 24/7 use. We like to keep motherboards clean and this method is 100% removable in about 10 seconds with no signs left behind.

Again, insulating was very easy and took a total of maybe ten to fifteen minutes. The PWM heat sink did not get in the way at all and neither did the north bridge heat sink. At this point, we will now look at another increasingly popular method of insulating using kneaded rubber eraser.

For those un-familiar with the extreme overclocking scene, kneaded rubber eraser began gaining popularity as an insulator well over a year ago. I was personally at the forefront of this method using an HVAC duct sealing material back in the summer of 07. That material was very sticky and was a nightmare to remove, some other members of the community came up with artists kneaded rubber eraser. It is a little stiffer and comes off clean with no residue or particles left behind. In the photos above you can see we retain the CPU hold down bracket and simply pack in and around the socket underneath the hold down with eraser. Some may wonder how eraser insulates the motherboard which is a great question. Keep in mind, we aren't trying to prevent the motherboard from getting cold - the cold transfers from the CPU anyway - we are simply trying to prevent warm air from contacting the cold motherboard and condensing. The kneaded rubber eraser is brilliant in this task as we can jam it into the tiniest of spaces and cracks.

The rubber eraser essentially takes up any space that air can occupy and prevents any moisture from condensing air. In the second photo above, we can see that the eraser covers the entire area with no chance of air contacting anywhere near the socket to condense and create motherboard killing moisture. Again, we are happy to report that the kneaded eraser method works extremely well with the Classified and provided a leisurely 10 hour session to go incident free at temperatures ranging from -60C to -80C on the pot. Here now is a quick rundown of the hardware used for our sub-zero benching section.

Let's now see what this powerful setup is capable of. We have broken down the results into single card, dual card, and then 2D results. The 2D results are obtained through the use of a PCI video card as opposed to the GTX 295's that are used in the 3D benchmarks. Let's first look at the single GTX 295 results in 03/05/06.

The single card results are mainly focused on 3DMark 06 but some time was spent on 03 and 05. All of the benchmarks for single card are from Windows XP as they score significantly higher than Vista. Without further adu, here are the Single GTX 295 Results.

3DMark 03 click for full size... HWBot.org - Compare	3DMark 05 click for full size... HWBot.org - Compare FutureMark Orb
3Dmark 06 click for full size... HWBot.org - Compare FutureMark Orb

There are no top 10 HWBot or ORB results but this was just a warm up. The 06 result is in the top ten of single GTX 295 results and 14th overall, however, keep in mind that we are also working with a GTX 295 on the stock cooler. Had a K|ngp|n Tek9 5.0 been available, these results would be much different. As it stands, things are looking very good thus far. We are able to bench at 4900MHz for the single core benches of 03 and 05, and over 4800MHz in 06 which shows excellent promise for Vantage with dual cards. Next up, we go for the dual cards...