EVGA X58 SLI Micro LGA1366 Motherboard Review

A Closer Look at the EVGA X58 SLI Micro

Its small, is cramped, it is everything the big boards are but without all the excess baggage. Seriously though, despite the smaller footprint, the EVGA X58 SLI Micro really does offer pretty much everything full ATX X58 motherboards do aside from a couple minor items outlined in the Specifications & Features section. Let's now go in for a closer look at the scenery of this small landmass.

The chipset and PWM heat sinks really are the defining features of the X58 SLI Micro. They are more intricate than traditional heat sinks and some would even go as far as saying they are artistic and decorative. Make no mistake though, they serve a purpose. In addition to their function, the form seems to play an important role as well, one of accommodation for large CPU heat sinks. Despite the elaborate design, they actually appear to be well suited to allow large CPU coolers of various sizes to fit in the clearing that is occupied by the LGA1366 socket.

We do have one beef, and it is a pretty big one in our opinions. The placement of the 8-pin CPU power connector is just...well, odd. Every other X58 motherboard from EVGA has had the 8-pin power connector at the edge of the board for easy cable management. On the X58 SLI Micro, however, the 8-pin connector is down near the north bridge, tucked in-between the PWM and NB heat sinks. Getting a cable in here is not ideal and somewhat silly to be honest. We are definitely scratching our head over this placement, regardless of the cramped layout design, this connector is a nightmare to deal with for clean cable management.

As we move across the top edge of the motherboard we come to the DIMM slots and another familiar EVGA feature. A row of voltage read points lines the upper edge of the motherboard allowing for easy voltage reading of all voltages adjustable from the BIOS. Having looked at previous EVGA X58 motherboards with this feature, we are getting quite use to the handy availability of these read points. The rest of the DIMM area is quite normal with the six DIMM slots and 24-pin ATX power connector. The vDIMM power circuit appears to be run by a two phase setup with LowRDS(on) MOSFETs matched to a pair of caps and a choke, fairly standard stuff. We also have an upright BIOS battery located up here which helps save a tiny bit of real estate compared to one that lays flat.

As mentioned in the Specifications & Features section, the SATAII ports on the X58 SLI Micro are all at a 90 degree angle providing ideal cable management connectivity. This further contradicts the 8-pin CPU connector since EVGA is cognoscente of cable management, although these connectors are more about compatibility with large video cards we guess. The rest of the south bridge neighborhood is pretty much standard practice with front panel and USB/1394 firewire headers lining the bottom of the board. We also have the passive - un-attached - south bridge heat sink and LED diagnostic POST readout. We mention the segregated south bridge heat sink because it is something we really like to see. No heat pipe assembly snaking its way across the entire motherboard from SB to NB to PWM forcing users to change all three heat sinks should they want to water cool just one.

The typical ATX layout continues along the bottom edge with the standard location of the power/reset/CMOS clear buttons and fan headers. These buttons are the foundation of the major mATX layout handicap, the small expansion card area. This is the one big draw back to the mATX form factor. At the same time, this is the one major feature to the mATX form factor. Basically, if you want lots of expansion slots, buy full ATX and leave the mATX world to enjoy the small footprint.

Spacing of the expansion slots is about as good as you could ask for although some people would like to see the PCI and PCI-E 1X slot exchanged. With a dual slot cooler in the top slot, the PCI-E 1X slot is un-useable and PCI-E 1X slots are finally getting cards that can put them to use. Of course, we should be able to run a single GPU solution in the lower slot alleviating that issue. The double spacing of the PCI-E 16X lanes ensures that dual GTX 295 won't even be a problem for this little guy.

As was just mentioned, all three heat sinks are free standing independent structures. They are in no way linked to each other aside from a cohesive design stand point...and what a design they have. The north bridge heat sink is the primary eye catcher but the PWM and south bridge heat sinks definitely have their own unique design. The idea behind all three is surface area through layers. Overlapping, space saving layers of fins protrude the PWM and NB heat sinks while the SB is an intricate assembly of layers seemingly folded over on themselves. Overall we quite like the design element this heat sink trio brings to the table. With a flat black finish, the heat sinks had this reviewer impressed at the door. We'll see how they perform in our Heat & Acoustical Testing section a little later on...if there are sensors to truly let us test.

The last of the layout photos include the rear I/O panel as well as the back side of the motherboard. The rear I/O panel features a total of 8 USB ports, a single gigabit network connection, a single PS/2 connector and the standard audio package including analog and digital outputs. There is a large gap right square in the middle of the I/O panel that has us wondering why, hopefully EVGA doesn't think it will be useful for routing that awfully placed 8-pin CPU cable.

The backside of the motherboard is perfect, not a single push pin in sight. EVGA has mounted all three heat sinks with screws and we couldn't have asked for anything more. Let us now turn our attention to getting things installed in this micro of a giant motherboard.