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X58 Roundup: Seven $200-300 Core i7 Boards

X58 Roundup: Seven $200-300 Core i7 Boards
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Because Core i7 was meant to target high-end buyers, LGA-1366 motherboards are designed to satisfy both enthusiast and workstation markets. Xeon is the way forward for the current socket, as a new interface will accompany later mainstream products based on similar Core technology. With an upscale market locked-in, motherboard makers have concentrated development efforts mostly on their highest-priced models.

We waited nearly three months for manufacturers to fix the bugs in their highest-priced parts before we began testing for our $300+ X58 Motherboard Roundup, and our patience was rewarded with trouble-free operation of most samples. Certainly those few weeks that have passed since our previous comparison would be enough time for the $200-300 parts to present a similar experience...or so we thought.

But this instead turned out to be one of the most interesting roundups in recent memory, and for all the wrong reasons. Of the ten candidates previously committed to today’s feature, one manufacturer forgot to send a sample, another missed our submission deadline, and the sample from a third manufacturer never even reached POST (Power-On Self-Test) in spite of several attempts to get it running with different processors, RAM, and graphics cards. If those sound like mundane issues, perhaps you’ll find it interesting that one of the remaining samples couldn’t live up to the power demands of Core i7 overclocking without resetting, another model that lacked such protection suffered catastrophic failure, and a third sample died so spectacularly that it killed our favorite CPU in the process.

Anyone who thought spending $200 or more on a motherboard would assure premium quality will certainly be surprised by the realities of the Core i7 market, where one typically pays an additional $100 compared to previous-generation boards simply to obtain the new socket. Yet there were a few gems, and today we’ll try to separate these from the rubble that has become the new “mid-budget” enthusiast market.

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  • 0 Hide
    waxdart , 19 March 2009 19:56
    That more on the topic is annoying - Look ma nothing about the topic - just links to older stories that have nothing to do with the last 21 pages.

    Mobos - Why so many fails? glad I've not reason to upgrade for a while.
  • 0 Hide
    mi1ez , 19 March 2009 21:32
    "The floppy cable appears to be a thoughtful addition, except that the motherboard doesn’t have a floppy interface."

    Hilarious!
  • 0 Hide
    skalagon , 20 March 2009 03:06
    Ive had some bad experiences with motherboards xD Next time I upgrade Im going straight for an Asus rampage or something incredibly expensive, its worth it :D 
  • 0 Hide
    v1zzle , 22 March 2009 23:28
    Interesting article. I made a good choice on purchasing an ASUS. I have the deluxe version of the p6t and it serves me well... I have noticed that the benchmark results for 3d mark vantage, Foxconn should be in first then EVGA.
  • 0 Hide
    optical10 , 26 March 2009 19:36
    Has AsRock gotten back to you (Tom's Hardware) on the x58 Super Computer overclocking failure's reason? I'm on my 2nd AsRock [after Conroe DVI 1333, x48 Twin Turbo Wi-Fi) both very good and has served me well for 1/3 of the price of 3 x failing Asus SEI & SEII and I was just about to go for the AsRock x58 Super Computer when I happen upon this review, so you can imagine I am very keen to know the reasons behind the catastrophic failures of this mobo.