5-Way X58 Motherboard Roundup

We have already reviewed two X58 motherboards from ASUS - the Rampage II Extreme and P6T Deluxe. In this review, we'll be looking at five more X58 boards, all of which are their respective manufacturers' top-end offerings.

Biostar TPower X58
DFI LanParty UT X58-T3eH8
Foxconn Blood Rage
Intel DX58S0 "SmackOver"
XFX X58i




These boards are aimed at overclockers and high-end users, which mean they're packed with features to the brim. In the hands of overclockers, many of these bells and whistles are typically ignored (disabled, actually) in favour of simply pushing clockspeeds as high as possible.

Premium motherboards have always been quite predictable. While some of the usual trends remain, we're spotting some new ones as well. In fact, we're seeing considerable variations between some of the motherboards.

In this first part we'll take a close look at the boards' features and layouts. With so many things to cram into the same ATX form factor, we won't be surprised if we see some layout slip-ups along the way. Also, we'll be checking out the BIOS of each board in detail.

In the second part we'll benchmark the boards and dissect their overclocking capabilities. We're still working on the latter, so stay tuned.