| ASUS P6X58D-Premium SATA6G Motherboard |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Motherboards | |
| Written by Olin Coles | |
| Wednesday, 17 February 2010 | |
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ASUS P6X58D-Premium Motherboard ReviewASUS has been a longtime partner to Intel, and both companies have been made better because of their relationship. But when it comes to new technology, sometimes Intel takes a little too long to implement change while ASUS prefers to offer their faithful consumers the options right away. Intel's tick-tock plan doesn't coincide with the technical improvements made to areas outside of processor development, such as SuperSpeed USB-3.0 or Revision 3.x SATA 6.0-Gbps (aka SATA-III) controllers. Most hardware enthusiasts agree that it's awkward to see Intel's "Enthusiast" branded X58-Express chipset paired to older standards while "Mainstream" P55 motherboards enjoy the better and faster new ones. ASUS feels the same way, and now offers their P6X58D-Premium motherboard to forward-thinking enthusiasts who might not want to wait for the launch of Intel's X68-Express platform. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests several X58-based motherboard against the ASUS P6X58D-Premium in head-to-head graphics, processor, memory, and SSD storage performance.
SuperSpeed USB-3.0 is an appropriately named technology, and several file transfer tests during the 2010 CES demonstrated the impressive 5Gbps signaling rate. Although USB3 devices won't compete with third-generation SATA6G interface in terms of operational file transfers, SuperSpeed USB easily beats bandwidth performance from the older second-generation SATA-3Gbps controllers. This is precisely why ASUS has incorporated the NEC D720200F1 SuperSpeed USB-3.0 chip on their P6X58D-Premium X58-Express motherboard. Revision 3.x SATA 6Gb/s (SATA-III) has also been added onto the X58-Express platform, allowing enthusiasts to enjoy faster top-end bandwidth speeds from capable Solid State Drive storage devices. Instead of waiting for Intel to add SATA-6G support into their upcoming X68-Express platform planned for 2011, ASUS includes support on the P6X58D-Premium X58 motherboard right now by utilizing the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 SATA-6Gbps controller. Generally speaking, system performance should not change between X58-Express platform motherboards. Individual graphics, memory, processor, and storage performance should each deliver results approximately equal to tests on each brand and model of X58 motherboard... unless the manufacturer has introduced technology or changes that might penalize the pipeline performance. This project compares three X58-Express motherboards: the original Gigabyte X58-series against their new X58A-series, and the ASUS P6X58D Premium. This article will concentrate on the differences that exist between video card, processor, system memory, and SSD performance. About ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
ASUS comes from the last four letters of Pegasus, the winged horse in Greek mythology that represents the inspiration of art and learning. ASUS embodies the strength, creative spirit and purity symbolized by this regal and agile mythical creature, soaring to new heights of quality and innovation with each product it introduces to the market. ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era, with an extensive product portfolio that includes notebooks, netbooks, motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, desktop PCs, servers, wireless solutions, mobile phones and networking devices. Driven by innovation and committed to quality, ASUS designs and manufactures products that perfectly meet the needs of today's digital home, office and person. ASUS won 3,056 awards in 2008, and is widely credited with revolutionizing the PC industry with the Eee PC. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company's revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among BusinessWeek's InfoTech 100, and has been on the listing for 12 consecutive years. ASUSTeK Computer Inc., also known as ASUS, a technology-oriented company blessed with one of the world's top R&D teams, is well known for high-quality and innovative technology. As a leading provider of 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) total solutions, ASUS offers a complete product portfolio to compete in the new millennium. To succeed in this ultra-competitive industry, great products need to be complimented by speed-to-market, cost and service. That's why all 100,000 over employees of ASUS strive for the "ASUS Way of Total Quality Management" to offer the best quality without compromising cost and time-to-market while providing maximum value to all customers through world-class services.
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Comments
Why is this a con when this is not the fault of the motherboard but of the OS?
It's a con.
My rating is subjective, and it is my own. As I say at the beginning of the Conclusion page: Please do not base your purchases solely on our conclusion.
You stated that 6 of 32 PCIe lanes are borrowed from graphics for USB 3.0/SATA-6G support. However, Intel?s X58 IOH supports 36 PCIe lanes, of which 32 are required for 16x/8x/8x triple-SLI/CFX. I?m not sure why the motherboard would reserve six lanes, since only four are used by the ASUS U3S6 PCI-E 4x expansion card. It appears that the graphics performance of this motherboard may not be crippled after all. Although I?m still not sure what happens in the 16x/16x/1x configuration, since an extra lane is required.
If it is an enthusiast board as you say, you'd expect rookies to buy a simpler solution, no? Complication not really a con here!
The X58 IOH has: 36 PCIe lanes, 4 PCIe lanes linking to the ICH10 southbridge, and a QPI link to the CPU. Unless ASUS are insane, the SATA3 and USB3 controllers would use 4 PCIe lanes from the IOH, leaving a full 32 PCIe lanes for graphics (16 + 16, or 16 + 8 + 8). The PCIe 1X slot, the 1X lane for 16 + 16 + 1 mode, and PCIe lanes for the gigabit LAN would be provided by the ICH10.
#2. Windows client(Non server variants), use to support PAE for memory reasons, but drivers ALSO need to correctly support the feature otherwise memory/data corruption can happen. MS decided too many companies couldn't make decent drivers and disabled extended memory for non-server versions.
#3. Who uses 32bit OS's anymore? That's like using dial up when you have access to FIOS.
(2) Am I correct to assume that the ASUS motherboard will not support SATA-III Raid 0 ?
(3) Which gives the most bang-for-the-buck: the Crucial RealSSD-C300 with a SATA-III controller (the Marvell SE128 on the Gigabyte motherboard), or the Intel SSD 80GB with a SATA-II controller (the Marvell SE123 on the ASUS motherboard) ?
(4) And finally, if I go with the Gigabyte board, I am thinking about going with the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 as opposed to the ?UD7... as I am an architect using CAD and GIS and not a gamer and thus don?t see the need for advanced cooling. Any problems with this decision ?
2) You are correct.
3) Crucial is faster for sure, but I think the OCZ Agility or Corsair Nova are the best bang for the buck.
4) I would use P55 and not X58. My company has built many CAD/CAM systems, and you want to spend your money on a very fast HDD or SSD, decent video card, and plenty of RAM. P55 does a better job with memory and CPU performance than X58... clock for clock.