eVGA x58 SLI Classified review - Final Words & Conclusion

The Verdict

The eVGA X58 3X SLI Classified is a horribly ... really horribly sexy product. I think it has been the 6th X58 based motherboard we have tested from several brands. And out of them all, two X58 motherboards stand out really far. The first is the ASUS Rampage II Extreme, the second is this one.

Now do not get me wrong, ALL X58 motherboards will perform roughly the same, and all have roughly similar specifications. So looking at it from that point of view, things really will not be very different. However, only few motherboards really stand out when it comes to tweaking and overclocking. As such the eVGA X58 3X SLI Classified delivers as promised.

Now before you start asking questions, what about SLI ? We are planning a second article with some delicious SLI results. It will be interesting to see where we end up with 3 cards for SLI and one for Physx and then look at power consumption. Also there's a bit of speculation that the NF200 chip for full PCIe x16 ports would create some more latency. Though we doubt that effect to be very large, to be honest, but we do want to compare and look into that at some point.

The classified design from ground up is really good and whatever tweaking goal you have, as long as you have your components, cooling and power supply right ... the eVGA X58 3X SLI Classified will not be the limiting factor. Mind you that on AIR cooling we reached 4.2 GHz, the sky is the limit when you pop some decent water-cooling on the processor, or go sub-zero with a vaporizing unit and LN2, the possibilities are certainly there, vast and extensive.

It is exactly there the motherboard will shine like a black pearl (hey where did I hear that name before). There's just one thing that's a downer with this product; obviously the price of the eVGA X58 3X SLI Classified is unpleasant. You'll need to dive horribly deep in your pockets and cough up 450 USD to be able to get your hands on this motherboard. So that's a 150 USD premium on top of a regular X58 motherboard. You pay it for all the tweaking lovin'. In perspective though, what is 150 extra when you build a high-end 3-way SLI / KiloWatt / Core i7 965 system. Everything is relative in the high-end segment. It's the same when you pimp your car, and spend two grand on rims, is that money spend well? It's in that line of thinking where you need to place a product like this, and that is something for you to decide.

Who's this board for ? Well pretty much 4 types of end-users I guess:

• Extreme overclockers
• People that go for 3-way SLI AND dedicated PhysX
• Folks that want to set new world records
• Hardware entrepreneurs

So overclocking wise this thing is a monster, we took it to 4.0~4.2 GHz on the processor with merely air-cooling, there really isn't anything more I need to say about that. Connectivity then. eVGA made sure to go extreme there as well, dual GIGe Ethernet ports, eSATA, nine SATA-II, analog, and digital coaxial, optical audio ports, 10x USB and then of course four PCI-E x16 slots in collaboration with NVIDIA's NF200 switch chip allowing four x16 PCI-E slots. Nuff said there as well.

The design and layout of the motherboards leaves nothing to be wished either. Everything makes sense in terms of positioning. Aesthetically it is also one of the most pleasing to the eyes motherboard we have had the pleasure to work with. Nice black and red, nothing more. It's a looker. Really, the only quirk I can think of for a motherboard in this class and price level is the integrated Realtek audio, which is too average for my taste. But ah well ...  that's it really.

Now you don't have to take my word for it, but granted, I'm a hardware whore ... and hardware like this is exactly my cup of tea.

Heaps of features, performance, tweakability, looks and options. That's the bottom line I'm closing this article with. The eVGA X58 3X SLI Classified without doubt among the very best motherboards we have ever tested. It will serve a very small niche market and sure, it is really expensive. But as far as hardware goes ... it won't get much better than this, no Sir.

As such we are giving it our rare 'best hardware' award. eVGA definitely deserves it. Oh and yeah, I almost forgot ... it's backed up by a life-time warranty too. That should make up a little for the premium price, we think.

Give eVGA a visit here.

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