GIGABYTE X58A-OC Review

Designed by overclockers, for overclockers. The X58A-OC promises much but can it deliver? Find out as we take an in-depth look at GIGBAYTE’s latest and perhaps final salute to the X58 chipset.

Product on Review: GIGABYTE X58A-OC
Manufacturer and Sponsor: GIGABYTE
Street Price: £250 inc. VAT (At time of review)

Some people believe that the X58 chipset is dead and buried. While it is clear that many enthusiasts are heading towards Z68 and P67 based motherboards, like some mass exodus, there are those who still believe that X58 still has a lot to offer. GIGABYTE have been at the forefront with regard to X58 motherboards releasing some excellent examples such as the magnificent GA-X58 UD3R and UD5 along with the ultra gaming platform catering for multi GPUs, the UD9. They have continued this excellent repertoire more recently with some stunning quality motherboards of late, namely the G1 Guerrilla Sniper and Assassin boards. The motherboard we have for review today however is something even more special, even more niche, which has one unique selling point and one group in mind…overclockers.

The X58A-OC has been designed from the ground up by overclockers, for overclockers and is the first motherboard from GIGABYTE, indeed anyone really specifically designed for nothing else but overclocking. Many manufacturers have released high-end yet expensive motherboards that have the extrangance of 7.1 audio, more USB ports that you can shake a stick at and perhaps useless gimicks to separate their boards from the rest. While they essentially have the same engine, they are akin to having a sports car which is burdened with luxuries. The X58-OC however is a stripped out dragster with only the bare essentials needed for operation. Of course, a dragster is useless without an outrageous engine to power it and so GIGABYTE have dedicated all of the scientific know-how, with help from renown overclockers, to create a monster specifically designed yet stripped of all uneccessary components to cater for those who like to run the overclocking dragstrip.

With this in mind it would be relevent to couple a cherry picked xtreme CPU from Intels i7 range and some equally extreme cooling to run some SuperPI 1M benchmarks or perhaps suicide CPU-Z screenshots. I however was more intrigued to see if it could be utilised by the mainstream user, those perhaps on simple aircooling and an entry level CPU? How would it compare then? Could the motherboard still distinguish itself from the rest indeed could it, heaven forbid, be used as an everyday motherboard? Obviously it would be unfair to compare this motherboard to others for which it was not designed to compete. What I am particulary interested in though is can this motherboard overclock an average, everymans CPU with average cooling better than one they already have? Can it fulfill it’s promise by being an overclocking board, not just for the 0.1% who use extreme cooling but for everyone.

In short is it a true overclockers motherboard or is it wasted on the average user?

I guess it’s time we found out…

Specification

CPU

Support for an Intel® Core™ i7 series processor in the LGA1366 package
L3 cache varies with CPU

QPI

4.8GT/s, 6.4GT/s

Chipset

North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset
South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R

Memory

6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory
* Due to Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB.
3/Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

Audio

Realtek ALC889 codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
* To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver.
Support for S/PDIF Out

LAN

1 x Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots

2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2)
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16_1 slot; if you are installing two PCI Express graphics cards, it is recommended that you install them in the PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 slots.

2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1, PCIEX8_2)
* The PCIEX8_1 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16_1 slot and the PCIEX8_2 slot with PCIEX16_2. The PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2 slot will operate at up to x8 mode when the PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2 is populated.
(The PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2, PCIEX8_1, and PCIEX8_2 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

1 x PCI slot

Multi-Graphics Technology

Support for 3-Way/2-Way NVIDIA SLI technology and 4-Way/3-Way/2-Way ATI CrossFireX™ technology

Storage Interface

6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0~SATA2_5) supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

1 x Marvell 88SE9182 chip:

2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0 and RAID 1

USB

Up to 4 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 on the back panel, 2 via the USB bracket connected to the internal USB header)

1 x Etron EJ168 chip:

Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
* The USB 2.0 signals of the USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel are from the South Bridge.

Internal I/O Connectors

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
2 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connectors
2 x PCIe power connectors
2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU fan header
6 x system fan headers
1 x North Bridge fan header
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
1 x USB 2.0/1.1 header
2 x heatsink LED power connectors
1 x clearing CMOS button
1 x power button
1 x reset button
1 x PWM frequency switch
1 x onboard voltage measurement module
1 x 4G Ready button
1 x OC Gear button
1 x CPU BCLK Down button
1 x CPU BCLK Up button
1 x CPU Ratio Down button
1 x CPU Ratio Up button
1 x BIOS switch

Back Panel Connectors

1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
1 x RJ-45 port
3 x audio jacks (Line In/Mic In/Line Out)

I/O Controller

iTE IT8720 chip

H/W Monitoring

System voltage detection
CPU/System temperature detection
CPU/System fan speed detection
CPU overheating warning
CPU/System fan fail warning
CPU/System fan speed control
* Whether the CPU/system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/system cooler you install.

BIOS

2 x 16 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
Support for DualBIOS™
PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b

Unique Features

Support for @BIOS
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Xpress BIOS Rescue
Support for Download Center
Support for Xpress Install
Support for Xpress Recovery2
Support for EasyTune
* Available functions in EasyTune may differ by motherboard model.
Support for Smart 6™
Support for Auto Green
Support for eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
Support for ON/OFF Charge
Support for Cloud OC
Support for Q-Share

Bundle Software

Norton Internet Security (OEM version)

Operating System

Support for Microsoft® Windows® 7/Vista/XP

Form Factor

ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 26.4cm

Features

The feature set, unlike your average mainstream motherboard which has to provide for a multitude of tasks is specifically designed for overclocking and thus these are the features we will cover:

OC-VRM

The GIGABYTE X58A-OC features a new VRM design called OC-VRM, which includes a combination of highly conductive POScaps, 50A rated MPFC (Max Power Ferrite Core) Chokes, and Driver-MOSFETs, which combined, are able to deliver higher current to the CPU, with better efficiency and lower temperature. OC-VRM also allows users to overclock the PWM frequency via an onboard switch, for real-time adjustment. When the CPU needs maximum power, users can raise the PWM frequency in order to deliver more current through this unique POScap and MPFC Choke design. In addition, GIGABYTE has specially chosen unobtrusive components and carefully designed their layout to make it easier and quicker than ever for extreme overclockers to insulate their boards.

OC-Touch

OC-Touch enables overclockers to quickly and easily get the best performance from their system. With onboard OC-Touch buttons, users are able to manually raise and lower the CPU ratio, change BCLK settings, and even change BCLK stepping to either 1MHz or 0.3MHz. These changes can be made at any time whether in the BIOS, DOS, or Windows and in real-time without the need for rebooting, so that users can quickly fine-tune to find their CPU’s maximum frequency. The onboard 4G Ready button allows novice overclockers to automatically reach 4GHz, while advanced users can use it to get to 4GHz before continuing with OC-Touch to quickly find their CPU’s best margin. Onboard voltage measurement modules are also included to help users to conveniently monitor component voltages.

OC-Peg

OC-PEG provides two onboard SATA power connectors for more stable PCIe power when using 3-way and 4-way graphics configurations. Each connector can get power from a different phase of the power supply, helping to provide a better, more stable graphics overclock. The independent power inputs for the PCIe slots helps to improve even single graphics card overclocking. For 4-way CrossFireX™, users must install OC-PEG to avoid over current in the 24pin ATX connector. The entire board also features POScaps, helping to simplify the insulation process so overclockers can quickly reach subzero readiness.

OC-Cool
OC-Cool features a new LED lit thermal design and 7x 4-pin Smart Fan connectors to allow overclockers to easily control system-wide temperature. The OC-Cool heatpipe maximizes system convection to expel hot air out through the IO panel and optimizes passive cooling. OC-Cool LED lighting on the North and South Bridges further adds to the X58A-OC’s coolness.

OC-Cool
OC-DualBIOS™ features an onboard BIOS switcher and LED indicator, allowing users to select one BIOS for normal use, and another one for overclocking. It can also act as a backup BIOS in case of BIOS failure during overclocking. With two BIOSes, users are able to save up to 16 different overclocking profiles – a very useful feature when overclockers want to update to a new BIOS, but don’t want to lose their original settings.

SuperSpeed USB 3.0
GIGABYTE motherboards boast SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology made possible through an additional onboard host controller. With superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps, users are able to experience a theoretical 10x improvement over USB 2.0. Additionally, backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 assures users of long term use of their legacy USB 2.0 devices.

SATA 6 Gbps
GIGABYTE motherboards are High-Speed SATA Revision 3.0 compatible, delivering superfast 6Gbps link speeds for twice the data transfer rates of SATA Revision 2.0 (3 Gbps). When used in RAID 0 (Stripe) mode, they offer even faster data transfer rates of up to a theoretical 4x the speed of current SATA interfaces.

3x USB Power Boost
GIGABYTE motherboards feature a 3x USB power boost, delivering greater compatibility and extra power for USB devices. GIGABYTE’s unique USB power design is also able to efficiently regulate output over the full voltage range, which greatly enhances USB device compatibility. In addition, dedicated lower resistance fuses ensure lower voltage drops, and provide more stable and plentiful power delivery.

On/Off Charge Technology
GIGABYTE On/Off Charge technology allows you to charge your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch regardless of whether your PC is on, in standby mode or even off. A derivative of GIGABYTE’s highly acclaimed 3x USB Power feature, On/Off Charge enables devices to draw more current from GIGABYTE motherboard USB ports than standard USB ports allow, so that charging from your PC can be as fast as with a charger…more
Note: Due to certain mobile phone limitations, users may need to connect the mobile phone to their PC before the PC enters S4/S5 mode to enable a quick charge from non On/Off Charge USB ports. Charging results may vary by model.

Visible Overvoltage Reminder
An onboard Debug LED (Embedded post code LED display) simplifies motherboard signals and indicates system status.

ErP Lot 6 support
The ErP (also known as Energy-Related Products Directive) is part of the European Union’s environmental regulations policy. It is based on concern for the environmental as the proliferation of electronic devices continues, and how to improve energy efficiency for a better and greener life. GIGABYTE supports ErP and produces motherboards that help you effectively improve system efficiency.

Source: GIGABYTE

Packaging and First Look

Package Front

GIGABYTE have come a long way in recent times if there packaging design is anything to go by. 10 years ago, GIGBAYTE would think nothing of slapping a space station design on the front of their boxes but here we are today and the design, while less busy is infinitely more appealing. The package is small in comparison with other high end motherboard package designs with the overall size being 50% smaller than the Rampage III Extreme from ASUS and also being considerably lighter.

Package Rear

The rear of the box goes into huge details displaying the plethora of overclocking features the X58A-OC has at its disposal. This area is almost like a mini-review of the mainboard thanks to the clear yet descriptive text and pictures

Inner Box

Unlike the highly polished exterior sleeve, the inner box is notable by having no markings whatsoever – just a plain white cardboard box. The inner box which holds the mainboard is even blander being your standard brown affair. Clearly, cuts have been made here to keep costs down but thankfully the packaging is no less sturdy than other offerings at the same price point. I would however at least like to have seen GIGABYTE include a foam sheet beneath the motherboard as a minimum to protect from physical shock. Thankfully the motherboard is sealed in an anti-static bag to protect from unwanted electrical discharge.

Accessories

The accessories are very sparse. Perhaps the only notable mention here is the inclusion of voltage monitoring leads which can be used in conjunction with a multimeter. The other accessories include a fixed length 3-way SLI bridge, a floppy SLI bridge and unusually for a motherboard, a Crossfire bridge. Making up the accessories are 4 SATA 6GBs data cables, Multilanguage manuals, I/O shield and a driver/utility CD.

Package Overview

Overall the package is nothing spectacular. The packaging is acceptable, the accessories adequate. This begs the question where did all of your hard earned money go? GIGABYTE have clearly made cuts to the packaging and accessories, including only the bare essentials rather than including gadgets that offer little to the products functionality and poured the majority of their budget into making something rather special, the motherboard itself. Overclockers don’t care for flashing lights, front panel devices, USB brackets or a rats nest of cables. GIGABYTE could have perhaps gone one step further and not included any accessories whatsoever and I doubt there would be many complaints, especially for those overclockers who will be using the board with extreme cooling as I would doubt any extreme overclocker would even look at the motherboard manual or have use of an I/O shield! Thankfully though, GIGABYTE have afforded the bare minimum for those who wish to use a case and are perhaps new to the overclocking circus.

Let’s take a look at the motherboard in detail…

Motherboard Overview

GIGABYTE X58A-OC

Stunning. The matt black power circuit board with contrasting tangerine ports and heatsink detailing is simply gorgeous and a wonder to behold. This has to be one of the best looking motherboards currently on the market. It’s great to see GIGABYTE have stepped away from the current black/blue theme most manufacturers seem obsessed with at present. While generally speaking most overclockers couldn’t care less what a motherboard looks like, I’m sure that when the crowds are gathered around this piece of hardware at overclocking events, onlookers will surely be impressed with the colour scheme GIGABYTE have chosen which sets it apart from any other mainboard currently available. It’s worth noting that this motherboard features double the amount of dual layered copper(2x 0.07mm thick, 2oz total) which aids in granting higher overclocks, improved efficiency, enhanced durability and cooling.

Motherboard Rear

Flipping the board over we see that GIGABYTE have used both spring-loaded screws and plastic pins to attach the heatsinks. Closer to the CPU socket area there are additional VRM’s but thankfully these are clear of the CPU heatsink holes so shouldn’t prove to be an issue on most CPU air or watercooling backplates.

CPU Socket Area

While the CPU socket is framed by tall heatsinks the immediate area around the socket is free from Solid State capacitors. Instead GIGABYTE have made insulating the area so much easier by using POScap tantalum capacitors which will no doubt reduce the amount of time needed to ensure the board is fully insulated with putty or neoprene etc. That said, the CMOS clear and PWM dip switches are perhaps not best positioned considering this area will be covered and thus would be better placed elsewhere on the mainboard. GIGABYTE have also used the LOTES retention kit instead of FOXCONN on this board, taking no chances with the rumour that FOXCONN have had problems with their retention kits causing uneven mounts or loose fitment depending on what rumour you might choose to believe.

Memory Sockets

You may notice that the DIMMs sit closer to the CPU socket than usual. This shortens the path to the CPU socket area and thus lowers the possible circuit noise which should enhance overclocking. Situated slightly higher than usual, the DIMM slots are easily accessible, even with the first GPU slot filled. The area also benefits from a 3-phase Uncore VRM coupled with 2 Phase memory circuitry. The colour co-ordinated memory sockets support 6 modules totalling a maximum 24GB of system memory. DDR3 2200MHz is the theoretical maximum speed afforded by the DIMM sockets and should you require, this board also supports XMP (Extreme Memory Profiles).

PCI Area

From top to bottom we have a PCIe 16x slot, PCIe 8x, PCIe 16x, a standard PCI slot and a further 8x PCIe slot. SLI/Crossfire uses that will use two cards would be best to utilise slots 1 and 3 to have the full 32 lanes available, the 2nd and slots support 8x only. The two uppermost PCIe slots share 16 lanes and the bottom two PCIe slots share the remainder with the 16x slots dropping down to 8x should the 8x PCIe slots be populated. Tri SLI and 4x Crossfire X multi GPU configurations are supported. It may seem baffling why GIGABYTE have used a PCI slot on such an extreme board. The reasoning is simple. A diagnostic PCI card can get you out of some major headaches should you have difficulties in getting the setup working again after some over ambitious overclocking.

SATA PCIe Power Connectors

Rather than use chunky MOLEX connectors, the X58A-OC is the first of its kind to make use of SATA power to feed hungry multiple GPU setups rather than drawing from the ATX power. Located on the edge of the motherboard, the connectors are a vast improvement over previous designs and thankfully will not get in the way of longer GPU cards.

SATA Ports

The GIGABYTE X58A-OC makes use of 8 SATA ports which may seem excessive for an overclockers motherboard. There are six SATA 3GB/s ports connected to the ICH10R Southbridge supporting RAID 0/1/5/10 configurations. There are also a further two SATA ports with a 6GB/s capability courtesy of the MARVEL SE9182 controller. Overclockers are unlikely to make use of anything more than a single SATA drive so to have a total of eight seems to be an odd proposition considering the boards target audience. GIGABYTE it seems are hedging their bets in this department be attempting to appeal to the average user as well as the extreme overclocker by affording such connectivity.

SATA Ports

The I/O area is in direct contrast to the numerous SATA ports, being sparse in comparison. I was happy to see that GIGABYTE have retained PS/2 connectivity for mouse and keyboards. A single Gigabit LAN port sits above two USB 2.0 ports while adjacent to this are 3 audio jacks. The three audio jacks are multi-purpose through software control to allow either MIC input/Subwoofer output, Line out/Front speaker out and Line in (Rear Speakers out). Finally, furthest to the right we see two USB 3.0 ports. On the one hand GIGABYTE have omitted some needless features such as 7.1 surround sound (although the CODEC does support 8 channels) yet have added USB 3.0 connectivity which in my conflicts with what an overclocker needs. I see little use in adding USB 3.0 connectivity unless GIGABYTE are again attempting to up the motherboards features thereby enhancing mass market appeal which surely goes against the ethos of this particular board.

Let’s delve a little deeper and take a look at the on-board components and power delivery circuit…

On-board features & Cooling

OC-Touch

One very cool feature this board has and one which overclockers will adore is the OC-Touch panel. The large red button is the main power button. Next to this is a 4G button. When pressed this will allow the motherboard (upon re-boot) reset the BIOS to a preloaded 4GHz configuration. I will cover this later in the review but while useful for novice overclockers, is perhaps a little insulting to the extreme overclockers. Below the 4G button are +/- buttons which adjust the CPU multiplier on-the-fly. The Gear button is for adjusting baseclock frequency adjustments. Press this button and you can fine tune the baseclock in 0.3Mhz increments. In standard form the +/- buttons will adjust the baseclock in 1MHz steps. Ideal for getting the absolute maximum from your overclock!

All of the buttons light up with an amber backlight depending on the configuration used be it intermittently lit when the button is pressed or always on.

Voltage Measurement Module

As the name suggests, this is where you can accurately measure the voltages of the mainboards output either by using the included cables or via the contact points. I will assess later in the review how accurate the board reads using a multimeter.

VRM Dip Switches

Dip Switches are somewhat a rarity on motherboards today thanks to the digital era. However for overclockers using extreme cooling Dip Switches can be a god send. Especially ones which can adjust the VRM switching frequency. The frequencies range from standard 400KHz through to 1MHz using a combination of switching modes.

Debug LED

GIGABYTE have seen fit to include a debug LED. While this is nothing truly innovative as we have seen this device many times before, it is certainly a useful device in deciphering where any boot issues may lay. A full rundown of the two digit codes are found in the motherboard manual.

IOH Cooling

Here we see the beautiful IOH heatsink. The unit is matt black but also has a plastic inserts which cover a strip of LED’s (amber). These LEDs are continually on but are unnoticeable during daylight. At night the motherboard comes alive though so while the LEDs are purely for decoration they do make the board look just as menacing during darkness as it is during the day. The heatsink is aluminium but very heavy thanks to the thick finned design. Unusually for a high end motherboard, the IOH is not connected to the ICH chipset, The IOH is however connected to the VRM heatsink via a heatpipe.

ICH Cooling

The Southbridge heatsink at first glance appears to be much larger than what we are used to seeing. It is made of the same material as the IOH heatsink but the thick fins instead of pointing upwards, stretch across the mainboard to increase the surface area thereby enhancing cooling potential.

ICH cooler overhang

Here you can see the overhang of the ICH heatsink. The heatink is low enough that it won’t interfere with graphics cards.

LED Lighting

Both the IOH and ICH have surface mounted LEDs hidden beneath plastic inserts. This is purely for aesthetic value and thus has no other function other than to make the board look even more appealing during darkness.

VRM Cooling

As previously stated, the VRM is attached to the IOH via a single heatpipe. This ensures that the heatload is spread over a wider area and lessons the chance of one component overheating. Unlike the IOH/ICH sections, the VRM heatsink is not enriched with LEDs but it does have a plastic insert to match the colour scheme of the rest of the motherboard.

While the VRM/IOH heatsink assembly is quite tall with thick angled fins, you will see in our test setup that even large aircoolers such as the Prolimatech Super-Mega doesn’t present any issues.

Cooler Contact

The IOH section has an aluminium baseplate and uses standard paste for thermal interface to the exposed core while both VRM and ICH heatsinks make do with thermal pads. GIGABYTE have also elected to cool the Entrontech USB 3.0 controller (far left) with a thermal pad for heat transfer to the VRM heatsink.

Let’s take a look at the on-board IC’s and of course the heart of the motherboard, the Voltage regulation circuitry…

Voltage Regulation & Motherboard IC's

While we do like to review motherboards in great depth at Vortez we felt the GIGABYTE X58A-OC deserved some special attention due to its innovative approach. While the packaging may be bland and sparse, this section explains where you money is being invested, the heart and soul of the X58A-OC, the Voltage Regulation Module.

Power delivery is perhaps the single most important factor when overclocking. It is all very well having the best clocking CPU on the planet, a humongous power supply and a truck load of LN2 but if you don’t have the foundation of good power delivery, all that expense will have been wasted. I am happy to report that the GIGABYTE have made some tremendous steps in ensuring this is not the case with the X58A-OC.

Voltage Regulation Module

Closest to use we can see the Uncore VRM which includes Low RDS (on) MOSFETs, Inductors and POScaps. Further up the field we see the bulk of the VRM which has 12 driver MOSFETs(left), 12 chokes and 20 input capacitors (POScaps) next to the CPU socket itself. Above and below the 2x 12v inputs there are a further 10 input capacitors. Uppermost and to the left of the dipswitches, there’s an iTE8275E IC which handles the phase switching in conjunction with the dip switches. Load-line calibration levels can also be adjusted thanks this little chip.

The MOSFETS used by the X58A-OC are DrMOS Gen III. SiC769CD which are rated at 35A and benefit from a 1MHz switching frequency. Because the driver is integrated on the MOSFET, efficiency is boosted to 90%. The inductors are what GIGABYTE call Max Power Ferrite Chokes (MPFC) and make up a six phase power design. Yes you read that right, 6 phase.

Phase power

It is a common misconception that the more phases equate to better overclocking. It is not unheard of (and GIGABYTE themselves have been guilty of this) for motherboards manufacturers to enter into the ‘who has the most power phases’ race. The struggle to have the most phase power blinded people into believing that the more phases a motherboard had, the higher the overclocking potential when in reality, it has relatively little effect once you reach a certain threshold. to have more than triple this amount with manufacturers claiming their VRM can handle in excess of 1KW of power when in reality there is simply no need for this amount of power for the VRM alone, extreme overclocking or not. Truth be told, you will most likely struggle to use even half that. So then, GIGABYTE have therefore opted instead to invest in even higher quality components over the number of power phases. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding but I would find it hard to believe that GIGABYTE would make such a bold move were they not confident improvements were to be gleaned from incorporating this strategy.

Nikos MOSFET

Nikos MOSFETs are also used around the motherboard to power less demanding components such as the ICH10R and SATA ports

PCIe Switches

The X58A-OC is capable of 16+16 or 8x + 8x + 8x + 8x CrossfireX along with SLI/Tri SLI in 16x + 16x or 8x + 8x +8x configurations via the Tylersburg IOH. The above ASMT ASM 1440 TC PCI-E switching controllers (8 in total) afford PCIe lane switching. For optimal performance, slots 1 and 3 should be used as these are configure to be 16x. Populating the second slot will drop the top slots to 8 PCIe lanes and populating the fourth PCIe slot will also drop the third down to 8x. I would have liked to have seen the NF200 chip included but the astronomical prices NVIDIA are demanding would have sent this motherboards price spiralling out of control so its absence is understandable.

Realtek ALC889C

The ALC889C chip is commonplace on motherboards today provides 10 DAC channels and can potentially support 7.1 audio providing you have the required amount of outputs. 24 bit SPDIF input/output is also supported but again, this is hardly a requirement for overclocking so once more this feature has been omitted from the backplate.

Realtek RTL8111E LAN

The Gigabit Ethernet controller for the X58A-OC is the Realtec RTL8111E which provides 10/100Mbps Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3ab specification for 1000Mbps Ethernet. It also supports Protocol offload by offloading some of the most common protocols to NIC hardware in order to prevent spurious wake up and to further reduce power consumption.

DUAL BIOS

DUAL BIOS has been a feature available to GIGABYTE motherboard users for a great deal of time now so at first glance you would think this is nothing new. What is new is that users can now physically switch between BIOS revisions by the means of using an on-board switch located conveniently at the bottom corner of the motherboard. Having a Dual BIOS allows overclockers to try out different BIOS’s without losing their profiles and will also allow users to simply switch to an alternative BIOS should a BIOS flashing procedure go awry.

iTE IT8720F

The iTE IT8720F Super I/O is a monitoring IC that monitors both CPU fan speed and control (CPU) and temperatures. The Winbond W83L786 controls the remaining 6 system fans and motherboard temperatures.

Entrontech EJ168A

While USB 3/.0 is hardly a pre-requisite for overclocking, it is none the less a welcome addition. The EntronTech EJ168A IC controls the two USB 3.0 ports and is a relative newcomer to building system IC’s with Renasus and NEC being the most commonly used controllers to date. Hopefully the EntronTech will provide more competition to the big two thereby reduce the price of integrated USB 3.0 controllers in the future.

Tylersburg Intel X58 IOH

THE IOH X58 Chipset is the awesome Tylersburg unit. This piece of silicon controls all of the 36 PCIe lanes and is the main cross communication platform linking most of the on-board components together. This chip has been criticised in the past for running very hot so I was glad to see that the heatsink contact was perfect and, at least with our sample, re-application of paste would have been unnecessary.

Southbridge

While the Intel ICH10R is obviously required for the board to function. The majority of features available to this chip are omitted from the X58A-OC as previously discussed. IT does however offer functionality to the Dual BIOS chips, the 6 SATA Ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports (2 out-board, 2 in-board), the PCI Express Bus, PCI Bus (33MHz) and communication with the Realtek Audio CODEC.

Test Setup & Voltage Measurments

For this review I will be pitching the GIGABYTE X58A-OC against our very own test bed motherboard which is held in very high regard by overclockers, gamers and enthusiasts alike, the mighty ASUS Rampage III Extreme. You may think that we are comparing apples to (excuse the pun) oranges here but quite simply there is no other motherboard like the GIGABYTE X58A-OC. Obviously a key section will be the overclocking but we will also test I/O performance, gaming and a whole host of other benchmarks to see how the GIGIABYTE X58A-OC fairs in comparison to the ASUS board. I should point out at this stage that perhaps a more direct competitor to the ASUS Rampage III Extreme would be the mighty GIGABYTE G1 Assassin motherboard which we hope to review at a later date.

Unfortunately, due to reasons beyond our control we could not get dry ice (more specifically a pot) in time for the review so we have had to make do with good old air cooling. This should however present an interesting slant on the overclocking results as the boards slug it out ‘mano-a-mano’.

Test Setup

CPU Intel Core i7 920 ‘D0’ 2.66GHz & Maximum Attainable Overclock
Motherboards
– GIGABYTE X58A-OC
– ASUS X58 Rampage 3 Extreme
Memory 3x2GB: Kingston HyperX CL8 1600MHz (slots 2,4 & 6)
CPU Cooler: Prolimatech Super Mega + 2x Alpenfohn Wingboost 140mm
Graphics: ZOTAC GTX560 1GB AMP! Edition
PSU: Antec High Current 1200W

The picture above shows the gap between the IOH heatsink and the graphics card. I would like to some further improvement on the way motherboard clasp graphics cards as with the graphics card in situ, it is difficult to release the clasp. That said the spacing on the X58A-OC is better than most, particularly with the memory sockets meaning the GPU does not need to be removed should you need to change the memory.

Voltage Measurement
Using a digital multimeter I measured the voltage readouts set via ‘EasyTune6’ and found the following:

With the Vcore set to a moderate 1.35v and LLC set to full calibration the above readouts confirmed that when idle, the Vcore was slightly less than what was set being 0.005v out. Conversely, the X58A-OC ever so slightly over compensated for voltage droop when placed under load (LinX) overvolting by 0.008v. This is a fantastic result and just goes to show how finely tuned the VRM is. The other readouts displayed similar results with no worrying anomalies found under idle or load.

Let’s take a look at the motherboards Pièce de résistance, the overclocking section…

Overclocking Analysis

Unlike Sandybridge, overclocking on X58 takes a lot more effort. Some might say it’s more enjoyable as there are a lot more variables to configure to get the absolute maximum from the setup. With multiple dividers and voltages to tweak, you can quite honestly adjust, test, re-adjust, for hours, even days on end until you find the absolute best settings.

Stock settings

Above is a shot of the ‘stock’ settings we will use for comparison during our run of benchmarks. This was however tweaked slightly as the ASUS board placed the stock value at 2667MHz so using the on-board baseclock adjuster along with the ‘gear’ button which allowed 0.3MHz adjustment, we raised the GIGABYTE’s value by 1MHz to make it an even playing field.

Maximum Baseclock

The maximum baseclock I ever attained on this particular CPU was 215MHz. As you can see above, the GIGABYTE stomped all over this value reaching 221 with relative ease. Sadly no matter what I adjusted or how far I dared push the voltages it would not go over this value. This was attained using a PCIe frequency of 118 MHz I was dissappointed with this truth be told, especially when you consider the motherboard currently holds the world record for the highest baseclock (276MHz)! That said, I am confident this is not the motherboard at fault, rather it is our mediocre CPU.

A nice little feature of the X58A-OC is the 4G button which when pressed will load a BIOS profile configuring the CPU to run at 4GHz. Understandably, extreme overclockers have no need for such a feature but for those who want a quick (and stable!) overclock after hours of messing with instability, the 4G button acts as a reprieve.

Automatic 4G Overclock

I had my doubts whether the 4G button would actually represent a good BIOS setting. However I am happy to report than none of the pre-set voltages were excessive and they would be quite safe for air-cooling. The Vcore was a little higher than what I have found this chip to require for stability so you may wish to experiment further, especially if CPU temperatures are an issue. You can setup your own profiles (16 in total using both BIOS chips) so there is plenty of scope for experimentation. This setting was however rock solid stable by completing 20 passes of LinX (all memory available).

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Maximum Stable Overclock

The maximum stable overclock attained on the ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard was 4.3GHz so I was thrilled to see the GIGABYTE beat this by a fair margin reaching 4.41GHz. This was attained by just using the BIOS as the boot sequence is stressful in itself so I wanted to see how far I could push the CPU without using the baseclock buttons. At this clockspeed the X58A-OC completed all of our benchmarks so while I am confident it is stable, I would not punish it with LinX due to the massive heatload which could potentially damage the CPU under air cooling.

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Maximum ‘Suicide’ Overclock

Setting the BIOS to the stable settings above, I then used a combination of Easytune6 to adjust the voltages and the on-board baseclock buttons to adjust the frequency which really are handy features. 4536MHz on AIR cooling is a tremendous effort. Most people would be thrilled with that result but I was left very frustrated as I knew the motherboard had so much more to give. I set out overclocking with a 1.5v Vcore max which is a ridiculous amount already for an air cooled setup so I was unwilling to push the voltage further. At the same settings, the ASUS board could not reach the same clockspeed, maxxing out at an already impressive 4.418 GHz.

Clearly the GIGABYTE X58A-OC has the tools to get the job done, whether you are a novice overclocker or experienced. More so the X58A-OC is just as capable under basic air cooling as it is under extreme cooling for which it was designed. The difference between the two motherboards is that the X58A-OC reached its overclock with ease, finding the maximum CPU overclock whereas the Rampage took a lot more work to get even close. I have no doubts that a much higher clockspeed would be attained on the X58A-OC with an extreme Intel CPU and some LN2/Dice so be aware that should you purchase this motherboard, the temptation to venture into the world of extreme cooling will be huge if you wish to obtain the highest potential from the GIGABYTE X58A-OC.

Power Consumption

It’s interesting to note the power consumption across all motherboards. Although they both motherboards are using the X58 chipset, energy results can fluctuate between manufacturers due to the features and specifications that are integrated. First of all, for the idle tests the system is cold booted into Windows and no additional applications are executed – the watts are noted on the external energy monitor we use and then the system is loaded with Prime95 26.4 – watts are again monitored for a period of 30minutes of the test and the highest rated wattage result is then noted down. Below are the results of this energy test.

Synthetic Benchmarks: HyperPI 0.99b

HyperPI uses the SuperPI front end which is widely used by overclockers to test both the stability and performance of a system. If a computer is able to calculate pi to the 32 millionth place after the decimal without mistake using the Gauss–Legendre algorithm , it is considered to be moderately stable in terms of RAM and CPU. The quicker it can do this, the faster the system is deemed to be.

1M digits

8M digits

Synthetic Benchmarks: wPrime v2.05

wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton’s method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we’re sqrting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum.

32 million integers

1024 million integers

Synthetic Benchmarks: AIDA64

Get your copy of AIDA64 here!

CPU Queen

This simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. It finds the solutions for the classic “Queens problem” on a 10 by 10 sized chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores. For example — with HyperThreading disabled — the Intel Northwood core processors get higher scores than the Intel Prescott core based ones due to the 20-step vs 31-step long pipeline. CPU Queen test uses integer MMX, SSE2 and SSSE3 optimizations.

CPU Photoworrx

This benchmark stresses the integer arithmetic and multiplication execution units of the CPU and also the memory subsystem. Due to the fact that this test performs high memory read/write traffic, it cannot effectively scale in situations where more than 2 processing threads used. For example, on a 8-way Pentium III Xeon system the 8 processing threads will be “fighting” over the memory, creating a serious bottleneck that would lead to as low scores as a 2-way or 4-way similar processor based system could achieve. CPU PhotoWorxx test uses only the basic x86 instructions, and it is HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP) and multi-core (CMP) aware.

CPU AES

This benchmark measures CPU performance using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) data encryption. In cryptography AES is a symmetric-key encryption standard. AES is used in several compression tools today, like 7z, RAR, WinZip, and also in disk encryption solutions like BitLocker, FileVault (Mac OS X), TrueCrypt.
CPU AES test uses only the basic x86 instructions, and it’s hardware accelerated on VIA PadLock Security Engine capable VIA C3, VIA C7 and VIA Nano processors; and on Intel AES-NI instruction set extension capable processors. The test is HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP) and multi-core (CMP) aware.

FPU Mandel

This benchmark measures the double precision (also known as 64-bit) floating-point performance through the computation of several frames of the popular “Mandelbrot” fractal. The code behind this benchmark method is written in Assembly, and it is extremely optimized for every popular AMD, Intel and VIA processor core variants by utilizing the appropriate MMX, MMX+/SSE, SSE2, SSSE3, or AVX instruction set extension. FPU Mandel test is HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP) and multi-core (CMP) aware.

Synthetic Benchmarks: SiSoftware SANDRA 2011

SANDRA isn’t always a benchmark that is included in hardware reviews but I believe it shouldn’t be ignored. SANDRA provides a vigorous package that tests your system in a rather large array of benchmarks. There are many aspects of benchmark that can be executed. We will be considering – CPU and memory tests.

Synthetic Benchmarks: Cinebench 11.5

CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.

Synthetic Benchmarks: x264 HD

Simply put, this test measures how fast your machine can encode a short, DVD quality MPEG-2 video clip into a high-quality x264 video clip. What’s x264, you ask? It’s more or less the next-generation Xvid/DivX codec. I think it’s ideal for a benchmark because the application (x264.exe) reports fairly accurate compression results (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encoding process, and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently.

x264 HD gives results for 2 passes when compressing an MPEG-2 clip into x264. It presents 4 separate results for each pass giving a total of 8 – all results are given in FPS. For each pass I have averaged out the results.

Synthetic Benchmarks: 3DMark 11

Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

3DMark 11 was released at the end of last year and needs little introduction. For the test settings both Performance and Extreme presets are run with ‘benchmark only’ being selected. This provides good analysis. Many will only test the performance preset, using the extreme mode we can examine the board under much more severe stressing.

System Benchmark: PCMark 7

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use. Whether you’ve built a complete system, upgraded a component or just want an objective system measurement tool, PCMark is the ideal utility to test computer speed and performance

Gaming Benchmarks: Crysis 2, Alien vs Predator & DiRT3

Crysis 2 caused controversy upon its release because it was by no means as ground breaking as the first rendition. It was ridiculed for pandering to the console masses but it has since been updated to include DX11 and tesselation upgrades which has made it into the game it should have always been.

The Adrenaline Crysis 2 Benchmark tool was used with overall settings set to ultra, DX11, 4xAA and Hi-Res tessellation packs applied. Central Park was the chosen map.

Spawned from the popular Alien and Predator franchises, Rebellion have collaborated to bring the legendary war to us through the medium of a first-person shooter. The game forces you to hunt, prey and most importantly survive in the swamp colony of Freya’s prospect as a Predator, Alien or Marine. The stunning visuals add to the sense of dread and terror that we have become so accustomed to seeing with the series.

The stand-alone Alien VS Predator benchmark tool was used for testing here. All the settings were set to very high and Tessellation was applied. The average FPS was recorded at the end.

As players race to elevate their global standing, DiRT 3 is back delivering mud, sweat and gears world over: from the intense weather-beaten rally stages of Europe, Africa and the US, to executing performance driving showcases and career challenges where car control is pushed to spectacular limits.

The in-game benchmarking tool was used to test performance. All the display settings were set to the maximum available and DirectX 11 was applied. The average FPS was recorded at the end.

Conclusion

The GIGABYTE X58A-OC is a tremendous motherboard for overclockers. It easily beat our previous favourite, the ASUS Rampage III Extreme which is by no means a slouch as this motherboard was widely regarded as one of the best motherboards for getting the absolute maximum from any CPU. It wasn’t just the final overclocking results that impressed the most though, it was the ease at which it got there. The on-board baseclock, 4G, Gear, and CPU multi adjustment buttons were a pleasure to use and made finding the best possible settings both easy and much less time consuming.

The components used on the X58-OC are from the top drawer too with the voltage regulation module being the best we have seen on any motherboard regardless of the chipset. This excellent choice of components was compounded when we tested the voltage accuracy to find that the settings we inputted were very close to the actual voltage applied. I could wax lyrical about the VRM for pages and to be quite honest, we simply did not have enough room in the review to write everything there is to say about it, such is the complexity of the module. Suffice to say, if this motherboard cannot get the maximum from your CPU, none can! It is the best overclocking motherboard based on the X58 chipset bar none.

Job done then? Well not quite. Despite it being broadcast as an overclockers motherboard, GIGABYTE have seen fit to include a few luxuries which in all honesty are not required and I feel it is a half-hearted attempt to lure those who are not at the extreme end of the overclocking scale to invest in this piece of equipment. While there is no doubting this board will get you to the highest overclock, a multimedia platform it is not. Be under no illusions that once the benchmarking has stopped, you may soon find that you would prefer a few extra USB ports, external SATA or additional audio. There are no firewire ports, only a single Gigabit LAN port, even front panel connectivity is sparse. While it cannot be marked down for this, I do think it is prudent to make people aware that this motherboard will just about get you by on a day to day basis (albeit very quickly) but should you require lots of connectivity then the novelty of the X58A-OC may soon wear off and thus you may wish to look elsewhere.

That said, an ‘everyday’ motherboard wasn’t what GIGABYTE intended with the X58A-OC. Go take a look at the G1 range if that’s your bag. GIGABYTE set out to build an overclocking board, designed by overclockers, built for overclockers and I am happy to report it is the mission was a complete success. I cannot praise GIGABYTE enough for building such a fantastic piece of kit. My only regret is that it did not arrive on the scene sooner. While X58 is still one of the best platforms to get the highest benchmark scores, time is rapidly running out with X79 just around the corner which in all likelihood will put X58 to the sword. Hopefully though, GIGABYTE will introduce the ‘OC’ platform on future chipsets earlier in it’s lifespan in the future. X79-OC perhaps?

The GIGABYTE X58A-OC is a very addictive piece of hardware that will leave you in a state of euphoria when you beat your previous best SuperPI time, 3DMark or submit that suicidal CPU-Z validation shot. Conversely, it can leave you frustrated, as was with the case with me, because if you do not have adequate cooling, you will not extract the best from this motherboard. You must understand, a motherboard like this is screaming out for anything and everything you can throw at it and truth be told, it is perhaps wasted on those who intend to use it as a 24/7 component unless your days are taken up running benchmark after benchmark. The dragster analogy rings true here because you wouldn’t drive a dragster to the corner shop, it belongs on the race strip, revving it’s mighty engine, proving its worth until either your CPU blows a gasket or you simply run out of DICE.

For those who are about to overclock, GIGABYTE we salute you.

Pros:
-Best in class performance
-Best in class Voltage regulation
-Best in class overclocking
-Excellent motherboard layout
-Beautiful colour scheme

Cons:
-Basic packaging
-Poor connectivity
-A little late to the X58 party