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DFI LANPARTY UT X58-T3eH8 Review
[Abstract]
Flame Freezing the Intel X58 So far, Intel's latest CPU microarchitecture has been limited to the high-end niche segment. Blame it on the success of the Intel Core 2 microarchitecture, for Core...
[Content] PCDigitalMobileGame
Conclusion
At around US$300, the DFI is the most affordable of the four enthusiast motherboards that we have reviewed. And it's also priced fairly, with its feature list probably the weakest of the four (relatively speaking). While the standard Intel X58 Express chipset features are present, it lacks some of the extras that are found on the others. The Flame Freezer is an interesting idea, but thanks to the huge passive heatsinks on the board, the DFI already performed as well as the best of the other three motherboards when it came to chipset operating temperatures.
For the extreme users, the Flame Freezer may have its use but it's not as critical as one would think - at least not in a tropical environment. The Flame Freezer would however be more advantageous in a colder environment. Other features that would appeal to users, from the Auto Boost System to the advanced BIOS options are good but not something that trumps the competition. At least the overclocking that we attempted on this board had decent returns, matching the ASUS Rampage II Extreme in maximum base clock even if the DFI could not match the overwhelming number of overclocking features on the ASUS board.
DFI's X58 offering is a competent board that's competitive with its rivals in terms of performance and overclocking. |
Moving onto the performance aspect, the DFI scored mostly on par with its rivals and at the moment, we don't see any one of these boards having any significant advantage over the rest. Power efficiency seemed to be an area where the DFI suffered. Although it managed decently during idle, at peak power, the DFI board drew quite a bit more power than the previous power hog from ASUS. Even then, normal users would find that their PCs are idle most of the time while overclocking enthusiasts will probably be fine with this compromise.
To sum up, this enthusiast's oriented X58 board is a well-rounded motherboard that should perform competitively against some of its more expensive peers. Despite the presence of an attention-grabbing heatsink, it lacks the extra edge and some features to stand out decisively from the competition. Nevertheless, those looking for a board for the tweaks and overclocking will find the DFI UT X58-T3eH8 an excellent choice, especially at its US$300 price tag.
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