Home > Consumer Reviews > Intel DX58SO Extreme Series X58 ATX Tri-Channel DDR3 16GB SLI or CrossFireX LGA1366 Overclocking Utility Desktop Board - Retail

Just built my Core i7 system using this Intel DX58SO board and it's so fast!!!! I've never been a big overclocker because I'm not that experienced at overclocking and keeping everything stable. However, this board has an overclocking utility that makes it so easy. You'll want to update the bios first from the intel site. Also zoom in on the picture of this board...the DDR3 memory slots are horizontal and next to the processor. I'd never seen this before, all other boards have the dimm slots running vertical. I read a review that the new orientation of the memory allows it to stay cooler as the air flow is improved and the trace route to the processor is shorter making it faster. Well all I can say is my new system rocks.

Core i7 - 920, Intel DX58SO, Corsair 6gb 1333 DDR3, VisonTek HD4870

First off their is no IDE or PS/2 connections so be ready for that. After I got everything in my computer put together and ready to go I went to plug in my keyboard and it was usb only. So just find yourself an a adapter or get yourself a new keyboard. The price of DDR3 is cheap so its not so much a big deal to invest in. There is one PCI slot and now with the newer BIOS update its SLI compatible which is great since when I read the description it says that its only Crossfire ready. If you want to go with something beyond two way SLI than you may want to go with the EVGA model which has more DIMM slots as well. I was going to go with EVGA but my new case would not allow it and I don't have the budget for three cards. I like the way the board is situated with DIMM slots running vertical and looks like everything is closer to the processor than on other boards I have seen. I guess when everything is moving at light speed a smallest measurement closer makes a difference on a motherboard. Install is a cinch just make sure you take your time and don't rush and make a stupid mistake. I have found that in my experience I mess up on stupid things instead of something big. Overclocking has been a little more simplified on this board which is what you should probably do if you invest in these boards. Overall this board has everything that I need with lots of SATA and USB ports and its super fast with my i7 920 along with my 6 Gigs of Corsair Dominator DDR3. All I can say is I can't wait to get my hands into some overclocking when I get the free time. Keep in mind only 64 bit Vista will see anything above about 3 and a half gigs so if you don't want 64 than just be ready not to see what you put in. One minor issue is the setup of the PCI Express slots since I have an 8800 GTS (one of the fatties) and a Creative X-Fi sound card it doesn't leave room for another 8800 GTS without me having to remove my sound card. Its not that big of an issue though since I plan on getting a smaller newer card anyways. Though if you have a fat card like me and something in the PCI slot and want to run SLI you might run into trouble so that is worth noting in my mind. Is this board worth it though I would have to say absolutely yes.

According to Intel sticking in a fourth stick will cause a degrade in performance so since most ram that's DDR3 come in three packs its not so much a big deal. Also when it first came on and I entered BIOS everything was recognized but I could not get the thing to boot my ROM drive and it would just sit there with a black screen and then it would ask me to select cd drive type 1 or 2. After about three hours or so it all of a sudden worked after I selected 1 it booted finally and everything was installed (operating system). The next problem was it would not restart and as soon as my computer would go off and come on again it would be a black screen going nowhere. Then I remembered update your BIOS dummy and I read all the notes and a lot of issues I had was fixed in the BIOS update including my restart problem. There was an issue also with my type of ROM drive not booting when put first in priority and that is the issue I had with trying to get it to boot to install my operating system. Now everything runs perfect and I could not be happier. The reason I put all this in my review was it did not go as smooth as I thought it would and someone else might have problems. If you do have issues just drop me a comment and maybe I can help you out just from what I had to do.

I purchased an i7 processor and wanted to match it to the board. The only glitch was that I had purchased a power supply without the 4x2 connector required by this board. I ended up needing more power for my video card anyway so it all worked out. You will need to watch the case that you put this in since heat is an issue. Everything is larger -- the powersupply, the heat sink, and the video board that you will want to match to this kind of horsepower. I have a total of nine fans in this computer and it warms up my home office. The blue LEDs off of the fans adds a bit of bling. I am impressed with the overall performance.

Well I purchased this board and had to send it back twice because of faulty boards. They wouldn't power up, also I noticed some heat sinks were loose. After I got the third, I got it up and running and it has been strong for over a year. Overclocking is pretty easy with it too.

So three stars, I'm happy with the board now, but it took 3 boards to get one that actually worked.

I recently purchased the Intel(R) DX58SO board to replace an older desktop PC. First I removed the old PC parts from an Antec SOHO chassis and replaced the power supply with a new 600 watt supply ATX12 v2.2 spec or greater.

Then I carefully installed with an ESD protection strap the big ATX sized DX58SO into the chassis. I found it easier to work with it when the box and board are horizontal on a sturdy table. Careful attention to power supply cable connections and processor installation is a combination of following detailed paper and online instructions.

The Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-940 boxed processor came with a nice big fan with heat-sink and since I planned to leave settings more or less stock I installed this fan.

For RAM memory I installed Corsair TR3X6G1600C9XMS3 6GB 3 X 2 because it was low cost and quality tested.

I used a XFX HD4850 + 1GB DDR3 RAM video card because it had lower power, low fan noise, low cost and respectable performance for most applications and games. (I really wanted the new HD5850, but thought it would push the power supply too far and require a higher cost.).

I used a low cost DVD-W SATA3 interface drive to boot and load software (Samsung SH-S223L and a SATA cable from spare parts).

Also I used the Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB, 32MB cache, SATA3 drive for main system storage.

Everything else plugged in easily (LCD monitor into HD4850 port 0) and powered up well.
As a first power-up check I set the DX58SO jumper to boot to bios selection then went to the bios monitor and verified the chassis fans, CPU fan, supply voltages and temperatures were correct and everything is recognized and running stable.

I tried an older Microsoft(R) XP Pro 32 bit operating system install and found it hung up and realized the needed drivers (64 bit) were not supporting critical hardware.

After some thought and online review I decided it was much easier to just get an upgrade version of Microsoft Ultimate Vista SP1 since it has 32 and 64 bit operating system disks. I changed the boot jumper and booted the 64 bit Vista Ultimate. This worked great using the clean install, with no downloads or patches procedure.

After getting through the Vista install, I connected to the broadband network and used Microsoft update. After many Vista updates, I then installed the DX58SO disk to upgrade Intel drivers and bios, then Intel Desktop Control Center and applications that came with the DX58SO board, especially a virus scanner. I used Norton 360 because it has worked well in other systems.

I double checked using the Intel Desktop Control Center app all of the memory settings, power supply voltages, temperatures, CPU and memory performance. No settings were altered, since everything was running without any problem.

After all the work to get this system running smoothly and optimizations I am very pleased with the results. Browsing to sites on the internet and most everything else is much faster (large sites just pop on the screen). The Microsoft ratings for system performance in all categories pegged at 5.9 after optimizations and updates.

For a reasonable cost, I found the performance boost will easily pay for itself with the time saved in getting more done. It's nice to not be limited by the speed of your computer applications when you are trying to get work done as fast as possible.
Thanks to all for producing components that make this an excellent new computing platform.