X58A-OC Review- Physical Review
(Layout, Packaging, VRM analysis, ICs Analysis, Initial Air Cooling Results)
(After staring at this board for a few hours, as I do every board, I try to analyze what type of design this board is trying to model. I have a feeling this board is supposed to have heatsinks that resemble a car, and a fast one at that, but I felt as though this ICH (Southbridge) heatsink looks like a flag waving in the air.)(Layout, Packaging, VRM analysis, ICs Analysis, Initial Air Cooling Results)
Today I have my first close encounter with this masterpiece of a motherboard. Like no other motherboard its sole purpose is to fulfill the needs of overclockers, and overclockers only. Yes it is true, every motherboard is overclockable, yet not all motherboards are overclocking friendly. This isnt the first motherboard to be tuned to overclock, and its not the first to hold world records, but it is the first motherboard to be targeted solely at overclockers, and extreme overclockers at that. Not everyone may agree with that statement, but it is true. While many motherboards feature overclocking as their main feature, they still are marketed towards gamers as well. As we saw earlier the G1 series is targeted towards gamers, and hardcore gamers at that, this board is on the exact opposite side of the spectrum in terms of features. While the G1 Assassin might have a creative 20K2 audio processor and a Bigfoot NIC, the X58A-OC has a revamped voltage regulator module and direct hardware controlled multiplier, BLCK, and even switching frequency adjustments. This board is similar to a few other boards in terms of its features, but this board is without any features that overclockers do not need. With this board you dont pay a premium for ICs(chips) you will never use (extra USB, dual NIC, eSATA, IEEE, or even 6 channel audio), instead GIGABYTE took the money that was saved and invested it in custom order parts for the voltage regulator module, and some nifty overclocking features.
By far the most interesting part of this board is GIGABYTEs take at miniaturizing their 24phase voltage regulator module (VRM), following that are the OC buttons, and then small things (4GHZ easy button, PWM switches, BIOS switch, 4 way CF/3 way SLI, triple slot spacing, etc .). Today I will begin by going over the parts of the board, and then I will explain how the new VRM compares to the old one. Following the explanation of how everything works with the VRM, I will go on to explain every chip, one by one. For you to get a real sense of what this board has to offer you will need to see what makes it tick, and then how it performs. Of course that is a huge venture so just as usual I split my reviews into two parts, with this one being all about the physical stuff.
Table of Contents:
Layout and Packaging
Voltage Regulator Module Analysis
Important Overclocking ICs
All other ICs (Including Marvell SE9182 SATA6G and EtronTech USB 3.0)
Heatsink Analysis
Board Installation and initial OC results
Conclusion
Please press the power button to begin
Packaging and Accessories:
This board is standard ATX size. It will fit any case that can do normal ATX. There is no problem with it fitting into a case, even with triple slot PCI-E spacing. The box is fitting as well, plain and simple; its all in the name.
Overclockers dont necessarily want any fancy boxes, or any fancy accessories like stickers, we just want a solid board that performs well.
I took the board out of the box to show you that we arent paying for anything we dont need (they could have lost the CD, and probably a pack of the SATA cables, and even the back panel).
Layout and Design:
In this section I will go over everything from the buttons (including function), to connectors, and even to PCI-E spacing.
Here is a quick look at what we will be covering in this section:
The socket area is well done, very clean compared to many boards. This was done so that it is easier to insulate. The lack of can-type capacitors on the entire board makes insulation much easier. As you can see the main heatsink isnt attached to the ICH (Southbridge) heatsink. This heatsink alone is quite heavy. We will take a deep look at the heatsinks in the cooling section. We will also take a look at how well some aftermarket heatsinks fit on this board, and how their fans work with these large heatsinks.
Moving to the RAM area, we can see that it is pretty close to the CPU socket. This helps cut down on parasitics, as the trace length is shorter from the CPUs memory controller to the RAM slots. Also notice that the RAM slots dont extend below the boards heatsink. This is so you can switch out RAM without having to remove your extra long GPU. The buttons for OC are situated facing the right side of the board. This is a great position for benchmarking. GIGABYTE expects that most users wont use a case; even if they do the buttons are still workable.
Here we have the lower right hemisphere. The SATA ports are all angled, and we even have a nice SATA6G port hooked up to the Marvell SE9182, Marvells new SATA6G controller. The ICH heatsink looks like a flag, I swear. Many overclockers wont use the IOH/VRM heatsink, but this way they can still use the ICH heatsink, because it does get hot. You can also notice the PEG-OC (PCI-E power plugs) in our case they are actually SATA power connectors. I am told that you can hook up two different PSUs to these plugs, one for each PSU. In the component test section you will see how well it works out. The position the SATA power connectors are in makes them perfect, in a case or outside, we can see how on a PSUs daisy chain of SATA power connectors, the SATA drive can be hooked up right next to the SATA ports.
Here we have our trusty PCI-E layout. The 1st and 3rd PCI-E slots are full 16x slots, the 2nd and 4th are 8x slots. The way this is done means that you can fit two triple slotted GPUs and have them each run at 16x. The lack of NF200 makes 4-way SLI impossible, but keeps costs down. It is obvious that this board is made for 2D and single or dual card benching. If this board had an NF200 chipset, it would cost more, but also if you only use one or two cards you have added latency that otherwise wouldnt be there. NF200 is really meant for 3 and 4 way SLI setups. We can see that GIGABYTE kept our trusty PCI slot, for anything from an iRAM to an extra diagnostic card.
Lets start again from socket area around, but this time with closeups of noticable features.
We have the trusty X58 Lottes socket. Some earlier X58 Foxconn sockets showed burn. It seems they have fixed it for P67, but for X58 Lottes is preferred. We also have out clear CMOS button, as well as our 3 DIP switches for VRM switching frequency. The stock value for switching frequency is 400 kHz, switch 1 = 600 kHz, switch 2 = 800 kHz, and switch 3 = 1 MHz. Each frequency is good for a different condition, or a different CPU. You have to play around and see which is best for you, and I will explain what switching frequency is and how it has an effect on overall VRM performance.
Here we have our trusty OC workspace. We have everything from voltage monitoring points, to multiplier and BLCK adjustment. You press the Gear button to change between 1Mhz and 0.3Mhz BLCK increments. We also have our trust LED POST display. I really like the LED POST display as its an easy troubleshooting tool. The Power and Reset buttons are together as well. The power, 4G, Gear, BLCK +/-, and Multiplier +/- buttons all are lit with orange LEDs inside. The 4G, power, and Gear buttons will stay lit, but the incremental buttons ONLY stay lit when being pressed. You will see how it works in the SetUP section.
Here we have a close-up for the voltage measurement module (that is what GIGABYTE calls it). You can either use their provided connectors, or free measure the pads if you only have one DMM (Digital Multi Meter). Each read point is also labeled.
Here we have the SATA ports, the SATA6G port is grey colored. The PCI-E power connectors are really a great idea. This is a first I have seen on any motherboard, and I hope it catches on because it really is ingenious.
As I said earlier somewhere, that I love DIP switches. Here we have one long overdue for the dual BIOS feature on the GIGABYTE boards. Rather than using fancy key combinations we can finally just flick a switch. This will no doubt cut down on board RMAs as well as increase user satisfaction and control. It is a small thing, but one that is important for serious overclockers. Not only can you save 16 profiles, but you can also use one BIOS to test a BETA while the other is your 24/7 OC, and you have full user control.
I just wanted to say again that there are 7 fan connectors, 6 of them at 4-pin PWM connectors. This is a feature we saw on the G1 Assassin; the user has full control over every fan port via EasyTune6 or even SpeedFan.
Now I know what a lot of you guys want to see, how does GIGABYTE do all of this? Well to begin here is the board, nude:
You can see one gorgeous Voltage Regulator Module (VRM). In this next section I am going to tell you and show you where all the saved money from the extra ICs go. Follow me to the most important and most interesting part of this review, Voltage Regulation Section!
Voltage Regulator Module: