Intel DX58SO X58 Express Chipset Motherboard Review

Introduction To The DX58SO

Intel chipset-based motherboards have always been some of the most reliable boards on the market. Not only that, but Intel chipset-based motherboards that are produced by Intel have always been some of the most feature rich and durable boards on the market. Intel could easily sit back for a bit and rest on their laurels, but they don't; they keep pushing ahead with constant innovation. That innovation has brought them to their newest chipset, the Intel X58 Express chipset, and the Intel DX58SO Motherboard.

The Intel DX58SO chipset, coupled with the ICH10R southbridge, brings the best and greatest that Intel has to offer to a quality designed motherboard that will bring the end user all the performance, speed and capabilities to make their computing experience all that it can be.

Let's take a look at the specs...

Specs

Form factor	ATX (12.00 inches by 9.60 inches [304.80 millimeters by 243.84 millimeters])
Processor	Click View supported processors for the most current list of compatible processors. At product launch, this desktop board supports: Support for a Intel® Core™ i7 processor in an LGA1366 socket
Memory	Four 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets Support for DDR3 1600 MHz, DDR3 1333 MHzς, DDR3 1066 MHz Support for up to 16 GB of system memory
Chipset	Intel® X58 Express Chipset
Audio	Intel® High Definition Audio subsystem in the following configuration: 10-channel (7.1) Dolby Home Theater* Audio subsystem with five analog audio outputs and two S/PDIF digital audio outputs (coaxial and optical) using the Realtek* ALC889 audio codec
Video	Nvidia SLI* and ATI CrossFire* multi-GPU platform support enables two graphics cards to work together for ultimate 3D gaming performance and visual quality Full support of next-generation ATI CrossFire* and Nvidia SLI*
LAN support	Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Peripheral interfaces	Twelve USB 2.0 ports (8 external ports, 2 internal headers) Six Serial ATA 3.0 GB/s ports, including 2 eSATA port with RAID support supplied by a Marvell* controller Two IEEE-1394a ports (1 external port, 1 internal header) Consumer IR receiver and emitter (via internal headers)
Expansion capabilities	One PCI Conventional* bus add-in card connectors (SMBus routed to PCI Conventional bus add-in card connector) One primary PCI Express* 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector One secondary PCI Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector One PCI Express* 1.0a x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connector

Intel also supports this board with a three year limited warranty.