ASUS P6X58-E Pro Review

[Kipper]

WPrime 2.04

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 sorting, 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. This is a highly multi-threaded workload.


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Cinebench R10

Cinebench R10 64-bit
Test1: Single CPU Image Render
Test2: Multi CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score


Developed by MAXON, creators of Cinema 4D, Cinebench 10 is designed using the popular Cinema software and created to compare system performance in 3D Animation and Photo applications. There are two parts to the test; the first stresses only the primary CPU or Core, the second, makes use of up to 16 CPUs/Cores. Both are done rendering a realistic photo while utilizing various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders.


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Cinebench R11.5

Cinebench R11.5 64-bit
Test1: CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score


MAXON’s latest benchmark, Cinebench R11.5 makes use of all your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene using various different algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects containing more than 300,000 total polygons and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights and shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. This particular benchmarking can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. The result is given in points (pts.). The higher the number, the faster your processor.




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PCMark 7

PCMark 7 v1.0.4
PCMark Suite / Default Settings
Comparison: Generated Score



The main focus of our General Tasks category lies with the most recent installment of the PCMark series, Vantage. While still classified under the description of a Synthetic benchmark, PCMark Vantage uses many of Vista's (Note - Vantage is Vista-only) built-in programs and features along with its own tests, so it is "real-world" applicable in regards to CPU performance. The following is a general list of the tests in the PCMark suite, very much in line with tasks of an average user: Data encryption, Data compression, CPU image manipulation (compression/decompression/resize), Audio transcoding, Video transcoding, Text editing, Web page rendering, Windows Mail, Windows Contacts, and CPU game test.


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Next up is our SLI Benchmarks………………

[Kipper]

3DMark 11 Benchmark:

3DMark 11 is the most recent release by Futuremark, creators of the 3DMark suite. 3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world’s most popular benchmark for measuring the graphics performance of gaming PCs. Designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

For our testing, we will use the Performance setting with all other settings at default. The build version is the latest Advanced version of 3DMark 11.


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Results: If you want that extra 3D performance, the P6X58-E Pro is no slouch with SLI with a gain in 3DMarks (performance preset) of 3,312 or an improvement of better than 90%!


3DMark Vantage Benchmark

3DMark Vantage is a recent release by Futuremark, creators of the 3DMark suite. This program was the first Futuremark version of 3DMark designed exclusively for Windows Vista. 3DMark Vantage consists of 2 CPU and 2 GPU tests as well as and 6 feature tests all of which are very hardware intensive. Four presets are available to allow for those with older PCs to benchmark just as easily as those with cutting edge hardware. For our testing, we will use the Performance setting with all other settings at default. The build version is the latest patched version of Vantage v1.0.1.


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Results: Similar to 3DMark 11, the Crosshair also shows a really nice improvement in Vantage when a second GTX 560Ti is added.

Next up let’s take a look at Overclocking with the ASUS P6X58-E Pro……….

[Kipper]

Overclocking - Auto and Manual


Auto Tuning


With the i7 980X running at its stock speed of 3.33GHz you simply open up the ASUS Turbo EVO section of the ASUS A1 Suite II and then start the system. As you can see with a single click of the “Start” button and within a couple minutes the P6X58-E Pro is humming along at 4140MHz. This is a simple feature for even the most novice user to achieve a respectable and stable OC.

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After pressing the Start button the system starts performance tuning and may reboot a couple times. Do not restart or operate the computer on your own while the system is doing its tuning process.

This auto tuning performance will vary by the installed devices such as CPU and RAM. This auto tuning is accomplished under stress testing which is all done automatically and it is highly recommend that you have some level of advanced cooling be it a big air cooler of your choice or liquid cooling since the overclock with mean higher voltages which means higher temps.

OK, so after a couple of minutes of auto tuning this is the OC that I am presented with:


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So, let’s see if this Auto Tuning OC is stable under a 10x run of LinX.


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Here are the validation screens under CPU-Z:


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Here in sunny California the temp today is a mere 103°F and with the air set for 74° the room temperature with 3 high end systems running in the office is holding at 85° so the temps while running these test were respectful in my opinion anyways.

Not bad for not having to go into the BIOS and start tweaking our settings. Let’s take a few minutes and do some manual overclocking next…..


Manual Overclocking

BIOS Based Overclocking

OK, so you are still craving for a higher OC are you?

As I mentioned in the BIOS section of this review the P6X58-E Pro motherboard’s A1 Tweaker section of the BIOS provides a very extensive set of options for tweaking the system for some impressive Overclocking and performance gains. This can be daunting to some depending on your experience and enthusiasm but with practice and patience your efforts will prove to be very rewarding.

Using a Koolance CPU-370 CPU water block, a Swiftech 240 radiator, 12 GB (3 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2000Hz memory, and an Intel LGA1366 i7-980X processor, I was able to get the board stable at a 152.92MHz bus speed.With this base clock setting enforced, the CPU ran at a 4.7GHz speed with the memory coming in at 458.7MHz. For these speeds, I used the listed settings:6-6-6-18-1T memory timing settings, CPU ratio of 31, 1.5V memory voltage, 1.4000V CPU voltage, 1.80V CPU PLL voltage, 1.3V QPI voltage, 1.096 IOH voltages, ICH voltage and ICH PCI voltage set at Auto. With the Digi+VRM setting for Duty Control set at T.Probe and Phase Control set on Extreme.



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Here in sunny California the temp today is a mere 103°F and with the air set for 74° the room temperature with 3 high end systems running in the office is holding at 85° so the temps while running these test were respectful in my opinion anyways.


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My adventures at overclocking the P6X58-E Pro with the i7 980X was a quick and easy task; should you have an i7 900 series chip that is not the extreme edition you will still find the overclocking features of this board more than adequate I am sure.

OK, forget that, we know we are all going to continue to milk it for all she’s worth, that’s the fun part for sure.

Well, there you have it, this wraps up my review of the P6X58-E Pro motherboard. Now we will to try to summarize my findings which is going to be difficult because we have so many notes to go over that is overwhelming filled with positives.

[Kipper]

The ASUS P6X58-E Pro is based on the tried and true X58 chipset hosting the LGA1366 socket processors. We haven’t seen many new X58 based boards from any of the manufacturers besides ASUS and with the P6X58-E Pro board ASUS continues to give us choices.

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the P6X58-E Pro board is the Dual Intelligent Processors that ASUS has pioneered using two on-board chips; EPU (Energy Processing Unit) and the TPU (TurboV Processing Unit). These Dual Intelligent Processors usher in a new era of performance and energy efficiency. The new Digi+ VRM which works great making power available as any additional load is applied which is excellent for overclocking. Unlike ordinary digital VRM design, the Extreme Engine Digi+ combines the advantage of both the digital and analog VRM design, delivering less switching delay while offering better accuracy at the same time. Not only offering finer spacing of PWM power frequency interval, the choke used also sustains 25% more current than ordinary design, capable of delivering up to 40A. This enables better permeability and less power loss, meaning less heat will be produced under the same configuration. Furthermore, thanks to the nature of being digital, the power solution can also be fully customizable by the user in real time, making system optimization easily achievable by the user.

SATA ports you ask? Internally you have 8 SATA ports, 6 being SATA II which are managed by the ICH10R controller and will support RAID functionality. You also have 2 SATA III connections via the Marvell 9128 controller to support the latest, greatest and fastest SSDs available today.

USB 3.0 is a recent addition to motherboards and a great deal of the P6X58-E Pro’s predecessors does not offer this technology which is fast making legacy USB going the way of the Dinosaur. The possibility of NVidia 3-way SLI or 4-way AMD CrossfireX with dedicated graphics engine on the powerful X58 platform will surely satisfy the most ardent of gamers.

The P6X58-E Pro has more than met the wants and needs of this writer and has proven to be a well laid out board with features that should appeal to users of at all levels from novice to expert. The ability to quick and painlessly overclock using the included ASUS AI Suite II software should not be intimidating for the less experienced user and the robust BIOS for those experts that want to further fine tune their system.

The only really negative, actually a negative thought if you will, is the fact that the X58 chipset along with the LGA1366 socket is now “Old School” as they say. So many enthusiasts have jumped to the Sandy Bridge platform or are anxiously waiting for the upcoming technologies from both Intel and AMD that upgrading your X58 board might now seem like the thing to do at this time. Well, I say hogwash, if you have a great performing i7 9--- processor that is still serving you but your motherboard is lacking some or all of the great features of the ASUS P6X58-E pro then save a good deal of cash and just upgrade the board. That’s my plan for now anyways.

[chrsplmr]

Kip, Do you ever sleep? ++ Thank You.

[Kipper]

Thanks

Sleep is over rated.