EVGA X58 Classified - Trophy Board
by Rajinder Gill on May 8, 2009 3:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Our retail board arrived last week and now we aim to tie up the loose ends we left in our first look using the engineering sample (ES) board. The loose ends revolve around cooling, additional heavy OC stuff (for the intended audience), and functionality.
Not many people can afford a $449 motherboard. In fact, we seriously doubt anyone in his or her right mind would pay that much for a motherboard not installed in a server responsible for a company's business. However, there are the few, the proud, the extreme benchmarking crowd who swoon over products like this one.
We have spent a lot of time with this board. Probably too much time, once we looked over the logbook and thought back to the first day our early engineering sample board arrived in the labs. We were there during the development phase and stuck with it all the way through to its release. We never regretted the journey and sound like sentimental fools at this point, but it's not too often a product like this comes along in our business.
It is an interesting product and one we cannot put down long enough to write a ten thousand-word diatribe for it. This board is a beast; it makes no apologies for its cost, its purpose, or in your face configuration. It only asks that you have enough knowledge about overclocking to get the most out of it. That really is the crux of this board as it is all about overclocking.
For those not interested in extreme overclocking or wanting a trophy board in their pimped out case, there are much better values in the land of X58. Keep this in mind as our follow up today concentrates on overclocking and not general performance. The board performs just as well as any other X58 motherboard when it comes to running Excel or transcoding the latest movie. In 3D gaming, it is a couple of percent slower than the boards without the NF200, but that penalty is never noticeable without a benchmark.
If this is a deal breaker for you and you would like to play with the Classified design sans NF200, you will be pleased to know this option is now available on a non-NF200 model (E760) that comes in at a slightly lower price of $399. We cannot address the performance loss or overclocking ability of A vs. B at this point, as our non-NF200 Classified board has not arrived. However, we will hedge our bets that performance figures in most standard hardware configurations will be the same as what we have already experienced, with the NF200 GPU intensive stuff 1-2% behind the non-NF200. We think one advantage the NF200 board might have is in extreme overclocking as the load on the X58 is reduced, but more on that later.
For now, let's look at what the NF200 Classified can do in full retail form when teamed up with the right components and is properly tuned.
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TA152H - Saturday, May 16, 2009 - link
You're really an idiot if you don't see any difference here.PCI-Express can, in rare, situations offer additional performance to AGP, or the AT-Bus (ISA is properly called the AT-Bus, IBM invented it, so they get to name it).
USB gives no additional benefits for keyboards or mice, and in fact cost performance.
There's no parallel here. If you admit they use clock cycles, then what system you use is irrelevant. They waste clock cycles for no reason. As I mentioned, it's very, very slight, but why pay for it at all? Especially with a board geared for performance, why waste clock cycles on USB? It makes no sense. If USB keyboards or Mice did something PS/2 port versions couldn't, I'd at least see some point. But, they don't, so there's no point. This is different from the moronic examples you gave, where there can be some advantages.
takumsawsherman - Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - link
I completely agree. This unit forces you to use a USB mouse, which is ridiculous at $450. I was being sarcastic. Personally, I use all PS/2 input devices, because they just work. Every time. That can't even nearly be said about USB.TA152H - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
You make $450 sound like a real lot of money for people. I remember when the 386 was out, you'd pay over a grand for it, if you wanted the 82385 and 32K cache. That's when a grand was worth almost twice that now. $450 is nothing, I'd buy it just so I got a warm fuzzy feeling, if it were actually worth it.For that price, throw some SRAM on the motherboard, and get a few extra percentages of performance at any speed. Why sell a half-rate motherboard for $450, when you could slap a nice L4 cache on the motherboard, for not too much more, and then boast real performance improvements no matter how you run it? Seems silly to me.
Besides, who would get a warm fuzzy from buying a motherboard from a EVGA? It's a stupid name, it sounds like a video card of the late 80s that ran VGA resolutions on an EGA, digital card. Supermicro, yes, or a killer Intel motherboard, or even IBM if they still made them. EVGA????? Well, I guess they have to start to build a reputation somewhere, and maybe this is a good move by them to get some press, and become known as a high end motherboard maker. So, I guess I understand it. Just add some SRAM and make it a real killer!
bob4432 - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - link
weak. evga is for the Microphallus crowd.i wouldn't own one of their items and really wonder why anandtech is wasting the time on this that 99% of the readers wouldn't even give too looks at.
Screammit - Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - link
I like to see a company raising the bar, even if it is ridiculously priced. Someone has the cash and the will to buy it, which hopefully will prompt other manufacturers to compete with similar devices, eventually driving prices down. It may be a microphallus product, but it has only positive effects on the market as a whole. What could be wrong with that?Rajinder Gill - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
As I stated on page 1 of the comments, this is a perf product and generally speaking these reviews fall under my duristiction for the audience these products are aimed at (nobody said they were the majority). We're in the process of introducing someone new to take over the more mainstream stuff. The perf review will continue as is, while the lower-mid market stuff gets a boost in article frequency by adding somebody else to the mix.later
Raja
Rajinder Gill - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
*jurisdiction*..lolhemipowered - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - link
For absolute OC'ing I haven't seen any better. But I bought mine for looks and its ability to OC, it is a shame Anandtech didn't report/show screenshots of what the board does when running with the Lights on itrazorsimon - Saturday, May 9, 2009 - link
I'm really disapointed that you guys have given EVGA the free marketing on this board. Thier treatment of us in Europe over supply is so shamefull that I will always look to buy another brand from now on.The Classified is unique and the only EVGA product worth waiting for. I really hope another manufacturer comes up with something better and blows the Classified and EVGA where they belong.
Just to clarify the situation - my supplier in the UK gets told every week by EVGA europe that they are due this week. This has been going on for 2 months and so far about 20 boards have come through... yet they are in stock with suppliers in USA.
EVGA are not being honest and stringing us poor customers and thier retailers along.
EVGA's credability in Europe has been destroyed.
Fluxcored Arcweld - Sunday, May 10, 2009 - link
Made me laugh cause at the same time I'm unable to get the German watercooling I want for my i7 build here in the US. Low production products in a niche market segment trans Atlantic; we have to be realistic about availability methinks...Shout out to watercool.de !!