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EVGA X58 SLI LE Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Monday, July 06, 2009
Conclusion
Having worked with a variety of performance orientated X58 boards in the past we can say the EVGA X58 LE has proven to be a great board and a great value.
Let's start with the overall layout of the X58 LE, and to do that we need to back up and mention the famed EVGA Classified. Classified is an amazing combination of features and performance and it makes sense that EVGA would use what they learned on the Classified and apply it to the other X58's in their lineup. The biggest of these breakthroughs is true triple SLI support. As we all know high end video cards these days all come with dual slot GPU coolers and if you want to run 3 of them you need at least 6 free slots in an alternating configuration. The EVGA layout has given that to you; In fact you can run a total 4 cards on this board and get a dedicated PhysX processor along with triple SLI speed.
Even though this motherboard is designed as a light edition it comes with a bunch of features targeted at the enthusiast and power user. Things like the voltage test points and E-Leet tuning utility make fine tuning your system much easier than before and the powerful BIOS features and "Dummy OC" help to get the most performance with the least amount of effort.
Overclocking on the EVGA X58 LE was not without its troubles but after some tweaking and re-tuning we settled on an official 200Mhz Host Overclock and unofficial 215Mhz limit using our D0 920. Maybe with a better motherboard cooling solution and more time this limit will shatter and as with everything your mileage can, and will likely, vary.
Now for the ever popular list of Good things and Bad things.
Let's start with the overall layout of the X58 LE, and to do that we need to back up and mention the famed EVGA Classified. Classified is an amazing combination of features and performance and it makes sense that EVGA would use what they learned on the Classified and apply it to the other X58's in their lineup. The biggest of these breakthroughs is true triple SLI support. As we all know high end video cards these days all come with dual slot GPU coolers and if you want to run 3 of them you need at least 6 free slots in an alternating configuration. The EVGA layout has given that to you; In fact you can run a total 4 cards on this board and get a dedicated PhysX processor along with triple SLI speed.
Even though this motherboard is designed as a light edition it comes with a bunch of features targeted at the enthusiast and power user. Things like the voltage test points and E-Leet tuning utility make fine tuning your system much easier than before and the powerful BIOS features and "Dummy OC" help to get the most performance with the least amount of effort.
Overclocking on the EVGA X58 LE was not without its troubles but after some tweaking and re-tuning we settled on an official 200Mhz Host Overclock and unofficial 215Mhz limit using our D0 920. Maybe with a better motherboard cooling solution and more time this limit will shatter and as with everything your mileage can, and will likely, vary.
Now for the ever popular list of Good things and Bad things.
Good Things
"Baddass" Black color scheme
Full ATX motherboard
Triple SLI Support
Voltage test points
Excellent value
Removable motherboard heatsinks
Trim and tweakable motherboard
Full ATX motherboard
Triple SLI Support
Voltage test points
Excellent value
Removable motherboard heatsinks
Trim and tweakable motherboard
Bad Things
Black color scheme lacks color and difficult to photograph
No onboard IDE connection
Static heatsinks get hot quick
No onboard IDE connection
Static heatsinks get hot quick
Ninjalane Rating
We would like to thank EVGA for helping to make this review possible.
