Our testing methods
Today we'll be pitting the EX58-UD5 and X58 Eclipse against not only each other, but also Asus' P6T Deluxe and Intel's DX58SO. Note that we're now using a Core i7-920 for motherboard testing, which is why scores for the P6T and DX58SO on the following pages don't match the results from our initial look at those boards.

All tests were run three times, and their results were averaged.

Processor Intel Core i7-920
System bus QPI 4.8GT/s (2.4GHz)
Motherboard Asus P6T Deluxe Intel DX58SO Gigabyte EX58-UD5 MSI X58 Eclipse
Bios revision 0703 SO2624 F3 123
North bridge Intel X58 Express Intel X58 Express Intel X58 Express Intel X58 Express
South bridge Intel ICH10R Intel ICH10R Intel ICH10R Intel ICH10R
Chipset drivers Chipset: 9.1.0.1007
AHCI: 8.1.5.0.1032 		Chipset: 9.1.0.1007
AHCI: 8.1.5.0.1032 		Chipset: 9.1.0.1007
AHCI: 8.1.5.0.1032 		Chipset: 9.1.0.1007
AHCI: 8.1.5.0.1032
Memory size 3GB (3 DIMMs) 3GB (3 DIMMs) 3GB (3 DIMMs) 3GB (3 DIMMs)
Memory type OCZ OCZ3G1600LV6GK DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz
CAS latency (CL) 7 7 7 7
RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) 7 7 7 7
RAS precharge (tRP) 7 7 7 7
Cycle time (tRAS) 20 20 20 20
Command rate 1T 1T 1T 1T
Audio codec Analog Devices AD2000B with 6.10.1.6520 drivers Realtek ALC889 with 2.07 drivers Realtek ALC889A with 2.07 drivers Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio with 6.10.0.200 drivers
Graphics Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX with ForceWare 178.24 drivers
Hard drive Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB SATA
OS Windows Vista Ultimate x86 with Service Pack 1

All of our test systems were powered by OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply units. Thanks to OCZ for providing these units for our use in testing.

Thanks to OCZ for providing the DDR3-1600 DIMMs we used for testing.

Finally, we'd like to thank Western Digital for sending Raptor WD1500ADFD hard drives for our test rigs.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1280x1024 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests.

All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.