Intel Core i7-990X Extreme: Crazy Fast Got Faster

The DX58SO2 is a nicely appointed board with a solid layout. Note the position of the 8-pin ATX-12V power connector, right up against the edge of the board and down a bit from IO panel.  Other smart selections are a generous assortment of 4-pin smart fan power connectors in all the right places around the board.  And from an aesthetics point of view, Intel adorns the DX58SO2 with flashy blue sinks and their trademark robotic skull.  Nice.

There are three full-length PCIe X16 slots on the board, a PCIe X1 slot and a standard PCI slot.  We say do away with that remaining PCI slot and add another X16 or perhaps a X8 PCIe slot.  Other creature comforts include a "Back to BIOS" button on the back IO panel.  It lights up red when it's pushed in and will take you immediately back to the BIOS if you dial up a configuration while tweaking or overclocking, that won't boot. Very nice touch, Intel.  Also, take note of the power-on, reset and "clock bump" buttons (second row, right hand shot) on the board.  If you hit one of the plus or minus buttons, it will bump clock speeds up or down by 1MHz.  Again, Intel obviously has a renewed focus on the enthusiast and it shows.  On a side note, though we're not showing screen shots here, the BIOS of the DX58SO2 is also well designed with copious amounts of tweakability under the hood, enough really for pretty much anything you'd want to configure for performance tuning purposes. 

Finally, here's a quick scan of the rest of our test systems that we'll be comparing versus the new Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition processor.

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