X58 for the Masses: Gigabyte's EX58-UD3R & EX58-UD4P

We then ran our test motherboards through PCMark Vantage, Futuremark’s latest system performance metric built especially for Windows Vista. PCMark Vantage runs through a host of different usage scenarios to simulate different types of workloads, including High Definition TV and movie playback and manipulation, gaming, image editing and manipulation, music compression, communications, and productivity. Most of the tests are multi-threaded as well, so they can exploit the additional resources offered by multi-core CPUs.

Starting with the overall score, the ASUS Rampage II Extreme came out on top, followed closely behind by each of the Gigabyte X58 boards with the UD3R enjoying a slight lead over the UD4P.  However, if we look at a case by case study of the individual suite tests, we see that the UD4P and UD3R are mostly evenly matched with each board "winning" three of the suites.  We also noticed that both of the Gigabyte boards typically outscored both ASUS' and MSI's boards, especially in the Communications and Gaming suites.

3DMark06's built-in CPU test is a multi-threaded DirectX gaming metric that's useful for comparing relative performance between similarly equipped systems. This test consists of two different 3D scenes that are processed with a software renderer that is dependent on the host CPU's performance. Calculations that are normally reserved for your 3D accelerator are instead sent to the CPU for processing and rendering. The frame-rate generated in each test is used to determine the final score.

In stark comparison to the PCMark Vantage results, the two Gigabyte X58 motherboards did not fare as well with 3DMark's CPU performance module.  To be fair, the UD4P held its own against the others, running merely a few points behind the MSI Eclipse and ASUS Rampage II Extreme.  It was the EX58-UD3R that found itself in the lowest position, well behind all three of the other boards in our review.