Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)First off their is no IDE or PS/2 connections so be ready for that. After I got everything in my computer put together and ready to go I went to plug in my keyboard and it was usb only. So just find yourself an a adapter or get yourself a new keyboard. The price of DDR3 is cheap so its not so much a big deal to invest in. There is one PCI slot and now with the newer BIOS update its SLI compatible which is great since when I read the description it says that its only Crossfire ready. If you want to go with something beyond two way SLI than you may want to go with the EVGA model which has more DIMM slots as well. I was going to go with EVGA but my new case would not allow it and I don't have the budget for three cards. I like the way the board is situated with DIMM slots running vertical and looks like everything is closer to the processor than on other boards I have seen. I guess when everything is moving at light speed a smallest measurement closer makes a difference on a motherboard. Install is a cinch just make sure you take your time and don't rush and make a stupid mistake. I have found that in my experience I mess up on stupid things instead of something big. Overclocking has been a little more simplified on this board which is what you should probably do if you invest in these boards. Overall this board has everything that I need with lots of SATA and USB ports and its super fast with my i7 920 along with my 6 Gigs of Corsair Dominator DDR3. All I can say is I can't wait to get my hands into some overclocking when I get the free time. Keep in mind only 64 bit Vista will see anything above about 3 and a half gigs so if you don't want 64 than just be ready not to see what you put in. One minor issue is the setup of the PCI Express slots since I have an 8800 GTS (one of the fatties) and a Creative X-Fi sound card it doesn't leave room for another 8800 GTS without me having to remove my sound card. Its not that big of an issue though since I plan on getting a smaller newer card anyways. Though if you have a fat card like me and something in the PCI slot and want to run SLI you might run into trouble so that is worth noting in my mind. Is this board worth it though I would have to say absolutely yes.
According to Intel sticking in a fourth stick will cause a degrade in performance so since most ram that's DDR3 come in three packs its not so much a big deal. Also when it first came on and I entered BIOS everything was recognized but I could not get the thing to boot my ROM drive and it would just sit there with a black screen and then it would ask me to select cd drive type 1 or 2. After about three hours or so it all of a sudden worked after I selected 1 it booted finally and everything was installed (operating system). The next problem was it would not restart and as soon as my computer would go off and come on again it would be a black screen going nowhere. Then I remembered update your BIOS dummy and I read all the notes and a lot of issues I had was fixed in the BIOS update including my restart problem. There was an issue also with my type of ROM drive not booting when put first in priority and that is the issue I had with trying to get it to boot to install my operating system. Now everything runs perfect and I could not be happier. The reason I put all this in my review was it did not go as smooth as I thought it would and someone else might have problems. If you do have issues just drop me a comment and maybe I can help you out just from what I had to do.
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Intel DX58SO LGA1366/Intel X58/DDR3-1333/CrossFire/A&GbE/ATX Motherboard, Retail
