Any one have experience with this board? Thoughts, Cons? Etc?

[ShyguyXPC]

Looking for a new Board, supports SLI rather than just Crossfire, trying to spend around $120-130 tops, hard to find a board with exactly what I need.

At least 8 SATA Ports (3Gb/s or better), one accessible PCI Slot with use of Two Dual Slot GPU's (most boards I find place the only PCI slot next to a primary PCIe x16 slot so its blocked by dual slot cards, I need the PCI for my sound card).

X58 chipset with at least an x8 x8 SLI capability.

6 RAM slots, decent OCing options, and no tall cooling near the rear Mosfets on board (need to mount my Corsair H60 in case in rear and tall cooling would block that)



Anyways I found this Asus Board (not a big fan of Asus, but I'd be willing to take a chance on this one if there's no real cons to it)

ASUS P6T Intel X58 3-way SLI/Quad CrossFireX Socket 1366 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, GbLAN & RAID - Motherboard Only ASUS P6T

Price is right, feature set is right, though the board is 2 years old now. No reference to which version this board is, but wondering if anyone here has had any experience with this board.

I read a review or two on it, and seems ok, other than "poor" chipset cooling, which can easily be remedied if needed.

I'm not sure how far my i7 920 can go, but I'd be looking at OCing it to at least 3.2GHz if I could, maybe 3.4 if possible. So no idea how much that would heat up the chipset with its cooling.

My current X58 board just at stock speeds I know does run a bit warm, and its cooling is much better than what is on this Asus board. Though my current board only supports Crossfire.


Any thoughts, suggestions, or known issues with this/these boards, would be nice to know before hitting the Purchase button.

Thanks.

[KarmaKiller]

P6T is a decent board. As far as overclocking, it has lots of vdroop from what I read,(and heard from JJ), and not to mention my experience with ASUS RMA's is horrible. 2 weeks + for one board, and ~3 weeks for a GPU.
So myself, I don't buy anything asus outside of LCD's. I've not had good experiences with their customer service.
Not only that, you said you wanted 8 sata slots, that only has:

Built-in Controller : *1
6 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), red
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10

I don't think it meets your requirements.

Honestly, and still, I'd recommend the EVGA X58 LE. It's very good about clocking, no heat problems with the chipset, has room for 2 double slot GPU's without taking up the PCI slot, and EVGA customer service is the best in the business hands down.
Just my .2

EDIT:
It's on B stock for $120
EVGA | Products | Product List

[ShyguyXPC]

It does have 8, 6 on that controller and has 2 more on a 2nd controller.

But like you mentioned Asus is a bit shoddy with CS and RMA's which I already knew, but given the price was actually considering it.


that EVGA board would be a good choice. Downside is it only has 6 SATA Ports... though I would have to figure out something as far as the drives go.

I have the 1.5TB WD Green series to use for backing up data too... though I contemplated using it for FRAPS, but I could install it in current rig, back up and sort all my crap on it. then clear the 2 500GB Drives and run them in RAID 0 (assuming it would work, their both same RPM, same Capacity, Same Cache Size, but one is Seagate, the other WD, not sure if RAID 0 would work, as I would imagine both would have slightly different Access/Seek times and Read/Write Ratings)

Though may just find a 500GB or so Black Series Drive on Newegg for cheap and Install the OS on that, with the 500GB's in RAID 0 if possible and the 1.5TB for back ups. That would bring me to 4 drives, run a SATA Blu Ray with DVD burn ability, and the 6th port could be plugged into the SATA Dock on the top of the case (could even just connect the Back up drive to that from time to time, when I need to back up stuff, or keep it plugged in all the time if frequently accessing it too)


The only other con about that EVGA board is the Layout of the Slots, the 1st is x16, 2nd is x8, which is fine, but that x8 blocks the PCI slot for a Dual Slot card, 3rd slot is x4, and last is x8. Assuming there would be enough room to fit the 2nd card in that last slot (dual slot) in the 690 II case, and the SLI connecter was long enough to stretch 6 slots over, then it may work.

Otherwise I might have to try and find a PCIe Sound card.

I'll look around a bit more, see what I can find in regards to a PCIe Sound card, not much in pickings for those, as Asus is just about the only one that makes a decent PCIe sound card that doesn't cost an arm and leg, with the AV100/200 series cards.

I think there is an HT Omega model, and Auzentech as well, but they usually cost a fair amount. Creative... Forget about it.




Question on SLI support, does it have an extra long SLI connector that would connect between the 1st and 4th x16 slots? I'd also be a bit concerned if the 4th slot would cause the GPU to be resting against the PSU in the case. Though it should be fine, the board has only 6 slots, and there should be 7 expansion slots on the case.

[ShyguyXPC]

Found that Arctic Cooling makes a 12CM Flexible SLI bridge, not sure if thats long enough to stretch the gap, but if it is, then I could go ahead and get this board, put the cards in the 1st and 4th slots (x16, x8 SLI), and then Sound card in the middle, and have the cable bridge over the gap, would also allow plenty of air to get at the primary card, might have to order another 140mm to install behind the PSU then, to provide extra air to the 2nd card once thats in.

PCIe Sound cards are slim pickings, most that would be equal or better than what I have are $100+, and actually closer to $150 or more. only thing in my price range is a Refurbished Asus Xonar DX 7.1. But it lacks the Coaxial Digital Out that I like to use.

Every card and onboard Audio I've used in past with SPDIF Optical out has always resulted in a slight delay where initial part of some sounds and voices are cut off, which can be very distracting (picture/imagine a gun shot with the first fraction of second cut off)

Anyways, that card also uses the Line out, Mic In and Optical SPDIF in the same port, supposedly its simultaneous, but I Don't see how, if the Optical TOSLINK is plugged into it, how you can plug the Mic In on it. I would lose use of my Mic on the dang thing. Add in the need for plugging in a Floppy Power connector onto the sound card too.

Although I suppose I could try the Mobo's Onboard audio and see how it is, since it looks like the board has a Coaxial Out on it.


Looking more up and Up, that I'll probably order that board then, will probably know by tonight/this afternoon maybe.

[nickslick74]

I know this one is just an Asrock, but it also has most, but not all of what you're looking for. Newegg.com - Open Box: ASRock X58 Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

It's only got 6 SATA ports, so that might be a limiting factor for you, as well as the raised heatsinks around the cpu. Put it does appear to have room around the PCIe x16 slots for your sound card. Also says it supports both Crossfire and SLI.

I personally prefer MSI, but it doesn't appear that they have any offerings in the price range you're looking at.

[ShyguyXPC]

yeah, saw that As well, they had a better newer Asrock for a while, just a tad more than that one, but supported USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbs, but I hesitated too long on it.

I think that board had something like 8 or 12 SATA ports on it.


Same here, I tend to go for MSI, I would go for Gigabyte if they had something in the price range also, but usually if they do, its $150+.

EVGA would be an option as well, they have a nice 3 Way SLI model for $150, but its just out of my reach for price right now. Wait another week and half before I get paid & I can guarantee it would be out of stock LOL.


The Asrock would be an option, and I do trust ASrock more than I do asus, even though its still an ASus, but the EVGA might be the better deal, besides warranty and CS etc.

Not too concerned about the height of those heatsinks on it either (about same as my current MSI board), what I'm concerned about in height is the Rear Mosfets/power heatsink in the rear like on this EVGA board:

Newegg.com - Recertified: EVGA 132-BL-E758-RX LGA 1366 Intel X58 3X SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

if it weren't for the questionable reviews of issues with this board and the rear heatsink, this would definitely be a choice, with 9 SATA ports and the right slot layout.


If I grab the EVGA, and end up finding the onboard audio is fine, I may just use that, then run the 2nd card in the 2nd slot, which would leave open 2 Single slots, for 2 more cards, and just add more Folding Power once I get that back up and running (as well as use one for PhysX for some games if necessary).

Couple Single slot GT 430's or 440's OC'd a bit would be plenty added to it. Or even use for PCIe TV Tuner or something on one, and GT 430 on other. Whatever would work.

For right now though, it would work, run the 470 in first slot, Sound card in PCI slot, and GTX 285 in 3rd PCIe x16 Slot, and be a few months before I would get a 2nd 470, plenty of time to find a PCIe Sound card or whatever also.

[nickslick74]

Yeah, I saw that EVGA board and discounted suggesting it due to all the bad reviews. That it's also a refurb and has a limited warranty would scare me away too!

[JLK03F150]

Have you looked into a BIOS update that might enable SLI support on your MSI X58 Platinum? I found a promising link at XS, but Fugger tripped over the cord again - site's down. lol

[ShyguyXPC]

I thought about it, and I remember a while back I had looked into it and remember seeing some where, that this version didn't work right with a Bios Flash, there was one version/model that was replaced this one, that it would work.

But I haven't looked in probably a year or so. MSI didn't make this model for that long since it was one of the first X58's they had, was soon discontinued and how I picked it up Open box 2 years ago.

and I'd really not want to mess with any sort of Cross Bios Flashing either.


wow, I just realized I haven't logged in over at XS in a LOOONG time.

[ShyguyXPC]

Ordered the EVGA board KK mentioned, the X58 SLI LE model.

I checked Newegg again just a bit ago, and their down to 3 X58 boards, one Asrock (one Nick Linked to) and 2 other Asus Boards. for Open Box anyways.

Recerts are still same as earlier, $90 low end, questionable EVGA board, or $150 one or more.

so decided to just grab the X58 SLI LE off EVGA's site, $120, and ordered Signature Verification with Shipping to be on "safe" side for an extra $4.

not sure how long their regular free shipping is, but the 3 Day UPS was like $25 so just the free shipping on this order LOL.

[JLK03F150]

Now you can crossflash with a X58 Platinum SLI BIOS & see what happens. lol Well, at least wait for the new board to arrive. XS is back up & here's the thread...
MSI X58 Platinum thread