Intel i7 3960X EE / Gigabyte GA X79 UD3 / 16GB GSkill Ripjaws Z (2133mhz) Review

1. Introduction2. Intel i7 3960x Extreme Edition3. Intel Active Thermal Solution (RTS2011LC)4. Intel i7 3960x & RTS2011LC (Super High Res Gallery)5. GSkill Ripjaws Z (2133mhz)6. GSkill Ripjaws Z (Super High Res Gallery)7. Intel DX79SL Extreme Series Motherboard8. Intel DX79SL Extreme Series (Super High Res Gallery)9. Gigabyte GA X79 UD3 Motherboard10. Gigabyte GA X79 UD3 Motherboard (Super High Res Gallery)11. Technical: Bios & Overclocking12. Testing Methodology13. Synthetic: PCMark 714. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven 2.015. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage16. Synthetic: 3DMark 1117. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra18. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit19. Synthetic: SSD Performance20. Synthetic: AIDA 6421. Image Quality: HQV Benchmark22. Real World: 3D Rendering23. Real World: Media Encoding24. Real World: BluRay Playback25. Real World: Flash HD Playback26. Real World: HandBrake 9.527. Gaming: Battlefield 3 - Eyefinity28. Technical: Power Consumption29. Closing Thoughts30. View All Pages

Even though we aren't using it for the review today, Intel supplied us with the DX79SI motherboard which is shipped in a very ominous looking box. More than a passing resemblance to the Skulltrail products of yesteryear.

Intel include a backplate, a 2 way and 3 way SLI bridge and a mousemat. Our reviewers sample didn't have any literature, but you can expect this with a retail sample.

The motherboard is an attractive design built around a black PCB with blue slots and accented heatsinks. The board is populated with Solid State Capacitors and a ‘power supervisor' for enhanced stability. It has six SATA ports, 2 x 6.0 GB/s (blue) and 4 x 3.0 GB/s (black). Board dimensions are 29.46 cm x 24.38 cm.

The motherboard has three PCI Express x 16 slots for triple card CrossfireX and SLI configurations. If used in tri mode they run in x16/x8/x8 mode. There are also two PCI express 2.0 slots and one PCI slot.

Along the bottom of the board is an infrared receiver and transmitter which supports receiving, learning and emitting capabilities. It can control up to two additional CE devices and eliminates the need for a USB based CIR dongle. Intel have included diagnostic LED's with this board to help with troubleshooting. and there are tweaking switches for overclocking, power on and reset functionality. There are the usual plethora of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 header ports.

The DX79SI supports Quad Channel memory across eight slots. It can accept a total of 64GB of non ECC system memory with speeds up to 2400mhz O.C.

The rear I/O panel has several GB lan connectors, two USB 3.0 ports and six USB 2.0 ports with a Firewire connector positioned in the middle. Eight channel audio is supported from this panel along with an optical cable.

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