Intel DX58SO Smackover

Verdict: Intel's first Core i7, X58 motherboard

No, we didn't get confused and accidentally benchmark a WWF wrestler with a Core i7 CPU; this motherboard really is called the Smackover. Smackover is a small city in Arkansas, USA. We think it might be where the bulk of major wrestling stars are born, given their propensity to lay the smackdown at any given moment. As the Smackover follows other Intel motherboards such as the Bad Axe and Skulltrail, we can only imagine what testosterone-fuelled names will follow.

One of the first aspects you notice about the Intel Smackmybitchup is its layout. For those of you who are more accustomed to LGA775 motherboards, it may seem unusual. The DDR3 memory sockets are parallel with the top of the board, while the X58 chip is located towards the front edge rather than between the CPU socket and the primary graphics slot. This means the ATX power connector is slightly inset from the edge of the PCB while the 8-pin EPS connector is below the CPU socket. This could cause cable management issues if you're aiming for a supremely tidy interior.

The DIMM slots' positioning at the top of the PCB may also cause problems if you couple oversized DIMMs, such as Corsair Dominator or OCZ Reaper, with an oversized HSF. Our giant Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme protruded over the two inner slots, making one of them unusable. We still managed to fit the three sticks of DDR3 that Core i7 ideally wants, but the DIMM nearest the CPU socket was pushed at an awkward angle by the cooler. The fourth DIMM socket is completely obscured, but it's no great loss in this case, as using it would lead to trouble when overclocking. It's mapped to the first memory channel, so installing memory in this slot would give an asymmetrical memory configuration.

Like the other Core i7 motherboards in this issue, the Intel Smackdown is based on Intel's X58 chipset. And as with all the motherboards this month, it doesn't have an nForce 200 chip. However, unlike the other boards, it supports only CrossFire and not SLI. This chipset brings the capability for four PCI-E graphics slots into the ring, but the Intel Smackhappy features only two 16x PCI-E 2.0 slots. If you're running a dual-card system, the slots will provide 16 lanes of bandwidth to each of your graphics cards.

The Intel Smacktalk's backplate is home to a relatively sparse array of ports compared with a lot of motherboards. It consists of eight USB 2, one FireWire, one LAN and six analogue audio ports. There are a further two USB 2 headers and one FireWire header at the bottom of the PCB if you want to add more. The six RAID-capable S-ATA II ports are spread out in three pairs to avoid being obstructed by lengthy expansion cards. However, if you're using a 10.5in dual-slot graphics card, you'll partially obscure four of the S-ATA ports, so you'll need a right-angled S-ATA connector to use them. There are no old-fashioned floppy headers and no EIDE connectors on the board, a forward-looking move that is also echoed by the backplate's lack of any PS/2 connectors. The board features Intel HD Audio via Realtek's ALC885 audio codec.

Out of the box, the Intel Smackthepony's performance was disappointing. Scores of 1,138 and 1,125 in image editing and multitasking respectively don't quite cut it when compared to the 1,251 and 1,232 of the Asus P6T Deluxe. Crysis was also slower than it was on the P6T Deluxe, with a minimum frame rate of 32fps compared to 34fps.

The Intel Smackaddict crept further into the shadow of the P6T Deluxe during our overclocking test. Once we managed to get our heads round the unintuitive layout of the BIOS, we attempted to find the maximum QPI. The maximum we were able to wrestle from the board was 190MHz, much less than the 210MHz of the P6T Deluxe.

This meant that we could only raise the 2.66GHz Core i7-920 CPU to 3.8GHz with its 20x multiplier, while the P6T Deluxe could stably run it at 4GHz. As with the Asus board, raising the QPI forced the memory speed to increase at a ratio of 2:8, meaning that our test memory ran at only 1,540MHz rather than the 1,600MHz when overclocking with the P6T Deluxe. With these speeds, it's no surprise that the Intel Smackedup lagged behind the P6T Deluxe, with an overall score of 2,042 compared to the latter board's 2,294.

Conclusion

The Smackover isn't an intrinsically bad motherboard, but unfortunately for Intel, the Asus P6T Deluxe is superior in every way - from layout and BIOS design, to overclocking ability. The Smackover is cheaper than the Asus, which is a slight saving grace, but we'd much rather buy the P6T Deluxe than save a few pounds.