Intel Desktop Extreme DX58SO2 Motherboard Review

The Intel DX58SO2 Motherboard

It isn’t that often that we have an Intel branded motherboard come across the Legit Reviews test bench. Fortunately for you, that is exactly what we have for you today! The Intel DX58SO2 X58 motherboard is part of the Intel Extreme series of motherboards. The DX58SO2 X58 motherboard is the latest and greatest motherboard from Intel for their X58 chipset.

Some may argue, that building an Intel X58 system right now, is a bit of a waste. That may be true for those that are building a brand new system as the performance of the new Intel P67 platform will dominate the scene when looking at clock-to-clock performance between the two processors. The Intel X58 Express chipset still has one major advantage over the socket LGA1155 systems though, six-core processors! If you are in need of a processor like the Intel Core i7 990X which runs six cores and an additional six threads, then the Intel X58 chipset is the only way to go, for now. Early adopters of the X58 platform also might be looking for a newer motherboard as the Intel X58 Express chipset first came out back in November 2008. That means many users out there are running the early boards that didn’t have SATA 6Gb/s, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and many of the other features and improvements that have been made or discovered since 2008.

The Intel DX58SO2 has just about every feature under the sun. USB 3.0 and SATA 3 are both supported through discrete chips onboard the DX58SO2. The expansion slots are plentiful with three PCIe X16, two PCIe X1, and even an old school PCI slot. There is a total of eight SATA ports, two of which are SATA 3 and up to 12 USB ports! So whether you are building a office computer (perhaps a bit of overkill) or a top notch gaming rig, the Intel DX58SO2 has plenty of expansion for whatever you need!

Much of the chart below we will cover in the coming pages, but it’s always good to have it in one spot.

Intel DX58SO2 X58 Motherboard Specifications

Form Factor	ATX (304.80 millimeters [12.00 inches] x 243.84 millimeters [9.60 inches])
Processor	Support for an Intel processor in the LGA1366 package
Main Memory	Six 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets arranged in three channels Support for DDR3 1600+, DDR3 1333 MHz, DDR3 1066 MHz, and DDR3 800 MHz DIMMs. Speeds over 1600 MHz are supported via XMP profiles Support for ECC and non-ECC memory Support for up to 24 GB of system memory
Chipset	Intel X58 Express Chipset consisting of: Intel X58 Express Chipset I/O Hub (IOH) Intel I/O Controller Hub (ICH10R) supporting Intel Matrix Storage Technology
Graphics	Support for multiple PCI Express graphics cards including linked cards using Nvidia SLI technology and ATI CrossFireX technology
Audio	Independent multi-streaming 8-channel (7.1) audio and 2-channel audio subsystem, featuring: Intel High Definition Audio interface RealTek ALC892 codec HD Audio front panel header Onboard 3-pin S/PDIF header and a back panel optical S/PDIF connector
Expansion Capabilities	Three PCI Express 2.0 x16 ports Two PCI Express 1.1 x1 ports One PCI* bus connector
Legacy I/O Support	Legacy I/O Controller that provides Consumer Infrared (CIR) support
Peripheral Interfaces	Up to 12 USB 2.0 ports: Six ports routed to the back panel Six ports routed to three USB headers Up to two IEEE 1394a ports: One port routed to the back panel One port routed to an IEEE 1394a header Two Serial ATA (SATA) channels (6.0 Gb/s) via a discrete controller Six Serial ATA (SATA) channels (3.0 Gb/s) via ICH10R Two external SATA (eSATA) channels via a discrete controller
RAID	Intel Matrix Storage Technology for Serial ATA
LAN Support	Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mb/s) dual LAN subsystem using the Intel 82567L and Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controllers
BIOS	Intel Platform Innovation Framework for extensible firmware interface 16 Mb symmetrical flash memory device Support for SMBIOS Intel Rapid BIOS Boot Intel Express BIOS Update
Power Management	Support for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) Suspend to RAM (STR) Wake on USB, PCI, PCI Express, LAN, CIR, and front panel ENERGY STAR capable
Hardware Management	Hardware monitor with: Four fan sensing inputs used to monitor fan activity Intel Precision Cooling Technology fan speed control Voltage sensing to detect out of range values

Now, I’m sure you have totally memorized that chart, right? No, I suppose that’s alright, like I said we will cover most of it in the next few pages. For now though, let’s move on to the retail box and bundle on the next page!