The Box and Goodies -
The box is relatively light on marketing material on the front. Well, let’s just say that it less obvious than it is on many other products. The front does feature the same skull logo that Intel introduced back with the SkullTrail gaming platform. It is a pretty cool emblem and one that is very recognizable. In keeping with most other motherboard makers (and to capitalize on the marketing space) Intel has gone with a front flap. Lifting this flap up gives you a glimpse of your new motherboard (well part of it anyway) along with some real marketing material. The marketing stuff is the typical “we are better” stuff.

Looking under the actual flap we find more marketing material and a list of some of the features of the X79SI. Some of these are nice features while some are not and probably should not be listed as a “feature” we will talk more about these a little later.

The back of the box looks lot more like what we are used to from motherboard makers. There is the almost typical picture of the board complete with labels and the list of what you get inside the box. This is not a bad thing; it actually lets the potential buyer get a better idea of what they are picking up.

Inside the box we found all of the items as described on the box with the exception of the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi module. Now as this is a sample board meant more for the CPU that was already in the socket than a retail board sample so we are sure this was nothing more than a logistical omission. If you pick one of these up through your favorite retailer/e-tailer we are certain you will get everything you need.

The Layout -
The layout of any motherboard is important. Even simple mistakes in component placement or the signal traces can cause major issued in performance and stability. With the ATX form factor we find that this is even truer; the devices we drop onto them demand more and cleaner power while the signal speeds push faster and faster.  The Intel X79 motherboard is a pretty cool looking motherboard with its black PCB (printed Circuit Board) and black PCIe sots. The combination of the Intel Blue and black give it an appealing look. However, we all know that looks are not everything and indeed amount to nothing if a product is poorly designed or built. So now let’s take a real look at the X79SI and see how Intel has chosen to build their reference board.

The first thing that will catch your eye is the dual sets up RAM slots on either side of the board for a total of eight RAM slots. As we told you in the Core i7 3960X review, Intel has moved their new flagship CPU to quad channel memory. Now when we had triple channel manufacturers could just throw all of the RAM slots on one side of the CPU. However, now that the configuration has become more complicated most manufacturers are going to opt for a “dual, Dual-Channel” setup which not only keeps the board clean but also keeps the traces clean and less complicated. If this was an E-ATX or server board there would be more room and this type of configuration would not be needed, but here it is. Because of having the RAM slots on either side of the CPU socket the power regulation has been moved to the upper edge of the board. This may have more than one benefit though. Here the heat can rise and be vented out the top of a properly equipped case rather than someone trying to push it out of the back of a case right over the I/O ports.

On the consumer side you might run into issues with your choice of cooler (especially if you are opting for higher end air cooling). The other side of this is related to setup, but if the board makers keep their documentation up there should not be any problems.

The next thing that will stand out is the much larger CPU socket. The new Core i7 CPUs will be using an LGA 2011 socket. This is just what it sounds like; there are indeed 2011 pins inside the socket that matchup to the 2011 lands under the CPU.  With the size of this new CPU Intel changed up the hold-down clamp a little. Instead of a single latch to hold things in place you now have two.

Moving away from the socket for a minute we find my favorite thing to complain about on ATX motherboards. This is the awkward placement of the 8-pin aux power connector. As you can see it is always at the upper edge of the board (again to keep tracing efficient) which can make connecting it after it is installed in a case annoying and sometimes painful.  We also get a glimpse of the Renesas USB 3.0 controller that has taken over from the NEC one that was once the standard (due to price). These controllers have been known to have a few issues including connectivity problems and driver enumeration issues so we are not sure if using this controller is such a good idea (for anyone). Another oddly place item is the CPU fan header. Putting it between the RAM and the back edge of the board can make it a little rough to reach depending on the height of your RAM.


Moving down to the bottom we find three PCIe slots. Now as you have probably already read in our coverage of the 3960X all three of these are run from the CPU. If you have only one card you get full x16, two cards give you dual x16 three runs 2 at x16 and one at x8. This is very impressive considering that any P55, P67, or Z68 will need to run some sort of bridge chip to get you this level of graphics performance.

There are a few other cool things along the bottom of the board like a pair of diagnostic LEDs and a full USB 3.0 header (which is becoming the standard).  As usual Intel has loaded up this board with more USB ports than you could probably ever use. You have four headers along the bottom of the board alone and more than that in other places, plus the ones on the I/O panel. That is quite simply a lot of USB.

The X79 MCP is in this region of the board as well. Intel has covered it with a nice looking heatsink that ties back into the heat pipe cooling system on the rest of the board. The X79SI also offers two SATA 3.0 ports right next to the SATA 2 ports. Unlike many other boards you do not get 6 and two but four and two. This is probably a good idea even if it will leave some people thinking they are getting slighted (especially when there is an open spot on the board for more SATA ports.

Flipping the X79SI around we get a look at the I/O ports. As we said Intel likes to stack up the USB ports. As such there are no PS/2 ports at all on their boards (and have not been for some time).  The rest is pretty standard stuff, two 1GBe network ports, 8-channel audio and of course two more USB 3.0 ports.

Overall the layout of the new X79SI is pretty clean maybe a little too clean for the market that is looking for more and more to be stuffed into their boards.

Features -
In the current market motherboard (and indeed almost all component) performance is very close. The days of a large performance advantage between boards using the same chipset are long gone. That is unless someone makes a HUGE mistake (like runs traces completely wrong). Now, the thing that differentiates different products is the features. These are things like power management, extra slots, better audio CODECs etc. It is these items that R&D teams work so hard to drop into what are really identical pieces of hardware at their most basic level.

Intel’s boards are usually light on what most people would consider “features” this does not mean they are not good products; it just means that these are the reference boards. Intel is giving you the baseline for what you should get in terms of performance and stability. They are not going to load it up with a ton of extras like you get with many other companies.

Excellent -
Bluetooth and Wireless N module
Quad Channel RAM Support
Overclocking Assistant

These items are design choices that help the board perform well. The wireless built into the board is a nice touch but one that has been done and is becoming more and more common. Still it is nice to see it here.

In the middle (sort of good) -
Solid Caps
BIOS flashback
Multiple 4-pin Fan headers
Three-Way SLI (using the CPU)
CrossfireX

These are nice extras but are not items that are going to push things over the edge for a buying decision. With the possible exception of the three-way SLI feature.

Floor Mats -
Diagnostic LEDs
Multiple USB 2.0 headers
USB 3.0

These are the types of things that are filler; again they are nice, but they do not make the board what it is. Like we said you are not getting loaded up with features here, but you are getting a solid and stable board most of the time.

BIOS -
BIOS is an acronym that stands for Basic Input/Output System. It is meant to control your product at a very low level.  As of right now there are three regularly used BIOS formats (there are actually more than that but there are three common ones). These are the AMI (American Megatrends Incorporated), Award, and Phoenix.

The BIOS on the Intel X79SI is clean and simple. The options that are provided are meant for ease of use. In the performance section we find a new item for Intel. This is an Overclocking Assistant. This is not really all that different from the same ones that you find on Asus or ASRock boards. It is a simple way to give you a boost. The settings here are very conservative though and did not really offer that much in the way of performance.

The rest of the BIOS is clean and gives you the usual choices you would find in any other BIOS.

Overclocking -
Like we told you in our coverage of the 3960X CPU the new motherboard CPU combination is very easy to overclock. They have added in even more features to help you get a higher clock as well (which we just showed you in the BIOS). However, we found that using the overclocking assistant might get some nice numbers we did not see the performance materialize. We did get past using this and ended up with the overclock we showed you in the full review of the 3960X of 4.5GHz (45x100 BCLK).

Of course overclocking is a picky subject. I can buy to identical CPUs from the store and they will not always perform the same way under stress. This is the same with motherboards, RAM and GPUs.  So again it is important to keep in mind that our results represent a specific hardware configuration. Yours may be similar but will rarely be identical.

Overclocking Tools -
Intel did provide a couple of tools for overclocking, but while they look very nice they were not exactly in the same class as ones from Asus, Gigabyte, ASRock or others. Still if you are looking for a quick Windows based OC then they will do the job.

The Test System and Comments -

Our test system is built on an open bench. This has two effects on testing. First it allows us to see everything and also to setup and disassemble the test rigs quickly. Second it means that we cannot gauge the potential air flow found in a normal case. The air is pretty stagnant; some may say this is a great neutral testing method and it can be. However, it does mean that the temperature reading taken off of the components are not accurate to what an average consumer would see. This means that your thermal performance will vary from what we see here.

Ok, now for the little things that pop up during an installation and a weeks’ worth of testing.  One of the first things that we ran into was with the Renesas USB 3.0 controller. After the installation of the drivers if we had ANY USB device connected to this controller the system would not boot. It would hang on Error code 58 and would not allow a reset but had to be manually powered down. The second thing related to the USB 3.0 controller showed up during our overclocking tests. We found that anything over 4.3GHz caused the USB 3.0 controller to stop picking up drives that were attached. It simply would not see them. We tried to reinstall the driver, but this caused the system to lockup and then we had a rough time getting it to boot back into Windows. In the end we had to boot into safe mode and remove them from there.

Now all of these issues could be due to the BETA BIOS that we used with the board. Usually we do not like to test with a non-public or shipping BIOS, however since the board is not publicly available we were ok with running this for our initial testing. We are confident that Intel will fix this issue in the time before this hit the market.

Performance testing overview -
Our testing is a little different than most. We combine both synthetic and real-world applications to simulate the types of performance common to the individual products. For motherboards this means that we run roughly six synthetic tests and two real-world. We will be expanding the real-world testing in the near future.  But there is more to performance than just the raw numbers. As there are multiple components and sub-components on a motherboard there each item can have a distinct impact on the way the product will perform once you get it in your system. It is important to note not only the actual results but what they mean to you as a potential consumer. We will try to give this information to you. But we do not just cover the performance aspects that are measurable. We also talk about the components that might not have a direct benchmark. These are items like Audio Quality, ease of use and installation.

Section 1 Subsystems -
Memory -
Memory performance is very important on a motherboard, especially when you have a CPU with multiple cores and threads. If you have slow memory your cores and threads can become starved for data to execute. To test memory performance we run both Sisoft’s SANDRA and AIDA64. These two combine to not only give us accurate numbers but to validate each other. For testing at stock speeds the memory is hard set to 1333MHz while overclocking testing is done at the highest stable speed for the voltage of 1.65v this is due to the different memory dividers for each CPU. As such, the memory speeds will vary greatly. This means that the overclocked numbers are a little misleading and while they can show a trend are really only included to show if a board has a problem with memory performance at high clockspeeds.

Wow, now this is some impressive memory performance. However, this is mostly due to the CPU and not the motherboard. It is true that with proper tuning in the BIOS and the right trace tuning you can improve on this but typically the improvement is not much more than 5 or 10%. We do wonder what the memory performance will look like once Intel releases the final BIOS for this board though.

We should also mention that for our testing we were not using a true Quad Channel Kit, but two dual channel kits.

Drive performance -
Drive performance is also one of the major subsystems that goes to make up the performance of a motherboard.  For our testing we use Sandra and AIDA64 again.  We only test with single drives for each type of controller present on the motherboard (unless it is a professional product where we will use RIAD 5 and/or 10). We have also begun using a Seagate PS-110 USB 3 external HDD for our USB 3.0 performance.  As a side note, we include the overclocked numbers here to make sure  (again) that you are not going to see a major drop in performance due to minor instabilities at high clock speeds.

Drive performance on the X79SI was about where it should be and very comparable to the X58 and other Intel Chipsets.  As we mentioned before we were unable to test the USB 3.0 controller once we hit our top “stable” clock of 4.5GHz. This was disappointing, but in the end we feel this is a BIOS or driver issue and one that can probably be fixed in a relatively short time frame.

Power -
Power efficiency is another of those misnomers that we get caught up in. We hear about idle states and power gates. But what does that mean to you and I?  On the surface having power management that reduces idle power sounds great and can be a benefit to someone that leaves their system on for long periods of time (and inactive) but how a system handles power under load and the delta between the two states is often more important than the idle power usage numbers. We use only P3 Kill A Watt instruments for measuring power.

The power draw from the X79SI with a single CPU (an AMD 5870) was not that bad considering the size of the CPU and the fact that you are powering an additional RAM slot by default. We found that at idle the X79 did very well with an average power draw of only 104 Watts from the wall socket. Under the typical load of playing a game the X79Si was topped only by the Asus Rampage III Black

Cooling (Board Level) -
Board level cooling is an important factor in product performance and longevity. Components like the chipset, VRM modules and even capacitors need to be kept relatively cool to prevent failure. As these parts are made of silicon, they have a thermal breakdown threshold; or melting point. At that temperature the actual transistors built into chip will begin to deform and break down. Granted, the threshold is often very high, but you still need to make sure that components stay away from this level of heat for longer product life.  

The board level cooling was not too bad on the Intel X79SI. We honestly expected it to be less than stellar but in the end it out did the other guys boards that we tested. We would highly recommend that you have good air flow though as with everything going on you could easily create a pocket of hot air that would hinder your performance and component life.

Audio -
Audio is highly subjective. What we find pleasing may sound “off” to you. That is always going to the problem with testing audio; results will vary too widely depending on the tastes of the listener. However, there are ways of measuring the audio output with an objective ear. There is also the issue of audio causing performance issues in gaming and video playback. The reason this is a potential source of concern is that all onboard audio CODECs (Compression/Decompression) are CPU controlled. This means that while the audio chip controls the audio levels and effects of the audio the actual work is done on the CPU. Usually this will not be a problem with today’s powerful CPUs. Even the lower and consumer level products can handle high-end audio these days. But again there is the chance that a bad design or software will hinder your system and performance. On the other side the limits of board space, cost, etc will also prevent the level of audio quality you can get from an add-in board.  We test all audio parts with three media types, Movie (DVD), MP3 Music, and Gaming. These are pushed to our Tec On model 55 Tube Amp to see if we can detect any signal issues in the reproduction. The audio on the Intel X79SI is ok. It is not going to impress any audiophile out there, but it is good enough to make most users happy and while it is not going to add anything to your gaming experience, it will not take anything away from it either.

Networking -
This one is something that is a requirement anymore. If you have a computer, the chances are good (like 99%) that you are also connected to high-speed internet.  With this you need a good and solid LAN chip to make sure that your data flows properly out and back. As this is an Intel motherboard, it of course comes with Intel Network Controllers. These are arguably the best and most compatible LAN controllers you can get out there. We had absolutely no issues with the network performance including pulling our full testing package over from the storage server (a full 23.9 GB of data). The network felt quick and responsive.

Section II - Performance Tests, Synthetic -
In this section of testing we cover the synthetics. These are tests that run a scripted sequence of internal APIs or that use another installed application to perform a series of scripted events. They are great in that they can provide reproducible results across various platforms. On the down side, synthetic tests can be fooled with driver tweaks and optimizations. In some cases it is necessary to rename the .exe file to something generic to discover if this is the case. In any event when this is needed (when a test shows a drastic difference in performance over the renamed exe) we will note this and show both results for comparison.  

PCMark7 -
PCMark7 is the latest general performance test from FutureMark. As each generation of this benchmark has evolved and developed we have watched them add more and more realistic tests to this suite. With this generation we find more media tests, (audio and video transcoding) moving of large files, multiple web page rendering, and much more (the even added DX10 gaming). We use the Overall Performance and Common Usage suites in our testing.

For PCMark7 we found that there was one other board that was able to out-perform the X79SI even with its quad channel memory and the much more powerful CPU. This could be an issue with the test itself though and not anything to do with the board. We will be keeping an eye on this to see if anything develops from it.

3DMark 11 -
3DMark 11 is the other Futuremark test that we run on our motherboards. This test simulates the typical tasks that a GPU (and system) would have to perform to provide you with a good gaming experience. It is based on the DX9, DX10 and DX11 engines but can only be installed on Windows Vista or later. The suite of tests covers DX9, DX10, and of course DX11 rendering; it also covers AI computations and physics. That’s right I said Physics the latest version of 3DMark uses a Havok physics engine. This removes the advantage that nVidia had with 3DMark Vantage.

In 3DMark 11 we are beginning to see the potential of the new combination of the X79 chipset/Motherboard and the 3960X CPU. Here we find that the CPU based Physics scores are simply off the charts.

HyperPi 0.99b -
HyperPi is a front end application that allows you to easily run multiple instances of the SuperPi application. SuperPi, for those that are not familiar with it, is an application that measures the time it takes to calculate the number Pi out to as many as 32 million places. This calculation is then checked and run multiple times (up to 24 for a 32M run).  This test stresses the CPU, Memory and HDD as data is handed off between the three. If there is a weak link, HyperPi will show it. For our testing we run the 32M test on as many cores (and threads) as the CPU has available.  The slowest CPU time is then recorded.

If you were not convinced with the memory performance tests from SANDRA and Everest then here is further proof that the new Quad Channel memory support on the X79SI is something impressive. Normally with a 6 Core CPU and Hyper Threading we do not expect very quick HyperPi times. The amount of data that has to travel back and forth is simply too much. However with the extra room available in the memory bus our HyperPi times are excellent. Only the non-hyper threaded CPUs from Intel are able to do better.

Cinebench R11.5 -
Cinebench R11.5 is the 11th release of Maxon’s rendering test. This test is based off of the Cinema 4D engine, which is one of the industry standard tools for digital animation. It is a powerful product with many different modules that can be “plugged” into it to increase its effectiveness. With Cinebench you get to see how your computer would do using this application. There are two tests; one tests the CPU’s ability to render an image across multiple cores or threads. The other tests your systems ability to handle OpenGL based rendering.

In Cinebench R11.5 we see the raw power of the CPU and the new quad channel memory. We were able to get stock scores that were faster than many of the overclocked scores. That is something pretty impressive.

Section III - Performance Tests, Real-World
Here we have two tests that are designed to put the performance of the motherboard and its subsystems to the test. Both require good CPU, Memory, HDD and even to a lesser extent audio and network performance. The two tests we chose were Lightwave 3D 9.6 and AutoGK 2.55. We will be adding at least one more real-world test to this battery in the near future, but for now these two cover quite a bit.

Lightwave 3D 9.6 x64 -
Lightwave is another industry standard application for 3D animation and rendering. It has a large tool base and the rendering engine is highly threaded (when using the right render model). This application is also capable of expanding to 4k resolutions as well as ray tracing for rending the light sources. For our testing we use frame 470 of the Pinball scene found in the LW 9 Content folder.  This uses the newer perspective camera that is better suited to a multi-CPU/Core environment. This camera style also uses ray tracing and a much improved anti-aliasing method. Settings are shown below in the attached screen shot.  Of course these are single frame renders and they are not a complete picture; for that you have to take into account the number of frames an average project would have. In a typical 30 second commercial you will have around 840 to 960 frames (at 28 – 32 FPS) this means that you have to multiply the time of a single frame by that number just to get a vague idea of how long that 30 seconds would take. This is because each frame will have a different render time based on complexity.

Again we see the X79SI and the 3960X performing well. We are seeing times that are almost 30 seconds faster than the other boards in the group.

Our project times show how even a seemingly small gap in performance can have a large impact when you have to use this for real.


AutoGK 2.55 Transcoding -
AutoGK is a transcoding software that is really multiple parts combined to make an easy to use whole. It combines, items like FDD Show, Xvid encoder, Virtual Dub and others for use in converting one media format to another (usually Xvid AVI). It will not transcode copy protected DVDs or Bluray discs yet (you still need a de-crypter for that). But it does an excellent job on everything else.  For our testing we use a 2 hour movie that has been placed onto a standard definition DVD for playback; we then transcode this DVD to a 100% quality AVI with the original audio intact.  This puts a strain on the CPU, Memory, HDD and the attached DVD ROM drive.

Unfortunately something with the new CPU and Board is causing AutoGK to consistently crash. We are looking into a replacement or an additional transcoding application for future use.

Section IV Performance – Gaming
Gaming as a test of motherboard performance is sort of a joke these days. The big player in the gaming arena is the GPU. Everyone but a few hardcore PR teams know this. However, it is important to run at least a few (one from each current DX version) to see if there are any issues with the combination of components on a motherboard. These are items like Audio lag, memory lag and of course problems with the PCIe lanes and signal traces. If there are issues in design, drivers or BIOS then you can have odd gaming performance. So without much more preamble let’s dive into the three games we currently use; Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for DX9 FarCry 2 for DX10 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 for DX11.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 DX9 -
This is an excellent but short game that put you right into the action from the beginning and does not let up the pressure until the very end. The graphics are a little better; most notably the night and thermal imaging have been improved. The AI is still the typical COD “bar fight” style AI, with maybe a tad more finesse. All in all it is not a bad game to play and a decent one to use for testing. Our testing run starts at the bridge and ends after you clear the school in the first level of the game. Settings are shown below as are the performance numbers.

Our gaming testing with Modern Warfare 2 does not show much of an improvement. However, as most games are not multi-core aware and are more concerned about the GPU we are not surprised to see this and considering the actual differences here it is almost no importance unless you are worried about the highest number…

FarCry2 DX10 -
Although not one of my favorite games this tedious game does have some good graphics. The large sandbox style of the game lends to mission based play. The only problem is that the AI is rather low grade. Still the more CPU power the more the bad guys try to do. Over all the game was a little bit of a disappointment to play, but still not a bad DX10 representation. Our testing run starts right after you get your first mission to clean out the safe-house and ends after the hostage rescue. Settings and performance numbers are shown below.

Well, well, FarCry 2 (and Intel optimized game) shows the X79Si on something of a comeback. The differences in frame rates are still extremely small (2-3FPS) which means that even this victory is nothing special and only of use for bragging rights.   


Battlefield Bad Company2 DX11 –
I have liked many of the Battlefield games. They usually tend to be fast paced and fun. With Battlefield Bad Company 2 you do get some of that, but there is something about the graphics and the movement that just does not sit right. The AI is a less sophisticated form of the bar fight AI, but it gets the job done. Still, the game is good for testing as it can put a strain on the components of the board. Out testing run is the entire first level, from beginning to end. Settings are shown below along with the raw numbers.

Ugh, Bad Company 2 puts the X79SI down at the bottom of the list. This time there is a much larger delta between the systems and there is a 20 FPS different between the number one slot and the X79SI. We hope this is a driver or BIOS issue but you can never tell.  

Gaming wrap-up -
The X79SI does ok at gaming. The frame rates are over our 32FPS standard (which is full fluid motion). It is not exactly the greatest gaming platform we have seen, but it is not the worst either. The audio on the board is ok for gaming and will get the job done; it is just not going to astonish you while doing so.

Value -
Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item. We do not have a list price on the Intel X79SI. However, we would guess that it will come in around the $200 mark. Anything higher than that would be out of the range of the performance and features you are getting here. It is a good board, but it is not good enough to rate the $250-300 price tag that you are bound to see on other motherboards out there.


Conclusion -
Intel’s new X79SI when combined with the new Core i7 3960 (or any of the new Sandy Bridge E CPUs) is a nice product. It does great when it comes to productivity work while not leaving you completely out in the cold for gaming. True it is not the best gaming platform out there, but we have not finished up our SLI and Crossfire testing yet so we may change our minds about this board and gaming yet. However, for right now it seems more suited for professional work where it certainly shines. The layout is very clean as usual for Intel and you have plenty of options for connecting all of the USB devices you want. We would recommend you keep an eye on the USB 3.0 controllers though, the chip used might be less expensive than NEC’s but we have had our issues with them before and even more popped up during out testing of the X79SI. In the end if you are looking for a clean board with a tendency toward the professional and prosumer then you might take a look at the Intel X79SI.

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