DFI X58 T3eH8 Ultra Motherboard

Conclusion

The DFI X58 T3eH8 is the perfect evolution of the X48 derivative. From the outset the motherboard has raised the bar for all other boards to follow.

The packaging is near perfect and while I would have liked to have seen a change in colour scheme to distinguish the new board from its stablemate no one can deny it’s certainly an eye catching motherboard, especially if you are a fan of UV lighting.

The layout is excellent with all the SATA ports sat at right angles to the PCB preventing any interference to over sized GPU’s. Speaking GPU’s, this is only the second board we have tested that would allow the use of 3 dual slot GPU’s in either SLI or CrossfireX configuration but  that does present a problem. Unfortunately, as the sound card would take up one of these slots on the backplate  there would be no space (or indeed no extra PCI/e slot) to have any extra expansion cards.

The motherboard cooling is nothing short of exceptional and with a huge range of BIOS options, including extremely high voltages available to the end user, that cooling will certainly come in useful. With typical DFI support, BIOS updates should come thick and fast and should a BIOS update become corrupt the ingenious removable BIOS chip design will cut down on costs for returning the board. Which is a good thing as the initial outlay for the board will certainly dent anyones bank balance.

Costing close to the £300 mark, the Ultra version is the highest motherboard on test. While it is also the highest performing board I do have some concerns if it is actually worth the extra outlay. For the average user the DFI offers little more than aesthetics, and the Gigabyte UD5 which weighs in a lot cheaper can do everything the DFI can do. However, if you are looking for the absolute ultimate in performance then the pendulum swings back in the DFI’s favour and for that reason I have no hesitation in awarding the DFI X58 T3eH8 Ultra our distinguished Performance award.

The Good
– Extreme overclocking
– Audacious cooling
– Amazing looks

The Mediocre
– Some BIOS options could be more user friendly
– Power consumption at load was highest on test
– Price

The Bad
– Nothing to report

Thanks to DFI for providing the X58 T3eH8 Ultra motherboard for todays review.  Please discuss in our forums.