EVGA X79 DARK Performance Tuning Guide For latest and greatest high-end Intel platform EVGA prepared new board, [url=http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=150-SE-E789-KR]X79 DARK[/url]. Even while it features same X79 chipset, this board was redefined to support latest IvyBridge-E from terms of memory signal integrity, power delivery and PCI-express connectivity. This is one, if not the first (I just don't know if there is any others :)), 12 layer PCB ATX desktop board available on market. Let's see what can you do to improve performance of your system using this motherboard. I will use next system as an example: EVGA X79 DARK (151-SE-E789) Retail 4x4GB Hynix MFR-PBC single-sided DDR3 4x4GB G.SKILL TridentX 8x8GB G.SKILL TridentX 4x2GB Corsair CMGTX3 EVGA NEX1500 PSU EVGA GTX 780 CLASSIFIED As for CPUs, will be using next one as examples: [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63698]Core i7 3820[/ur] (SandyBridge-E 4C 8T, 3.6GHz, 10MB LLC, DDR3-2400 max, $300USD) [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63697]Core i7 3930K[/ur] (SandyBridge-E 6C 12T, 3.2GHz, 12MB LLC, DDR3-2400 max , $584USD) [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/70845]Core i7 3970X[/ur] (SandyBridge-E 6C 12T, 3.5GHz, 15MB LLC, DDR3-2400 max , $999USD) [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63698]Core i7 4820K[/ur] (IvyBridge-E 4C, 8T 3.6GHz, 10MB LLC, DDR3-2933 max, $310USD) [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63698]Core i7 4930K[/ur] (IvyBridge-E 6C, 12T 3.6GHz, 12MB LLC, DDR3-2933 max, $555USD) [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63698]Core i7 4960X[/ur] (IvyBridge-E 6C, 12T 3.5GHz, 15MB LLC, DDR3-2933 max, $990USD) PCI-Express X79 DARK utilizing all 40 PCIe lanes available from CPU and route them to slots. First 16x lanes are shared between PE1 and PE2 (x16+x0 or x8+x8) Another 16x lanes are shared between PE3 and PE4 (x16+x0 or x8+x8) And finally 8x lanes are shared between PE5 and PE6 (x4+x4 or x0+x8) Using this there are wide variety of configurations possible: 1 slot used (PE1 - x16, PE2 - x8, PE3 - x16, PE4 - x8, PE5 - x4, PE6 - x8) 2 slots used (PE1 - x16 or PE1+PE2 at x8x8, PE3 - x16 or PE4+PE3 x8x8, PE6 at x8 or PE5+PE6 at x4x4) For SLI using dual-slot VGAs it will be next possibilities: 2-way SLI (PE1 and PE3 at x16 + x16, PE2 and PE4 not used). 3-way SLI (PE1 and PE3 at x16 + x16, PE6 at x8, PE2, PE4, PE5 not used). 3-way SLI (PE1 at x16, PE3 and PE6 at x8, PE4 can use x8 lane card, PE2,PE5 not used). 4-way SLI (PE1 and PE2 at x8 + x8, PE4 and PE6 at x8 + x8, PE3 can be used x8, PE5 not used). Memory E789 X79 DARK have 8 DIMMs, quad-channel memory support, which is pretty standard for most of high-end X79 boards for LGA2011 CPUs. Board can work with any kind of unbuffered DDR3 DIMMs, with or without ECC. ECC function is enabled only with Xeon E5 series CPUs. Storage On DARK you have SandyBridge-E series CPU (Core i7-3820, Core i7-3930K, Core i7-3960X, Core i7-3970X) Aircooling performance Extreme LN2 Cooling performance IvyBridge-E series CPU (Core i7-4820K, Core i7-4930K, Core i7-4960X) Most of overclockers already know how mainstream IvyBridge (i7-3770K, etc) perform, specially on LN2 cooling. IvyBridge-E bring very similar experience to high-end LGA 2011 socket platform. So yes, no coldbugs for most of chips, decent quad-channel memory controller with support of much higher speeds, plus total 6 cores 12 threads, 40 PCIe GEN3 lanes and 15MB of cache from top chip. And yes, best pot for Ivy-E is KPC Venom :) Aircooling performance Extreme LN2 Cooling performance * Coldbug Some CPUs actually do have coldbug and refuse to work when reach extreme cold temperatures. I have few 4820K and 4960X's which have nasty coldbug around -170°C. It's hard to bench such CPUs for max performance, because IvyBridge-E usually scales with cold, but it is hard to maintain such temp. * BCLK scaling * CPU Voltage scaling Extras Also X79 DARK unofficially supports server processors, so you can use those if application benefits from bigger amount of threads. One interesting note regarding E5-1660 V2, this CPU is sibling of 4960X, and unlike all others Xeon E5's is unlocked and have no limits for BCLK OC (all ratios are working properly), memory support and core OC (max ratio is 63, just like 4960X). Price point for this Xeon is same as 4960X, but it allows to use ECC memory, and supports Intel vPro, TXT compared to Core i7-4xxx chips. Xeon E5-26xx V2 series still have very limited OC capability by increasing BCLK to few percents using only one 100MHz ratio available, but now maximum amount of cores is twelve for top E5-2697 V2 beast. [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63698]Xeon E5-1660 V2[/ur] (IvyBridge-EP WS 6C 12T, 3.6GHz, 10MB LLC, DDR3-2933 max, $990USD) [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63698]Xeon E5-2690 V2[/ur] (IvyBridge-EP 2S 10C 20T, 3.6GHz, 10MB LLC, DDR3-1867 max, $1700USD) [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/63698]Xeon E5-2697 V2[/ur] (IvyBridge-EP 2S 12C 24T, 3.6GHz, 30MB LLC, DDR3-1867 max, $2000USD) Link to all results: