All results were obtained at 4625MHz on an un-optimized Windows7 64-bit. These are our figures, yours may vary so only use these as a guideline for a similarly configured system. Note that we used a 125MHz BClk* because the BIOS at the time of writing did not have a 2666MHz divider.
Motherboard
Cinebench 11.5
EVGA X79 Dark
14,1
3DMark11
Super Pi 8M
Aida 64 Copy
Aida 64 Latency
BIOS Version
14442
1.28.093
64928
50
Bios 2.05
1.28.047
30526
47,8
Bios 0403
Physics: 16841
ASUS X79-Deluxe
14,1
14330 Physics: 16092
stretch of the imagination, but it is comprehensive, fast and logically laid out. Upon our first introduction, it worked well and with the last BIOS update we received it became even better. There’s simply no reason for EVGA to go back to the previous interface as this one is better in all respects. In addition, absent from this interface is our pet peeve, “the staccato motion pointer”a problem that plagues a particular vendor on all their boards. You’ll find none of that on the Dark. It’s all smooth sailing from the minute you press F2 (or F1 in some instances). All of the above however, isn’t as important as the overclocking capabilities and performance. That which makes this motherboard worth the $400 is just how fast it is. It is just as quick in the benchmarks as the RIVE and that says a lot considering that was the fastest board ever for this platform (Until the Black Edition at least). The EVGA X79 Dark joins the ranks and sits itself comfortably next to that offering. Given that it’s a new board from the ground up which doesn’t have two
years of BIOS updates and refinement to pull from. The X79 DARK is remarkable. The numbers you will extract from it are obviously dependant on your hardware, but be assured that whatever inefficiency that you may find in the performance, it is down to your tweaking capabilities and not the motherboard. It’s about as efficient a motherboard as you’re going to find. For instance, one would not think about memory overclocking on an EVGA product, but in this particular case we had no problem running memory with tight timings and high speeds. Even our very difficult sets of memory proved to go the distance when dialled in. A simple matter of selecting the right Bclk ratio and setting the VIO and VSA, allowed us speeds past 2800MHz. At the time of writing there were a few missing multipliers but the ones that were there worked perfectly. By the time you read this, there may be several more updates. There aren’t any boards on the market that can claim to be faster than this one. Clock for clock it will go the distance, be it you’re
on air cooling, water or LN2. What it may lack in features and utilities it makes up for in efficiency and ease of use. The X79 Dark is a good motherboard, a renaissance or sorts for EVGA. [ TheOverclocker ]
Summary EVGA has produced a board that can rightfully claim to be the equal of the legendary Rampage IVE Extreme. It’s taken a very long time, but it arrived just in time for the new Ivy-Bridge-E CPUs. If there was ever a reason to buy any EVGA motherboard in the last few years, the X79 Dark would be it. It may not be as refined, but it’s certainly a valid alternative.
Would you buy it? Yes, for sure
Issue 26 | 2013 The OverClocker 25