The 7-zip compression lead of 8.5% is very impressive... I think? However, the poor interrupt performance is concerning... Maybe...
I'm glad it has 2x2x7 segment displays, that makes a perfect number which bodes well.
either way, this is definitely going to be one of the best clockers out there, so Rolex better 'watch' out. The EVGA® X570 Dark is now my go to recommendation if you really want good, money-no-object 7-Zip performance but you also really like the 3700x.
$690 board that can only transfer ~250MB/sec over network... pathetic. What's the deal with the slow network cards? Where are the consumer 10gbit routers/switches?
The caveat is, extreme overclockers aren't bothered by network transfer speeds. Sure, it would have been better if they did include a 10 GbE controller for argument's sake, but it does nothing for the raw compute performance.
and they are ? my guess, not known brand names, or ones that are not available everywhere. i just checked one store here, and the least expensive one is $350,and it only has two 10g ports, other 8 are gigabit the next, is a eight 10G SFP+ ports, again at $350 + the cost of the SFP+ modules/transceivers. not really affordable to me
yep, not well known brand names that are probably only available in certain, or specific markets.... if that is your definition of " plenty " then i dont know what to say.
That's more on anandtech not using liquid nitrogen to cool the CPU for extreme overclocking, rather than the board costing $700 and "not delivering on performance".
It's like putting an engine from a scooter into an F1 car. Of course it's going to underperform.
The missing RAM slots greatly diminish it's appeal. For USB, you have headers which is fine IMHO. Everyone wants to access their USB ports from the front panel where it's more convenient anyway. Considering AMD normally has a very low compression score, it'd be neat to know how they boosted it.
In general, the pricing on the current MB generations are through the roof. I recall maybe a few year ago when MBs were $200 for the top end.
More optimized memory traces paths, which will allow more stable memory over clocking. Normal users have no need for this but those who try to break world records, it may mean the difference between getting the top score or not. This is the idea of dark lineup - getting the the extra few percentages for those who are in the extreme and also make the process easier for them.
AFAIK, RAM overclocking is more stable when you are using only 2 sticks, and this is a 'halo' board designed primarily for competitive overclocking.
You wouldn't use a top-fuel dragster as your daily commuter car or to show up to a formal red-carpet event. In the same way, this board is not intended for 'normal' computing or gaming.
I couldn't believe that I read this sentence in the review of this mboard:
"While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS."
There will be zero (0) customers of this motherboard who will decline to use the bios...;) Every single one of them will be quite conversant with the bios and eager to use it.
Seem to be a lot of this kind of general assumptions here that really have no relevance for the people who will be buying this product.
If I missed the place where you discussed a dual bios on this motherboard, or its lack of one, I beg pardon. But there are a lot of interesting DIP switches visible on this motherboard and a brief explanation would have been nice. Also, why would you test a 65W CPU with this board? Seems like a 5900X or 5950X would have been far more interesting, not to mention in keeping with the type of CPU a customer of the $690, OC'ing board is much more likely to purchase.
I did agree with your conclusion, though, about boards costing half as much having very similar features and options--for instance, my two-year old x570 Aorus Master ($350) includes both the RT 1220-VB HD & a headphone AMP for onboard sound, but the x570 Master also includes a hardware DAC, the SABRE 9118, while the EVGA board lacks a hardware DAC. The Master includes 4 DIMM slots, and a manually switched dual-bios setup--which in my estimation is just about a requirement for an overclocking board--which the Master is, even though it doesn't have the VRM chops of this EVGA board. But my Master was shipped on the same day that Zen2 CPUs shipped from AMD, so I think the EVGA board is targeting upper-end Zen3 CPUs for OC'ing.
But as I mentioned earlier, trust me when I say that nobody will be buying a $690 OC'ing board who is afraid to go into his bios...;) Glad to see EVGA supporting AMD again, and like you, it will be nice to see a range of AMD4/5 EVGA board products at some point.
There are few things, first this board doesn't use ASM SATA controller, I think you should correct that. All 8 SATA ports are from chipset only. The extra PCB for LN2 also shows the same, Manual also states the same.
Now moving on to the board vs Z590 DARK. They removed one NVMe M.2 slot on this, Downgraded the phases and smaller Aluminum heatsink instead of massive Copper block on Interl board, then we have the rear DP and HDMI removed.
Next, the bigger things. First is the USB ports, the board has rear I/O from Chipset only. None of them are from CPU. Usually all X570(S) boards have ton of CPU USB ports, EVGA chose not to for this board. I can guess the only reason being AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs have issues with the USB ports dropping and all sort of bugs, still not ironed out. So they avoided those, but the front I/O panel ports will be from CPU only, on top they dropped the ASMedia controller for USB C unlike the Z590 DARK. They also dropped the U.2 port.
Next is why they did they go with the Dual DIMM slots, Ryzen doesn't do well with Dual Rank B-Die kits unlike Intel which likes them. Now we have to be too cautious on that part due to the Zen 3 IMC. Now the price, it's highway robbery period. The board is exactly priced at X570 Aorus Xtreme at $700 which not only packs everything this has but even more. Plus it also has the 10G LAN, on top of the HiFi DAC which is not that buggy trash ALC4080 class, instead ALC1200 like this. Crosshair VIII Extreme is $100 more but it has more features, however it has that dreaded garbage ALC4082 and all that ASUS bloatware for the proper functioning of the DAC/AMP hardware. These guys should have included a 10G LAN port at-least, they really are saving a ton of cash on this board, simply a Z590 DARK based PCB design with extra PCIe 4.0 M.2 drive and much more reduced components and choices vs Intel board.
Coming to review, surprised on the DPC latency of this board. Now I'm just waiting on how this board does, esp related to the AMD Ryzen stability with Memory and OC AND USB. Also it's a shame that there's no Ryzen 5000 used for review and no Memory tuning as well. Everything this board got going is all about OC and unlocking potential...
If you use 2x dual rank sticks (anything above 16gb per stick) is exactly the same as using 4x8gb single rank sticks (because it's in dual rank due to 2 single ranks per channel)
The point of this motherboard is for lm2 overclocking is why there is 2 slots
EVGA's specifications page does still list two ASMedia SATA ports, and they were incorporated on the Z590 and other, previous Dark boards for XP compatibility. It's possible that they were on internal or pre-release samples but then removed for the retail version.
"As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard released during the socket’s initial launch"
Maybe your policies need updating so the reviews can be more useful to your customers. The 3700X was never a high end CPU anyway? Either Zen 2 and Zen 3 behave the same and you aren't invalidating your previous work by using a chip people will actually put in the thing, or they do behave differently in which case you just wasted all that time reviewing a product with a CPU no one will pair with it.
Wow, what a shameful display for a supposedly high-end, overclocking focused motherboard. That DPC latency is outright disqualifying, and the fact that they can't design a VRM without active cooling is just embarrassing. I really wanted to like this board and see a new entrant in the motherboard space, but this product absolutely should have been canceled before seeing the light of day. Along with their recent issues with exploding RTX 3000 cards it's starting to seem like EVGA is a brand to avoid.
still no memory overclocking segment, this review is as useless as the asrock z590 one no one cares what cpu frequency it does. a mediocre board will do the same cpu frequency, only reason you wont hit that frequency is because the board is so far away from decent that it shouldnt be sold
MEMORY OC IS THE MAIN REASON THESE BOARDS HAVE ANY ADVANTAGE IN COMPETITIVE OC
a great analogy for this review is that you are "seeing how much an F1 car can tow"
every board thats worth owning will hit the same cpu frequency. for all we know b550 boards can score better than this because you havent tested memory OC. get yourselves a good kit of dual rank b-die and please test what its ACTUALLY made for. as far as im concerned this is a useless reviewq/
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Unashamed_unoriginal_username_x86 - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
The 7-zip compression lead of 8.5% is very impressive... I think? However, the poor interrupt performance is concerning... Maybe...I'm glad it has 2x2x7 segment displays, that makes a perfect number which bodes well.
either way, this is definitely going to be one of the best clockers out there, so Rolex better 'watch' out. The EVGA® X570 Dark is now my go to recommendation if you really want good, money-no-object 7-Zip performance but you also really like the 3700x.
shabby - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
$690 board that can only transfer ~250MB/sec over network... pathetic. What's the deal with the slow network cards? Where are the consumer 10gbit routers/switches?shabby - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
And by consumer i mean affordable.gavbon - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
The caveat is, extreme overclockers aren't bothered by network transfer speeds. Sure, it would have been better if they did include a 10 GbE controller for argument's sake, but it does nothing for the raw compute performance.Daeros - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
Yeah, that argument doesn’t hold. If it was really focused on extreme overclocking it wouldn’t have Wi-Fi.Railgun - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
There are plentyQasar - Sunday, October 10, 2021 - link
and they are ? my guess, not known brand names, or ones that are not available everywhere. i just checked one store here, and the least expensive one is $350,and it only has two 10g ports, other 8 are gigabit the next, is a eight 10G SFP+ ports, again at $350 + the cost of the SFP+ modules/transceivers. not really affordable to meshabby - Sunday, October 10, 2021 - link
There aren't any and you know it.Railgun - Wednesday, October 13, 2021 - link
Funny. As I’m using some. Unifi has a couple. Mikrotik has more.Qasar - Saturday, October 16, 2021 - link
yep, not well known brand names that are probably only available in certain, or specific markets....if that is your definition of " plenty " then i dont know what to say.
DigitalFreak - Sunday, October 10, 2021 - link
It's an e-peen board for the LN2 crowd and people with more money than sense, nothing more.Bavor - Tuesday, April 19, 2022 - link
If your priority is network transfer speeds, this motherboard isn't marketed toward you.iranterres - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
2 RAM slots, 2 M2 slots,, lack of USBs 2 extra frames per second on average, 700$ = LOLmeacupla - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
That's more on anandtech not using liquid nitrogen to cool the CPU for extreme overclocking, rather than the board costing $700 and "not delivering on performance".It's like putting an engine from a scooter into an F1 car. Of course it's going to underperform.
ballsystemlord - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
The missing RAM slots greatly diminish it's appeal.For USB, you have headers which is fine IMHO. Everyone wants to access their USB ports from the front panel where it's more convenient anyway.
Considering AMD normally has a very low compression score, it'd be neat to know how they boosted it.
In general, the pricing on the current MB generations are through the roof.
I recall maybe a few year ago when MBs were $200 for the top end.
meacupla - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
If you don't understand why it only has 2 RAM slots, this board is not for you.ballsystemlord - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
Obviously. But why doesn't it have 4 RAM slots?Eliadbu - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
More optimized memory traces paths, which will allow more stable memory over clocking. Normal users have no need for this but those who try to break world records, it may mean the difference between getting the top score or not. This is the idea of dark lineup - getting the the extra few percentages for those who are in the extreme and also make the process easier for them.Daeros - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
What does Wi-Fi or the second NIC add to the overclocking percentages?Eliadbu - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
Non, I guess users requested it so they added this alongside with RGB and other stuff . My X299 dark has doesn't have wifi card orEliadbu - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
Or RGB, but it has 2nd NIC and m.2 key E (incase you want to add wifi card).jtd871 - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
AFAIK, RAM overclocking is more stable when you are using only 2 sticks, and this is a 'halo' board designed primarily for competitive overclocking.You wouldn't use a top-fuel dragster as your daily commuter car or to show up to a formal red-carpet event. In the same way, this board is not intended for 'normal' computing or gaming.
Threska - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
Now I'm just waiting for the workstation/server version.WaltC - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
I couldn't believe that I read this sentence in the review of this mboard:"While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS."
There will be zero (0) customers of this motherboard who will decline to use the bios...;) Every single one of them will be quite conversant with the bios and eager to use it.
Seem to be a lot of this kind of general assumptions here that really have no relevance for the people who will be buying this product.
WaltC - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
If I missed the place where you discussed a dual bios on this motherboard, or its lack of one, I beg pardon. But there are a lot of interesting DIP switches visible on this motherboard and a brief explanation would have been nice. Also, why would you test a 65W CPU with this board? Seems like a 5900X or 5950X would have been far more interesting, not to mention in keeping with the type of CPU a customer of the $690, OC'ing board is much more likely to purchase.I did agree with your conclusion, though, about boards costing half as much having very similar features and options--for instance, my two-year old x570 Aorus Master ($350) includes both the RT 1220-VB HD & a headphone AMP for onboard sound, but the x570 Master also includes a hardware DAC, the SABRE 9118, while the EVGA board lacks a hardware DAC. The Master includes 4 DIMM slots, and a manually switched dual-bios setup--which in my estimation is just about a requirement for an overclocking board--which the Master is, even though it doesn't have the VRM chops of this EVGA board. But my Master was shipped on the same day that Zen2 CPUs shipped from AMD, so I think the EVGA board is targeting upper-end Zen3 CPUs for OC'ing.
But as I mentioned earlier, trust me when I say that nobody will be buying a $690 OC'ing board who is afraid to go into his bios...;) Glad to see EVGA supporting AMD again, and like you, it will be nice to see a range of AMD4/5 EVGA board products at some point.
Oxford Guy - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
"While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS."Stuff like this is a gift (of hilarity) that keeps on giving.
Silver5urfer - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
There are few things, first this board doesn't use ASM SATA controller, I think you should correct that. All 8 SATA ports are from chipset only. The extra PCB for LN2 also shows the same, Manual also states the same.Now moving on to the board vs Z590 DARK. They removed one NVMe M.2 slot on this, Downgraded the phases and smaller Aluminum heatsink instead of massive Copper block on Interl board, then we have the rear DP and HDMI removed.
Next, the bigger things. First is the USB ports, the board has rear I/O from Chipset only. None of them are from CPU. Usually all X570(S) boards have ton of CPU USB ports, EVGA chose not to for this board. I can guess the only reason being AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs have issues with the USB ports dropping and all sort of bugs, still not ironed out. So they avoided those, but the front I/O panel ports will be from CPU only, on top they dropped the ASMedia controller for USB C unlike the Z590 DARK. They also dropped the U.2 port.
Next is why they did they go with the Dual DIMM slots, Ryzen doesn't do well with Dual Rank B-Die kits unlike Intel which likes them. Now we have to be too cautious on that part due to the Zen 3 IMC. Now the price, it's highway robbery period. The board is exactly priced at X570 Aorus Xtreme at $700 which not only packs everything this has but even more. Plus it also has the 10G LAN, on top of the HiFi DAC which is not that buggy trash ALC4080 class, instead ALC1200 like this. Crosshair VIII Extreme is $100 more but it has more features, however it has that dreaded garbage ALC4082 and all that ASUS bloatware for the proper functioning of the DAC/AMP hardware. These guys should have included a 10G LAN port at-least, they really are saving a ton of cash on this board, simply a Z590 DARK based PCB design with extra PCIe 4.0 M.2 drive and much more reduced components and choices vs Intel board.
Coming to review, surprised on the DPC latency of this board. Now I'm just waiting on how this board does, esp related to the AMD Ryzen stability with Memory and OC AND USB. Also it's a shame that there's no Ryzen 5000 used for review and no Memory tuning as well. Everything this board got going is all about OC and unlocking potential...
leexgx - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
If you use 2x dual rank sticks (anything above 16gb per stick) is exactly the same as using 4x8gb single rank sticks (because it's in dual rank due to 2 single ranks per channel)The point of this motherboard is for lm2 overclocking is why there is 2 slots
Slash3 - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
EVGA's specifications page does still list two ASMedia SATA ports, and they were incorporated on the Z590 and other, previous Dark boards for XP compatibility. It's possible that they were on internal or pre-release samples but then removed for the retail version.PsychoOC - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
Whats ironic is the world record holder for most ln2 benchmarks on 3700x is on b450 tomahawk;)Oxford Guy - Monday, October 11, 2021 - link
What’s not is how MSI raised prices.supdawgwtfd - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
"Touching on the performance with is almost certainly EVGA's primary focus here"Umm... What?
Anandtech still doesn't have a basic proof reader person to check through articles before release it seems.
TheITS - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
"As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard released during the socket’s initial launch"Maybe your policies need updating so the reviews can be more useful to your customers. The 3700X was never a high end CPU anyway? Either Zen 2 and Zen 3 behave the same and you aren't invalidating your previous work by using a chip people will actually put in the thing, or they do behave differently in which case you just wasted all that time reviewing a product with a CPU no one will pair with it.
Oxford Guy - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
'extreme overclocking'An anachronism.
LtGoonRush - Sunday, October 10, 2021 - link
Wow, what a shameful display for a supposedly high-end, overclocking focused motherboard. That DPC latency is outright disqualifying, and the fact that they can't design a VRM without active cooling is just embarrassing. I really wanted to like this board and see a new entrant in the motherboard space, but this product absolutely should have been canceled before seeing the light of day. Along with their recent issues with exploding RTX 3000 cards it's starting to seem like EVGA is a brand to avoid.Midland_Dog - Monday, October 11, 2021 - link
still no memory overclocking segment, this review is as useless as the asrock z590 oneno one cares what cpu frequency it does. a mediocre board will do the same cpu frequency, only reason you wont hit that frequency is because the board is so far away from decent that it shouldnt be sold
MEMORY OC IS THE MAIN REASON THESE BOARDS HAVE ANY ADVANTAGE IN COMPETITIVE OC
a great analogy for this review is that you are "seeing how much an F1 car can tow"
every board thats worth owning will hit the same cpu frequency. for all we know b550 boards can score better than this because you havent tested memory OC. get yourselves a good kit of dual rank b-die and please test what its ACTUALLY made for. as far as im concerned this is a useless reviewq/