PCB Design and Functionality

I would like to make sure that you don’t make a mistake. We called EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard “relatively inexpensive” and it is absolutely correct. It used to be the most inexpensive mainboard until recently, when EVGA released a microATX mainboard – X58 SLI Micro, which sells at a little over $200. As for EVGA X58 SLI LE, a mainboard selling for $240 can hardly be called cheap, but it is not really about the money that much in this case. The word “cheap”, the “LE” index in the mainboard model name – all this subconsciously prepares us for a solution with limited functionality and acceptable quality. However, this is an absolutely wrong impression. In reality, the actual features and functions of the EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard are barely different from those of EVGA X58 SLI Classified as well as from those of other manufacturers’ solutions. As for the quality of this board, it is exceptionally high and there is nothing to suggest that they were trying to lower the production costs at the expense of the product quality or features. EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard looks much more expensive than what they ask for it.

I doubt that you have any immediate comments about the components layout of EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard: the design looks very balanced and convenient. The only noticeable drawback is the processor socket that is located very close to the top edge of the mainboard PCB. If the system case is not tall enough you may experience some compatibility issues with large CPU coolers, because their heatsinks may hit against the PSU located above or against the top of the case, if the PSU is at the bottom. Even on the top EVGA X58 SLI Classified mainboard model the CPU socket was a little lower, although there were also four PCI Express x16 graphics card slots on the PCB. So far we have seen the same not very convenient positioning of the processor socket only on ASRock X58 SuperComputer. Speaking about aesthetics, we have to say that the dark EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard could use a few colored DIMM or expansion slots, but it is only my personal opinion and doesn’t affect the mainboard functionality in anyway, of course.

When you look at the PCB from above, you can get a general idea of the layout and functionality. But if you want to check out the details, you have to look at a slightly different angle. Let’s start with the cooling system. All heatsink on EVGA X58 SLI LE have unique shape, but it is a large aluminum alloy heatsink on the chipset North Bridge that stands out most.

Despite the scarily large size, it is in fact not as big at it seems. For example, the long side of the CoolerMaster GeminII cooler that we used during our test session stretched perfectly fine above it and even had some additional headroom left. By the way, speaking of way to lower the production costs: all mainboard heatsinks use the same secure screw-on retention as the flagship EVGA solution.

Except the processor socket that is located too close to the top edge of the mainboard PCB, the upper part of the EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard looks great. MOSFET transistors of the six-phase processor voltage regulator circuitry are cooled with an additional heatsink, all power connectors are in very convenient places and the special contact spots for manual monitoring of the most important voltages are also all in place.

The bottom part of EVGA X58 SLI LE PCB doesn’t have the gigantic heatsink like the one we saw on the flagship solution, but it doesn’t really need it since there is no Nvidia NF200 controller. Intel ICH10R South Bridge is cooled with a low-profile aluminum heatsink that won’t disturb the installed graphics cards in any way. There is also a POST indicator, Power On and Reset buttons, and a small (to avoid accidental pressing) Clear CMOS button. The red Power On button is highlighted with a built-in red LED, and the Reset button – with a yellow LED that indicates HDD activity, which is a very elegant solution.

Just like the high-end model, EVGA X58 SLI LE is equipped with four PCI Express x16 graphics card slots, but they work in a very strange manner. Just in case let me remind you that Intel X58 Express chipset allows using two graphics cards at the same time that is why there must be two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots, like on Intel DX58SO, for instance. If a mainboard manufacturers wish to increase the number of slots, they have to be creative. The simplest solution is to assign the remaining four PCI Express lanes to the third slot, like on ASRock X58 Extreme, Asus P6T and DFI LANPARTY DK X58-T3eH6. Gigabyte mainboards we have tested so far offer a different solution. Two graphics cards work at full speed, but when we install the third one, the algorithm changes to x16-x8-x8 — two lower slots split the 16 PCI Express lanes.

So far we have only mentioned mainboards with three PCI Express x16 slots, but even if you want to have four of them using an additional controller, like on EVGA X58 SLI Classified and MSI Eclipse Plus, is not an absolute necessity. Take, for example, ASRock X58 SuperComputer and Foxconn BloodRAGE. These mainboards, just like Gigabyte solutions, have two pairs of slots that split 16 PCI Express lanes between the two slots within each pair. Two graphics cards will work at full speed, while in case of four graphics cards, they will all switch to PCI Express x8. However, EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard used a completely different solution. There is no friendly sharing upon request, all slots work at a clearly set speed: the first one works at full speed, the second and the last one – at PCI Express x8, and the one but last uses the remaining four PCI Express lanes.

I don’t quite understand the reasons for this strange distribution of PCI Express lanes. Most systems with multiple graphics cards use two accelerators or three, but very rarely four. That is why it seems more logical to assign most resources to the first two graphics cards. This is the logics that we saw in all other mainboards previously tested in our lab: no matter how many graphics card slots there were and how the available PCI Express lanes were distributed between them, two graphics cards could always work at full speed. However, two graphics cards installed into EVGA X58 SLI LE don’t have this opportunity right from the start: the second one will always be slower because it can only work as PCI Express x8 or x4. How much slower it is actually going to be, will the speed difference be noticeable and in what operational modes – this is a different question. Besides, the majority of users have only one graphics card, so these problems will have nothing to do this them anyway, but those who are looking to build a multi-card graphics subsystem should definitely take note of this peculiarity.

You may have already noticed that EVGA X58 SLI LE doesn’t have any FDD and IDE connectors. At first when I looked at the back panel I assumed that they simplified the board design and lowered its cost by cutting down on additional controllers, since there are none on the board. True, I didn’t find any controllers that would provide support for PATA and a pair of SATA or eSATA ports. However, I noticed a Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A controller that implements two IEEE1394 (FireWire) ports. There are none on the back panel, but there is an additional bracket with two USB and one IEEE1394 port. As for the mainboard back panel, it has the following ports and connectors:

• PS/2 keyboard connector;
• Eight USB ports, four more ports implemented as onboard pin-connectors;
• Clear CMOS button for clearing BIOS settings;
• Coaxial and optical S/PDIF and six analogue audio-jacks provided by eight-channel Realtek ALC889 codec;
• Local network connector (based on Realtek RTL8111D controller).

Now I only have to mention that EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard has six fan connectors, because you might find it difficult to notice small black connectors on the black PCB textolite. Everything else, such as color coded connectors for the front panel buttons and indicators or solid-state capacitors, are fairly easy to spot. Here is components layout schematic from the mainboard user manual that should help you:

We would like to wind up our discussion of EVGA X58 SLI LE mainboard design and features with a list of its technical specs from the user manual:

Well, now we can sum up a few things and point out the major features distinguishing EVGA X58 SLI LE from its elder sister. The functional differences are quite noticeable, but there are no serious drawbacks except the placing of the CPU socket too close to the PCB edge. As I have already said, I was a little surprised with the strange distribution of the PCI Express lanes between the graphics card slots, however, it won’t really matter for most users. As for the absence of a power-hungry Nvidia NF200 controller, we could even consider it an advantage. Some of you may want to mention the absence of IEEE1394 (FireWire) ports on the mainboard back panel, but this doubtful drawback is immediately compensated by the additional bracket with two USB and one IEEE1394 ports. All other differences are by no means drawbacks or issues, just keep in mind what we already know:

1. Six-phase processor voltage regulator instead of a digital ten-phase circuitry. We also noticed that a few things have been simplified in the memory and chipset North Bridge voltage regulators;
2. One eight-pin ATX12V processor power supply connector instead of two;
3. One integrated network card instead of two;
4. No PATA and additional SATA and eSATA support;
5. Two Serial ATA cables among bundled accessories instead of six, no external ECP (EVGA Control Panel) and no system case logo sticker among bundled accessories.

Frankly speaking, all these differences that have minor effect on the mainboard functionality seem even more insignificant keeping in mind that they resulted into a substantial price drop down to almost a half.