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  • Mr Roboto - Thursday, February 26, 2009 - link

    But, but, it looks so coooool. Who really cares how well it works. I just want to show it off to people. I'm sure I can think of an excuse why it's not working if they ask me to fire it up.

    Everyone will think I'm cool for owning a $300+ motherboard.
  • kompulsive - Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - link

    Epic over hype fail.
  • cactusdog - Friday, January 9, 2009 - link

    Thanks for highlighting the issues with the motherboard.

    An issue like this could be terrible for a consumer, especially if it is their main computer.

    Consumer buys board,consumer spends several hours/days trying to get board working right. Consumer cant fix it so he researches the net for an answer for another few hours/days. Consumer learns PSU is not compatible and starts RMA process. Consumer now has no computer while he waits weeks for a replacement. Consumer buys another board because he needs a working computer while he waits for RMA.

    2 months after original purchase the $300+ board is working. Board is now obsolete because there are newer better boards available.

    Consumer is very annoyed.

    This is why its very important for reviewers to be upfront and not make excuses for manufacturers. Thanks for doing so in this article.
  • kompulsive - Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - link

    Overrated motherboard fail.
  • Kougar - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    Thanks for the early look at this book. Frankly it's not the benchmark results that are useful but reviews like these that try to cover issues and functionality. Unless there some deficiency the benchmarks are all going to be nearly the same between other similar chipset boards anyway, I find myself barely glancing at them anymore.

    Also I wanted to say thanks for the update. That is important info to know and I'm glad that was able to be sorted out. I wonder why so many motherboards are still having issues with very specific power supplies, seems to be several each year, year after year.
  • Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - link

    Hard to say Kougar. I guess standby voltages on a new platform and given that this board is very very power centric. Switch on surge and current draw may be on the brink of some of the earlier units coming out of a rest/cold boot. On a sidenote, PSU's can be equally to blame at times, revisions are sometimes made and not documented to the public until something like this happens and raises question marks.

    later Raja

  • fjs - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    To echo the comments of an earlier poster, I would appreciate photographs in the article which demonstrate the available internal and external connectors adequately.

    I can see 2 SATA ports, and there are supposed to be 6. Where are the others hiding?
  • strikeback03 - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    6 SATA ports are in the angled connectors at the bottom right of the board, below the IDE connector.
  • fjs - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    Thank you. I can see now there are 8 SATA ports. The two I noticed were the Marvell-driven ones. The ones you refer to are orientated in the plane of the board, which I did not expect.

    Again, to AnandTech, a plea for more connector photos in future reviews.
  • yyrkoon - Sunday, January 4, 2009 - link

    I personally am not coming down on you, or any Anandtech staff. You guys ( and gals? ) have a hard time making your readers, and supplying companies happy with your reviews.

    I would suggest however that Anandtech call it like it is, or just plain refuse to to document your findings on the web UNTIL things are corrected. As it stands, Foxconn is one of several name brands I would never touch, and this would be a perfect example why. Being name brand centric is nothing close to being a 'fanboi', it is simple common sense. Buy a $300 motherboard that does not work, or does not work correctly ? Sorry, I am not seeing the logic here. People pay extra for GOOD STUFF, not garbage. Also, like said at least a couple of times already, I am NOT a paying beta tester. I get paid to beta test, not the other way around.

    I also am becoming frustrated when reading these reviews. I often go out on my own any more, and research hardware elsewhere. Try explaining that to your advertisers. The above is not a threat, or someway for me to make you at anandtech feel bad; it *is* the truth.

    You guys seeing, or saw whats happening over at Toms Hardware ? It is the same thing I see happening here, just not quite as ridiculous yet.
  • strikeback03 - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    Being "brand centric" is being a fanboi if you don't even consider other competing brands. The motherboard gods did not reach down and bless abit, Asus, Gigabyte, etc, with good reliable motherboards; they are the result of good decisions in design and support from the companies. These companies do produce the occasional problem product, and there is nothing stopping them from deciding to cut costs and ride their reputation for a while while producing substandard merchandise (see: Sony). At the same time ECS, Foxconn, etc could decide to dedicate the resources to produce good boards and support themselves, and in time they would have a good reputation. Every product needs to be judged on its own merits, not just the company reputation.

    As far as this board goes, the layout should make it obvious that this is not really a general-purpose board, but a benchmarkers delight. So as Raja mentioned, pressing the reset button isn't a huge deal if the board isn't in a case. The data is there to draw conclusions from based on each reader's needs.
  • yyrkoon - Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - link

    Being brand centric might mean you're a 'fanboi' if you're you. I however have larger issues to consider, such as customers to please, and support.

    The 'motherboard gods' do bless companies who put a bit of effort into their product, although you could also think of that as the company being thorough. Every company does have problem products I will agree with that, but time after time again, and it is time to call a lemon, a lemon. As for judging a product by its own merits, I could not agree more, that said there are companies whom have already been named who do put out quality products time , and time again. All you have to do is ask any professional, and I bet if you did not know already it would not be hard to figure out. *hint* Asus does not enter the picture.

    Also, I could care less if this is an "benchmarking board", for $300 usd it had better work right, and maybe even serve me coffee in the morning. People such as myself are tired of paying a premium for "quality" parts, only to become a paying beta tester. Now, if Foxconn had a reputation for giving good support, this whole conversation would be moot. As it stands, I can go to the competition and get a rock solid board with excellent support if needed for half the price.

    Maybe it is time someone started doing reviews on the average every day system board/parts most people would use instead of wasting every ones time reviewing a niche product that obviously is not going to sell well. To add insult to injury, we see these same kind of reviews _all_the_frigging_time_ here, it would be nice to have a change.

  • Rajinder Gill - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    Thanks StrikeBack..

    Updated first page btw with a para at the top - Foxconn appear to have fixed the issue. I'll be checking this out for myself. They had to change 3 SMT resistors on their boards to rectify it. It only affects some of the high power supplies over 1000W, which many of the people who buy boards like these seem to have - although not all of the PSU's appear to have the issue.

    Sorry for the inconvienience caused btw..

    later
    Raja

  • 7Enigma - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    Thank you as well from me for the update. I was hard on this article earlier in the comments (and still stand by them), but thank you for the update. I can see now why you were not as gung-ho to bash on the mobo (as not everyone was having problems with it), but I still feel the criticism towards the product was warranted.

    It is a shame that RMA is required and not just a bios fix. I'm hoping they at least pay shipping both ways....
  • Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - link

    That's Ok. You live and learn. It was a mixture of getting something up fast and not having enough feedback that prompted the format. The Bloodrage is quite a niche product so it can take a while to get sufficient feedback from users in the wild before you can really say soemthing is seriously wrong. Even though our PSU's threw curve balls, similar units from users and in labs have not - go figure, (where do you go from there?) Anyway, I'm glad they're on it and have nailed it. My sample board here is a rev. 1.0 btw, I'm not sure if the updated boards have a different rev number yet - I'll ask.

    WIth the PSU swap it's a completely different board. I'm running through the regular daily testing atm rebooting, overclocking etc and not one problem since making the PSU change.

    Again, sorry for the rigmorale folks. Foxconn have been great over the past few days answering everything within minutes mostly. Thank Sascha @ Foxconn support!

    regards
    Raja
  • Gasaraki88 - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    Thanks for the update. =)
  • Rajinder Gill - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    If any one reading this has an afflicted board/PSU combo;


    http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p...">http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p...

    later
    Raja
  • yyrkoon - Sunday, January 4, 2009 - link

    It is a shame companies like this still litter the market with junk motherboards, and companies such as ABIT who at least once in a while make a few decent boards go out of the business. To be perfectly honest though, I have been using ABIT since the early to mid 90's, and their boards have ALWAYS served me well.

    I guess I will be moving to Gigabyte, it sure will not be foxconn.
  • hooflung - Sunday, January 4, 2009 - link

    While I won't lay the blame completely at Anandtech's feet I feel these articles are just reader fodder in the sense that any news is good news. Review after review from this site and others the consensus is X-58 motherboards suck. Despite the quality of the components. Despite the quality of the build. Despite the quality of the spec's and engineering of Intel's chipset and cpu... these boards are just plain quirky.

    If AMD did this we'd have a complete AMD motherboard review that criticized the company left, right and center and point out how good Intel is. Seriously guys... I'd rather read about how good P45 chips are doing and a review of companies who gave the best amount of bios and mobo support throughout the product cycle than late breaking news on how much potential a motherboard could have with a few tweaks.

    Also, Foxconn is crap for supporting their motherboards. I have their 780G mini-atx and the NIC died on me after a Vista Realtek 8111B driver update to the point NO OS would install an official realtec, official foxconn or opensource driver even though the chip is seen by all OSs. Foxconn responded for a week to me via email with broken English requests to try xyz that I already did, and explained to them, and then asked ME to contact Microsoft and Realtek to inquire into what might have happened to the Realtek August 2008 Vista 64 driver updates. I mean... ok. Yeah... one guy with a warrantied board asking these companies... or a multi-million dollar partner. Which one is more likely to get a response?

    Screw Foxconn... screw all these bloody half-baked Intel X58 mobo reviews and get down to what many people crave. Real company insight in an unbiased fashion. Get back to the basics and quite this techfodder.
  • InSearchOf - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    i have decided on buying a motherboard based on the P45 chipset since for me it offers the best bang for your buck. the dilemma im having is which manufacturer should i put my money in?

    ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, DFI etc....

    ive also read alot and one should never buy the first versions of mobo and wait for 2nd version after the kinks have been worked out but how long before manuf. put a revised mobo on the market after first release? 3, 6 or 9 months???


    what about BIOS updates? how often do these companies update them and how do they treat RMAs and warranties?

    can any of you enlighten me with your past experiences and knowledge!

    thanks
  • davekozy - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    Asus is already releasing version 2 of the P6T Deluxe less than 2 months after the first was released. From what I've read the main difference is the loss of the SAS connectors. Companies with good product support release bios fixes as often as needed. There are 4 bios updates for the first P6T Deluxe or about one every two weeks since release. There have been 8 so far for my 6+ month old Asus P5Q. Evga has 7 bios updates already for their X58 board. That's almost one a week! There are a lot of issues the beta-testers aka early adopters (including AT) have helped resolve.
  • gemsurf - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    Sorry if I let the dogs out Rajinder and I hope it is all taken in context. We don't have the voice that this site does and thru you maybe some of this can improve? We have all trusted Anands for a very long time and I certainly hope he is reading these comments as well. Thank You all for what you do!
  • Rajinder Gill - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    Not at all. The reason I did not sensationalize the issue is becasue many others are not experiencing the problems. It's still random. I plugged in an OCZ Pro Xstream today and the board works fine. The variables involved in parts mismatches, batch changes, underhood revisions are so numerous. In the end I felt it better to highlight the possibility. Might not have been what you wanted to see, but the point was there regardless, and from my perspective understood too.

    later
    Raja
  • Scott66 - Sunday, January 4, 2009 - link

    Another website had to switch to a different power supply as their usual benchmarking one did not cold boot the system.
  • kilkennycat - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Have you noted that there is a recession? Core i7 is nowhere near mainstream, the current version of Core i7 is not optimised for desktop, being too power-hungry, and the motherboards and memory are ridiculously-priced. Maybe I am "all wet", but it might be very revealing to generate a survey of Anandtech readers with regard to their computer-system purchase intentions within the next 3-6 months.
    Why 3-6 months? The current bunch of Core i7 motherboards are very obviously first-generation beta-phase efforts. It takes somebody with a whole bunch of money and an "early-adopter" mentality to have the fortitude to buy any of them. It is going to take 3-6 months for Core i7 to be considered mainstream and by that time Anandtech is going to have to update a whole bunch of these X58 motherboard reviews. Meanwhile, there is a huge price/performance sweet-spot in the Penryn and Phenom domains with some incredibly comprehensive offerings out there. For just one little example, it is disappointing that the full Anandtech review of the MCP7A/9300/9400 motherboards has continued to be delayed, presumably by the pressure of completing these "bleeding-edge" X58 reviews.
  • ssj4Gogeta - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    I'm probably going to wait until Westmere.
  • LoneWolf15 - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Yep.

    After having to purchase a board unexpectedly this week, and some thought, I've decided on Gigabyte's GA-EP45-UD3P.

    Current reviews almost seem to make it look dated, despite it being a relatively recent board. But considering I'm going from an Intel BadAxe2 (when I buy a board, I want a good board that will last a few years), a P45 chipset is quite new. System also supports DDR2; quality DDR2 is still half the price of DDR3, and it supports faster processors than I need (including my existing Q6600). Add that it also has ICH10R for RAID, firewire, and a ton of ports, and I can save a lot of money over getting an i7 that is certainly cool, but beyond what I need. All for under $150 shipped.
  • Paulywogstew - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    In the Board & Features overview you state its a socket T 775 interface???
  • Kroneborge - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    IMO, bios revisions for better performance etc are ok, and to be exptected. Bios revisions to get basic functionality working are not.

    When you make a purchase you expect it to work as advertised or it's going back. If you can't get a bios ready by then, then delay release. Develop a repuataion for rock steady performance, and people will beat a path to your door to develop your product, EVEN if they have to wait a extra month or two too purchase.
  • JonnyDough - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Agreed. Every time I took that brief AMD survey upon a visit to their site I always put that I looked for STABILITY in drivers. Why would I want to get 300fps in a game if it's going to crash on the last level and not let me win?
  • weevil - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Hope they get it working right.

    Keep up the good work guys.

    Tough crowd huh?
  • badthings - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    from the article:
    "Those that had positive experiences with the Black Ops by using it in the intended manner have been imbibed with plenty of thought provoking fodder to wonder what's coming next from the Quantum Force development team."

    Is 'imbibed' really what you meant?

    Other than that, thanks for the info. (and the laugh)
  • UNHchabo - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imbibed">http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imbibed
  • LoneWolf15 - Sunday, January 4, 2009 - link

    I think they meant "imbued". Still kind of an odd way to phrase things.
  • shabby - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Is it me or will adding a 2slot high video card in the 2nd red slot block all of the usb/sata/ide ports at the bottom?
  • DigitalFreak - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Yet another very expensive motherboard using crap Realtek network parts.
  • Gasaraki88 - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    I can't believe that this article is actually saying that this motherboard is good. ANY motherboard that doesn't work correctly out of the box even when not overclocking is not a working motherboard. Who is going to press that damn bios reset button everytime they want to boot up the computer? Who is going to know they need to do that? People will just assume that the board doesn't work and return it. If manufacturers can't get something that simple right before releasing the board to the public, the people should not be buying their stuff.
  • AlterBridge86 - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Nice write up, but on the front page, the brief synopsis underneath the title has a typo...

    "The Blood Rage is one of the hottest looking X58 boards to grace out test bench, but what lies beneath the... "

    I believe it should be grace OUR test bench, not OUT :)
  • Rajinder Gill - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    sorry - fixed...

    thx

  • jackylman - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    In the Feature Overview chart, you list 6GB of RAM as the max. I'm guessing this is the official Foxconn spec. Later in the article, you claim that the board will support 12GB, though it appears that you didn't actually test this.

    Can you clarify the max RAM situation? Thanks.
  • JarredWalton - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Well, 12GB would require 4GB DIMMs, which I don't think are in supply at all right now (if they even exist). I can find 4GB DDR2 DIMMs, but not DDR3.
  • gemsurf - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    It seems a waste of time to bother with motherboard articles on this site anymore. None of them are of a "finished" product and all have "nothing fatally wrong that can't be fixed with some bios updates" and "were hopefull fixes will be forthcoming"

    I thought you guys actually were starting to get it! All those incredible components and specs mean nothing if it doesn't produce a workable product in the end! So that promise of turning over a new leaf at Anands is still awaiting a "bios update" too?

    It is way past time to call them what they are people! Crappy products not ready for release so don't buy them until they are!
    We are you're constiuents, and we are the reason you can sell the ads here on Anands. We are who you need to "tell it like it is" to!

    Many of us, like myself have been coming here since the geocities days because we have had great respect and trust in your efforts and opinions. That seems to have changed. If you want to be a beta test lab, then please change the business model and site name so we know what to expect.
  • jackylman - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    They ARE telling it "like it is". This board, like several others, has great potential, but some quirks need to be worked out in the BIOS. This is an accurate reflection of the product that a consumer can buy today.

    One of the reasons I stopped coming to this site was because it had the tendency to use special versions of a product or BIOS that the consumer was never able to actually obtain, but reviewing an actual retail board remedies this.

    If you're looking for a motherboard that has a perfect BIOS from day one of availability and never has any updates sans maybe some new CPU ID's, GOOD LUCK (and let me know when you find this magical mobo). The sad fact is that mobo manufacturers force consumers to do the beta testing, especially with new tech like the X58 chipset. IMHO, you can't rightfully blame anandtech.com for this.


  • gemsurf - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    I understand what you are saying, but these boards seem to have more serious issues that do affect the everyday performance. I appreciate that there are always issues with boards and bios updates are a neccasary part of it.

    All I expect once again is for them to say "no, its not ready for prime time, or yes, it is ready for prime time!" Thats all!
  • yyrkoon - Sunday, January 4, 2009 - link

    Guys, the whole point of article such as this is so *you* know what to expect from it. If you want a rock solid motherboard for a rock solid system THAT IS YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY.

    Read the reviews, and not just from this website, then go read the user reviews on newegg( and I do not care if you plan on buying from newegg or not ). Someone with half a brain should be able to figure out on their own what will work for them, or not. Do not expect someone else to do your homework for you.

    Besides all this, I do not know what you all are getting so wound up about; this is after all a foxconn board, not exactly known for their reliability. If you want reliability, go with Gigabyte, MSI, whatever ( depending on the board/feature set ) and make sure to research your hardware . . .
  • Rajinder Gill - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    This board has been on my test bench for three days. In that time I've done my level best to look at as many aspects of the board as I think the target audience will but it for on a whim. The fact that we are the only site highlighting the current BIOS inadequacies says something in itself. There was no way we could post a complete review without a partial look in the time at hand.

    The BIOS this board was tested with is current and what you'll get - we've highlighted the flaws we've found in those 3 days of testing. It takes copious hours to compile the 'little' data you see here. In that time we tested all the peripherals a basic system can provide - with the others to be covered over the three week period. What would you rather have? A full review in 2 weeks time - with a newer BIOS on the shelf or an honest look at what's here right now, albeit with limited testing?



  • DaveLessnau - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    The thing is, it doesn't MATTER how pretty the board is or how kewl its specs are if the darn thing will not "cold or stop-cycle-boot without pressing the "Force Reset" button." As soon as you found this, you should have just stopped the review process and written it up with the headline: "Unable to review since it won't boot-- DO NOT BUY." And that's it. Instead, you don't even mention it until the 3rd page of the review (after fawning over the board for the first two pages). I'm sorry that you wasted "3 days of testing." But, that's your problem. You shouldn't foist it off onto your audience as some way to recover sunk costs. The board fails. Period. Anything else is moot. Do yourself and your audience a favor and just say that.
  • 7Enigma - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    Agreed. Gross faults like not being able to boot without pushing the forced reset button (my computer like many people's is under my desk in an enclosed space; I would laugh at anyone that asked me to crawl under there, open the case, and push a button routinely until they can get a bios fix), ports/features that don't work, and other major issues are not going to help the consumer and ultimately not help the manufacturers.

    Unfortunately we don't have the voice to tell these manufacturers to get their acts together. We come off simply as anti-fanboys, or anecdotal evidence at best. You and this site have the ability to directly affect sales and quality. This article should have been 1 page. Put the picture of the board with the name, and an X through it. Mention it has critical faults that are currently not fixed in the RETAIL available board selling for >$300 USD, and post it up on the main page.

    And do it for the next one, and the next one, until the companies get the idea that we are not beta testers. Can you imagine if the hardware industry becomes the game industry?
  • bob4432 - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    this b.s. is why i will never buy the newest gen chip/chipset/m/b/anything - i can not be a beta tester. i have serious back issues - both neuromuscular and structural - i build my machines, get them stable and they sit next to my desk for ~6mos at which time i blow them out w/ compressed air. even if i wanted to subject myself to constant frustration and the pain i would experience for crawling next to my machine and hitting a little button all the time, i wouldn't do it because i spent ~$300 on a m/b. for that kind of $$$ it should work out of the box the way the box says it will.

    i would much rather have a mature p35/p45 m/b for $80-$100 and have it be ultra stable and get 90%+ of the performance of this board and save the frustration for you guys.

    why don't you guys put up a pass/fail on the first page? don't ooh and ahhh over it because it may look cool to you but run like sh!t - i am not a all show no go kind of person, in fact the opposite. i don't get wet from some black and red anodized/painted/dyed heatsinks/slots and board colors....
  • Rajinder Gill - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    Fact is there are users without any problems, go check the Foxconn Support forums or ask their staff. Making a blanket statement like that would require the board to be bad in all situations - when it is clearly not. I'm not going to do that unless I know for sure, so what you'll get from me is a maybe. In the end I had to leave it as a possible and made the notification which it's clear you all understand. Initial reaction from users and support at Foxconn is that they're looking at the PSU's we used but cannot recreate it.

  • gemsurf - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Absolutely! Why pay any homage to a company like Foxcon that releases this crap to the unsuspecting public! Most early adoptee's will have dropped about a grand counting memory and a processor only to be a friggen frustrated betatester! That sucks and should be pointed out for what it is! A crappy company! Anandtech has the clout to be heard saying just that and it's time you did it everytime something "released to market" that doesn't work properly!
  • JonnyDough - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    I agree. They BLOW. Support for bios updates and drivers is lacking bad. I could even say the same for Phoenix who makes the BIOS for their boards. If you go to their website (because FoxConn BIOS are years old) and want an update to your BIOS you have to pay for a subscription to a driver update program. I guess nothing in life is free, except that I PAID FOR THE MOTHERBOARD. Which, I guess should mean that they support it for AT LEAST FIVE YEARS.

    Anyway, my experience with FoxConn has been dismal at best. They have no real American tech/website support to speak of. Steer clear.
  • JEDIYoda - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    You will never ever satisfy all the people all the time. So continue to do your very best!!
    In fact some people with complaints just enjoy complaining!!
  • Gasaraki88 - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    NO, I want you to call out the manufacturer and say that this is a bad motherboard because IT DOESN"T EVEN WORK OUT OF THE BOX! You do know that this mobo is for sale now in the general public right? If this was a pre-release board for reviewers then fine, but a retail board that can't boot properly? Come on...
  • The0ne - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    This isn't new, MBs have been shipping with bad BIOS firmwares for some time now. Even if sites like Anandtech were to find the issues, the MBs are going to make it out to the public as is. We as the consumer can only pray that they will have a fix, sooner than later.

    On this particular subject I am really disgusted at the companies for not doing a better job. As an Engineer myself I have to ask whether I'm happy with the current state of development to release it to the public or not. And if the MB is buggy with it, then DON'T ship it until you can stabilize it. Of course you have the QA and testing that might be missing as well. Shame really.
  • The0ne - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    sry, website didn't process so clicked 3 times :/
  • The0ne - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    This isn't new, MBs have been shipping with bad BIOS firmwares for some time now. Even if sites like Anandtech were to find the issues, the MBs are going to make it out to the public as is. We as the consumer can only pray that they will have a fix, sooner than later.

    On this particular subject I am really disgusted at the companies for not doing a better job. As an Engineer myself I have to ask whether I'm happy with the current state of development to release it to the public or not. And if the MB is buggy with it, then DON'T ship it until you can stabilize it. Of course you have the QA and testing that might be missing as well. Shame really.
  • The0ne - Monday, January 5, 2009 - link

    This isn't new, MBs have been shipping with bad BIOS firmwares for some time now. Even if sites like Anandtech were to find the issues, the MBs are going to make it out to the public as is. We as the consumer can only pray that they will have a fix, sooner than later.

    On this particular subject I am really disgusted at the companies for not doing a better job. As an Engineer myself I have to ask whether I'm happy with the current state of development to release it to the public or not. And if the MB is buggy with it, then DON'T ship it until you can stabilize it. Of course you have the QA and testing that might be missing as well. Shame really.
  • gemsurf - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Well, I'm a consumer (system builder) and I have yet to see an X58 board that is ready to market? Everything you have tested or teased with "has issues" and were not ready to market from what I can gather. So I guess what I would like to see is articles or follow ups on items that are really up to the promises on the box? Are there any because everything I've read here since the X58 release seems to have bios issues. Is the best board out there just the one with the fewest issues? Are they ready to trust across 25 mission critical workstations? I'm left with the impression that no, they are not? Seems these manufacturers want us to buy them and wait for the bios updates? If thats the case, then all I really expect is for you to say it that way.
  • Exar3342 - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    I have yet to hear any issues from the Gigabyte or Asus X58 boards (I happen to have used both myself) and each is rock-solid. Quit spreading FUD.
  • LoneWolf15 - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    ...but I've said this before in Anandtech mobo previews/reviews, and I'm sorry I have to say it again.

    PLEASE post pictures of the rear port cluster on the board you're previewing/reviewing. For some of us, this is a big deal in making our choice of a board, and to leave out that picture, IMHO, is something that just shouldn't happen.
  • Rajinder Gill - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Sorry my mistake. I had so much going on at once with this quick preview I missed it - it's not a purposeful mistake in any way. Let me get something together today and add it to the first look today if I can..

  • Rajinder Gill - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=backvb2.j...">http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=backvb2.j...

    Just for you sir...
  • GTVic - Saturday, January 3, 2009 - link

    Your specs list PS2 mouse and keyboard ports but there is not mouse port in the image???
  • kharaa - Sunday, January 18, 2009 - link

    Well, it has support for one or the other, I think if you've got the money to drop on a new X58 system, you likely have a usb mouse or keyboard, if not both.
  • LoneWolf15 - Friday, January 2, 2009 - link

    Thanks. I won't think of buying a board if I don't know what its port cluster is like, same as if I didn't know what the layout was like.

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