The Big Decision

When all is said and done, which is the right board for you, and why?

It’s pretty clear from the verdicts that the nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset is the winner. Yes, our verdicts take into account a motherboard’s amenities and layout, but performance is a critical factor. And performance is the result of the chipset—its design, but more importantly, its memory controller. And sure enough, the nForce boards excelled in our memory tests, as well as a majority of the other benchmarks. 

Mind you, this was a win by decision, not a clear knockout. Several benchmarks resulted in a virtual tie, with all the boards turning in similar scores when the margin of error was factored in. But still, a win is a win all the same.

It’s just icing on the cake for the nForce crowd that the two boards featuring the 790i chipset also include other important features, although to differing degrees. The Asus Striker II Extreme is jam-packed with bells and whistles and overclocks like nobody’s business, but it costs $100 more than the already pricey EVGA 790i SLI Ultra board and had inferior scores in our gaming benchmarks (however, we suspect that gap will close when Asus releases a BIOS update).

EVGA’s board, on the other hand, is simply a solid go-to Nvidia reference design that delivers on all the 790i’s key features. Both are more than respectable, so choosing between them will come down to personal preference—and your budget.

Admittedly, an nForce chipset isn’t a practical solution for everyone, specifically folks who either have dual ATI videocards or are planning to run a CrossFire X setup in the future. We have good news for them. Gigabyte’s X48T-DQ6 is a solid runner up, with the advantages of a reliable Intel chipset. It’s also fairly tweakable. There’s certainly no shame in owning this motherboard. In fact, Intel should model its own boards on the X48T-DQ6’s design.

In the end, however, even the best boards here aren’t perfect. There’s always room for innovation and improvement. Turn the page to see some of the radical new features we’d like to see in future mobo designs.

Next: Our Dream Motherboard!