Intel DX79SI Pro Reviews

Overall I liked the DX79SI. I have a few issues with it however. I am disappointed Intel hasn’t stepped up their game with regard to the BIOS. What we saw here is an improvement over previous boards we’ve looked at from Intel. Certainly improvement should be commended, but the bar for BIOS and Intel is pretty low. So that isn’t saying a lot. If you compare Intel BIOS to everyone else’s going back several years through now you’ll see that historically this has always been a weakness for Intel. So it almost goes without saying. Still I wish it weren’t the case because Intel can build some of the best motherboards out there. I also wish that this board had at least one third party SATA controller for some additional internal or even eSATA ports. Aside from these two failings, the board worked flawlessly for me and was among the easiest to overclock out of all the LGA2011 boards I’ve tested thus far. The Intel DX79SI was stable and easy to work with. As you’d expect from an Intel product, the thing just worked. I think the overclocking results speak for themselves. While I would have liked to have done my tuning in a nice UEFI with a few more options, most of the boards I’ve tested recently only did 4.6GHz with our test chip. The DX79SI went a little further than most other LGA2011 boards did. I don’t think I’d necessarily call it "Extreme" but I’d call it a damn good motherboard that you could drop in your machine, setup once, and forget about. If you are a hardcore tuner, or want a board bristling with features then I’d look towards ASUS, Gigabyte, or MSI. If you want reliability and results, and a core foundation of quality, and useful features, then despite a couple flaws, the Intel DX79SI is certainly worthy of consideration.

When we started reviewing Intel DX79SI mainboard, we didn’t expect such an outcome. It looks fine, has pretty good set of features, which is not very much different from what we saw by other mainboards of the same class. It has a few advantages and a few drawbacks, just like everyone else. However, when tested in identical conditions the board demonstrated surprisingly low performance in nominal mode and even lower performance in overclocked mode, because it proved unable to fully overclock the CPU and memory at the same time. However, the board’s phenomenal energy-efficiency fully makes up for the not very high performance, although this is not quite what we would expect from a flagship product. When we are looking for energy-efficiency in the first place, we go with a platform that uses different type of processors, and an LGA 2011 platform is supposed to deliver maximum performance, which Intel DX79SI can’t do. I also have to say that BIOS updates from Intel often change not only the BIOS functionality but also its appearance. So, there is some hope that things will change. However, as of now we could only recommend Intel DX79SI to those users who care for energy-efficiency of their system more than speed.

The DX79SI is one of the better enthusiast-orientated motherboards we’ve seen from Intel and it surprised us with its looks and features. Many of these, such as the power and reset buttons and POST code readout, are absent from more expensive boards. However, it’s also lacking in a few key areas, namely in its ability to overclock as easily as other LGA2011 boards, and when it comes to motherboard cooling. Asus’ Sabertooth X79 has much better cooling and sports the superb Thermal Radar tweaking suite. Given that the Sabertooth X79 costs just £17 more, this is money well spent as far as we’re concerned.

Firstly is the PCIe configuration, especially when double slot dual GPUs are used. These have to take up the first two PCIe x16 slots, which when the GPUs are double slot width leave no gap between them. There were times in my dual GTX580 testing where I was concerned about temperatures, perhaps suggesting that users in this situation use custom fan profiles on their GPUs. Next in the firing line is the software for users – there is nothing apart from an overclocking utility for the OS. Although it is well made, some form of fan controls is essentially a must-have in the current land of motherboard comparison. As a result, this automatically removes it from any awards I may have been considering giving the board after testing. Also of note is the lack of SATA cables in the package. Unfortunately, I have a media sample rather than a retail package, which lacks the Bluetooth/Wifi module, but nothing in the product specifications points to any SATA cables being bundled. Despite this, there are positives to the board. It houses dual gigabit Intel NICs, which is always welcome when spending $300 on a board. Alongside this, I really liked the ‘Back2BIOS’ button on the I/O panel, providing a quick and sure-fire way to get back into the BIOS and change various options. The BIOS does not win any awards, being a simple functional menu system with various ASCII art representations of parts of the board, but it gives info when required which is still an issue for some motherboard manufacturers. Also a positive is the overclocking settings, which on the 1.00x gear ratio instantly provided 4.6 GHz at 1.42 V. As we’ve reviewed previously, at this speed and voltage the processor can get quite toasty (80C in a Blender stress test), even with the Intel Liquid Cooler outside of a case, so consumers may consider a lower speed setting which also works well with memory, such as 4.4 GHz and DDR3-1866. In the grand scheme of things, this board works. However for the price, there is not anything that makes it stand out from the crowd. I would not recommend it for anyone considering using more than one GPU due to the spacing, or for those that want to adjust fan speeds for temperature and noise from motherboard OS controls.

Intel-branded motherboards are usually plain and generally targeted to conservative users. These users want to have the peace of mind knowing that the motherboard in their computers was designed by the same company that manufactured the processor. Intel usually takes a conservative approach when designing their motherboards, but the Intel DX79SI has some advantages over its competitors, such as the included Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 module, the presence of two Gigabit Ethernet ports, the two FireWire ports, eight memory sockets, and the support for three-way SLI and CrossFireX without the need for a case with more than seven expansion slots. The drawbacks of this motherboard include the absence of extra SATA ports and eSATA ports, the use of a mainstream audio codec instead of a high-end one, and fewer overclocking options compared to the competition. The voltage regulator circuit available on the Intel DX79SI is very good, but competing products offer even better designs. In summary, the Intel DX79SI is a fair-priced, good option for the new LGA2011 platform. Only you will be able to choose if you prefer the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module instead of more SATA ports.

The Intel Desktop Board DX79SI isn't a captivating X79 Express motherboard, but it meets all the requirements at a reasonable price.

This platform now represents the pinnacle of the enthusiast level market and this new board from Intel is a great way to prepare for it. Only time will tell how well it will be received by this market and whether or not it will translate into profits for Intel. One thing that is still debatable is whether or not this new platform will signal the end for AMD. With their disastrous Bulldozer launch they really need to make sure that their next processor lives up to the hype that they at least generated for Bulldozer. If it doesn’t they may find themselves becoming a strictly GPU manufacturer and low end processor company. Come to think of it they are nearly half way there now. We have seen what Intel’s offering is capable of with their new chipset. Stay tuned to find out what the other vendors have done to give it an even bigger boost in performance and what amazing features they are able to cram onto the PCB.

All that said, Intel motherboards have earned a reputation for solid and reliable operation over the years, and nothing I saw with the DX79SI leads me to believe it will be any different. This board would make an excellent base for a professional CAD, rendering, or engineering workstation. But you should check out the competition before springing for the Intel board, since you might be able to get more for your money.