nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition
There’s only one way to run Core 2 Extreme with SLI, and we have it
MOTHERBOARDThe Dream Machine has always
had a touch of exclusivity to it.
We’re pretty certain, for example,
that you’ll have a hard time fi nding
an individually packaged Core 2
Extreme X6800 at your local screw-
driver shop. Likewise, Blu-ray burn-
ers are pretty damned rare (not to
mention painfully expensive.). And it
doesn’t get any more exclusive than
our nVidia nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition
motherboard. What? What? What? That
chipset isn’t even out yet!
We we’re so enamored with the
nifty tricks nVidia added to the new
chipset that we had to have it. Of
course, SLI support was essential, so
we wheedled an engineering sample
motherboard out of nVidia for this year’s
Dream Machine. This engineering board
ain’t pretty, and it’s the very defi nition ofa beta product, but it’s
also the only thing in town that’ll let
us run SLI with Conroe. (SLI is the only
game in town for dual-GPU confi gs, as
far as we’re concerned.)
This motherboard lets us run both our
videocards while at the same time giving
us all the other goodness that nVidia hasjammed into the nForce 590 SLI chipset.
If you haven’t been keeping up with
current events, the nForce 590 SLI
Intel Edition board can combine
both Gigabit ports into a single
two-Gigabit pipe. It can also
prioritize your game packets
so they don’t get bogged
down in the outgoing tor-
rent traffi c. And if you
use SLI-Ready Memory,
the info in the custom Enhanced
Performance Profi les (EPP) makes over-
clocking a snap.
What’s the main weakness of this
motherboard? We couldn’t get a damned
I/O shield for it—you know, that metal
plate that covers up the PS/2 and USB
ports. But, that’s a small price to pay
for getting early access to this sweet
chipset.MA XIMUMPC SEPTEMBER 2006
jammed into the nForce 590 SLI chipset.
If you haven’t been keeping up with
current events, the nForce 590 SLI
Intel Edition board can combine
both Gigabit ports into a single
two-Gigabit pipe. It can also
prioritize your game packets
so they don’t get boggedthe info in the custom Enhanced
Performance Profi les (EPP) makes over-
clocking a snap.
What’s the main weakness of thisThere’s only one way to run Core 2 Extreme with SLI, and we have it
that you’ll have a hard time fi ndingExtreme X6800 at your local screw-
driver shop. Likewise, Blu-ray burn-
ers are pretty damned rare (not to
mention painfully expensive.). And it
doesn’t get any more exclusive than
our nVidia nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition
motherboard. What? What? What? ThatWe we’re so enamored with the
nifty tricks nVidia added to the new also the only thing in town that’ll let What’s the main weakness of thisour nVidia nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition
motherboard. What? What? What? Thata beta product, but it’s
also the only thing in town that’ll letjammed into the nForce 590 SLI chipset.
If you haven’t been keeping up with
current events, the nForce 590 SLI
Intel Edition board can combine
both Gigabit ports into a single
two-Gigabit pipe. It can also
prioritize your game packetsthe info in the custom Enhanced
Performance Profi les (EPP) makes over-
clocking a snap.
What’s the main weakness of thisCorsair DDR2/
RAMCorsair and nVidia’s push
to include extra timing and
clock-speed info with
new DDR2 memory will
be a great boon to the casual
overclocker. As the co-creator of
the Enhanced Performance Profi les
that allow “SLI-Ready Memory” to work on
the nForce 500 series platform, Corsair was our natural pick for
RAM. At this early juncture, there aren’t any fancy LEDs or nifty
displays on the modules—just plain black heat spreaders. But
that’s OK by us—we’ll take performance over bling any day.
We had a dilemma when it came to confi guring our
RAM. Intel claims that using four double-sided DIMMs gives
Core 2 Extreme a healthy memory-bandwidth boost, but we
don’t think it’s enough to make a difference. For the Dream
Machine, we decided to go with future upgradeability; fi lling
all the available slots with smaller DIMMs just seems like a
bad idea. So we used two 1GB DDR2/800 Corsair DIMMs
rated for operation at 1066MHz, instead of four 512MB
DIMMs. If last year’s Dream Machine packed 8GB, why did
we drop to 2GB this year and forego running the maximum
of 4GB? We’re being more pragmatic this time around: There
can be a lot of challenges to getting desktop motherboards
to work with 4GB of RAM, and to be honest, it doesn’t yield
any performance increase for the cost.be a great boon to the casual
overclocker. As the co-creator of
the Enhanced Performance Profi les
that allow “SLI-Ready Memory” to work onbe a great boon to the casual
overclocker. As the co-creator of
the Enhanced Performance Profi les
that allow “SLI-Ready Memory” to work onTwo Dell 2407WFPs
MONITORIt might surprise you
that we’re not pairing
our monster machine
with the largest avail-
able desktop LCD. But
we have our reasons
for eschewing a 30-inch
screen from either Dell
or Apple. The 2560x
native resolution of the
30-inchers requires quad-
SLI to draw that many pixels in
modern games. And even with quad-SLI, the current 30-inch
screens aren’t optimal game displays: Many games don’t
even support the native res; and frankly, these panels just
aren’t that fast—they’re prone to redraw errors and blurring
that you won’t fi nd in a much-faster 24-inch LCD.
And when it comes to 24-inch LCDs, the only thing bet-
ter than a Dell 2407WFP (reviewed on page 76) is two of
these babies working in tandem. Indeed, the Dream Machine
deserves nothing less than this pair o’ 1920x1200 crisp, color-
ful screens that make even the most mundane applications
look spectacular. Plus, we double up on all the spicy extras the
2407WFP offers—a component input, four USB 2.0 ports, two
media readers, et al.modern games. And even with quad-SLI, the current 30-inchSLI to draw that many pixels inDream
Machine