Gigabyte EX58 Extreme comes with other important features. As mentioned previously, all the electrolytic capacitors used on the motherboard are solid from a Japanese manufacturer, which avoids the infamous leakage problem. As for the voltage regulator circuit, it is equipped with ferrite chokes (which causes 25% less energy loss compared to iron chokes), MOSFET transistors with low RDS(on) (low current leakage), wich provide less consuption and heat. But what is really amazing in this circuit is that it uses a 16-phase design (12+2+2, according to Gigabyte, or 12 phases for the processor power line), which provides a lower heat generation, a higher life-span and a cleaner voltage for the CPU. For a better understanding of the importance of such design, read our Everything You Need to Know About the Motherboard Voltage Regulator Circuit tutorial.

According to the manufacturer X58 Extreme has its power copper layers with twice the thickness of traditional motherboards (a.k.a. "2 oz of copper" feature). Therefore, the electrical resistance of these lines is divided by two, which reduces the heat produced by the board, improves efficiency and increases the chances of a successful overclock.

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EX58 Extreme also makes justice to its name in the heatsink department, with copper heatpipes on the northbridge, southbridge and voltage regulator transistors. So far so good, this type of heatpipe cooling solution is now common in most high-end motherboards. But this board goes beyond: it leaves the factory with a waterblock already installed on the chipset. So if you have a watercooling system for your processor, you do not need to buy a separated block to also refrigerate your motherboard in the most efficient manner. If you do not use such solution, X58 Extreme provides a "expansion card" passive heatsink to help cooling the chipset, shown on Figures 8 and 9. This solution must be screwed on the northbridge heatsink and uses one of the rear case slots (preventing the use of the PCI Express x1 slot available on the board). Moreover, due to the connection available using the heatpipes, the watercooler (or the "expansion card" dissipator) will also help cooling down the southbridge and voltage regulator transistors.

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Figure 7: Liquid cooling block.

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Figure 8: Vertical heatsink.

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Figure 9: Vertical heatsink.

Another amazing detail is the presence of a two-digit display that indicates the POST status, as well as several sets of LEDs on the board close to the memory sockets that indicate the voltage level of the processor, memory, northbridge and southbridge, helping to prevent damage caused by high voltages. Other two sets of LEDs indicate the level of overclocking and temperature of the processor and north bridge. Indeed, this board is dedicated to people who wants really extreme overclocking levels.