EVGA has officially launched its first AMD Ryzen Motherboard based around the AM4 CPU socket, the X570 DARK. The motherboard aims to be an enthusiast-grade motherboard with all the nuts & bolts to make it one of the best overclocking experiences with the Ryzen Desktop CPUs.
EVGA Finally Launches Its First AMD Ryzen Motherboard, The X570 DARK, Priced at $689.99 US
The EVGA X570 DARK motherboard isn't a traditional motherboard and due to several reasons. It is designed purely for enthusiast-grade AMD Ryzen Desktop CPUs and carries an enthusiast-tier build quality and a horizontally placed socket which plays a key role in pushing memory overclocks to the very limit.
The X570 DARK from EVGA features the AM4 socket with support AMD Ryzen Desktop CPUs up to Zen 3. The CPU socket is powered by two 8-pin connectors which are located next to the 24-pin power connectors, all of which are right-angled for easier cable management. Jacob Freeman of EVGA has confirmed that the chip is an 'X570S' variation since it doesn't feature an active-cooling solution.
The board has an impressive 17 Phase Digital VRM, a 10 layer PCB, and the most notable thing next to the power delivery are huge aluminum finned heatsinks. There are at least three sets of these heatsinks covering the VRMs and the PCH, all of which are interconnected via a massive copper heat pipe. These heatsinks are covered by a nice metallic frame which leads to the I/O plate that features an RGB lit 'X570 DARK' logo. Furthermore, EVGA has integrated dual PWM fans within the I/O plate that blow air towards the heatsink for increased cooling.
Coming to the memory slots, there are two DDR4 DIMM slots on the EVGA X570 DARK that are rated to support 4800 MHz+ (OC) speeds. The reason for putting them horizontally in an untraditional way is to move the lanes closer to the CPU socket, allowing for better signaling and in return, higher memory speeds than the traditional design. You will be limited by just 64 GB capacities but that's more than enough for a mainstream platform. As for expansion, EVGA has provided two PCIe Gen 4.0 x16, a single PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, and 2 M.2 slots of which are Gen 4 compliant. All M.2 slots are situated between a bulky heatsink plate that has the 'DARK' labeling on top.
We have already seen some impressive overclocking numbers and benchmarks put forward by KINGPIN using the EVGA X570 DARK motherboard on AMD Ryzen 5000 & Ryzen 5000G CPUs. Some of them are posted below:
German overclocker, DANOCP submitted his own overclocking numbers on the EVGA X570 DARK motherboard and posted an FCLK of 2066 MHz (1:1) and an overclock of 4.8 GHz on the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X clocked at 4.8 GHz (all-core) which is pretty impressive considering this was done on standard water-cooling and not LN2 cooling. You can see the test results below:
Some main features of the EVGA X570 DARK motherboard would include:
- 150% Increased Socket Gold Content
- 2-Way SLI Support + PhysX
- Built for EVGA ELEET X1
- Dual EVGA Probe-It Connectors
- EVGA ELEET X1 Software Support
- EVGA’s Latest GUI BIOS Featuring OC Robot and In-BIOS Stress Testing
- HDMI 2.0b, and DisplayPort 1.4
- Highly-Efficient 16 Phase Digital VRM
- New Integrated EVGA Wireless Module with Intel Dual-band WiFi 6 / BT5.2 with external antenna
- Onboard ARGB and RGB Headers controlled through EVGA ELEET X1
- Onboard Clear CMOS, Power and Reset Buttons
- Onboard Temperature and Voltage Monitoring
- PCI Express Gen 4
- PCIe Disable Switches
- Realtek 7.1 Channel HD Audio + EVGA NU Audio
- Reinforced PCIe slots
- SafeBoot button resets the motherboard and goes into the BIOS with the last known good settings without clearing CMOS
- Slow Mode switch locks CPU multiplier to lowest possible setting to allow users to switch between max OC and low speeds in real-time.
- SPI flashing via USB allows you to flash your BIOS without a CPU
- Supports AMD Ryzen 5000 Processors
- Triple BIOS Support
Storage options on the EVGA X570 DARK motherboard include 8 SATA III ports and a single U.2 port (all right-angled). For those who will be pushing the PCIe lanes on the motherboards, there's a supplementary 6-pin power connector provided next to the audio PCB. I/O includes a 7.1 channel audio jack, 4 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1, PS/2, Dual-Antennas, Dual Intel 2.5GbE NICs, HDMI/DP ports. There are also Dual Probelt headers and multi-function POST indicators next to the BIOS reset and Power switches on the motherboard.
The EVGA X570 DARK Motherboard has been priced at $689.99 US, making it one of the most expensive AM4 motherboards.
