Sapphire Pure Black X58 – Disappointing?

A few days ago I had read that Sapphire, a well-known graphics card producer, was making the jump into the X58 and P67 game with their Pure Black X58 motherboard. When I first looked at the Pure Black X58 on the Sapphire website, I really wasn’t impressed. At first glance, the board just looked cheap to me – the heat sinks leave much to be desired, there is blue and grey everywhere (remember, this board is called Pure Black), and the power, reset, and clear CMOS buttons will potentially be covered by a graphics card placed in either of the bottom two PCI Express physical slots. While I am a fan of Sapphire products (my graphics company of choice), the look and layout of the board does not impress me.

As I made my way through a few reviews I found that most reviewers actually like the Pure Black X58 and gave it glowing recommendations (as seen on the awards section of the product website). Many reviewers were disappointed at the lack of SLI support and weak accessory kit, but did not complain about much else. Well, today Hardware Canucks published their review of the Pure Black X58 and, like me, were not overly impressed and actually made that view obvious. While HC did like some parts of the motherboard (dual BIOS with one removable, USB 3.0, SATA3 and Bluetooth), they were not impressed by the PCI Express structure – no x16 x16 capabilities and the bottom PCI-E slot only being wired for x4. This is unfortunate, as four PCI-E slots that are physically  x16, but capable of running 4 graphics cards at x8 each could have been a big selling point for the Pure Black X58.

As I have read in various reviews, the Pure Black X58 is a first step in the right direction for Sapphire’s Intel-based venture, but there are a lot of issues including; lack of SLI, strange PCI-E slots with strange 32-lane division, unimpressive heat sinks that crowd the socket, poor BIOS updating, potentially hidden power/set/clear CMOS buttons, limited accessory pack, and most of all, a fairly unimpressive and cheap look, that need to be addressed before they can make a true jump into the Intel enthusiast markt.

The kicker with the Pure Black X58 is that it is targeted at the enthusiast market and carries a premium price tag of $260 USD ($280 CAD). Just take a look at the ASUS Sabertooth X58 motherboard that offers nearly all of the same, if not more, features in a better aesthetic at a price of $60 less than the Pure Black X58.