The EVGA X570 Dark Motherboard Review: A Dark Beast For Ryzen
by Gavin Bonshor on October 8, 2021 8:00 AM ESTBoard Features
The EVGA X570 Dark is an E-ATX motherboard designed for enthusiasts and extreme overclockers to maximize the performance of AMD's Ryzen 5000 series of processors. While the X570 Dark has many features associated with other premium X570S models recently launched, much of its feature set is geared towards extreme overclocking, including a transposed socket with two memory slots capable of supporting up to 64 GB of DDR4-4800 memory only.
EVGA includes three PCIe 4.0 slots, including two full-length slots operating at x16 and x8/x8, with a third half-length slot operating at x4. The EVGA X570 Dark also has plenty of storage options including two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, and a combined total of eight SATA ports. Six of the SATA ports support RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays which are driven by the chipset, and the other two are via a separate ASMedia ASM1061 SATA controller.
In the overclocking feature set is a voltage Probelt connector with cables supplied in the box, as well as an overclocker's toolkit consisting of PCIe dip switches, a Safeboot button, Clear CMOS button, and power button. For cooling, EVGA provides eight 4-pin headers with two designated to CPU fans, two for water pumps, and four for chassis fans.
| EVGA X570 Dark E-ATX Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $690 | ||
| Size | E-ATX | ||
| CPU Interface | AM4 | ||
| Chipset | AMD X570 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Two DDR4 Supporting 64 GB Dual-Channel Up to DDR4-4800 |
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| Video Outputs | N/A | ||
| Network Connectivity | 2 x Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 |
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| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 EVGA NU SV3H615 |
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| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 2 x PCIe 4.0 (x16, x8/x8) | ||
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 | ||
| Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/10 (X570) Two (ASMedia) |
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| Onboard M.2 | 2 x PCIe 4.0 x4 | ||
| USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 4 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Header (1 x port) |
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| USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 2 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Type-A Header (4 x ports) |
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| USB 2.0 | 1 x Type-A Header (2 x ports) | ||
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 2 x 8pin CPU 1 x 6pin GPU |
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| Fan Headers | 2 x CPU (4-pin) 2 x Water pump (4-pin) 4 x System (4-pin) |
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| IO Panel | 4 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-C 2 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 2 x Network RJ45 1 G (Intel) 5 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Optical Output (Realtek) 2 x Intel AX200 Antenna Ports 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x PS/2 Combo Port |
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In terms of connectivity, EVGA includes one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, four USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A on the rear panel. Other options in regards to USB include one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C header, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A headers (four ports), and one USB 2.0 header (two ports). Other connectivity includes five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output which are powered by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec and EVGA NU SV3H615 headphone amplifier pairing, while the board also includes a PS/2 combo port and a secondary clear CMOS button.
Focusing on networking support, EVGA includes two Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controllers with two available ports on the rear panel. For wireless connectivity, EVGA is using an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface which also includes support for BT 5.2 devices.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS. Most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users and industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 3700X, 65W, $329 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | EVGA X570 Dark | ||
| Cooling | Cooler Master Masterliquid ML240 240 mm AIO | ||
| Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
| Memory | 2x8GB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 16-16-16-36 2T | ||
| Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Open Benchtable BC1.1 (Silver) | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 1909 | ||
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
| Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
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Eliadbu - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
Or RGB, but it has 2nd NIC and m.2 key E (incase you want to add wifi card).jtd871 - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
AFAIK, RAM overclocking is more stable when you are using only 2 sticks, and this is a 'halo' board designed primarily for competitive overclocking.You wouldn't use a top-fuel dragster as your daily commuter car or to show up to a formal red-carpet event. In the same way, this board is not intended for 'normal' computing or gaming.
Threska - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
Now I'm just waiting for the workstation/server version.WaltC - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
I couldn't believe that I read this sentence in the review of this mboard:"While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS."
There will be zero (0) customers of this motherboard who will decline to use the bios...;) Every single one of them will be quite conversant with the bios and eager to use it.
Seem to be a lot of this kind of general assumptions here that really have no relevance for the people who will be buying this product.
WaltC - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
If I missed the place where you discussed a dual bios on this motherboard, or its lack of one, I beg pardon. But there are a lot of interesting DIP switches visible on this motherboard and a brief explanation would have been nice. Also, why would you test a 65W CPU with this board? Seems like a 5900X or 5950X would have been far more interesting, not to mention in keeping with the type of CPU a customer of the $690, OC'ing board is much more likely to purchase.I did agree with your conclusion, though, about boards costing half as much having very similar features and options--for instance, my two-year old x570 Aorus Master ($350) includes both the RT 1220-VB HD & a headphone AMP for onboard sound, but the x570 Master also includes a hardware DAC, the SABRE 9118, while the EVGA board lacks a hardware DAC. The Master includes 4 DIMM slots, and a manually switched dual-bios setup--which in my estimation is just about a requirement for an overclocking board--which the Master is, even though it doesn't have the VRM chops of this EVGA board. But my Master was shipped on the same day that Zen2 CPUs shipped from AMD, so I think the EVGA board is targeting upper-end Zen3 CPUs for OC'ing.
But as I mentioned earlier, trust me when I say that nobody will be buying a $690 OC'ing board who is afraid to go into his bios...;) Glad to see EVGA supporting AMD again, and like you, it will be nice to see a range of AMD4/5 EVGA board products at some point.
Oxford Guy - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
"While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS."Stuff like this is a gift (of hilarity) that keeps on giving.
Silver5urfer - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
There are few things, first this board doesn't use ASM SATA controller, I think you should correct that. All 8 SATA ports are from chipset only. The extra PCB for LN2 also shows the same, Manual also states the same.Now moving on to the board vs Z590 DARK. They removed one NVMe M.2 slot on this, Downgraded the phases and smaller Aluminum heatsink instead of massive Copper block on Interl board, then we have the rear DP and HDMI removed.
Next, the bigger things. First is the USB ports, the board has rear I/O from Chipset only. None of them are from CPU. Usually all X570(S) boards have ton of CPU USB ports, EVGA chose not to for this board. I can guess the only reason being AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs have issues with the USB ports dropping and all sort of bugs, still not ironed out. So they avoided those, but the front I/O panel ports will be from CPU only, on top they dropped the ASMedia controller for USB C unlike the Z590 DARK. They also dropped the U.2 port.
Next is why they did they go with the Dual DIMM slots, Ryzen doesn't do well with Dual Rank B-Die kits unlike Intel which likes them. Now we have to be too cautious on that part due to the Zen 3 IMC. Now the price, it's highway robbery period. The board is exactly priced at X570 Aorus Xtreme at $700 which not only packs everything this has but even more. Plus it also has the 10G LAN, on top of the HiFi DAC which is not that buggy trash ALC4080 class, instead ALC1200 like this. Crosshair VIII Extreme is $100 more but it has more features, however it has that dreaded garbage ALC4082 and all that ASUS bloatware for the proper functioning of the DAC/AMP hardware. These guys should have included a 10G LAN port at-least, they really are saving a ton of cash on this board, simply a Z590 DARK based PCB design with extra PCIe 4.0 M.2 drive and much more reduced components and choices vs Intel board.
Coming to review, surprised on the DPC latency of this board. Now I'm just waiting on how this board does, esp related to the AMD Ryzen stability with Memory and OC AND USB. Also it's a shame that there's no Ryzen 5000 used for review and no Memory tuning as well. Everything this board got going is all about OC and unlocking potential...
leexgx - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
If you use 2x dual rank sticks (anything above 16gb per stick) is exactly the same as using 4x8gb single rank sticks (because it's in dual rank due to 2 single ranks per channel)The point of this motherboard is for lm2 overclocking is why there is 2 slots
Slash3 - Saturday, October 9, 2021 - link
EVGA's specifications page does still list two ASMedia SATA ports, and they were incorporated on the Z590 and other, previous Dark boards for XP compatibility. It's possible that they were on internal or pre-release samples but then removed for the retail version.PsychoOC - Friday, October 8, 2021 - link
Whats ironic is the world record holder for most ln2 benchmarks on 3700x is on b450 tomahawk;)