Quote Originally Posted by Bobsama View Post
What OS is each running?

And commentary for the X58 board...

I think it would be awesome if they did some custom engineering with all the fans around. I have a great solution in mind for that. Basically make a special card for fans. Perhaps behind the SATA connectors or something, or at a right angle, make a custom port. Then have a small PCB with the headers for fans galore as well as a mini-Molex for supplemental power. Include a cable with it so you can extend the distance between board and the fan PCB, and a small adhesive to secure it somewhere. Saves at least 1 cm^2, if not 2-3 cm^2. Plenty of space for additional ports. Other than that, I'd say slightly redesign that heatsink so the connection between Northbridge and ICH isn't so sharp. Moving it over 1CM or decreasing the angle, combined with actual screws or bolts, would make that top PCI-E x4 slot more usable for x8 and x16 cards if someone really wanted to. In addition, I think it would be a good idea to add one last USB header onto the formal front-panel port, for 4-pin connections (such as front-panel memory card readers). They definitely have the space and it would be a great utility, as you no longer take up 2 ports when 1's good enough.
I agree with you on the fans. That's one place that I've always felt is lacking with a decent high end motherboard. With the exception of a few of my Intel branded boards, almost every 3rd party board has no graceful control over any fan speeds. If a board maker were to split off chassis fans onto some form of riser card with OS/Bios controllable resistance and perhaps even Fan/Temp profiles that would be awesome. No more need for front panel fan speed controllers, just set up temp profiles in OS and your computer optimizes speed and noise on the fly.