Hello,
 
Specs are as follows:
 
EVGA X79 dark motherboard
Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73930K
CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 Desktop Memory Model CMY32GX3M4A2133C11
2x EVGA ACX Cooler 03G-P4-2784-KR GeForce GTX 780 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card
Thermaltake 1200w psu
SoundBlaster XFi titanium fatality pro
2x Crucial real SSD C300 128 gb in RAID
2x WD caviar 1tb in raid
Blu-ray burner
DVD burner
 
All wrapped up in a corsair 900D
 

  

 
   

 As for a review here is what I have so far:
 
Overclocking is so easy it should be a crime, took me 10 seconds to be up and running at 4.5 and the xmp memory profile was already right there so the new bios is so sweet.
 
I don't know why the temp is so high in my screen shot but the computer is idling at 34 degrees right now and about 50 under load so temps are great.

The motherboard is set up great everything is easy to get to and the setup instructions are pretty clear.
 
A negative is I can't get my USB 3.0 ports to work and I did install the drivers when I plug in a usb stick it just isn't recognized. Also my top Ethernet port doesn't seem to work.
 
Now for the I need help part.

I ran into trouble right away because I can't get windows 7 to install for the life of me, it keeps saying no driver found when you are at the hardrive select screen.
 
I put the drivers on a usb stick and it recognized and installed but it won't put on the x64 drivers and after windows 7 loads it crashes saying there is a bad driver.
 
I ended up putting windows 8 on and it installed no problem, I do have an issue though.
 
When I enable SLI I get locked out of the bios when I restart the computer it goes to a black screen and boots right into windows. If I hit F2 it just stays black until I stop and then it boots right into windows.
 
Any help would be great.
 
Thank you
 
Max

I found that you should install Windows X with NO OC in the Bios.
Also remember to set the correct Boot Drive and disable the rest.
I would also only have your SSD Drives installed in your Raid Mode and not connect your SATA Drives until after Windows 7 is installed and updated, you do not state that your Windows DVD was SP1 or Non SP1 based, the Non-SP1 Based DVD will have issues installing on newer hardware and also is no longer supported my MS. On the Black Screen in Windows 8 in every install and test I have done with SLI I have had this Black Screen issue but it never stopped me from getting into the Bios that may be the Fast Boot Setting in the Bios and is also why I disable Fast Boot on all my systems. I get my X79 Dark on Monday and will be installing Window 7 w/Sp1 I was going to first take my SSD drives out of this system (X79 FTW) and see if all I have to do is update the hardware divers and re-activate the OS. I have had good luck doing this from the X79 SLI to X79 FTW and also did this when I went  from my Maximus V Formula to Maximus V Extreme and had only to update the drivers and re-activate the OS. Though this is not the best way to install an OS. In the winter time I will most likely install a fresh OS. Hope this helps, Bill
You also have a really nice looking Rig! Get a MODS RIGS Setup and I will give you a +1

I did see this download on EVGA's Site:
8-15-2013 Intel RAID 3.0.0.3014 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download Have you download this driver? Also on your USB 3 items are the cables Blue and is the item you are plugging in a USB 3 Device? I take it you have tried all the USB 3 Ports and have installed the USB 3.0 driver listed below. Bill 
For Windows 7 x64 
8-15-2013 Bluetooth 6.1.7601.17889 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download  
8-15-2013 Chipset Driver 9.4.0.1017 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download  
8-15-2013 Intel RAID 3.0.0.3014 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download  
8-15-2013 Network 18.0.1.0 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download  
8-15-2013 USB 3.0 1.16.4.0 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download  
8-14-2013 E-Sata 1.2.0.1032 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download  
8-14-2013 Intel ME 9.0.0.1209 150-SE-E789 Win8/Win7/Vista/XP Download  
8-06-2013 Audio R2.71 150-SE-E789 Windows 7 64bit Download
...................
Added now need to create a new Post.
Yes, you do not want to install x86 drivers on an x64 system.
....................
How is the Bios setup on your Sata/Raid Drives?
Also have you booted into Safe Mode?
....................
Have you installed Windows 7 not in Raid Mode?

I know this is going to sound very strange, but you tried to install win7 from disk? and it wouldn't go, but installed win 8 and it worked? both from disk?
i don't know how many times you have installed win7 or anything. but the last time i tried to install mine, i had almost the same problem. what fixed it for me , is i took imgburn and created a new windows disk and that fixed it for me..something on the disk was acting funny with a setup i was installing it on...just some food for thought bro...you might want to try it..one never knows..they are disks, and the last time you used it you could have made a small unnoticeable scratch that would cause that...trust me , it happened to me and i went crazy for hours trying to figure it out..
 
 
edit: for clarification, mine was stuck at the raid cfg of the disk..this is why i mentioned this

ya like i said bro...it can happen, then atleast you can throw that scenario out the window and go from there...you are not loosing anything by trying lol

mlmadmax
 
Try using Intel RSTe driver, i had some issues when was moving my RAID5 from P67 board (array was created even before that one, on X58, lol) to X79 DARK. It's because usual mainstream RAID (on P67/Z77/Z87 etc) is Intel RST, while LGA2011 platform comes from server world and using RSTe (enterprise).
I finished using 3.6.0.1086 Intel C600/C220 series chipset SATA RAID Controller while installing Windows 2008R2 x64, which is working smooth since then.
 
You can download fresh driver from Intel site : https://downloadcenter.in...esc.aspx?DwnldID=21752
Give it a try ;)

Man, I really hope the USB 3.0 issues are not widespread.  That's why I sent my Classy in for the Dark to begin with (or one of the main reasons).

Nice looking build man. very clean.

The Ethernet port the green light comes on but not the yellow, also the system only sees one adapter and they are both turned on in the bios.
 
The USB 3.0 ports just aren't seen by the system so nothing happens at all. I have tried uninstall and reinstall and the proper thing does not come up in the device manager.
 
here is a screen shot of what I get. 
 

 
I am going to attempt to get windows 7 on there with the driver provided by Tin wish me luck and thanks again for all the assistance.
 
If you can't see the picture under network adapters it has the Intel one and then under that says kernel debug network adapter
also instead of the USB saying the correct thing it just says generic usb and not Asmedia usb hub.
 

The most current drivers can be found here for your X79 Dark:
 
http://www.evga.com/support/download/default.aspx

EVGATech_DaveB

mlmadmax,
just to make sure, you have verified you do not have either your USB3 or the secondary NIC disabled in BIOS, correct?
For USB3, if it is enabled, if you plug a device into it that has an activity and/or power LED, does it light up?  If not, then it isn't getting power and that may be a physical fault. 
 

Nothing is disabled in the bios, when I plug a usb drive in any 3.0 port the light will come on briefly and then shut off, I have tried several different sandisk pen drives and none of them work. If I plug any of them into a USB 2.0 port they flash continually and there is a chime and they are immediately recognized by the computer. It seems like the system just doesn't see them at all because when I install the driver nothing changes under device manager.


As one ethernet port is showing in WDM, does it work as intended, and just 1 is faulty, or are both malfunctioning and only one showing up?

 
Just one port is faulty the top port near the eSATA ports the, bottom works perfectly.

Thanks for the heads up but mine doesn't work even at stock speeds. I think I just got unlucky and got a bad board:-(

No worries, it can and has happened to just about everyone, I've done it myself before, it's easy to overlook things sometimes.
Either way, we are always happy to help, and glad you got everything up and running now.

dustingg

Are you running the memory to it's specs with the XMP profile or are you pushing them to run faster?

Also make sure you do not disable any of the onboard devices. Doing so will shut down some PCIE lanes that are shared and can cause USB3.0 sockets to not work. It's ok to disable the Blue tooth I found.

Also just a heads up to everyone. I noticed after I install the dark and installed all the drivers I was getting a weird response to the right click menu. It would lag out. It would take around 5-10 seconds to display the right click menu. This was happening on the desktop and any other location in windows. After doing some Trouble shooting using autoshell.exe I found that the Bluetooth driver suite was causing this weird anomaly. I unistalled the Bluetooth driver sweet and right clicking menu works fine.

I read on several forums that other user where experiencing this problem as well. Has nothing to do with the DARK. It's a Broadcom driver issue.

 
Thanks for the heads up, I am experiencing no lag whatsoever when I right click anything so I do not have that issue.
Also when I was setting the XMP profile it was just to the stock speed of my memory which is at 2133, I found it odd that the memory would mess things up running at stock speeds and that is why I started testing anything I changed in the bios.
 
Super happy now that things are running exactly how I want them. Now I have backplates for my 780s inbound as well as some all black SATA cables and other goodies to really make the setup complete.