COMPUTER HARDWARE - MOTHERBOARD MSI X58

MSI's X58 Motherboard Previewed

MSI's X58 Motherboard Previewed -->MSI's X58 Motherboard PreviewedWill it Eclipse the competition? With such a name, we bet that when MSI's upcoming X58 motherboard does the review circuit, it's bound to generate such similar headlines among both enthusiasts and reviewers. At the moment though, we can't answer that question yet, since our unit came without an Intel Core i7 (Nehalem) processor. We can however show you some of the features that you can expect to find on the Eclipse, which is targeted at the enthusiast. As you should know by now, Intel's next generation CPU is almost upon us. We are about a month or so away from the launch of the Core i7, hence in recent weeks, we have first seen the ASUS P6T Deluxe arriving in our lab and now followed by the MSI Eclipse. We have no details about the number of SKUs that will be based on the Eclipse, though knowing motherboard vendors, it's quite likely that they are multiple SKUs for any designs, varying slightly in terms of features. Meanwhile for our early preview sample, the Eclipse appears to be brimming with all the expected features of the Intel X58 + ICH10R chipset. Obviously, there's a new socket for the larger Core i7, the integration of a triple-channel DDR3 memory controller and Intel's QuickPath Interconnect for greater bandwidth and up to 24GB of DDR3-1333 memory if you so desire. Additionally, MSI has its own proprietary technologies, ranging from the integrated MOSFETS (DrMOS) to the Green Power feature found in its P45 boards and mentioned in our review here . A new, less elaborate Circu-pipe like heatsink with dual heatpipes is also found. There is even a Creative X-Fi Xtreme audio add-on card instead of the usual onboard audio, which is a clue that this board is anything but mainstream.
MSI has gone with blue and black with its new Eclipse X58 motherboard and these colors certainly fit the name. From here, it's looks like a fairly conventional and well designed layout.
MSI is including a PCIe Creative X-Fi Xtreme soundcard for the audio on the Eclipse, giving it more real estate to place up more USB and eSATA ports at the back. There's also dual Ethernet LAN ports, a FireWire port and more convenience' sake, a Clear CMOS switch at the back. Users would have to be more careful when attaching their peripherals since accidentally pressing the CMOS switch would not be cool.
With three PCIe 2.0 slots for graphics, a pair of PCIe x1 and another pair of PCIe, this board is ready for the latest technologies, including CrossFireX. MSI is expected to have a X58 SKU with NVIDIA's nForce 200 to give it SLI functionality besides native CrossFireX.
With the Intel X58 chipset and its onboard memory controller/QuickPath Interconnect, you can expect DIMM slots to be in multiples of three and MSI has included 6 on the Eclipse, supporting up to DDR3-1333 and a total of 24GB.

By Vincent ChangCategory : Mainboard

Published by Vincent Chang on Friday, 3rd October, 2008

MOTHERBOARD ASUS X58

ASUS Unveils its X58 Board

As we near the fourth quarter of the year, Intel's X58 chipset is almost ready to be unveiled to the public. Made for the upcoming Nehalem family of processors from Intel, now rechristened Core i7, the new chipset will have a 1366-pin socket for these new processors and also a new QuickPath Interconnect technology, including an onboard memory controller supporting triple-channel DDR3.

ASUS has sent us an early version of one of its X58 motherboards, the ASUS P6T Deluxe, which was previously mentioned here. This motherboard will support up to 24GB of DDR3-1333 memory, thanks to its six DIMM slots. It will also have features like a Serial Attached SCSI controller to support higher-end SAS hard drives for power users who desire enterprise class performance.

Other proprietary ASUS technologies and features, like its ExpressGate, Stack Cool 2 and a new unique thermal heatsink design will aim to attract enthusiasts when the ASUS P6T Deluxe is officially released in the coming weeks. Before we get a Core i7 and start testing this board, here's a pictorial preview of what to expect:

We'll have more in-depth information about this motherboard, including benchmarks, when we get a Core i7 in our labs.

It may be a standard sized ATX board but there's not an inch of free space on the PCB, with ASUS packing its own features, not to mention the standard X58 + ICH10R features. Connectors are all placed at the edge of the boards for easy access.

We saw eight USB 2.0 ports, eSATA port, two Gigabit LAN ports, FireWire, optical and coaxial S/PDIF outputs and audio jacks. There's even a PS/2 connector still, so backward compatibility is not as issue.

This is the new LGA1366 socket for the upcoming Core i7 (Nehalem) processor from Intel. ASUS has gone for a 16-phase PWM for the processor and solid capacitors from Fujitsu rated to operate at up to 105 degrees Celsius. As usual, heat-pipe based passive heatsinks are used to cool the MOSFETs surrounding the socket.

Six DIMM slots for DDR3 (up to 1333MHz) memory, supporting up to 24GB of RAM (with 4GB DIMMs when available) or up to 12GB (with 2GB DIMMs) through a 3-channel CPU integrated memory controller for a total memory bandwidth of 3200MB/s. This is one of the main highlights of the new platform and processor combination. By Vincent Chang Category : Mainboard Published by Vijay Anand on Thursday, 11th September, 2008

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