MSI X58 Eclipse Motherboard Reviewed
MSI is a Taiwanese manufacturer of motherboards, video cards and other computer components plus they have been making them for years. MSI is now one of the worlds leading motherboard manufactures and recently announced it’s newest product, the X58 Eclipse Motherboard. The recent release of the X58 chipset has seen a heap of motherboards created from manufacturers around the globe. With the introduction of the Core i7 there is a need for a new platform and that’s where the MSI X58 Eclipse takes center stage.
Like all LGA1366 X58 motherboards, it supports up to 24GB of triple channel DDR3 RAM, which gives the ability to increase the memory bandwidth for CPUs by a large scale. The sweet thing I love about the Eclipse series is it comes with support for both ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI technologies, with such an configuration the user can install the graphics solutions of his or her choice.
MSI delivers plenty of features to answer for the board’s elevated price tag, with ten SATA2 ports; faster Firewire implementation, eight USB 2.0, two PS/2, two eSATA, two Gigabit LAN, a clear Cmos button and three GPU, two PCI and two PCIe 1x slots which is more than enough for almost anyone’s needs. Also MSI was thoughtful enough to provide six DIMM slots and better BIOS-level fan speed control. With this board they included two BIOS splash screens instead of the normal one screen.
Another nice feature on this board is the GreenPower Genie, which allows the board to cut-back the power consumption and reduce acoustic noise. Also included is DrMOS (stands for Driver MOSFET), which is also designed to lower power consumption plus maintain lower temperatures during heavy loads which is often an effect of 3D gaming. Another feature of DrMOS is it offers RapidBoost, which means it will deliver more power with lower spike noise and a faster response.
Let’s move on to the Active Phase Switching which is a new feature MSI added to this motherboard. Active Phase Switching basically controls the power loads of the CPU, Memory and Chipset PWM, works like a voltage regulator which is really nice. The idea here is to use power more effectively by keeping it stable under various loads and of course to save power. In order to help control all this power MSI included quality Nippon-Chemicon solid aluminium capped capacitors (for longer lifespan), shielded chokes (which reduces core power loss and has less EMI interference) and ten Hi-c CAP (highly-conductive polymerized capacitors) for the CPU region. Hi-c CAP allows for higher voltages, better heat resilience, higher over-voltage capabilities which means higher overclocking possibilities.
There’s no audio support on the actual motherboard, audio is offered in the form of a PCI-Express X-Fi Xtreme Audio card instead, that supports EAX 5.0, 8-channel output, and 100dB SNR with a 24-bit / 96KHz range.
As for troubleshooting, MSI included a D-LED device that allows you to track down any boot problems you may encounter in the future. It does this by showing an LED where the boot sequence has stopped. Most of you will agree that this is very useful if there is a problem by allowing you to quickly find the issue. MSI provided a dip-switch for adjusting base clock speeds between 133, 166, and 200 MHz during POST.
On the backside the I/O panel has eight USB 2.0 ports which mean it is doubtful you will use the two USB headers on the board. You will also find access to an IEEE 1394a port, two RJ-45 jacks for onboard Gigabit Ethernet, two eSata ports, a clear CMOS button and the standard PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse ports.
Moving on to the BIOS, MSI uses the American Megatrends AMIBIOS. The Main Menu offers the Standard CMOS Features, Advanced BIOS Features, Integrated Peripherals, Power Management Setup, H/W Monitor, BIOS Setting Password, Cell Menu, User Settings, M-Flash, and of course the exit setup menus. The Green Power option is new, it allows you to set how the different phases are controlled. Most of the overclocking is performed in the Cell Menu.
Conclusion:
The MSI Eclipse X58 is really a nice motherboard. It’s some what easy to overclock and does it very well, has plenty of SATA and USB ports plus three PCIe GPU slots that support CrossFire and SLI technologies. MSI has easily exceeded all our expectations in performance, board layout and overclocking. The GreenPower core is superb, the D-LED device is great, the board is well designed and stable with 12GB’s of memory. Having the ability to install three graphics cards makes this a good choice for those that want to achieve the highest performing gaming system on the planet. If you have a need for this type of board it gets a solid recommendation from us. Currently at this posting you can purchase this board from several locations for about $349.00 US Dollars.
