Thursday, January 28th 2010
MSI Readies Big Bang XPower X58 Motherboard
MSI seems to be almost ready with a new high-end motherboard for the socket LGA-1366 Intel Core i7 platform. The new MSI Big Bang XPower motherboard is based on the usual Intel X58 Express + ICH10R chipset, and offers six PCI-Express x16 slots, which which it can support CrossFireX, SLI, and still have room for dedicated PhysX accelerators or other PCI-E devices. The XPower also features support for SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 using additional controllers.
The CPU is powered by a 16-phase DrMOS PWM, which draws power from two 8-pin power connectors. It makes use of High-C capacitors for higher durability. An additional 6-pin PCI-Express power input adds electrical stability to the PCI-Express x16 slots. The socket is wired to six DDR3 DIMM slots for triple-channel memory support, which are powered by a 3-phase VRM.
Audio is spun off to a "Quantum Wave Audio Card", which sits on the lone PCI-Express x1 slot, gives out 7.1 ch audio, and supports THX TruStudio PC Suite and EAX 5.0 HD. There are two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, two USB 3.0 and a number of USB 2.0 ports, and FireWire, along with two power eSATA ports. The ICH10R gives out six internal SATA 3 Gb/s ports, while an additional controller gives out two SATA 6 Gb/s ones. The XPower supports MSI's OC Genie and Easy Switch overclocking features. As mentioned earlier, the board is just almost ready, it doesn't seem to have been pictured with its final chipset-VRM cooling. MSI expects it to be released by March. The way its product roadmap is designed also gives us the indication that there could be something even better than this in the works by MSI.
Source:
VR-Zone
The CPU is powered by a 16-phase DrMOS PWM, which draws power from two 8-pin power connectors. It makes use of High-C capacitors for higher durability. An additional 6-pin PCI-Express power input adds electrical stability to the PCI-Express x16 slots. The socket is wired to six DDR3 DIMM slots for triple-channel memory support, which are powered by a 3-phase VRM.
41 Comments on MSI Readies Big Bang XPower X58 Motherboard
It's also pointless to choose a board based on brand alone. I've seen terrible Asus boards and a couple awesome Foxconns. Brand means something but choose a board for its particular model, not its brand.
this board does look nice and i hope its of better quality.. they seem to want to offer the enthisiast all they want but they need to work on their customer service and QA
MSI has been hit or miss with my experience. Their best stuff has been their video cards -especially the twin frozr designs. I've gone through two of their motherboards and although one was a lemon, I would be happy to buy another one of their motherboards if they continue making good products for great prices... -I feel they've really got some snazzy motherboards as of late. This thing will definitely cater to those who want stable juice with a nice overvolt.
Its lookin sweet. I've never had a problem w/ an MSI board. That's all I stick with. Yea, sometimes u do get a dud but u can't down them cause of that.
It sure is nice seeing them away from there ugly board colors. I wanna see green instead of blue. All u see is blue or red. Kinda throws off ur color scheme if ur doing one.
I'm not talking about the VRM cooler, I'm talking about the X58 -ICH chipset cooling, unless thats what you meant in the first post. ;)
The chipset cooling doesnt seem to be adequate. Im aware that the VRM coolers have not been added yet.