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TechSpot RSSTechSpot
MSI X58 Pro-E motherboard review: Core i7 on a budget
in-house feature
Perhaps the biggest problem we saw with initial Intel X58 motherboards was their substantial price. Add to that the serious price premium for DDR3 memory, and you ended up with a relatively affordable and fast Core i7 920 processor that nevertheless needed to run on an expensive platform.
The recent drop in DDR3 pricing got us thinking about the affordability of the Core i7 platform, and we began to wonder just how cheap users could build one of these systems.
MSI has quietly been preparing an army of Core i7 motherboards, now with five unique models on offer, we feel they may have what we're after. The MSI X58 Pro-E is an interesting looking motherboard, priced at around $200 which is almost as low as X58-based motherboards will go.
Read the complete review.
The recent drop in DDR3 pricing got us thinking about the affordability of the Core i7 platform, and we began to wonder just how cheap users could build one of these systems.
MSI has quietly been preparing an army of Core i7 motherboards, now with five unique models on offer, we feel they may have what we're after. The MSI X58 Pro-E is an interesting looking motherboard, priced at around $200 which is almost as low as X58-based motherboards will go.
Read the complete review.
User Comments (20)
Post a comment| yukka on June 11, 2009 10:26 AM | its a slow news day when the top story is a review of a motherboard that doesnt really cost any more or less than a bunch of other motherboards.. |
| yukka on June 11, 2009 10:28 AM | yukka said: Of course, its a good read its a slow news day when the top story is a review of a motherboard that doesnt really cost any more or less than a bunch of other motherboards..  Just
means ive had to do more work than usual
|
| burty117 on June 11, 2009 11:33 AM | I'm glad i'm not the only one who stops working just to read techspot =) I to had to do more work today =( |
| FoReWoRd on June 11, 2009 3:45 PM | same here..... |
| raybay on June 11, 2009 5:40 PM | Another interesting and very usefull motherboard review... that is written in a way that will appeal to a lot of people who visit this forum. I would like to see them in a form that could be easily printed or saved. |
| supersmashbrada on June 11, 2009 6:11 PM | This is a great price for a board in this playing field. pci e expansion slots like these are hard to come by, great spacing. There are only about 5 high end boards with the same type of spacing, optimizing space for tri sli while leaving room for pci add on cards. |
| Julio on June 11, 2009 8:11 PM | I would like to see them in a form that
could be easily printed or saved. Suggestion noted.
We used to offer printable versions a long time ago, and
should be doable today, just haven't paid attention to the
possibility. I will explore the option a bit further and if
we decide to go with it you will notice
|
| Guest on July 1, 2009 2:42 PM | I recently purchased this board and will actually be
assembling tonight. In this review it says you have to
purchase a special "SLI" version of the pro-E in order to
get SLI, but according to MSI's website the pro-E supports
SLI as do all MSI X58 motherboards. Here is the pro-E
specs, at the bottom it says "Y" by
SLI: http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=prodmbspec&m aincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=&prod_no=1804#menu Als o, here is a press release pre-dating this review that says all MSI X58 mainboard's now support SLI: http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=newsdesc&new s_no=802 That said, I guess I will know for sure tonight as I counted on it when I made my order. |
| [-Steve-] on July 1, 2009 10:14 PM | Actually technically that press release was produced after I
wrote this review. Despite the slight difference in dates
the 11th of June was not when I wrote the review but when it
finally went live. Anyway it does appear that MSI has dropped the whole confusing SLI and non-SLI board structure giving all X58 boards SLI and Crossfire support. If you look at these boards over at Newegg you will see what I meant about the SLI/non-SLI versions. MSI Eclipse Plus [link] This board originally did not support SLI but I presume that it does now. MSI X58 Eclipse SLI [link] This version always supported both SLI and Crossfire. |
| supersmashbrada on July 1, 2009 11:23 PM | May I say that the pci e layout is superior to most x58 mobos' if you're doing tri sli/X fire the last slot isnt all the way at the bottom of your atx motherboard, in which most pc cases dont have the room to let you expand a 2 slot card passed the last slot on the motherboard. |
| [-Steve-] on July 2, 2009 12:23 AM | Yeah its the same layout the EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1, ASRock X58 Deluxe, EVGA 132-BL-E758-TR and ASUS P6T boards use for example... |
| Guest on July 6, 2009 10:22 AM | I am the above guest that talks about the press release. It
turns out the board does support SLI now. I am not sure how
pervasive this is, but fortunately my dual GTX 260's can be
SLI enabled without an SLI bridge sense the mobo does not
come with one. It is only packaged with a crossfire bridge
which did not work despite fitting in the SLI slots.
Thanks for the review, it was quite helpful. |
| [-Steve-] on July 6, 2009 10:24 AM | How do they perform without the SLI bridge? |
| Guest on July 7, 2009 1:45 PM | The only real test off the graphics card I have done is the
demo of ArmA 2. With everything on it's highest setting
including AA I got a little under 30 fps on average. I am
not sure how that compares to SLI disabled sense I didn't
test it. Here are the rest of the computer
specs: MSI X58 Pro-E Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.6 GHz 2X EVGA GTX 260 core 216 in SLI Cooler Master v8 CPU cooler Corsair 750TX psu Cooler Master Storm Scout Case G.Skill (3x2GB) DDR3 1333 Western Digital Caviar Black 500 GB Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit |
| Guest on July 7, 2009 1:47 PM | I forgot to add the resolution previously... it is 1920 x 1080. |
| Guest on July 7, 2009 7:23 PM | Again, the usual guest. I ran 3Dmark06 to get some idea of
how the SLI is performing. The settings were left at the
default 1280 x 1024, no AA, and optimal filtering. Here are
the results: 3Dmark Score: 22585 SM2 Score: 9338 SM3 Score: 10319 CPU Score: 6197 Comparing these numbers to Tom's Hardware numbers, it seems the SLI scales well. This combination falls right in between the 9800 gx2 and the GTX 295. I think I remember reading the GTX 295 is essentially a single card SLI of two GTX 275 cores? Thus, it is falling right where is should. Again this is with the following configuration: MSI X58 Pro-E Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.6 GHz 2 x EVGA GTX 260 core 216 overclocked to 600 MHz, in SLI Cooler Master v8 CPU cooler Corsair 750TX psu Cooler Master Storm Scout Case G.Skill (3x2GB) DDR3 1333 Western Digital Caviar Black 500 GB Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit |
| Guest on July 17, 2009 5:41 PM | will this card support 2 295s? |
| supersmashbrada on July 17, 2009 8:21 PM | ;771280']How do they perform without the
SLI bridge? Any cards will work without sli bridges,
they dont even have to be identical, people think that
things like this will make your pc blow up or something, its
not really helpful to you to do it, but it wont hurt
anything. Its impossible to run two identical cards in
sli w/o the bridge, but I guess this is what you were
implying? Both cards will still work, but they wont split
the load for max efficiency.
|
| supersmashbrada on July 17, 2009 8:22 PM | I think I remember reading the GTX 295
is essentially a single card SLI of two GTX 275 cores?
Thus, it is falling right where is
should. That's exactly right.
|
| Guest on January 12, 2010 9:27 PM | I just finished my PC together using this board today and I must say I am impressed. I love it love it love it. |
