MSI X58 Platinum Motherboard
Introduction
MSI or Microstar International have recently released the new X58 based motherboard upon the public and were kind enough to send us a sample motherboard to present you with yet another full X58 review.
The motherboard up for today’s review is the MSI X58 Platinum Edition which currently sits at the entry level, below the higher-end Platinum SLI Edition and flagship Eclipse. It appears all three motherboards are aimed at different sectors and pockets so while the X58 Platinum does not support SLI or come with an XFI sound card, it is £50 cheaper. So unless you need those luxuries, the Platinum would be the sensible choice, if indeed you can call £235 for a motherboard sensible! However, the ‘basic’ Platinum does have Crossfire support, triple channel DDR3 support and of course support for Intel’s latest Core i7 Nehalem processor, therefore I would be mad to accuse the MSI X58 Platinum of being basic.
Specification
Supports Intel® i7 based processors in LGA1366 package.
Northbridge:
Intel® X58 Chipset
– Supports QPI up to 6.4GT/s
Southbridge:
Intel® ICH10R Chipset
– Hi-Speed USB (USB2.0) controller, 480Mb/sec, up to 12 ports.
– 6 SATAII ports with transfer rate up to 3Gb/s.
– PCI Master v2.3, I/O APIC.
– ACPI 2.0 compliant.
– Serial ATA RAID 0/1/5/10.
– Integrated AHCI controller.
Main Memory:
Supports six unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333 SDRAM, 24GB Max
– Supports 1Gb/ 2Gb/ 4Gb DRAM size
– Supports x8 / x16 data lines per DIMM
– Supports up to 3 channel mode
PCI Slots:
2 PCI Express gen2 x16 slots
– supports ATI® Crossfireâ„¢
3 PCI Express gen2 x1 slots
2 PCI slot, support 3.3V/ 5V PCI bus Interface
On-Board IDE/SATA:
One Ultra DMA 66/100/133 IDE controller integrated in JMicron® 363.
– Supports PIO, Bus Master operation modes.
– Can connect up to two Ultra ATA drives.
SATAII controller integrated in ICH10R/JMicron® 322 / 362 chipest
– Up to 3Gb/s transfer speed.
– Supports six SATAII ports by ICH10R
– Supports two SATAII ports by JMicron 322, support SATA RAID 0/1/JBOD.
– Supports one eSATA port by JMicron 363.
– Supports AHCI controller with SATA RAID 0/1/5/10 by ICH10R.
Audio:
Chipset integrated by Realtek® ALC888
– Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing
– Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec
– Meet Microsoft Vista Premium spce
LAN:
Supports two PCI Express LAN 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet by Realtek 8111C.
IEEE1394 / FireWire:
JMicron® 381 chipset
– Supports up to two 1394 ports. (Rear panel x1, pinheader x1)
– Transfer rate is up to 400Mbps.
Internal I/O Connectors:
ATX 24-Pin power connector
8-pin ATX 12V power connector
CPU / System x 5 FAN connectors
CD-in connector
Front panel audio connector
Front panel connector
1 x chasis intrusion connector
1 x serial port pinheader
2 x USB 2.0 connectors
8 x Serial ATAII connectors
1 x ATA133 connector
1 x IEEE1394 connector support additional 1 port
1 x GreenPower Genie connector
1 x Reset Button
1 x Power Button
1 x SPDIF-out connector
1 x D-LED2 connector
1 x TPM module connector
Back Panel I/O Ports:
1 x Clear CMOS button
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x eSATA port
1 x IEEE1394 port
8 x USB 2.0 ports
2 x RJ45 LAN Jacks
1 x 6 in 1 audio jack
1 x Optical SPDIF-out
BIOS:
The mainboard BIOS provides “Plug & Play” BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.
The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface(DMI) function which records your mainboard specifications.
Form Factor:
30.5cm(L) x 24.4cm(W) ATX Form Factor
9 mounting holes.
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As IÂ said, the MSI is anything but basic. Featuring an impressive set of features and connectivity even the most picky enthusiast would have a hard time criticising these specifications.
Let’s head over the page where we take a look at the packaging and contents…
