Stephen

MSI X58 Eclipse SLI @ TweakTown

“Core i7 is Intel’s first CPU to finally integrate a memory controller directly into the CPU and because of this a whole new socket and motherboard architecture needed to be designed. All previous Intel chipsets were now useless to run the brand new CPU since it now has an external FSB but communicates with the chipset through a whole new interface called Quick Path Interconnect (or QPI). Because of this Intel has released its X58 chipset aimed at the top end of the spectrum.”

XFX MB-X58I-CH19 @ Motherboards.org

“The XFX MB-X58I-CH19 motherboard is XFX’s second motherboard to use an Intel platform, with the first being the G31 based board we reviewed last year. XFX has diversified successfully with their two Intel boards and numerous ATI based video cards as of late. If you want a motherboard based upon the X58 chipset the XFX board has some good positives including a generous bundle, good support and a fully featured motherboard based upon the best chipset on the market today.”

Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 @ PCStats

“Gigabyte’s high-end GA-X48-DS5 motherboard is, as you might have guessed, based on the Intel X48 Express and ICH9R chipsets. It’s core logic offers up 32 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth which makes this platform great for running a pair of Crossfire’d ATI videocards at full tilt.”

MSI X58 Platinum @ ViperLair

“MSI has labeled the X58 Platinum as part of their “Gaming Series”, to prove out their point they have included several niceties that have come to be expected by the premier gaming Motherboard Manufacturers such as Asus, DFI, EVGA et all. Putting MSI clearly on the map of enthusiasts who want performance and stability for as little coin as possible.”

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R @ Motherboards.org

“The GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R board is an interesting motherboard in this day and age of economic crisis. While the Core i7 and the like outperform the P45 and X48 motherboards with the Core 2 Duo and AMD Phenom II CPUs by a wide margin, the COO (Cost Of Ownership) of the new platform is also much higher. You can buy a Quad Core CPU, DDR3 memory and this motherboard for a much lower price than buying the Core i7 platform.”

ASUS Rampage II Extreme vs. MSI Eclipse @ Hot Hardware

“We’re writing to let you all know that we have just posted a new article at HotHardware in which we evaluate the features, performance, and value of two high-end Intel X58 Express based motherboards for the Core i7 from Asus and MSI, the Rampage II Extreme and the X58 Eclipse.”

ASUS P5N7A-VM @ Big Bruin

“Although the P5N7A-VM’s stock performance would normally be more than enough for most home theater PC or basic home desktop tasks, overclocking could be beneficial. The P5N7A-VM offers very basic overclocking functionality, but it was more than enough to allow me to overclock the Q6600 to 3.0 GHz (9×333) with a stock Intel heatsink.”

Biostar TPower N750 nForce 750a @ PCStats

“Today though PCSTATS is testing an unlikely marriage of an nVidia chipset and an AMD socket AM2 processor – say hello to the nVidia nForce 750a SLI integrated graphics chipset! The Biostar TPower N750 motherboard is based on the single chipset Nvidia 750A SLI Media Communications Processor (MCP), which means this board supports two NVIDIA Geforce videocards in SLI.”

ECS Elitegroup GeForce 6100PM-M2 @ OCModShop

“The funny thing about how expensive technology is, is that as soon as you buy something that costs $300, it’s automatically obsolete and is worth roughly 1/3 of the original price. Actually, it was pretty much obsolete the moment you bought it.”

Intel DG45FC @ ASE Labs

“When people think about ITX, there are a few stigmas that come to mind. The first is that there is limited choice. The second is that performance is lacking. While these two points may have been true in the past, no longer is ITX relegated to the specific niche crowd. Intel has been releasing ITX boards for a long time and their latest releases have come a long way.”