MSI Eclipse SLI X58 LGA 1366 评测

yym

% h5 r0 ~2 R% ^9 c6 w1 D$ b* D
1 R* ]: U0 J1 H9 L7 nIntroduction and SpecificationsA high-end LGA 1366 solution from [size=1em]MSI
Over the last several weeks, we have reviewed several mid-range and high-end LGA 1366 [size=1em]motherboards from a variety of vendors. Many of them performed on par with their counterparts, but a couple stood out in certain areas like gaming, overclocking, unique features, and overall performance.
% i) Y/ `9 U+ f0 I$ d, }2 k% f This time around, we are testing MSI’s flagship X58 motherboard – the Eclipse SLI. This $320 board (around $290 with MIB from Newegg) comes with a host of accessories and built-in features that will entice any enthusiast trying to upgrade to the i7 platform.
& n1 \0 I! k) ?( r+ ]Some of the most notable features on the Eclipse SLI are its compatibility with SLI and [size=1em]Crossfire graphics configurations, GreenPower Genie power-saving utility (and companion [size=1em]hardware), and a DLED2 panel to monitor system temps, voltages, and CPU speeds directly from the front of the motherboard. To round out the entire bundle, MSI threw in one of Creative’s X-Fi  7.1 sound cards.

(Graphic courtesy of MSI)

- ?9 V- ~0 Z5 q% dMSI Eclipse SLI Specifications (from MSI)
CPU
- Supports Intel® i7 based [size=1em]processors in LGA1366 package
+ X! w6 b8 u6 p+ Z6 ^& UChipset
- Intel® X58 Chipset
; m( ^) J5 `9 }; x9 E- Supports QPI up to 6.4GT/s
8 Y( ]2 w* E" L) K; d" \, B   
Intel® ICH10R Chipset
- Hi-Speed USB (USB2.0) controller, 480Mb/sec, up to 12 ports
' o- R" P1 ^; i7 O$ ]3 r- 6 SATAII ports with transfer rate up to 3Gb/s
5 Y2 a3 `3 W0 K- PCI Master v2.3, I/O APIC
- ACPI 2.0 compliant
- Serial ATA RAID 0/1/5/10
- Integrated AHCI controller
  U6 R: P  J7 DMain Memory
/ F2 C4 q: G1 [" S3 _* z1 [- Supports six unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333 SDRAM, 24GB Max
- Supports 1Gb/ 2Gb/ 4Gb DRAM size
  ~5 s1 j& x( r5 A' p: t- Supports x8 / x16 data lines per DIMM
- Supports up to 3 channel mode   
   
# z2 S/ ~% T/ C* USlots
- 3 PCI Express gen2 x16 slots
7 J; H, b) X% A' T- Two Black PCIE x16 slots (PCI_E2 &PCI_E4) support up to PCIE x16 speed, one Blue PCIE x16 slot(PCI_ E5) supports up to PCIE x4 speed
- Supports ATI® Crossfire™, NVIDIA® SLI
3 g# n0 d) O- }3 a$ v- 2 Black PCI Express x1 slots
- PCI slot, support 3.3V/ 5V PCI bus Interface
5 s& X% ~$ e: E2 z, BOn-Board IDE /SATA
- One Ultra DMA 66/100/133 IDE controller integrated in JMicron® 363
- Supports PIO, Bus Master operation modes.
# n8 N+ l! ?& }" q- ?/ ?- Can connect up to two Ultra ATA drives.
   
0 g# b* R" ~5 ~+ P* q! }! R, ^2 cSATAII controller integrated in ICH10R/JMicron® 322 / 362 chipest
- Up to 3Gb/s transfer speed.
- Supports six SATAII ports by ICH10R.
7 L+ s" g3 m4 x% f" \: k' {- Supports four SATAII ports by JMicron 322, support SATA RAID 0/1/JBOD
- Supports two eSATA ports by JMicron 362
$ q1 C1 e/ w( f/ _- Supports AHCI controller with SATA RAID 0/1/5/10 by ICH10R
Audio
. A# ?" A/ o4 I) w9 @9 x! E5 n1 c- Creative® SB X-Fi Xtreme H/W Audio Card (MS-4132)
: n: A4 Z9 v: d- 24-bit / 96KHz audio quality
8 h' {2 C/ [- S2 K- 100dB SNR clarity
- Up to 7.1ch EAX 5.0 Surround Sound
LAN
- Supports two PCI Express LAN 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet by Realtek 8111C.
- d: s! Z$ [# _+ \5 A5 {: F; IIEEE 1394 / FireWire
2 _! x* s  @, Q4 E# c" }7 ?1 s% g- VIA® VT6308 chipset
- Supports up to two 1394 ports. (Rear panel x1, pinheader x1)
- Transfer rate is up to 400Mbps
Internal I/O Connectors
- [size=1em]ATX 24-Pin power connector
- 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
2 S3 k: s$ L) L1 z  x; f% q$ P- CPU / System x 5 FAN connectors
& ]0 w. m; X0 o1 ]2 v- j( I" }& W- CD-in connector
- Front panel audio connector
- Front panel connector
, P, b9 O/ B# T2 S% k- 1 x chasis intrusion connector
- 1 x serial port pinheader
- 2 x USB 2.0 connectors
6 B' D. M" Q# S) S) O: T8 d5 Y- 10 x Serial ATAII connectors
- 1 x ATA133 connector
' [7 w& ]5 `. M: U, F# l7 T- 1 x IEEE1394 connector support additional 1 port
- 1 x GreenPower Genie connector
, ?8 z* j, I; z7 _+ k4 o6 i- 1 x Reset Button
- 1 x Power Button
- 1 x SPDIF-out connector
/ z7 V2 l3 ^, }) u& D0 U- 1 x D-LED2 connector
- 1 x TPM module connector
Back Panel I/O Ports
* Z( W& ]. q( |+ l3 q  @* o  j- 1 x Clear CMOS button
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard
6 c, I; ?" E8 G" p& q" W; m1 \- 1 x PS/2 Mouse
8 b) l, H6 q, ]' t; Y- 2 x eSATA ports
# H: N5 J$ ~! Y1 `$ O' k% z- 1 x IEEE1394 port
- 8 x USB 2.0 ports
- 2 x RJ45 LAN jacks  
0 w9 q( I5 n5 z* kDimensions
- 12.0in.(L) x 9.6in.(W) ATX Form Factor
: U1 o& a7 T. G0 M- Q+ X3 |2 h) o     
, X9 W, \& j. r$ K7 T( S/ `9 cMounting
- 9 mounting holes

. S3 }. s& T6 H. n/ M- o' Q5 B/ N
Features and LayoutFeatures

. q* l0 C% S8 _& F' d9 b• Help end-users upgrade [size=1em]CPU FSB directly
• Buy an essential CPU but want to reach higher performance
2 d, r0 o9 a) y! H• Skip the complicated BIOS OC setting and enjoy the higher level CPU performance

4 y( H: x5 c) j/ z. B   
! R% }+ L, {& C! z9 @0 u$ [* {( O• APS is Active Phase Switching is complete function to Control Power Demand With Switcing Dynamically, it’s for CPU, [size=1em]Memory and Chipset PWM.
; ]: V/ H! d4 ^% s, `• Saving Power under Variable Loading.
; [2 O' E/ T; g" U• Power Usage More Efficiency.
0 O) r  R- }% o$ }
( d1 @9 E8 f( ]  ~, b6 p1 Y8 m/ k
• Excellent energy-saving capability and offers high-computing performance.
• Provide superior energy-saving function and maintain an ultimate low temperature operation.
• Comes with three incredible features.
: \, S' ~9 V8 J
• Longer lifespan than electrolytic capacitors
8 w$ N: e- B/ R6 t3 ^8 l9 C& S• Endurable to operation under higher frequency & temperature
• Avoid exploding capacitors to cause mainboards failure
# B( k; d, ]: f7 A: N! O
- M0 E; b# i2 v' M& R; L• A choke is an inductor responsible for storing power and regulates the current.
5 j  }8 }: T8 a8 S+ E' B• All shielded choke could reduce core power loss, lower EMI interference.
• Store energy longer at higher frequency, achieving higher efficiency.

• Hi-c CAP (Highly-conductive polymerized Capacitor)
* Z+ W9 X: A7 K& d• High voltage derating / heat resistance ? higher over-voltage / [size=1em]overclocking possibility
4 f1 `* `7 I' D0 t5 p1 i0 o• Best stability & long lifespan ? Average life 44800 Hrs @ 85? chamber

• Easy connect to front panel & [size=1em]chassis cable
! c& x4 r9 [! q• 2x USB, IEEE 1394, front panel (JFP1/2)& audio(JAUD1) M-connector in the package
- @3 z! r% ]& _2 w3 B7 p! M5 x; `• Easy to tell the definition of each pin
) J8 v3 `+ l; `) l' r
* D& w) X- h! Y: W) {• Functions designed with button to be easy use.
6 Y! c( t% x1 ^  i. E5 \7 I• Help power-users tweaking process in-chasis enviornment
9 v% r' @8 c( s+ j' D: n7 Q• Onboard SATA ports are stacked on the mainboard to avoid mechanical issue with giant graphic cards like 8800 Ultra.
6 i# u2 v* l! r% H9 Y3 ]
• Equip with 2 or more PCIe x16 slots, ATI CrossFire Ready.
• The ultimate multi-GPU performance gaming platform.
• Provides 2.7x faster performance than single graphic card solution.
9 q3 J/ _( w% [. |/ e- s/ }
• NVIDIA 3-way SLI® Technology build the fastest gaming solution available with NVIDIA nForce® chipsets and three NVIDIA® GeForce® high-end graphics cards.(*Note:For Windows Vista Only.)
• Compared with single graphic card solution, it brings 2.8X faster performance gained.
$ Z0 h$ k% {) q
• Make MP3 music sound better than CDs
9 ^, w- Y3 u2 M3 ?1 X. R• Transform to surround sound (speakers/headphone) from stereo audio source
( g% h. {7 y# U+ E# V0 m7 l• EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 provides the fidelity of gaming audio effect
# r  o- q" J* K+ f6 ^, ~4 _• World’s 1st PCIe interface X-Fi audio card
  
The [size=1em]MSI Live Update online is designed to automatically download and update the BIOS and driver when there’s a new version online. It helps reduce the risk of getting the wrong file and minimize the trouble of searching the files from MSI website.

- [$ d9 T/ }+ G/ y, E2 [• Key components status hardware monitor.
• Monitor the Dual Core CPU each unit status.
( E5 D; H" W% `' @• Optimize System status define.
% a5 M2 B) d9 z• Auto speed up with system loading change.
  H' V2 p! x% p- z+ E  ~
( K; p' W: M, H/ X1 sLive Update 3 is a single utility software that automatically checks BIOS, driver and utility updates and installs for you , which can save your time for searching and lower the risk while updating.
Layout

The MSI Eclipse SLI comes packaged in a very attractive retail box with a nice graphic of an enhanced “eclipse” scene. Not too much information is included on the front panel because it actually swings out to reveal more information about the [size=1em]motherboard.

5 B- f& j7 I' q# V5 a9 f" r

The back panel of the retail box is not very detailed either. But, as I stated before, there is an inner flap with more information about the motherboard’s specifications and features.
+ k  |. I1 E+ `" _; u$ |! b$ O
7 d, q) m  V0 r: W9 k

Here’s is the MSI Eclipse SLI mobo in all its glory. The entire layout of the board is pretty solid. I don’t see a lot of room being wasted on it either. All of the key features are carefully placed on the bottom and right side of the motherboard. Overall, this board doesn’t seem to have any glaring issues to discuss.

The back of the board has one small aluminum plate secured behind the processor. Nothing else to discuss here so let’s move on.

5 x1 O$ C6 w8 y+ [

The back I/O panel is interesting to say the least. I’m not sure why MSI went with this configuration, but it looks pretty sloppy and not well thought out. There are eight USB 2.0 ports, two eSATA ports, two Gigabit LAN jacks, one firewire 400 port, one CMOS button, and mouse and keyboard PS2 ports. In this humble reviewer’s opinion, a flagship motherboard shouldn’t have many legacy features because they should feature the company’s best and brightest technology. Putting a legacy firewire port and PS2 ports doesn’t scream “top of the line” to me.
6 _- ]7 |/ r% _

One technology worth noting is this board’s ability to use SLI and CrossfireX and support triple video card configurations. There are also two PCI-E 1x ports and two PCI ports available.
6 f5 a, \$ b8 z& L

This mobo also has a couple nifty buttons for power, reset, D-LED 2, and for basic overclocking. The red overclocking buttons can be configured to change the BCLK from 133, 166, and 199 respectively.

This board only has one firewire 400 header. Why hasn’t many vendors adopted the new firewire 800 standard?
2 w* n4 {' Y" c6 S9 q2 O" ~

The JCOM1 header is a [size=1em]high speed communication port that can be used to attach a serial device. The JTPM1 header connects an optional Trusted Platform Module.

These two headers are used to for all the available options on your PC’s front panel. It is color coded and separates the speaker and power LED header from the other front panel connectors.
% i* ~0 V7 I1 X' ~6 l

This board features 10 SATA headers and one parallel header that support two parallel devices.
3 E7 [6 l& Y. z9 C1 a/ r; U
+ y  C4 }& \5 P

These six unbuffered DIMMs can handle DDR3 800, 1066, and 1333 SDRAM. One of the main selling points with these X58 motherboards is their support for three-channel RAM. Each DIMM can handle 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB DRAM modules.

+ m8 y8 g3 ~' A4 o* e* `

The layout around the CPU is not cramped with capacitors and lends itself to any high-end air cooler on the market. Copper heatsinks  and heatpipes are used over the X58 Northbridge and DrMOS. DrMOS has an integrated driver IC, top MOSFET, and bottom MOSFET. It uses GreenPower technology, XpressCool, and RapidBoost to provide solutions for lower temperatures during idle, and delivering consistent power during overclocking.

yym

% i' _$ r$ D6 T1 T, i) `
Included Extras
8 E9 z1 a+ ?- _( y" j& ]8 a

One of the major selling points of the [size=1em]MSI Eclipse is all the bundled accessories that come with this board. MSI bundled the Creative X-Fi [size=1em]Xtreme sound card, which is a 7-channel solution with 24-bit / 96KHz audio quality. Should be a nice step-up from typical onboard sound solutions.

There are also one parallel cable, one floppy cable, and three Molex to SATA power connectors.
5 d# p1 m3 Z; ^* i0 d' w* y0 c
" Q/ Z4 O( W6 ], i

Since there are three PCI-E headers MSI included three different bridges to use multiple video cards in CrossfireX or SLI.
1 g! k. K" P3 y- n
7 G8 W& o7 t/ I6 R9 b, c

Here’s a quick shot of the back panel and M connectors that can be used to plug in front panel, USB, firewire, and audio headers into the [size=1em]motherboard.

$ @) r; n( r- \; Z; G' ~

To round out the rest of the bundled accessories, MSI included a quick guide to help novice users work with this board.

MSI included a quick two-page instruction manual on installing and using the D-LED panel. It’s pretty informative and included some decent photos of how to install the D-LED panel and the temperature probe.
; P1 S' q+ R8 \% m2 H
+ Y- w+ R$ M& l3 d6 ^, |

Here’s a quick shot of the second page of the D-LED instructions. This section shows the error messages and system information.

MSI also included a GreenPower guide, quick installation guide, and an HDDBackup user guide.
8 z, f* R. k2 _0 R

The main user guide provides most of the critical information users will need to know when they work with the MSI Eclipse motherboard. To round out the plethora of user guides, MSI included another guide on using the X-Fi Xtreme sound card.
8 N8 T+ }( V1 L7 N) q' x

There are four DVDs that have all the [size=1em]drivers and utilities for running this board on Windows XP and Vista. They also included the drivers for the X-Fi Xtreme sound card.
' i- a! X9 m' v8 d9 E+ a6 p
# s; s7 l/ S" R

This is the GreenPower Genie connector that connects the power supply to the motherboard. It’s a [size=1em]hardware solution that works hand-in-hand with the GreenPower software to save energy and offer higher computing power.

* V4 P, g7 L6 r7 K5 ~1 }

If eight USB ports on the back I/O panel aren’t enough, MSI included a PCI bracket with two USB 2.0 ports. They also provided another bracket that can support two SATA devices.

The D-LED2 panel connects directly to the motherboard via the JLED1 header. This utility displays system information like [size=1em]CPU temperature and voltage.

To round out the bundle, MSI included six [size=1em]SATA cables, one eSATA cable, and one Molex connector.
The included items bundled with the MSI Eclipse truly expand the value of this $300 motherboard. The included X-Fi Xtreme is an excellent touch, as well as the GreenPower Genie connector and DLED2 panel. All of these features should entice any gamer or enthusiast to look closely at this high-end motherboard.
4 Z; _: m  n7 i- n1 s
# |/ v" O& u% c3 @* I
4 r$ @& b* k( [8 K* {% E
8 P+ E& M1 ]6 ^" q# Y* JBIOS FeaturesThe X58 Eclipse SLI motherboard uses Award BIOS Version 1.40. This is the latest non-beta version available through [size=1em]MSI’s website.  (Note: The features in this BIOS are almost identical to those available with the MSI X58 Platinum motherboard.)
0 @- u" j5 t0 Y- X

This is the main menu screen you get when you boot into the BIOS. There are three special sections on the Cell Menu (for [size=1em]overclockers), Green Power, and M-Flash that should be interesting to users.

Pressing F4 pops up a [size=1em]CPU specs screen to give uses a quick snapshot of the CPU configuration.

Pressing F5 gives users a detailed view of the RAM DIMM location and timings.

The items in the Standard CMOS Features menu include some basic setup items for SATA, IDE, and eSATA.

. l7 p! _' D  N- g/ o. H: |9 y

The System Information tab shows a quick overview of the CPU configuration as well as the BIOS version installed on the motherboard.

The Advanced BIOS Features menu allows users to configure BIOS flash protection full screen logo display, boot up num-lock LED, IOAPIC function, MPS table version, primary graphics adapter, and the PCI latency timer. It also leads to sub-menus on CPU features, [size=1em]chipset features, boot sequence, and trusted computing.

5 W) D, F; Y& Q3 @- H) H# h% w3 p9 b4 E

The Integrated Peripherals menu configures USB, LAN, Firewire, RAID, and HD audio settings.

Power Management menu. There’s nothing too special to point out here.

The Standard Hardware Monitor menu includes a [size=1em]chassis intrusion setting as well as the normal PC health status information.

The Green Power menu gives users a host of options for making the CPU, chipset, and RAM more energy efficient. It also displays some new information about how many amps your CPU uses as well as the power supply’s efficiency rating.

1 \" X# \  _# }3 X" p! {6 _7 ^

The Cell menu is where all the overclocking magic happens. Modifications to the CPU multiplier, base clock, QPI link, [size=1em]Intel Turbo Boost, and RAM all occur in this section. Users can also modify the voltage settings in this menu to help with overclocking.

QPI links and frequency can be accessed through the QPI Configuration sub-menu. QPI frequencies can only be set to auto or 4.8 GT/s. This is a bit misleading because much of the documentation I read about this motherboard says it can handle 6.4 GT/s. Maybe this setting is only available on the i7-965 [size=1em]processor.

The Memory-Z menu gives users access to each individual DIMM’s configuration.

Here’ is one of the DIMM’s information that’s available under DIMM Memory SPD Information.  There are no settings to change here; it’s mainly for informational purposes only.

The Advance DRAM configuration menu is where all the memory timings can be configured manually.

The ClockGen Tuner menu controls CPU amplitude, PCI-E amplitude, CPU CLK skew, and IOH CLK skew.

4 G) F2 c- o/ W8 w# g, B0 E" d6 N

PCI frequencies can be set to Auto, 37.3, or 42 in the Cell menu.

# K- T, q& q/ X7 }

The bottom of the Cell Menu gives users access to a variety of voltages for various devices. The main ones we use for overclocking is the CPU Voltage, QPI Voltage, and DRAM Voltage.

/ h* ?2 i6 g4 |" f8 e! N

The User Settings menu allows users to save four different “profiles” for different computer configurations. This is helpful for overclockers and those who want different settings for different scenarios.

6 \# S; `: @6 e$ A7 C' ~5 q

The M-Flash memory will update or load a new BIOS from a USB drive. The M-Flash function allows users to flash the BIOS from a USB drive or other storage devices or allows the system to boot from the BIOS file inside the USB drive.

I felt a little déjà vu when reviewing this BIOS because of all the similarities it has with the Award BIOS Version 1.10 on with the MSI X58 Platinum. While there are a host of tweakable items available, I was left wondering why a consumer would want to spend almost $100 more on a board that has the same overclocking features than the less expensive X58 Premium. I know the MSI Eclipse comes bundled with more accessories, but I would have wanted more BIOS features instead for this amount of cash.

" \7 z/ \6 K4 l2 b: v  p; r! Y
Testing Configuration and [size=1em]Benchmarks UsedWe compared the MSI Eclipse SLI against the MSI X58 Platinum and two of Gigabyte’s entry-level and enthusiast-level LGA 1366 boards – the GA-X58-UD3R and GA-X58-UD5. All four of these [size=1em]motherboards have very comparable specs and features, so we expect our [size=1em]benchmark results to reflect those similarities.

: ]* L1 l8 _- S# ~

Our test bench consisted of the following components:
* {: \. `! J6 ^% e2 W' fCPU: [size=1em]Intel i7-920 (running at 2.66GHz, 133x20)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ Superclocked Edition
RAM: OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 750W 80 PLUS
4 T5 U! Q# P5 E# G; w  qHD: Western Digital 160GB SATA
' @8 W4 z: [! C, _; w+ eOperating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Our 64-bit test bench for [size=1em]Core i7 [size=1em]processors includes 6 GBs of RAM, a GeForce 9800GTX+ graphics card, and a Western Digital [size=1em]160GB SATA hard drive for storage. This configuration is based off a typical mid-range users system.
+ r3 |6 F- a: A4 [" mBenchmarks used:
- SiSoft Sandra 2009 SP1
- CineBench 10
, d, l# A5 R2 G0 S! Z6 X- LAME 3.97a MP3 Encoder
$ ~( S1 I, b3 F7 k( P2 ]# p- Handbrake DVD compression
- 3DMark Vantage
% N% p! N3 w) }7 Y5 m. g3 N- Crysis Warhead
- Far Cry 2
- PCMark Vantage
* G  |7 E' L5 c5 m/ E- HDTach 3.0.1.0 - SATA, eSATA, USB
$ s& F- }6 C. H: c
  k8 V1 w% _4 Q3 E5 H
+ m) l6 w4 B4 a" i/ f
Synthetic [size=1em]CPU and [size=1em]Memory TestsSiSoft Sandra 2009 SP1
The latest version of SiSoft Sandra offers up a lot of new features including GPU performance testing and Nehalem processor support.  
8 n7 X/ A- b% q2 C' U

# c. ~+ k& H1 t! N6 q4 C% Q& J5 z) J

" x& |. C  f0 V$ @1 F. B

7 \# ^; |- R) n) ~

, b4 w! L9 h7 Y& y: X1 W) {

The [size=1em]MSI Eclipse at stock settings was slightly slower than Gigabyte’s X58 offerings in our SiSandra benchmarks. SiSandra analyzes a host of different features on a [size=1em]motherboard, CPU, and [size=1em]RAM so these benchmark results don’t give me any warm fuzzies about the MSI [size=1em]Eclipse. Hopefully the rest of the benchmarks will show me this board’s true potential.

yym

$ F+ y& a/ G2 @7 C- w3 _# f1 T4 B. ~[size=1em]Media and Rendering TestsCineBench 10
9 a* X, g0 G! u' G# k5 n7 mThis rendering benchmark based off of the Cinema 4D engine is a terrific indicator for multi-threaded processing.

4 {/ n& N% Q/ s5 `2 y0 Z; C" A

: `' X' J$ w& MLAME 3.97a MT [size=1em]MP3 Encoder
This version of the [size=1em]LAME MP3 encoder is multi-threaded and takes advantage of two threads.

. ~. t. c& R) h' w( M* N

Handbrake
) T* a5 T: v5 U, L: ?0 t% mKnown mainly for its [size=1em]DVD re-encoding prowess, our test uses the Handbrake command line interface.

$ s3 g  O( W8 e6 r

In every media encoding and rendering benchmark, both MSI motherboards couldn’t hang with Gigabyte’s similar offerings. What does this mean for the consumer? In our opinion, these performance differences should be reviewed with a grain of salt because they are based off synthetic tests. In a [size=1em]real world environment, these minuscule differences in scores won’t equate to noticeable performance issues for the user.
7 T8 f; L4 W6 D, c
' e5 h* H) r8 m0 j7 a: u
  W) v. W6 v/ R9 f$ {
[size=1em]Gaming [size=1em]Tests3DMark Vantage
A reliable and popular benchmark, 3DMark Vantage can provide a good insight into overall gaming [size=1em]performance of a system.

Again you can see the performance differences between all four of these boards in our 3DMark Vantage benchmark. It doesn’t surprise this [size=1em]reviewer that both the MSI Eclipse and X58 Platinum have similar scores because they have very similar feature sets.  
+ U, ^9 B( m3 A
Crysis Warhead
/ G9 r% B% X2 y% I. S: n! JOne of the most visually impressive games ever built, Crysis Warhead also has an incredibly realistic physics and simulation engine.
$ ?3 F: D4 {$ C, k

Finally, the MSI offerings come out on top in a significant way. While anything over 60 FPS is considered overkill for gaming, the MSI Eclipse seems to have found its groove in our Crysis Warhead benchmark.

Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 pairs impressive visuals with a truly interactive and destructible environment.
2 u: {* S4 B1 a, W7 e

Both Gigabyte motherboards seem to even the playing field a bit in our Far Cry 2 benchmark. All of these scores are quite good, but in terms of overall FPS scores, the Gigabyte X58 boards seem to have a slight advantage over the MSI Eclipse and X58 Platinum.


" g8 B3 h, b; Q0 z/ x/ K3 Q- gPCMark VantagePCMark Vantage
Futuremark's newest [size=1em]benchmark suite, PCMark Vantage, was released earlier this year we published an initial article on the new [size=1em]software that looked at some [size=1em]CPU performance as well as providing overviews for all the individual testing suites it uses and what kind of applications they emulate.  The new Vantage software takes a much more real-world user-scenario approach to [size=1em]testing that previous PCMark software and as such deserves more time our benchmark analysis.
& |" g% h8 J: n6 }' U5 \
. {( K: u2 J8 F! h

4 I7 X( C0 F- n/ ]6 A$ q; s. {

0 ~6 q& J& Y3 \/ o- v" N9 i

If you haven't yet done so, I would recommend reading Ryan’s previous article that has a lot of detail on what these PCMark Vantage [size=1em]tests actually do.  That will give you a better understanding of the results to aid in your potential purchasing decision.
. L0 h* X) Q6 W

2 z- P9 k! ]5 E9 D  Q9 y
Storage System TestingHDTach 3.0.1.0
4 P3 N. G" e0 X$ DHDTach allows us to evaluate the performance of any storage subsystem including SATA, eSATA, USB and Firewire where available.
% V5 @0 ^; k- s

2 X; U5 o7 ]7 m6 y9 ^

& ?' P6 d3 {1 }; @8 F% s

" `1 Z( [% s& a& n* l8 d* ]

: m( M+ C0 Z' c% {. j8 d

9 c" i; \! w7 t9 `8 a! u

7 r0 X/ K6 h3 K- ?There’s nothing too significant to report in our HDTach benchmarks. This benchmark’s results have a lot to do with the individual storage devices being used than the [size=1em]motherboard. We did notice slight variances with the [size=1em]MSI Eclipse in [size=1em]CPU utilization, but nothing to be overly concerned about. Overall, every board seemed to be on par with their benchmark scores.

yym

6 W$ ]) q8 H# v6 y% G) @/ Y6 P
[size=1em]Overclocking resultsFor those who have been living under a rock since the i7 platform was unveiled last year, all three i7 [size=1em]processors are considered absolute beasts in the overclocking department. Many consumers and hardware enthusiasts alike have reported pushing these [size=1em]CPUs well past 4GHz on air cooling alone. So, for our analysis, our goal was to see if we could reach a stable 4GHz.
/ b2 b3 u2 Z" Q2 E8 O5 wFor those who don’t understand some of the intricacies surrounding overclocking an i7, I recommend a previous article Ryan wrote on how to overclock i7s. For those of you who already browsed that write-up, please read on.
Unfortunately, my overclocking experience began with a dark cloud over it as my [size=1em]MSI Eclipse broke down during the initial portions of overclocking. After pushing the [size=1em]CPU base clock to 160MHz, we experienced multiple reboots and then the board would not power on at all. After contacting MSI about our issue, they shipped me a new board. So, the rest of the overclocking was done on this new board.
After receiving the new board, my luck automatically changed. I was able to bump the base clock to 180MHz before having to increase the CPU, IOH, and QPI voltage. After upping the voltage, I was able to increase the base clock all the way to 193MHz before I noticed stability issues. So, I backed it down to 190MHz and that seemed to work great.
After all was said and done, I had the core running at a solid 4GHz using the following settings below:

1 b$ ?8 |2 D# j8 ^! N$ I% P

  K+ ~- }4 k5 n  {$ I0 p8 G: T+ c

/ o8 m$ c+ x! N: G' t

" `1 f! l+ K* r& F. o

CPU Speed	BCLK	CPU Multiplier	QPI	DRAM Frequency	DRAM Timings	CPU Voltage	QPI Voltage	Temp (Idle)	Temp (Load)
4.001GHz	190 MHz	21x with [size=1em]Intel Turbo Boost	3433 MHz	1144 MHz	7-7-7-19 1T	1.472v	1.22v	40c, 39c, 41c, 37c	80c, 79c, 77c, 74c

Power Consumption and Conclusions
' @2 Y! ?9 u" q. L! ]& N  ?

Both [size=1em]MSI boards experienced lower power consumption during load tests than its [size=1em]Gigabyte counterparts. This could be due to the DrMOS technology built into MSI’s X58 boards. Features that focus on energy efficiency are a smart idea, especially with the world economy the way it is today. In fact, with lower nanometer [size=1em]CPUs and GPUs coming on board, we are noticing a larger emphasis on cutting power requirements for these [size=1em]components.
, X& L; |3 e- J+ i9 H
' F4 {0 n% }8 t( Z( \) p1 @: ?Performance
As with our MSI Platinum review several weeks ago, the MSI Eclipse seemed to have the same strengths and weaknesses. We noticed strong showings for both MSI boards in our gaming benchmarks, but lower performance scores in our media encoding and overall system benchmarks. We also had difficulties initially overclocking both [size=1em]MSI motherboards.

( y8 R' s; _! q1 k

After a little bit of elbow grease (and being shipped a new board), we saw significant overclocking potential with the MSI Eclipse. Sometimes you just get a bad board, but the professionals at MSI resolved the issue and we were able to push the new one all the way to 4GHz. If we were using water cooling or [size=1em]phase-change cooling, I’m sure we could have reached 4.5 or 4.6GHz.
, @2 v1 j) x( r' J: R( H3 ?
$ f' r$ T6 a/ v$ f# P9 I1 B8 |  pFeatures
/ n0 T2 t, Q6 ]6 f. OA couple features that really stood out with the MSI Eclipse was its ability to support both CrossfireX and SLI video card configurations and having all three PCI-E slots capable of x16 speeds. This is fairly significant because most boards have that third PCI-E slot set at x8 speeds.

The DrMOS and GreenPower Genie really seemed to balance the amount of power our i7 system needed, which should be a huge selling point for MSI and consumers. There was an initial learning curve when we set up the GreenPower Genie, but after that it was smooth sailing and lower overall power consumption.

As a flagship [size=1em]motherboard, we expected the MSI Eclipse to host every new technology and feature available with most high-end X58 motherboards. We also expected some great bundled accessories, and the MSI Eclipse did not disappoint in that arena. The bundled X-Fi Xtreme was an absolute treat for us and I’m sure all our gaming readers will also rejoice that this sound card was included with this motherboard. The DLED2 panel and GreenPower Genie hardware solution were very unique components that won’t be found with any other vendor except MSI.
  c1 f( F1 @4 N* [2 D

One slight disappointment for this reviewer was the incorporation of many legacy features on the MSI Eclipse. Why is this a disappointment you asked? Well, to me, a flagship motherboard should only entertain the newest and best technology available. Period. It shouldn’t be catering to lower-end consumers who want to use budget components like PS2 mice and keyboards. It shouldn’t include PATA even. But, that’s just my humble opinion, for what it’s worth.
Overall, this motherboard was exactly what I expected from a high-end LGA1366 motherboard. It had a plethora of USB ports, SATA ports, multi-GPU support, and DDR3 triple-channel support. After getting a replacement motherboard, we can safely say this board is definitely a great overclocker too. The price point might be a bit high for some to pay, but for everything that’s bundled, it’s a decent deal for those who can afford it.
4 m9 h/ r8 Q' U+ A
Pricing and Availability
' F" O0 i( `& ~) xAt the time this review was written, prices for the MSI Eclipse were around $320 ($290 after MIR at Newegg). That puts it squarely in the higher-end of the X58 motherboard market.

Final Thoughts
After reviewing the technical specifications, benchmark results, and overclocking numbers, the MSI Eclipse is quite comparable to the X58 Platinum. But, after factoring in the extra bundled accessories and external sound card, the price point for this board seems pretty close to what you’d pay if you purchased everything separately. Overclocking to 4GHz was also a huge plus for us and definitely put this board among the best available in this price point and form factor.
: Q: E% x. a$ e4 u0 q( Q" d) h
/ ^! p0 c" P5 R( z; z

While there are plenty of cheaper motherboard solutions available, not many have the same set of accessories or features. Combine that with MSI-unique energy-saving solutions like DrMOS and GreenPower Genie, and you have a unique combination of performance and energy-saving goodness.
$ S: h+ O  U" }" v, X+ Q+ a2 lOverall, the MSI Eclipse’s price might make some consumers cringe, but if they have the green to put down to purchase this motherboard, we can confidently recommend it for any gamer’s high-end computer system.

alen

测试分数不理想哦。

tangcw2002

测试分数大部分跟UD5差距不小呢，貌似就功耗部分比较有优势。

hero

台湾那边早就评过了

2601693

这个板超牛啊

poyupoyu

这应该是微星最顶级的X58主板之一了。呵呵

土星实验室

MSI Easy oc Switch 不错

troopersky

看了半天，原来是版主转的一篇鸟语的评测～