MSI’s MS-7522 motherboard is available in both SLI and non-SLI versions, because Nvidia charges per-motherboard to add an SLI driver hook to BIOS code. The version we received is aptly named X58 Platinum SLI.
MSI doesn’t pretend that reduced-cost motherboards will be adequate 3-way SLI solutions, and instead omits any third slot from the X58 Platinum SLI layout. It’s still perfect for SLI or CrossFire configurations that use only two graphics units, including four-GPU solutions using two high-end GTX 295 or HD 4870 X2 cards.
MSI puts an extra space between its two x16 slots to allow better cooling for the top card, but it does bother us a little that the company didn’t take advantage of the X58 northbridge's four left-over PCIe 2.0 lanes. We don’t believe substituting an x1 slot for an x4 slot would have had a very large effect on pricing. A full seven expansion slots provide tremendous flexibility, but this is a situation where the “missing” x4 slot could have seriously boosted the motherboard’s specification sheet.
Power cables connections are exactly where we want them, but the Ultra ATA connector is a little low in the X58 Platinum’s front edge for use with upper drive bays. Bottom-rear corner placement of Front-Panel Audio and IEEE 1394 FireWire headers make cable management a challenge for owners of top-panel-access cases.
As with every board in today’s comparison, forward-facing Serial ATA ports allow cables to slip easily under the leading edge of long expansion cards while also requiring additional space around any nearby hard drive cage. Most cases are designed with these types of connectors in mind. Two additonal SATA ports that face outward from the X58 Platinum SLI’s surface are located far enough below the top PCIe x16 slot to fit under any oversized graphics card coolers.
Power and Reset buttons located under the bottom PCI slot make bench testing a little easier. A third button near the motherboard’s front edge is intended to switch modes for the optional D-LED2 diagnostics display.
MSI X58 Platinum SLI (Revision 1.0) | |
|---|---|
Northbridge | Intel X58 Express |
Southbridge | Intel ICH10R |
Voltage Regulator | Six Phases |
BIOS | V3.1 (01/21/2009) |
133.3 MHz Base Clock | 133.7 (+0.28%) |
Clock Generator | ICS 9LPRS133BKLF |
Connectors and Interfaces | |
Onboard | 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (Full Bandwidth) |
| 3 x PCIe x1 |
| 2 x PCI |
| 2 x USB 2.0 (2 ports per connector). |
| 1 x IEEE-1394 FireWire |
| 1 x Serial Communications Port |
| 1 x Ultra ATA (2 drives) |
| 8 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s |
| 1 x Fan 4-pin (CPU, System) |
| 5 x Fan 3-pins (Chassis, Power) |
| 1 x D-LED2 Diagnostics Module Header |
| 1x Front Panel Audio connector |
| 1 x CD-Audio In |
| 1 x Power Switch |
| 1 x Reset Switch |
| 1 x D-LED2 Function Switch |
IO panel | 2 x PS2 (keyboard, mouse) |
| 8 x USB 2.0 |
| 1 x IEEE-1394 FireWire |
| 1 x Digital Audio Out (optical) |
| 1 x External SATA (eSATA) 3.0Gb/s |
| 1 x CLR_CMOS button |
| 2 x RJ45 Ethernet |
| 6 x Analog Audio Jack (8 ch. out + line, mic in) |
Mass Storage Controllers | |
Intel ICH10R | 6 x SATA 3.0Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) |
JMicron JMB363 PCIe | 1 x Ultra ATA-133 (2-drives) |
| 1 x External SATA (eSATA) 3.0Gb/s |
| 1 x SATA Interface for JMB322 Port Multiplier |
JMicron JMB322 on SATA | 2 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s to 4x SATA 3.0 Gb/s |
Network | |
2x Realtek RTL8111C PCIe | Dual Gigabit LAN with Teaming |
Audio | |
Realtek ALC888 HD Audio Codec | Eight-Channel (7.1 Surround) Output |
IEEE-1394 FireWire | |
JMicron JMB381 PCIe | 2 x FireWire 400 (1x Internal, 1x I/O Panel) |
Just as with the competing Asus model, the MSI X58 Platinum SLI uses a JMicron JMB322 port multiplier to provide two internal ports from a single JMB363 connection, sending the controller’s other connection to an eSATA port. Everything on that controller, including any Ultra ATA drives, must then share a single 2.5 Gigabit PCIe pathway to the chipset. MSI labels its two red SATA ports “Double Speed” in spite of this huge bottleneck, a marketing slogan that refers to the port multiplier’s built-in RAID 0 capability.
Networking faces no such bottlenecks, as each Realtek RTL8111C Gigabit Ethernet controller is fed by its own 2.5 Gb PCIe link.
FireWire 400 ports have no need for the bandwidth of PCIe, but the newer interface allows JMicron’s JMB381 controller to use less motherboard real estate.
Rated at 97dB signal-to-noise ratio, the RTL888 HD Audio codec provides 7.1-channel surround audio and is capable of multi-streaming a separate stereo signal to the front-panel headphone jack.
Check prices for MSI's X58 Platinum SLI
- Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back
- ASRock X58 SuperComputer
- X58 SuperComputer BIOS, Software And Accessories
- Asus P6T
- P6T BIOS, Software And Accessories
- Biostar TPower X58
- TPower X58 BIOS, Software And Accessories
- DFI LANParty DK X58-T3eH6
- X58-T3eH6 BIOS, Software And Accessories
- EVGA X58 3X SLI
- Foxconn Renaissance
- Renaissance BIOS, Software, And Accessories
- MSI X58 Platinum SLI
- X58 Platinum SLI BIOS, Software, And Accessories
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: 3D Games
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Synthetic
- Power, Heat, And Overclocking
- Conclusion







Warpedsystems has tested a least half of these, my Evga failed out of the box, i would normally let that slide but with all the 680i and 780i issues and failures over the years - beware. So i can not speak of the evga - i will say the 780i FTW is kick butt mobo!
Asus is asus and 90% or so of my stuff i ship, i switched to the new P6t from the deluxe and have had some issues - i am sitll working on the P6T tonight as i type. Opps- my jr tech set the blk to 180 and over clocked the QPI to max - i think he smoked the mobo ran amd cpu = its first in 5 years if so?
Some did not make it? no gigabyte? gigabyte is really pushing on asus for number one - really! Ya, all the evga fans are what? I can say how many evga mobos break and fail: pci-e slot fail, pressure around the cpu mounting failure, lock ups - evga lock ups are just accepted as part of life! We all know that evga error code!
I have to say the gigabyte and the higher end asus deluxe version sure seem a lot more reliable for 4ghz systems - again - we only took 1 evga and it locked up and i said "that is it the last time" - the FTW 780i gives me faith evga will come around on x58.
what ever you do - do not oc the blk and QPI - poof!
nice stuff THG!
One of the companies forgot to send a board and didn't respond in time to the reminder...see the introduction of the article. What makes you think that company wasn't Gigabyte?
Judging from the feature list, the board was plain P6T, but all pictures seem to be of P6T SE.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/7/3/192063/original/asus_p6t_kit.jpg
Sorry, but you can't make a good review without including one of the top manufacturers of X58 motherboards.
Sorry, but you can't make a good review without including one of the top manufacturers of X58 motherboards.
I am not the extreme overclocking kinda guy. In fact, I still am running on default settings on my Core 2 Duo E6750. I don't plan to overclock over 3,2Ghz on my new 920, if I ever do overclock.
Neither boards support SLI, but I'd be interrested in a dual Radeon 4870 1GB Crossfire config.
Thanks in advance
Tell that to Gigabyte.
No salavat23. Sorry but you can't make a good reader without reading the introduction.
I have the P6T and love it. 3.8 GHz using DDR3 1333 RAM. All I need to do is change these settings:
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
CPU Ratio: Auto
Intel Speed Step: Disable
Bclk: 190
DRAM: DDR3- 1523
DRAM: Bus 1.66
That's all that you need to do to get 3.8 GHz out of it. Works like a charm.
Agreed. While manufacturers not meeting the deadline is somewhat annoying, I'd really like to know which brand, and especially which motherboard model had the spectacular failure. I'm about to buy components for a Core i7 build, and knowing which one had issues would add some piece of mind to the decision.
Tom's guys, can you help us readers out on on this?
I'm curious what's the difference between their reviews and the ones here?
As for the reviews here you go..
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1861_16.html
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/index.php?x=reviews&id=943&page=11
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1761/13/asrock_x58_supercomputer_motherboard/index.html
I guess my concern is who is right??
From my discussions with Thomas, it seemed that this board was solid until you started overclocking it, after which we had two different boards burn up. Thomas can clarify, though.
I would really love to know where the Intel board stacks up in this.