MSI Claims Most Affordable X58 Motherboard

By Steve Seguin
published

MSI announced on Monday its new MSI X58 Pro motherboard for the Intel Core i7 platform, which is claimed as the most affordable X58 on the market. 

Intel Core i7 systems are generally known to be on the expensive side, with the least expensive X58 motherboards on Newegg.com priced to start at $199.99.  True to its claims though, the newly announced MSI X58 Pro motherboard is now showing up at some online retailers with a price of just $189.99.

The motherboard features two PCIe x16 slots with SLI and CrossfireX support, heatpipe cooling with a split thermal system, a 2nd-generation five-phase DrMOS power solution to help conserve power and an onboard eSATA interface.  The motherboard is also equipped with six triple-channel DDR3 memory slots, a PCIe x4 slot, two PCIe x1 slots, two PCI slots, firewire, a TPM pin header, M-connectors and an Easy Button for a quick system reset.

Prices for X58 motherboards have already come down quite a bit since the launch of the Core i7 platform, making it possible now to purchase the three main Core i7 system components for as little as $559.  

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PartPrice
Crucial 3 GB DDR3 1066 MHz triple-channel kit$73.99
MSI X58 Pro motherboard$189.99
Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz processor$294.99
Total$558.97

Steve Seguin
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gwolfman
    Not bad. It's nice to see pricing coming down. Yea!
    Reply
  • Be careful with this motherboard, many of them are being sent back for RMA, including mine and plenty of customer that have ordered the board off newegg (see comments section).
    Reply
  • alvine
    good to see prices falling
    Reply
  • Silluete
    still... i gonna wait another year(or maybe half) before i move to ddr3 platform since the cost of ddr3 memory still make hole in my pocket however this is a good news indeed,or maybe just wait until am3 platform come out
    Reply
  • FrustratedRhino
    sill, DDR3 is cheap... 6GB for 180-200 bucks ... when a year and a half ago it would have been amazing to get 4 GB of DDR2 for that price... i don't see why you are complaining.
    Reply
  • Pei-chen
    I think Gigabyte has an X58 board for $180 though the board only has 4 memory slots.
    Reply
  • jwl3
    Still a rip. There's almost negligible performance differences between motherboards, even between different chipsets. Pay for reputation (of mfr.) and features that you need. I, personally, wouldn't pay more than $130 for a motherboard. Which is why I'm holding off on the Core i7 until MB manufacturers drop it down to P45 price levels.
    Reply
  • mapesdhs
    I wish just once the more expensive mbds would include PCI64/66
    or PCIX instead of boring PCI32/33. If these are supposed to be
    aimed at 'enthusiasts', isn't it likely that a fair few such
    people will want to mess around with PCI options that need more
    than just 32bit PCI to really fly? (eg. SCSI RAID, FC, etc.)

    Thankfully, ASUS has an i7 board with PCIX, which is probably the
    one I'll be getting in the summer. Strangely, it's no more costly
    than most other i7 mbds, though a fair bit more than the new MSI.

    Ian.

    Reply
  • IH8U
    Although I still would avoid MSI, they are cheap for a reason. ECS, Foxconn, ASRock, Zotac, and of course ASUS and Gigabyte are better buys. MSI is SERIOUSLY LACKING in anything considered support, BIOS updates, forget it. Warranty, they'll put off answering untill the warranty is expired. "MSI likes to die" remember this! They are an overpriced POS (even if it is an X58 board). Wait for Gigabyte or ASUS to come down in price, at least with them you don't get the answering machine (you get to speak to an actual person). MSI can claim all they want, 99.999999999999999999999999999999% of their boards aren't even worth spitting on.

    Reply
  • I have the MSI eclipse X58 and it is a great board, i have used the Asus P6T delux also, for me the MSI board overclocks easier, the wife has the Asus board... And the MSI board comes with a very sweet sound card... No problems with it so far...
    Reply