MSI will soon release a more luxurious version of its 'Eclipse' X58 motherboar, branded Eclipse Plus. Unlike most manufacturers, MSI has chosen to use nVidia's NF200 switchchip on this board, which is required for SLI. As of yet, SLI is already implemented through a software certification of the X58 boards, but the NF200 chip is able to process extra PCI-Express lanes. ASUS also used the NF200 chip to build a motherboard featuring six PCI-e slots.
The MSI Eclipse Plus has a black circuit board with blue- and black-colored connectors. The board features a total of six DDR3 memory slots and a stunning 10 SATA ports. Also present are four PCI-Express x16 slots, two PCI-Express x1 slots and an old-fashioned PCI slot. MSI proudly displays that the board is part of its Gaming Series by labeling the cooling blocks. The usage of the advanced DrMos technology is also depicted on the board.
The right bottom of MSI's revised motherboard features a small display for diagnostics, as well as some buttons that are handy for overclockers. The status information can also be found on the back of the motherboard and reset with the CMOS button when required.
MSI's Eclipse Plus also features all standard functions such as USB and FireWire headers, 2x Gigabit LAN, 8x USB, 2x eSATA and a FireWire port. Audio connectors are not present on the board, which makes it likely for MSI to bundle a seperate PCI-Express soundcard. Pricing and availability is still unknown.
author : Marc Mouthaan
