MSI X58M

X58 is an inherently expensive architecture, so if manufacturers want to make affordable Core i7 motherboards, features have to be pruned.

One recent demonstration of this was the Asus P6T SE, and now MSI has sent us its X58M - the cheapest MSI X58 board we've seen, and also the smallest thanks to its micro-ATX form factor.

Motherboard capabilities are partly determined by the chipset, so it's no surprise that, from a technical standpoint, the X58M isn't hugely different to the P6T SE.

For a start, connectivity is similar: a shade sparser than you'd expect from a premium board, but ample for everyday computing. You get six USB sockets on the backplate, plus a single Gigabit Ethernet port, one eSATA connector and a FireWire socket. It's good to see two PS/2 ports too, although the eight-channel onboard audio lacks an S/PDIF connector.

On the board itself sit headers for a further six USB ports, another FireWire port, and a few niche features including a serial port and a TPM chip. Six of the seven internal SATA ports support various RAID modes.

Despite its small dimensions, the X58 also offers a full six DIMM sockets, allowing you to install up to 24GB of triple-channel DDR3.

There isn't space for a huge stack of expansion slots, but two full-bandwidth PCI Express x16 slots are joined by a standard PCI slot and one PCI Express x4 slot, which should be plenty for most purposes. Unlike Asus, MSI hasn't skipped Nvidia certification: both SLI and ATI's CrossFireX are officially supported.

The X58M also trumps Asus by maintaining not only an IDE controller but also a floppy connector - though these days that's of minor importance.

Pleasingly, there's even a board-mounted power button. And while there's no reset button, you do get MSI's trademark Easy OC switch, with which you can easily flick a 2.66GHz Core i7-920 up to 3.33GHz, and even onward to 4GHz if your cooler can handle it.

Unusually, the board is drilled with two sets of heatsink holes, so you can use either a cooler designed for the Core i7's LGA 1366 socket or one built to the older Intel LGA 775 standard.

It adds up to a feature set that certainly doesn't smack of penny-pinching - yet the X58M can be had for just £129 exc VAT. All right, that isn't pocket money, but it's convincingly cheaper than any other Core i7 board we've seen.

Factor in the ability to use either an ATX or micro-ATX case, and it's a hugely appealing proposition for all but the most demanding Core i7 system builders.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith