The Northbridge cooler looks tiny in comparison to the ones used on competitors' boards and, although it didn't get too hot under test conditions, you may want to sort out your case's internal air flow if you start thinking about overclocking.

One annoying feature of the layout is the positioning of the three headers for case fans. Two headers sit behind the primary graphics card slot and will be extremely difficult to access if you have a full size graphics card. Similarly, the third header sits to the front of the second slot, and again there is a good chance it will be blocked by a large card.

Six DIMM slots are provided which support DDR3 1600 (OC)/1333/1066 and 800MHz in triple channel configuration up to a maximum supported memory of 24GB.

The board supports two full x16 speed PCI-E 2.0 graphics slots for CrossFireX support and there is a third x16 graphics slot, but this is limited to four lanes of bandwidth.

Although out of the box the board only supports CrossFire, you may (at your own risk) want to try to flash the BIOS with the one from the X58 Pro's SLI-supporting sibling, the X58 Pro SLI and, if all goes well, you'll have a board that supports both CrossFireX and SLI. In addition to these slots you get two standard SLI slots and a pair of x1 PCI-E slots place above and below the first x16 slot.

Six SATA 3.0GB/s ports are supported by the Southbridge and all are RAID capable. All six ports are edge-mounted at ninety degrees on the board which helps make for tidy cable runs. A seventh SATA port is positioned just behind the six and is independently controlled by a JMircon JMB363 chip.

Should you have a multitude of USB devices, then fear not, as the X58 Pro supports up to ten ports, six via the back I/O panel with motherboard headers for the other four. A single eSATA port and FireWire port join them on the panel and there is a motherboard header for a second Firewire port if you need it.

Eight channel audio is provided by an integrated Realtek ALC888S chip which also supports the optical S/PDIF port on the rear panel, the same company providing the controller for the single Gigabit Ethernet connection.

If there's one thing you'll notice about Intel's latest Core i7 technology and its supporting hardware, it's the price: the processors themselves and the motherboards to fit them into aren't exactly cheap.

MSI's latest motherboard supporting the new technology, the X58 Pro, aims to take some of the pain away by being priced to undercut the opposition by around forty quid, so as to make a system based on the cheapest i7 CPU, the 920, seem almost affordable.

The feature list of the X58 Pro isn't as long as some of its competitors but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as most of the time all the extra goodies lay dormant in the box anyway and if it means MSI can offer the board at a sensible price, so much the better.

The board is neatly laid out with plenty of space around the components, including the Socket 1366, allowing for larger, third party CPU coolers to be used. Both the Intel X58 North and the ICH10-R South Bridges, along with the MOSFETS, are passively cooled

Biostar TP45D2-A7 Motherboard - Intel P45, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA

Biostar TP45D2-A7 Motherboard Based on Biostar’s excellent Tseries design and reliability components, this motherboard comes with native support for FSB 1600/ 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz. It allows you to enjoy the intel latest technology supported by one of the most powerful CPUs in the world. The Intel® P45 Chipsets support the latest multi-core multi-coreBiostar TP45D2-A7 Motherboard Based on Biostar’s excellent Tseries design and reliability components, this motherboard comes with native support for FSB 1600/ 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz. It allows you to enjoy the intel latest technology supported by one of the most powerful CPUs in the world. The Intel® P45 Chipsets support the latest multi-core processors with FSB 1600MHz, including the 45nm processors, with its record breaking performance and greater energy efficiency. Intel® P45 chipset, with optimized system memory capabilities, and maximum overclocking, providing faster boot and application load times and additional power savings and providing scalable options for you ask for HD video and 3D Gaming! The Biostar TP45D2-A7 Intel socket 775 motherboard supports the latest Intel Socket 775 Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Duo Processors, Intel 45nm CPU processors thanks to the Intel P45+ICH10 chipset. Other specs include 1600/1333/1066 fron side bus, Dual-Channel DDR2 -1066/800/667, and Solid Capacitors. Good speed and quality at a great price.

Gigabyte Launches EP45 Mobo Range

Gigbyte has announced the launch of the EP45-Extreme series of motherboards that target the extreme overclocking segment of the motherboard market. The series currently consists of the GA-EP45T-EXTREME for DDR3 users and the GA-EP45-EXTREME for those who still prefer using DDR2 memory; both motherboards are based on Intel’s latest P45 Express chipset.




Designed for extreme overclocking performance, the EP45-EXTREME series of motherboards supports Intel multi-core processors up to FSB 1600MHz, including the latest Intel 45nm processors. Other high bandwidth features include support for ATI CrossFireX Technology with 2 PCI Express 2.0 x 8 interfaces and dual LAN with teaming functionality for ultra bandwidth for gaming servers.

The motherboards utilize Gigabyte’s unique Hybrid Silent-Pipe slot cooling system. This utilizes the natural convection of air inside and outside the chassis to cool down the North Bridge, South Bridge and CPU MOSFETs without the use of a fan. The Gigabyte Hybrid Silent-Pipe can also be used with water block cooling systems for additional enhanced thermal performance, or alternatively it can be totally removed by experienced overclockers who wish to use a copper pot with dry ice or LN2 extreme cooling on the North Bridge.

For system information, the EP45-Extreme boards incorporate an 80 Port Debug LED, overclocking alert LEDs, overvoltage alert LEDs and also temperature alert LEDs. There are five blue overclocking alert LEDs that indicate from a minimal overclock with only one LED burning to a high overclock with five LEDs burning. There are three overvoltage alert LEDs that indicate a slight overvolt when the green one burns, a moderate overvolt when the yellow one burns and a high overvolt when the red one burns. Finally, there are two temperature LEDs that burn green when the CPU and North Bridge area temperature is between 61oC and 80oC and red when the area is above 80 degree C