Stability

For stability testing we reset the X58 Pro to its optimised default values. We then ran the SmallFFTs torture test from Prime95 across all cores to let the system warm up a bit, before adding 3DMark06 looping over the top of it. Ordinarily we would walk away and leave the system running for 24 hours and see if it was still running the following day. If it is, then you have a stable bit of kit.

To start with our review sample X58 Pro however, froze after about 30 minutes of testing. The board was capable of running each test continuously individually, but both at the same time would cause the the system to lock up.

We noticed that the chipset heatsink gets incredibly hot when the board is working hard, and dropping into the Hardware Monitor of the BIOS confirmed that the X58 chip was running at over 100°C, which to us basically meant MSI had inadequately cooled it. There was a similar situation with the X58 Eclipse SLI - where the northbridge-southbridge would heat up considerably and the cooling solutions for both MSI boards are some of the smallest on the market so it makes no surprise.

However, we tried again - sitting the board up on its side (like in a normal tower case) and we blasted it with cool air from above and below. In this situation, the MSI was rock-like, passing the tests without issue. We removed the fans and found the board would actually last several hours, but would eventually crash after a while.

Essentially the design is not like others because it requires a convection current made by standing up to keep it stable, whereas with others we rarely have this kind of problem. In a case with some decent airflow, the MSI should be just fine, but its cooling design is far from perfect.

Power Consumption

With a specific Core i7 920 CPU, 6GB (3x2GB) of memory, a GeForce GTX 280 graphics card and the BIOS set to its default values we tested with the Intel C-States enabled for the CPU throttling function. All the power saving is left entirely to Intel's Core i7 CPU.



The board didn’t fair particularly well in the power consumption department either. Running idle without GreenPower, it was the third most power hungry X58 beast we’ve seen, consuming the same amount of power as the Asus P6T with EPU² Enabled, but with it on there's a good 12W power saving - so it's certainly worth it unless it gives you stress overclocking.

As expected, the Optimised GreenPower setting for the X58 Pro is slightly more power efficient than the more expensive and fuller fat Eclipse SLI, although without using its, under load was a similar story with the X58 Pro being just three positions from last place and 10W more than the Eclipse!