MSI Big Bang-XPower II X79 Review – A World of Novelty Heatsinks
by Ian Cutress on February 25, 2012 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- X79
Test Setup
Processor |
Intel Sandy Bridge-E i7-3960X 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 3.3 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo) |
Motherboards | MSI Big Bang-XPower II X79 |
Cooling | Intel All-In-One Liquid Cooler, made by Asetek |
Power Supply | Silverstone 1000W 80 PLUS Silver |
Memory | G.Skill RipjawsZ DDR3-1866 9-10-9-28 1.5 V 4x4 GB Kit |
Memory Settings | XMP |
Video Cards |
XFX HD 5850 1GB ECS GTX 580 1536MB |
Video Drivers |
Catalyst 11.8 NVIDIA Drivers 285.62 |
Hard Drive | Micron RealSSD C300 256GB |
Optical Drive | LG GH22NS50 |
Case | Open Test Bed - CoolerMaster Lab V1.0 |
Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit |
SATA Testing | Micron RealSSD C300 256GB |
USB 2/3 Testing | Patriot 64GB SuperSonic USB 3.0 |
Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system as a whole with a wall meter connected to the power supply, while in a dual GPU configuration. This method allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.
For an XL-ATX board, the MSI BBXP2 is spot on in its power consumption, being the most energy efficient (or the second most efficient) by default compared to other X79 boards tested.
CPU Temperatures
With most users’ running boards on purely default BIOS settings, we are running at default settings for the CPU temperature tests. This is, in our outward view, an indication of how well (or how adventurous) the vendor has their BIOS configured on automatic settings. With a certain number of vendors not making CPU voltage, turbo voltage or LLC options configurable to the end user, which would directly affect power consumption and CPU temperatures at various usage levels, we find the test appropriate for the majority of cases. This does conflict somewhat with some vendors' methodology of providing a list of 'suggested' settings for reviewers to use. But unless those settings being implemented automatically for the end user, all these settings do for us it attempt to skew the results, and thus provide an unbalanced 'out of the box' result list to the readers who will rely on those default settings to make a judgment. CPU Temperatures are not really indicative of quality or performance, even though one would postulate that worse parts may produce higher temperatures. However, if a manufacturer uses more conductive material in the power plane, this reduces resistance and increases the voltage at the CPU, causing a higher temperature but potentially better stability.
Impressively, the novelty heatsinks on the MSI seem to work wonders, producing our lowest ever CPU temperatures in idle, video and OCCT mode.
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cjs150 - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
What Market were MSI thinking of?If extreme overclockers then first thing they will do is rip the silly themed heatsinks off board and stick something that delivers better cooling (probably water cooling blocks).
If not extreme overclockers then why have so many PCI slots - what are people going to fill them with. Can understand 2x GPU, maybe a sound card and a RAID Card, then what?
vectorm12 - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
Going by probability I'd rather have 7x PCIe slots than 4x PCIe + 2/3 PCI.Your point is partly valid though as the slots aren't properly multiplexed for scenarios where all seven slots would be occupied(GPGPU, storage, etc).
In any case I'd be the last person to mourn the death of PCI, but Intel needs to get more lanes into the CPUs to reduce the amount of multiplexing in order for this amount of slots to make real sense.
pramodhdrift - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
Hi friends i am from bangalorei need a asus motherboard under 7k for my i5 2500K Processor
and also the motherboard should support in HD Graphics 3000.
I5 Comes with an 1.5 intell GPU, i am going to buy Graphic card in next 4 moths.
SO PLEASE SUGGEST ME AN BUDGET AND GOOD MOTHERBOARD WITH SUPPORTING
INTELL HD GRAPHICS.
JohnyGhzs - Thursday, April 19, 2012 - link
this board is the best out thier and this is from an loyal evga owner their power for cpu is unmatched on this board with Great psu for ocing and sli/crossfireset ups is world class her
do not like gat gun and ammo remove them i will to be putting on water blocks anyways!
love the black and layout is as close to perfect !
JohnyGhzs - Thursday, April 19, 2012 - link
ps from someone that is buying one becacuase your not going to be in my house so who really cares how it looks in anyways !