MSI X79 Big Bang XPower 2 Motherboard Review

A few months ago we covered the launch of Intel's new Sandy Bridge Extreme and X79 products, a new range of CPUs and a chipset which brought some great features and performance to enthusiast users. At that time we covered a number of motherboards based on X79 however as with all launches the initial range of products are replaced soon after by more impressive models as the manufacturers enhance their product line, attempting to win over consumers in a very competitive market.

One of the more impressive boards which was available when the X79 chipset launched was MSI's X79A-GD65-8D which found a balance of features and performance that was appealing. Now MSI are expanding their range of X79 products with today's launch of an enthusiast board which aims to be the best motherboard a consumer can buy for Intel's new high end CPUs. We have one on our test bench and will be putting it through a selection of real world and synthetic tests which include items like 7970 Crossfire performance in Battlefield 3 at 5760x1080.