MSI’s Got a New Big Bang

And this one’s X79 flavored…

Jan 4, 2012 by

MSI LogoWith the normal fireworks and silly string MSI is today announcing its own super high-end X79 motherboard. The Big Bang-XPower II will be a direct competitor to motherboards like ASUS’s Rampage IV Extreme and Gigabyte’s GA-X79-UD7. Sporting a 22 phase PWM design, dual 8-pin CPU power connectors, and 6-pin power connector for extra juice to its PCI-E slots the XPower II can bring a lot of current to bear. MSI is continuing its branding campaign with large banners pronouncing this motherboard’s Military Class III component certification. Basically all this means that MSI is using high quality CAPs and that all of the components on this board have passed a military certification standard detailed here.

Photo courtesty of MSI

MSI is also touting this motherboard’s PCI-E Gen 3 support and its 4-way SLI/CrossFireX support. With all seven of its expansion slots of the physical PCI-E x16 flavor, the XPower II is aimed straight at professional overclockers and multi-GPU enthusiasts. The rest of the features on this motherboard are pretty much what we’ve come to expect from high end X79 motherboards; buttons and BIOS switches galore. The most interesting design choice on this particular motherboard is what many of you will probably see as MSI’s attempt to match Gigabytes G1.Killer series heat sinks.

Photos courtesy of MSI

 

MSI has opted to design its south bridge heat sink to look like a six round clip, with the almost pure black color scheme of this board the brass and copper colors have a positive aesthetic effect and act as the visual center piece of this motherboard. For comparison here’s an offering from Gigabyte that has a similar gun like heat sink style. So what’s the verdict on MSI bullet shaped heat sink? Let us know in the comments section! And if you’re looking for a full review you can head on over to HardwareHeaven.S|A

 

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Thomas Ryan

Author at SemiAccurate
Thomas Ryan is a freelance technology writer and photographer from Seattle, living in Austin. You can also find his work on SemiAccurate and PCWorld. He has a BA in Geography from the University of Washington with a minor in Urban Design and Planning and specializes in geospatial data science. If you have a hardware performance question or an interesting data set Thomas has you covered.