MSI launches range-topping Eclipse Plus mainboard for ultra-fast 3D graphics

MSI has just unveiled a follow-up to the premium Eclipse motherboard that runs on Intel’s Core i7/ X58 Express Chipset platform. Dubbed the Eclipse Plus, this high-end board is still based on Intel’s X58 Express chipset that runs Core i7 processors and triple channel DDR3 memory (24GB max), but MSI added a few more features to push the performance further.

This board features true 3-way SLI x16 graphics through the addition of an Nvidia nForce 200 chip to give it maximized performance with a multi-GPU setup. A fourth PCI Express x16 slot gives maximum 3D graphics performance when a dedicated PhysX GPU is added to the system.

The Eclipse Plus is also built with a split thermal system for keeping temperatures down. This system entails separate heat pipes and large thermal fins, instead of the usual single pipe that runs across the entire system. The board also comes with a Drive Booster that makes it easy to set up a RAID configuration, and a packaged Creative X-Fi audio card to give it hardware audio decoding and premium audio clarity.