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FRONTPAGE MSI Big Bang-XPower II X79 Motherboard Review

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It looks like a good board, although I am not too impressed with the heat sink design. I would be embarrassed for someone to see that in my possession. Those "bullets" really do look like metal crayons. I would probably just remove them and water cool the chipset and mosfets. Still, I'm waiting for a dual-CPU board...
 
And I thought the gigabyte "sniper" series motherboards had tacky heatsinks...

It makes the board look like a gimmick.
 
Ah. I am not going to spend the money on two Xeon CPUs.

Unfortunately only Xeon CPU's have the ability to communicate with eachother in a Dual CPU setup, and not all Xeon CPU's are even capable of it.

Starting with Nehalem you had Gainestown and Beckton; then you had the Westmere line with Westmere-EP and Westmere-EX, that were capable. Xeon grade: Clarkdale, Lynnfield, Bloomfield, Jasper Forest, Gulftown... all incapable.
 
I was unaware of that. The performance of a dual-CPU setup just doesn't justify the price of Xeon CPUs. At least not in my case.
 
Its usually not much... I cant imagine more than 1A(12W) would be safe to put on a mobo fan header... but I could be wrong on this robust board.
 
Not sure I would do that.. those are over 1A. I will email the MSI rep and ask as I dont see it listed anywhere. I will report back for you.
 
The pumps only use the PWM and sense wires to connect to the motherboard, they use a 4pin Molex for power. So, you should be good.
 
Oh... heh... well, now that is clear (sorry dont own that pump, though you were powering it over a PWM). Like MattNo said, shouldnt be an issue as that is just an RPM signal essentially.
 
those heatsinks.. i never thought the old msi big bang design was bad, i like the switch to black but the thing about bullets and ammo cartridges like on the assassin boards from gigabyte need to go.
 
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