MSI has launched yet another motherboard based on Intel's X58 chipset, the X58 Pro-E. As far as we could see from the pictures, the new Pro-E only comes with a different audio chip, and some minor design tweaks like different heatsink system and color scheme, while the rest of the specs and features are basically the same.
The new X58 Pro-E motherboard has, what MSI likes to market as, "true Blu-ray audio" with support for 192kHz/24bit sound. It also features a more appealing black and blue color scheme, but unfortunately still has that cheap looking brown PCB. The audio chip is still courtesy of Realtek, but unlike the Pro version that uses ALC888s chip, this one comes with a newer ALC889 chip. Both of them have 8-channels but apparently the new one is worth the making of a new motherboard.
The motherboard still features three PCI-Express slots, single gigabit LAN, seven SATA and one eSATA port, Firewire, twelve USB ports, on board power, reset and clear CMOS buttons and six memory slots with support for up to 24GB of DDR3-1333/1066 triple channel memory. The VRM heatsink also looks a bit beefier, while the northbridge and southbridge heatsinks just have a different design.
Hopefully, the motherboard should not cost more than the Pro version so it should retail at around €180.
