Included Extras
One of the major selling points of the MSI Eclipse is all the bundled accessories that come with this board. MSI bundled the Creative X-Fi Xtreme sound card, which is a 7-channel solution with 24-bit / 96KHz audio quality. Should be a nice step-up from typical onboard sound solutions.
There are also one parallel cable, one floppy cable, and three Molex to SATA power connectors.
Since there are three PCI-E headers MSI included three different bridges to use multiple video cards in CrossfireX or SLI.
Here’s a quick shot of the back panel and M connectors that can be used to plug in front panel, USB, firewire, and audio headers into the motherboard.
To round out the rest of the bundled accessories, MSI included a quick guide to help novice users work with this board.
MSI included a quick two-page instruction manual on installing and using the D-LED panel. It’s pretty informative and included some decent photos of how to install the D-LED panel and the temperature probe.
Here’s a quick shot of the second page of the D-LED instructions. This section shows the error messages and system information.
MSI also included a GreenPower guide, quick installation guide, and an HDDBackup user guide.
The main user guide provides most of the critical information users will need to know when they work with the MSI Eclipse motherboard. To round out the plethora of user guides, MSI included another guide on using the X-Fi Xtreme sound card.
There are four DVDs that have all the drivers and utilities for running this board on Windows XP and Vista. They also included the drivers for the X-Fi Xtreme sound card.
This is the GreenPower Genie connector that connects the power supply to the motherboard. It’s a hardware solution that works hand-in-hand with the GreenPower software to save energy and offer higher computing power.
If eight USB ports on the back I/O panel aren’t enough, MSI included a PCI bracket with two USB 2.0 ports. They also provided another bracket that can support two SATA devices.
The D-LED2 panel connects directly to the motherboard via the JLED1 header. This utility displays system information like CPU temperature and voltage.
To round out the bundle, MSI included six SATA cables, one eSATA cable, and one Molex connector.
The included items bundled with the MSI Eclipse truly expand the value of this $300 motherboard. The included X-Fi Xtreme is an excellent touch, as well as the GreenPower Genie connector and DLED2 panel. All of these features should entice any gamer or enthusiast to look closely at this high-end motherboard.
