If you're in the market for a budget Core i7 motherboard, the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P is still our favoured product and even the more basic DS4 is still better than the X58 Pro we reckon. Both of which are generally just faster overall and more reliable than the MSI X58 Pro we have here.

One unavoidable problem however is that the PCB which MSI might like to brand as "coffee" but at £160 even though it's a budget X58, there's no getting away from it still being an expensive purchase and on the surface will be a big problem for many people looking for a board to match their newly powder-coated rig. Unless of course, you've either chosen brown or a case without windows.

On the other hand, the £160 asking price means this is not only the cheapest X58 on the market, but the bottom line is that it's a decent board too, so if you're desperate to adopt Core i7 and want to spend as little money as possible then overall the X58 Pro is definitely worthy of consideration. It has a solid set of basic features, but remember those chipsets need some extra airflow to keep everything cool and stable. The X58 Pro still offers a considerable overclock for a Core i7 920, though if our review sample is anything to go by, then don't expect to be joining the 4GHz club any time soon.