MSI Introduces “Eco” Motherboards
It looks like MSI is bringing out a line of “green” motherboards which allow you to disable features/components that aren’t being used to save power. Frankly, I think this is an amazing idea as long as it can be done without compromising the stability of the system. My only complaint is that it appears that only mATX boards will be offered, although perhaps that’s because there isn’t as much to disable on an ITX system :).
Hopefully, we can get one in and find out what the actual savings are.
As part of their display at Computex, MSI was showing a new element to their range based on low power systems. The ECO range, in a white and green, is aimed at low power scenarios, and MSI seem to focus on micro-ATX sizes for H81 and B85 chipsets.
One of the main elements to this is the MSI software, allowing users to disable unused PCIe and USB ports, or disabling fan headers. We saw the early versions of this software on the Z97 MPower Max AC, but the ECO software is more extensive in terms of options.