| Wednesday, March 17th 2010 |
EVGA just released two of its most indigenous designs that marks a complete evolution from being a reference-design products vendor to an enthusiast-grade hardware giant: the much talked about EVGA Classified SR-2 dual-LGA1366 enthusiast-workstation motherboard, and power supply unit (PSU) tailor-made to suit systems based on the SR-2 motherboard. To begin with, the Classified SR-2 motherboard is a dual-LGA1366 motherboard supporting two dual-socket capable Intel Xeon E5500 series, and X5600 series quad-core and six-core processors. It is based on Intel's enterprise-grade 5520 chipset with ICH10R southbridge.
The Intel 5520 supports two QuickPath Interconnect paths to each of the sockets, which in turn can communicate with each other. Since each socket (processor) has its own triple-channel DDR3 memory controller, it has its own six DDR3 memory slots. The 5520 gives out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 lanes which connect to two NVIDIA nForce 200 chips that give out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links each. With external x8 switching thrown into the mix, the motherboard manages a staggering seven PCI-Express x16 slots.
Each processor socket uses higher amounts of gold on the pins for better conductivity. Each socket is powered by an 8-phase digital PWM circuit, with 2-phase uncore. Each set of memory slots is powered by a 3-phase circuit. Apart from the usual 24-pin ATX connector, power is drawn in from two 8-pin CPU power connectors and three PCI-Express 6-pin connectors. The VRM areas are cooled by individual heatsinks, while the chipset area (covering the NB, SB, and NF200 chips) is cooled by a monolithic air-stream cooler where air is circulated through aluminum channels by a fan.
The ICH10R gives out six SATA 3 Gb/s ports (coded black), while an additional Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s controller gives out two 6 Gb/s ports (coded red). Connectivity options include dual gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and 8+2 channel audio. The board supports 4-way SLI with supported graphics cards, 3-way SLI, Quad-SLI, and 4-way CrossFireX. Apart from a plethora of overclocker-friendly features at the hardware and BIOS levels, the board supports the proprietary EV-Bot module that helps on-the-fly overclocking. The board itself is physically larger than EATX and EVGA's own XLATX form-factors. EVGA calls it "HPATX".
Next up, is the EVGA Classified SR-2 PSU. As mentioned before, this PSU is tailor-made for systems using the Classified SR-2 motherboard. It has a power output of 1200W (continuous) and >1500W (peak). It uses six +12V rails rated at 38A each. Also featured are adjustable +12V rails that could let you divert more power into particular outputs for higher overclocking stability. Its fan-speed is also adjustable.
The EVGA Classified SR-2 motherboard is available following Intel's launch of six-core Xeon X5600 series processors, it is priced at US $599 (which is a steal looking at prices of "high-end" dual-LGA1366 workstation motherboards). The SR-2 power supply on the other hand, will be available shortly.
The Intel 5520 supports two QuickPath Interconnect paths to each of the sockets, which in turn can communicate with each other. Since each socket (processor) has its own triple-channel DDR3 memory controller, it has its own six DDR3 memory slots. The 5520 gives out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 lanes which connect to two NVIDIA nForce 200 chips that give out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links each. With external x8 switching thrown into the mix, the motherboard manages a staggering seven PCI-Express x16 slots.
Each processor socket uses higher amounts of gold on the pins for better conductivity. Each socket is powered by an 8-phase digital PWM circuit, with 2-phase uncore. Each set of memory slots is powered by a 3-phase circuit. Apart from the usual 24-pin ATX connector, power is drawn in from two 8-pin CPU power connectors and three PCI-Express 6-pin connectors. The VRM areas are cooled by individual heatsinks, while the chipset area (covering the NB, SB, and NF200 chips) is cooled by a monolithic air-stream cooler where air is circulated through aluminum channels by a fan.
The ICH10R gives out six SATA 3 Gb/s ports (coded black), while an additional Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s controller gives out two 6 Gb/s ports (coded red). Connectivity options include dual gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and 8+2 channel audio. The board supports 4-way SLI with supported graphics cards, 3-way SLI, Quad-SLI, and 4-way CrossFireX. Apart from a plethora of overclocker-friendly features at the hardware and BIOS levels, the board supports the proprietary EV-Bot module that helps on-the-fly overclocking. The board itself is physically larger than EATX and EVGA's own XLATX form-factors. EVGA calls it "HPATX".
Next up, is the EVGA Classified SR-2 PSU. As mentioned before, this PSU is tailor-made for systems using the Classified SR-2 motherboard. It has a power output of 1200W (continuous) and >1500W (peak). It uses six +12V rails rated at 38A each. Also featured are adjustable +12V rails that could let you divert more power into particular outputs for higher overclocking stability. Its fan-speed is also adjustable.
The EVGA Classified SR-2 motherboard is available following Intel's launch of six-core Xeon X5600 series processors, it is priced at US $599 (which is a steal looking at prices of "high-end" dual-LGA1366 workstation motherboards). The SR-2 power supply on the other hand, will be available shortly.
User comments
