Asus to follow up on PC-DL succes?

[DanTheBanjoman]

We all know the Inquirer isn't always right. However this story seems solid. The Inq is reporting of a new Asus s771 board. Of course nothing special, though next to Skulltrail this would be the only board with overclocking options in the BIOS.


Besides overclocking options Crossfire will be supported, however unlike its predecessor, the PC-DL, it does require expensive RAM, namely FB-DIMMs.
According to the Inq the BIOS does need some tuning, though it sounds like Xeonland might once again become more accessible to the enthusiasts. Asus names it "Z7S".

Source: The Inquirer

[tigger]

apart from the fb-dimms,thats pretty spicy.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Yup, since I ditched SuperMicro a few days ago I've been looking for another board. This popped up, so I e-mailed Asus about it. I hope they're for sale soon, seeing the PC-DL/PCH-DL/NCCH-DL prices I expect pricing to be quite fair.

[Jizzler]

Hmmm... not bad.

Does have a slot configuration that I like. Even with two double-slot video cards, still have the x1 for audio and a third PCIe x16 (at x4? x8?) for a nice SATA controller/RAID controller.

If only they had gone this route with their full EATX board.

[newtekie1]

The link to the PC-DL in your write up doesn't work Dan. It has a <br /> at the end of it.

[btarunr]

All through the growth of the IT industry, we've always gotten to see the workstation/server segment having a technological edge over PC or even enthusiast-PC segments. The lines are fading now and Intel Skulltrail does send this message. The only thing some of us are missing is that the WS/server platform has already been overtaken by the PC, technologically. Compare those SuperMicro/TYAN boards to one of these. In a way this will harm the mainstream WS/server buyer as things (innovations) get concentrated at the higher segment. Memory vendors have to bring down the prices of FB memory, the FB DDR3 DRAM has to be innovated and the focus should shift back into conservative WS technology. Mixing the two worlds would have a bad impact on the directin in which things are moving.

Dan, the link needs a fix.

[Jizzler]

I don't think it's so bad, it's filling in gaps. Gaps that are there because I believe people hold too much meaning in classifications like "desktop", "workstation", and "server".

I come from a time when an enthusiast who wanted more than a single cpu, but didn't need a full dual Xeon setup could SMP with a pair of Pentiums on a standard chipset. (I had a dual P2-333 )

This to me is just a board that supports two CPUs. Sure, I have to use Xeons but that's just how it is these days.

Someone could come out with a quad cpu board that supports SLI and I'm not seeing a reason why it couldn't be in my home. Oh wait, someone did

[DanTheBanjoman]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

The link to the PC-DL in your write up doesn't work Dan. It has a <br /> at the end of it.

No it doesn't


I e-mailed an Asus server/networking guy btw, they claim not to know anything about this board. Time will tell.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by DanTheBanjoman

No it doesn't

Well not anymore.

[Completely Bonkers]

"Of course nothing special"

Well, I think there is something VERY SPECIAL about this board... a regular ATX case and regular PSU connectors!!! No need to buy a new case or expensive PSU.

And 2xPCIe x16!

That is a VERY ATTRACTIVE upgrade path for many entusiasts. Fantastic for a workstation, power user system. 8 cores... here we go! Might be difficult to keep it cool, but the new 45nm and CPU and GPU at stock... should keep it under control. No room for 3rd party silent coolers :-( Look how lose those CPUs are! LOL


>> DAN, If you get more news about this board from ASUS, please post.

[ValkyrieLenneth]

Lots of stuff make this board look like mATX to me

[harrisonford]

I own a PC-DL Xeon, but only a 2.4 gig. and 2 gigs of RAM ATI XT 1650, It is very nice.

I have owned many pieces of ASUS crap, but this one never fails ever. 4 years with XP.

RAID 1 built in is very good today and great when new, compared with my core 2 QUAD Intel sucks. I still think my XEON DUAL CPU hypre threading is faster surfing, and many other small programs running at the same time. Duo 2 Quad kills my XEON in Solidworks and ant video encoder hands down, but still my ASUS PC_DL kicks ass when doing lots of things at the same time.

Core 2 QUAD 2.66Ghz .. RAM 4 gigs, RAID 6-6 terabytes Nvidia 8800 GTS 640 very hot, very slow at simple things

[DanTheBanjoman]

Originally Posted by Completely Bonkers

Well, I think there is something VERY SPECIAL about this board... a regular ATX case and regular PSU connectors!!! No need to buy a new case or expensive PSU.

And 2xPCIe x16!

That is a VERY ATTRACTIVE upgrade path for many entusiasts. Fantastic for a workstation, power user system. 8 cores... here we go! Might be difficult to keep it cool, but the new 45nm and CPU and GPU at stock... should keep it under control. No room for 3rd party silent coolers :-( Look how lose those CPUs are! LOL


>> DAN, If you get more news about this board from ASUS, please post.

The nothing special refers to the fact that a new board is introduced, ie the sentence in front of it.

There are plenty of atx/eatx solutions out there, the power connectors are the same as any s771 board, ie 24+8+4. The 4 connector is located at a really stupid place on this board though. The dual x16 PEG slots are a new feature of Seaburg, ie nothing new. Though it does support Crossfire and does have OC features, that's the main thing.

Pray it's not a hoax