New Details on ASUS ZEUS Emerge

A star attraction at the motherboard section of ASUS booth was its ZEUS Dual-GPU X79 concept motherboard. We got a chance to talk at lengths with people at ASUS about the exhibit, and learned a few details beyond what we already know. To begin with, ASUS is likely using a pair of "Southern Islands" family discrete mobile GPUs, not desktop ones. Further, it's likely that the GPUs are 28 nm "Pitcairn" based. The two GPUs are installed in CrossFire configuration. The next big detail is that the design focus on [evidently] isn't the integrated dual-GPU, but to demonstrate the first Thunderbolt-equipped X79 motherboard. The ZEUS has not one, but two Thunderbolt ports. The third (and most depressing) detail is that it's "highly unlikely" that the ZEUS will ever make it to the market. Think of it as yet another tradeshow concept by a big company. Perhaps ASUS doesn't want the ZEUS to end up like the ROG GSurf-365, its first off-beat ROG motherboard, which went beyond the show-floor but didn't have market-success.