ASUS Intros the Expedition B250-V7 Motherboard for Gaming iCafes

[btarunr]

ASUS expanded its Expedition line of high-endurance gaming PC motherboards designed for the rigors of gaming iCafes, with the socket LGA1151 Expedition B250-V7, based on the Intel B250 Express chipset. Built in the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU with a simple 6-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel memory; and a single reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. Other expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (both electrical x4 and wired to the B250 PCH), and three x1 slots.

Storage connectivity is pretty basic, with just the six SATA 6 Gbps ports, as is the USB connectivity, with just six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, and two by headers), and no 10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports. The only display output is an HDMI port. The onboard audio consists of a basic 8-channel HDA CODEC (Realtek ALC887, <90 dBA SNR), and the gigabit Ethernet connection is driven by an Intel i219-V controller with LANGuard (power surge protection), and GameFirst packet prioritization software. The company didn't reveal pricing.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Liviu Cojocaru]

Doesn't look bad, if the price is right this could be a really nice option

 

[Prima.Vera]

for Gaming iCafes?

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

expected price range within or lower than $100. A little too flashy for me but that's what most gaming-oriented i-Cafes are all about IMO... but it's a decent B250 board nonetheless.

 

[Blueberries]

The red paint is what makes it "gaming."

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

@Blueberries well, black & red accents is the base color of "gaming", after all.

 

[Beerbam]

for Gaming iCafes?

Asia has many places named "cafes" where you can game.
There are a lot of low end to high end Gaming seats, with high environmental temperature and just enough space to put your cafe next to the Monitor and keyboard, if at all cafe is served.
They could have named them grill and put cooking pans on the Towers.
The reason is hopefully obvious, space is sparse, gaming hardware expensive so renting them is cheaper.

Colorful has a whole range of them and it looks like Asus is into the same naming.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

countries like Malaysia, where I'm from, has tons of premium gaming i-Cafes of reputable names. This board though might be their new pick in building & deploying Kaby Lake systems.

 

[Hood]

"Even the memory is locked down for superior security" What exactly does this mean? This is from the Asus product page overview, and is also mentioned on the specs page, "- Anti-theft memory - Locked-down memory for everyday security". I don't see how they're doing that. And I didn't know that it's a common practice in these places, to open up the machines and steal parts. Wouldn't it be simpler to just use a locking case? https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/EX-B250-V7/

 

[TheLostSwede]

"Even the memory is locked down for superior security" What exactly does this mean? This is from the Asus product page overview, and is also mentioned on the specs page, "- Anti-theft memory - Locked-down memory for everyday security". I don't see how they're doing that. And I didn't know that it's a common practice in these places, to open up the machines and steal parts. Wouldn't it be simpler to just use a locking case? https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/EX-B250-V7/

If you look by the release latches for the memory modules, there are two screw holes, to my guess is that there's some kind of locking bracket that screws in there that prevents the latches from being opened.

Edit: Actually, it's not that good, this won't prevent someone from tearing out the DIMMs out of the board if they really want to...

Removing the CPU just requires a torx screw driver...

 

[silentbogo]

for Gaming iCafes?

Yep. Believe it or not, they still exist.

Edit: Actually, it's not that good, this won't prevent someone from tearing out the DIMMs out of the board if they really want to...

Well, so as Kensington lock does not prevent thieves from using wire cutters.
It's not about making it secure, it's about making it hard enough, so that the staff can notice that something's going on and react accordingly.
My first job was an admin in a gaming club back in high school, and we did have our share of stolen RAM sticks and mice....mouses... you know what I mean.
Adding a simple locked compartment for PC and looping PS/2 cables through a mounted metal ring reduced those instances to zero.

Every little bit helps.

 

[dj-electric]

This should have been MATX factor. There's no need for ATX in this case

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Sick looking board bruh. If only it came in white instead of red

 

[L'Eliminateur]

indeed...

i mean, an icafe board with TREE x16 slots?, that's useless, as if any icafe will be running SLI

this should've been a single x16 slot in microatx, much much cheaper

 

[Disparia]

It could be smaller, but then you lose the image that they are trying to portray (big and powerful computer).

 

[micropage7]

the color got pushed too far but looks good except the sata ports

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

"a single reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot"

Am I the only one that scoffs every time they read this?

 

[Hood]

Yep. Believe it or not, they still exist.


Well, so as Kensington lock does not prevent thieves from using wire cutters.
It's not about making it secure, it's about making it hard enough, so that the staff can notice that something's going on and react accordingly.
My first job was an admin in a gaming club back in high school, and we did have our share of stolen RAM sticks and mice....mouses... you know what I mean.
Adding a simple locked compartment for PC and looping PS/2 cables through a mounted metal ring reduced those instances to zero.

Every little bit helps.

For some reason this is disturbing, thinking about people ripping parts out of a perfectly good PC, possibly destroying an expensive machine just to get a few dollars. Humans really suck sometimes...

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

fortunately, cases where u see or hear stupid ppl ripping out i-Cafe PCs for quick cash is close to non-existent... other than small news of visitors killing each other over a game or just for stupid, pathetic reasons.

 

[peche]

for Gaming iCafes?

 

[Prima.Vera]

Guys, I know what's a god damn Gaming Caffee , I didn't uderstand what is so special about this board that makes it specially for this market????
Like very high quality components with increased resistance for long term power up, dust, abuse, etc...??

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

well, most Gaming i-Cafe PCs are usually not that high-end, so having a matching board usually makes it last for a good 3-4 years before the next upgrade cycle is needed. Also, building 30 or more of the same rig isn't cheap.

 

[Ruru]

I must say that this is the ugliest motherboard I've ever seen.