• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

ASUS Intros a Pair of C246 Based Workstation Motherboards

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
46,343 (7.68/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
ASUS introduced a pair of new workstation motherboards based on the new C246 chipset, designed for Xeon E-2100 series socket LGA1151 processors. These include the WS C246 Pro (ATX form-factor) and WS C246 M Pro (micro-ATX). Both boards also support 8th generation Core, Pentium, and Celeron "Coffee Lake" processors. The cornerstone of both boards is a zero-bling design that focuses on features relevant to workstations. The WS C246 Pro draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and an optional 6-pin PCIe power. An 8-phase VRM conditions power for the CPU, which is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory with ECC support. Expansion slots include two reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 with both populated), two additional x16 slots that are electrical gen 3.0 x4 and wired to the PCH; and two gen 3.0 x1 slots.

Storage connectivity on the WS C246 Pro includes eight SATA 6 Gbps, an two M.2 slots with PCIe gen 3.0 x4 wiring, each. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.1 gen 2 (one each type-A and type-C), and four USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel. Two USB 3.0 ports are put out as internal headers. There's also an internal type-A USB 3.0 port meant for USB TPMs and security keys. Display outputs include one each of D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. There are two 1 GbE interfaces, both driven by Intel-made controllers. 8-channel HD audio makes for the rest of it.



The WS C246 M Pro looks better laid out for the enterprise environment, with four DDR4 UDIMM slots along the top of the PCB, and power connectors (24-pin ATX + 8-pin EPS) along the right corner. The CPU VRM is a simpler 6-phase fare. Expansion slots include one each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16, PCI-Express x8, and PCI-Express 3.0 x1. Display outputs include DP, HDMI, and D-Sub. 2x 1 GbE ports make up networking. Blank traces reveal there could be a variant in the works with a proper IPMI remote management chip.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.59/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
Well they kept their cost down by the monochrome color scheme, but I miss blue being used and maybe some color coding. Blacks great in all but after so long its meh, RGB lighting doesn't cut it.
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2010
Messages
5,382 (1.08/day)
Well they kept their cost down by the monochrome color scheme, but I miss blue being used and maybe some color coding. Blacks great in all but after so long its meh, RGB lighting doesn't cut it.

Hey, at least the ATX one has VRM cooling that somewhat represents actual heatsinks.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Messages
281 (0.11/day)
Processor Ryzen 3900x
Motherboard B550M Steel Legend
Cooling XPX (custom loop)
Memory 32GB 3200MHz cl16
Video Card(s) 3080 with Bykski block (custom loop)
Storage 980 Pro
Case Fractal 804
Power Supply Focus Plus Gold 750FX
Mouse G603
Keyboard G610 brown
Software yes, lots!
Finally, some bullshitless hardware for grown ups! No RGB crap for 11 year olds! I love it!
 
  • Like
Reactions: hat
Joined
Feb 18, 2013
Messages
2,180 (0.53/day)
Location
Deez Nutz, bozo!
System Name Rainbow Puke Machine :D
Processor Intel Core i5-11400 (MCE enabled, PL removed)
Motherboard ASUS STRIX B560-G GAMING WIFI mATX
Cooling Corsair H60i RGB PRO XT AIO + HD120 RGB (x3) + SP120 RGB PRO (x3) + Commander PRO
Memory Corsair Vengeance RGB RT 2 x 8GB 3200MHz DDR4 C16
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX2060 Twin Fan 6GB GDDR6 (Stock)
Storage Corsair MP600 PRO 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD
Display(s) LG 29WK600-W Ultrawide 1080p IPS Monitor (primary display)
Case Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow (White) w/Lighting Node CORE + Lighting Node PRO RGB LED Strips (x4).
Audio Device(s) ASUS ROG Supreme FX S1220A w/ Savitech SV3H712 AMP + Sonic Studio 3 suite
Power Supply Corsair RM750x 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular
Mouse Corsair M65 RGB FPS Gaming (White)
Keyboard Corsair K60 PRO RGB Mechanical w/ Cherry VIOLA Switches
Software Windows 11 Professional x64 (Update 23H2)
hmm finally some serious hardware from ASUS. Sure RGB is overrated, so seeing a decent board without those stuff is a welcoming change.
 
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
13,210 (3.81/day)
Location
Sunshine Coast
System Name Black Box
Processor Intel Xeon E3-1260L v5
Motherboard MSI E3 KRAIT Gaming v5
Cooling Tt tower + 120mm Tt fan
Memory G.Skill 16GB 3600 C18
Video Card(s) Asus GTX 970 Mini
Storage Kingston A2000 512Gb NVME
Display(s) AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Case Corsair 450D High Air Flow.
Audio Device(s) No need.
Power Supply FSP Aurum 650W
Mouse Yes
Keyboard Of course
Software W10 Pro 64 bit
Pity the Xeons are still very restricted, 6 cores/ 12 threads and only up to 4.7GHz using turbo boost2.
Hardly worth getting the Motherboard for that aspect alone.
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2016
Messages
3,595 (1.26/day)
Pity the Xeons are still very restricted, 6 cores/ 12 threads and only up to 4.7GHz using turbo boost2.
Hardly worth getting the Motherboard for that aspect alone.
I guess it quickly becomes worth getting, if you need a Xeon-based PC. :)
 
Joined
Jun 5, 2017
Messages
303 (0.12/day)
Location
SoCal
System Name unnamed currently :*(
Processor Intel Core i7-5960x
Motherboard ASUS ROG RAMPAGE V EDITION 10
Cooling EKWB/Bitspower CPU, motherboard & GPU WB
Memory Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x4gb ddr4 2666
Video Card(s) nVidia GTX 1080 Ti FE 11GB
Storage Samsung 960 Evo 1 TB M.2 SSD & WD Black 5TB HDD
Display(s) Asus SwiftROG PG278Q & Asus PB277Q
Case Corsair 900D
Audio Device(s) Sound Blaster Zx
Power Supply Corsair Axi1200
Mouse Steel Series Sensei RAW
Keyboard Corsair K70
Benchmark Scores 4.8 ghz @ 1.37 - 5930k - old cpu 4.6 GHZ @ 1.3 - 5960X - current cpu
Pity the Xeons are still very restricted, 6 cores/ 12 threads and only up to 4.7GHz using turbo boost2.
Hardly worth getting the Motherboard for that aspect alone.

Your talking about entry level xeon... if you want more cores, why not go for E5 or higher

I guess it quickly becomes worth getting, if you need a Xeon-based PC. :)

Only if you need ECC memory support.
 
Top