Albatron

The board which fascinated me most at Albatron was the PX975X. It has a lot of unique features that make the board very interesting for overclockers. It will also be a limited edition only. Look at all those features - 7-phase power, 10 SATA ports!.


Two ATX powersupplies can be connected to this board. There is a special circuit which makes sure that if one PSU is defective it can not break the board or the other PSU.


I'm told that the small metal MOSFETs are much better for power conversion and also do not get as hot as traditional ones.


This black BGA chip is the motherboard's clockgenerator. This is the first time that I see a clockgenerator product from Timelab. Their "Timing Processor Units (TPU) generate six independent clock signals, replacing numerous PLL-based chips, crystals and oscillators in a wide range of electronic products. Each clock frequency is generated by its own synthesizer circuit, allowing the performance, battery drain and heat production of each subsystem to be individually optimized—no more compromises forced by the limited set of clock frequencies of PLL-based designs." In all other clock generators found today on motherboards there is a single clock source which is multiplied and divided to get to the final clock. This seems to be a much more flexible solution.


Intel will release new chipsets soon which support the Conroe CPUs. Albatron has several boards using these chipsets. The first is the PXP965

• Intel LGA775, Intel P965
• 4x DDR2 DIMM
• 2x PCI-E x16, 1x PCI-E x1, 2x PCI
• 6x SATA, 2x UDMA
• 1x Broadcom GigE
• 10x USB 2.0

With integrated VGA the PXQ965 could become a good choice for office systems.

• Intel LGA775, Intel Q965
• 4x DDR2 DIMM
• 2x PCI-E x16, 1x PCI-E x1, 2x PCI
• 6x SATA, 2x UDMA
• 1x Broadcom GigE
• 10x USB 2.0

Another integrated VGA solution is the PXG965.

• Intel LGA775, Intel Q965
• 4x DDR2 DIMM
• 2x PCI-E x16, 1x PCI-E x1, 2x PCI
• 6x SATA, 2x UDMA
• 1x Broadcom GigE
• 10x USB 2.0

Pentium M everywhere - Albatron has engineered the PM945GT with support for the Core Solo/Duo processors.
With integrated VGA the PXQ965 could become a good choice for office systems.

• Intel Core Solo/Duo, i945GT
• 2x DDR2 SODIMM
• Integrated VGA with TV out
• 1x Intel GigE

Using the aged Socket754 the KI51PV offers to be a complete small form factor solution on a Mini-ITX form factor.

• AMD Socket754, NVIDIA GeForce 6150
• 1x DDR DIMM
• NVIDIA Integrated VGA, DVI, Analog, HDTV out.
• 1x PCI
• 4x SATA, 2x UDMA
• 1x Marvell GigE, 1x Marvell 10/100 Ethernet

Equipped with AMD's new socket AM2 the KM51PV-AM2 is offering integrated VGA with HDTV out but on a bigger footprint.

• AMD Socket AM2, NVIDIA GeForce 6150
• 4x DDR-II DIMM
• NVIDIA Integrated VGA, DVI, Analog, HDTV out.
• 1x PCI-E x16, 1x PCI-E x1, 2x PCI
• 4x SATA, 2x UDMA
• 1x Marvell 10/100 Ethernet

Similar to the previous board but not using integrated VGA is the K8NF4X-AM2

• AMD Socket AM2, NVIDIA nForce4
• 4x DDR-II DIMM
• 1x PCI-E x16, 2x PCI-E x1, 2x PCI
• 4x SATA, 2x UDMA
• 1x Broadcom 10/100 Ethernet

This small case is an application of the KI51PV motherboard in an Albatron made case. Right now Albatron is talking to system integrators for marketing this as a complete solution.


Also on display were NVIDIA video cards following the reference design, including the latest 7600 and 7900 models. However, Albatron is focusing more on motherboards at the moment than on bringing out customized video cards.

Corsair

Corsair was one of the two memory manufacturers with DDR-2 memory faster than 1000 MHz available. The Corsair TWIN2X1024-8500 run at impressive 1066 MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings. Also on display was a yet unreleased 2GB kit version called TWIN2X2048-8500 Pro.


In the DDR1 area Corsair can also excel. The new 2 GB TWINX2048-4400 Pro kit runs at 275 MHz with 3-4-4-8 timings and includes 18 activity LEDs that show the level of memory activity while your system is running.


The Corsair Nautilus500 is Corsair's third evolution of a watercooling kit. It is designed for easy installation that can be performed very quickly even by novices. The CPU mounting is universal for LGA775, Socket 478, Socket 754, Socket 939 and Socket 940.


These barbs are quick connects. When you are disconnected only a very tiny bit of water comes out and the connector is automatically sealed. The tubing is making a very strong connection and is almost impossible to pull out by accident.


This is an SLI waterblock for the Corsair Nautilus500. It is made from one part for both video cards. This means it only works on motherboards where the spacing follows the standard size. The big advantage is that you do not have very small bends in the tubing from one video card to the other. Of course the block is available as single card solution as well.

Tyan

The server motherboard experts from Tyan had a new concept on display. It is a supercomputer which comes in a relatively small form factor and without too much noise.



Tyan's Typhoon PSC (PSC stands for Personal SuperComputer) integrates four systems in one case. Each system on a blade can be either AMD Opteron 200 based or using Intel Pentium 4 / Pentium D. A Xeon model will follow once Intel releases their new server CPUs. The system can be equipped with up to 64 GB memory and eight GigE networking ports. Four SATA ports are available for storage which emphasizes the focus on processing power, not on storage capacity.



The system is designed to be noise aware with only 47dbA. While this may sound like a lot for some people you have to consider that this system packs A LOT of CPU power in a small space. The system as a turnkey solution will be available starting Q2 2006 if your boss wants to buy you one.