Friday, February 24th 2012
ASUS Z9PE-D8-WS Motherboard Up For Pre-Order
ASUS' dual-LGA2011 workstation motherboard, the Z9PE-D8-WS, has been listed by Canadian retailer NCIX for pre-order. It is priced at CA $632.98 (US $634.56). The store page does not go on to mention availability, except that orders will be shipped whenever there are inventories. Given its pre-order listing, we expect the product-launch of the Z9PE-D8-WS not to be too far, considering Intel's launch of a large number of "Sandy Bridge-EP" Xeon processors is just around the corner (within Q1, 2012). The Z9PE-D8-WS is designed to support 2P configurations based on Xeon "Sandy Bridge-EP" processors. The motherboard is further detailed here. To PC enthusiasts, it presents a potential alternative to EVGA's SR-X.Image Courtesy: VR-Zone
23 Comments on ASUS Z9PE-D8-WS Motherboard Up For Pre-Order
Hope Gigabyte step in soon:)
read this article: webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:eDmOvTXuVSMJ:www.csa.com/discoveryguides/multicore/review.pdf+multi+core+processors&hl=en&gl=ca
Then, you can change the CPU, chipset, QPI, PCIe and memory voltages; force memory to run at higher speeds like 1866 and 2133MHz, and change primary and secondary memory latency timings, with over a dozen settings to control. The latter one worked very well, as I managed to push various kinds of memory well above their designated speeds, and get corresponding bandwidth increases. How does eight channels of memory at DDR3-1600 CL 6-6-6-16 sound, yet at CR1 command rate?"
Morgoth: It is HPTX.
If so, then plenty of cases available with room for angled connectors. That's where you'd usually find one or two Mini-SAS connectors (angled) on boards like this, so cases are designed for it.
Anyway... for a WS board I consider it pretty average. There is no hardware RAID on board for starters. WS should be treated as WS first and OC toy later. Also anyone who will buy it will be forced into liquid cooling. Top PCI-Ex slot touches mem banks which will be pain when expanding memory, replacing sticks without removing VGA/RAID controller. Hmm... I don't care about X79, as I own X58 systems. But if I had to choose between Asus and EVGA I would pick EVGA's SR-X. I heard support for RAID controllers has been improved on than particular EVGA board (EVGA boards and hardware RAID controllers aren't perfect friends...). There is more space, it offers same [limited] connectivity as Asus-WS board. There is plenty of space between memory banks and expansion slots. HPTX is not an issue as I have compatible case.
The only advantage that Asus hold over EVGA is Intel server class NIC. But if you spend $$$$ on a powerful WS then buying one card with powerful NIC(s) isn't an issue.
External RAID control provided by a Marvell controller.