Tuesday, June 5th 2012
ASUS ROG ZEUS Fuses LGA2011 Motherboard with Dual-GPU Graphics
ASUS displayed a nerdtastic motherboard design concept, at Computex. Called the Republic of Gamers ZEUS, ASUS' creation is a socket LGA2011 motherboard with a dual-GPU graphics hardware soldered onto the board, in the place otherwise assigned for expansion slots. The top half of the ZEUS resembles that of a conventional LGA2011 motherboard, with the processor being powered by a 10-phase Digi+ VRM, and eight DDR3 DIMM slots. ASUS somehow made the platform support up to 128 GB of unregistered DIMM DDR3 memory (double the 64 GB limit of the Sandy Bridge-E HEDT platform).
The second half of the motherboard has the X79 PCH, and two PCI-Express 3.0 GPUs in dual-GPU configuration. ASUS hasn't revealed which GPUs these are, but sources predict it's a pair of AMD Radeon HD 7970 (Tahiti XT) or HD 7870 (Pitcairn XT). Each GPU system has its own set of memory, and a set of 8-pin + 6-pin PCIe power connectors. The display outputs of this dual-GPU setup are given out on the rear panel, as two mini-DP + Thunderbolt ports, and one each of HDMI and standard DP. The ZEUS even has as many as 8 SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and 12 USB 3.0 ports, besides two Thunderbolt 10 Gb/s ports. For now, ASUS' monstrosity is a design concept, and the company is undecided about launching it to the market. If nothing, the ZEUS serves as a testament of ASUS' mammoth engineering potential.
Source:
VR-Zone
The second half of the motherboard has the X79 PCH, and two PCI-Express 3.0 GPUs in dual-GPU configuration. ASUS hasn't revealed which GPUs these are, but sources predict it's a pair of AMD Radeon HD 7970 (Tahiti XT) or HD 7870 (Pitcairn XT). Each GPU system has its own set of memory, and a set of 8-pin + 6-pin PCIe power connectors. The display outputs of this dual-GPU setup are given out on the rear panel, as two mini-DP + Thunderbolt ports, and one each of HDMI and standard DP. The ZEUS even has as many as 8 SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and 12 USB 3.0 ports, besides two Thunderbolt 10 Gb/s ports. For now, ASUS' monstrosity is a design concept, and the company is undecided about launching it to the market. If nothing, the ZEUS serves as a testament of ASUS' mammoth engineering potential.
30 Comments on ASUS ROG ZEUS Fuses LGA2011 Motherboard with Dual-GPU Graphics
seems weird to have the GPU's as part of the board.
And the cooling for the IGPs doesn't seem enough
How the hell is that heatsink going to keep two GPUs cool though??
This however, doesnt actually seem that stupid either. If the GPU's performed well then it would be really easy to do small Micro ATX builds.
On the other hand, I really dont think there is a large enough market for this sort of product to work.
Or make a slightly cheaper non-ROG variant, the P8Z77-M is $135, the HD 7770 is at least $130. Sell that board at around $250.
I like the board.
However these could also be mobile gpus solder tonthe motherboard so it could be anything for all we know from gtx650m-680m to hd7750m-7970m tho the higher end parts with 100watt tdp don't seem very likely idk, just doesn't seem like enough cooling to have a fan less heat sink.
But hey I love the idea tho, if they can drive prices down to were buying a mono with built in graphic card is cheaper than getting each desperate then this could be a good platform for some people. Tho putting high end gpus would at least require a bigger heat sink and fans