Wednesday, March 17th 2010
EVGA Unleashes Classified SR-2 Motherboard and Power Supply
EVGA just released two of its most indigenous designs that marks a complete evolution from being a reference-design products vendor to an enthusiast-grade hardware giant: the much talked about EVGA Classified SR-2 dual-LGA1366 enthusiast-workstation motherboard, and power supply unit (PSU) tailor-made to suit systems based on the SR-2 motherboard. To begin with, the Classified SR-2 motherboard is a dual-LGA1366 motherboard supporting two dual-socket capable Intel Xeon E5500 series, and X5600 series quad-core and six-core processors. It is based on Intel's enterprise-grade 5520 chipset with ICH10R southbridge.
The Intel 5520 supports two QuickPath Interconnect paths to each of the sockets, which in turn can communicate with each other. Since each socket (processor) has its own triple-channel DDR3 memory controller, it has its own six DDR3 memory slots. The 5520 gives out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 lanes which connect to two NVIDIA nForce 200 chips that give out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links each. With external x8 switching thrown into the mix, the motherboard manages a staggering seven PCI-Express x16 slots.
Each processor socket uses higher amounts of gold on the pins for better conductivity. Each socket is powered by an 8-phase digital PWM circuit, with 2-phase uncore. Each set of memory slots is powered by a 3-phase circuit. Apart from the usual 24-pin ATX connector, power is drawn in from two 8-pin CPU power connectors and three PCI-Express 6-pin connectors. The VRM areas are cooled by individual heatsinks, while the chipset area (covering the NB, SB, and NF200 chips) is cooled by a monolithic air-stream cooler where air is circulated through aluminum channels by a fan.
The ICH10R gives out six SATA 3 Gb/s ports (coded black), while an additional Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s controller gives out two 6 Gb/s ports (coded red). Connectivity options include dual gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and 8+2 channel audio. The board supports 4-way SLI with supported graphics cards, 3-way SLI, Quad-SLI, and 4-way CrossFireX. Apart from a plethora of overclocker-friendly features at the hardware and BIOS levels, the board supports the proprietary EV-Bot module that helps on-the-fly overclocking. The board itself is physically larger than EATX and EVGA's own XLATX form-factors. EVGA calls it "HPATX".
Next up, is the EVGA Classified SR-2 PSU. As mentioned before, this PSU is tailor-made for systems using the Classified SR-2 motherboard. It has a power output of 1200W (continuous) and >1500W (peak). It uses six +12V rails rated at 38A each. Also featured are adjustable +12V rails that could let you divert more power into particular outputs for higher overclocking stability. Its fan-speed is also adjustable.
The EVGA Classified SR-2 motherboard is available following Intel's launch of six-core Xeon X5600 series processors, it is priced at US $599 (which is a steal looking at prices of "high-end" dual-LGA1366 workstation motherboards). The SR-2 power supply on the other hand, will be available shortly.
The Intel 5520 supports two QuickPath Interconnect paths to each of the sockets, which in turn can communicate with each other. Since each socket (processor) has its own triple-channel DDR3 memory controller, it has its own six DDR3 memory slots. The 5520 gives out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 lanes which connect to two NVIDIA nForce 200 chips that give out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links each. With external x8 switching thrown into the mix, the motherboard manages a staggering seven PCI-Express x16 slots.
The ICH10R gives out six SATA 3 Gb/s ports (coded black), while an additional Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s controller gives out two 6 Gb/s ports (coded red). Connectivity options include dual gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and 8+2 channel audio. The board supports 4-way SLI with supported graphics cards, 3-way SLI, Quad-SLI, and 4-way CrossFireX. Apart from a plethora of overclocker-friendly features at the hardware and BIOS levels, the board supports the proprietary EV-Bot module that helps on-the-fly overclocking. The board itself is physically larger than EATX and EVGA's own XLATX form-factors. EVGA calls it "HPATX".
47 Comments on EVGA Unleashes Classified SR-2 Motherboard and Power Supply
And wtf, who made this?
They could at least have made that a bit cleaner.
Anyway Dan this board is not marketed for you, its marketed for High endservers/super computer builders and OTT enthusiasts.
;) ;)
He's still missed the point of THIS motherboard we're discussing :laugh:
Whack a shit ton of GPUS in there and you have super computer levels of performance.
You could also use PCI-E raid cards etc in and have amazing raid arrays.
Boards like this have a specific use, it does not make them overpriced or poorly designed.
If I had the money I'd love a couple of these folding 24/7 - if only I could win the lottery I'd have a whole f'ing farm.
For example if your a research facility buy one of these fill it up with gpus/raid cards +ssds and you have a super computer.
For cheap.
Banker: So what do you need this loan for
steelkane: POWER
Man, that's a whole lot of power, but look at the thing... it's physically huge, and it will eat a huge amount of power. Is the board taking PCI-E power connectors in addition to the 24 pin and the 2 8 pins?
but the 7 PCIe slot is sweet :)
"Workstation
Main article: LINKY
A workstation is a high-end personal computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems."
Looks very awesome though, congrats to all the rich people picking it up!:)
"The 5520 gives out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 lanes which connect to two NVIDIA nForce 200 chips that give out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links each"