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ASUS Reveals Their WS C621E SAGE Dual Xeon Overclocking Motherboard

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Built on Intel's C621 chipset, ASUS's new WS C621E SAGE motherboard possesses some interesting traits. For a start, this workstation motherboard not only supports one LGA-3647 socket processor, but two of them in tandem. That's right. Enterprise users in need of raw processing power can drop in a pair of Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processors and build themselves a beastly workstation with 56 cores and 112 threads at their disposal. But, what really separates the WS C621E SAGE from the competition is the motherboard's overclocking capability. Since Intel locks the multiplier for their Xeon processors, owners are accustomed to settle for factory clock speeds. However, ASUS has engineered a method to allow Xeon owners to overclock their processors to take their performance to a next level. Given the locked multiplier, we assume that overclocking is probably done through base clock adjustments.

Processing power is crucial for productivity, but having enough memory for heavy-duty tasks is equally important. For that same reason, ASUS has incorporated 12 DDR4 memory slots into the WS C621E SAGE. Users can go with either RDIMM or LR-DIMM ECC modules with speeds up to DDR4-2666. This opens the door to running 1.5 TB of memory. Now that's something you don't see everyday.


The motherboard comes with seven PCIe slots, which makes it a great option for professionals who require major graphics power. There is support for 4-Way NVIDIA GeForce SLI, AMD CrossFireX, and 2-Way NVIDIA Quadro SLI configurations. The WS C621E SAGE isn't a slacker in the storage department either. The eight standard SATA III ports from the Intel C621 Chipset brings support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 arrays. On the other hand, the ASMedia controller provides two additional SATA III ports for normal storage and four U.2 connectors plus a M.2 socket for hi-speed storage devices. There's even a hidden microSD card reader below the middle memory bank.

The two Intel I210-AT Gigabit LAN controllers provide wired networking, while the Realtek S1220A 7.1-Channel HD Audio codec is responsible for audio duties. Despite the WS C621E SAGE being a workstation motherboard, it has some of the audio features from ASUS's mainstream motherboards like the use of premium Japanese audio capacitors, the unique de-pop circuit, support for DTS Connect, and DTS Headphone:X. The five audio connectors and the optical S/PDIF port are present for connecting different audio devices. Connectivity comes in form of an old-school PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, four USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, and four USB 2.0. An USB BIOS Flashback button is also present on the rear I/O panel.

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Good grief! What a monster! Might have to look at this for the next upgrade to my personal system.
 
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I need @cadaveca to review this! Can we use any hardware from consumer platforms? I am green here....
 
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A motherboard in this segment is nearly useless without 10 Gb/s Ethernet. Asus should at least provide a "10G"-variant as they've done with some models in the past.
 
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Different socket bud, no.

I dont think TPU reviews server stuff for the most part. Anandtech will review those soon enough. ;)
Actually, I think the question they were asking was, can consumer level parts such as video cards, storage drives, sound cards and the like be used with this board and the answer is very much yes. The board does require ECC RDIMM's which will be pricey, but not out of reach if you have the cash for this board and matching CPU's anyway.
A motherboard in this segment is nearly useless without 10 Gb/s Ethernet. Asus should at least provide a "10G"-variant as they've done with some models in the past.
If the lan chipset is not to your liking, get a PCIe 10Gb lan card.
 

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I am already shopping for these. It looks dope. A pair of monoblocks would make it look oh so nice as a replacement to my 5960x build
 
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Only Gigabit LAN that's such a shame as this is one of those motherboards that could do with a 10G NIC.
 
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These prices are really nothing for those needing a system like this.
I'm sure there are those that can justify those prices. I'm not really surprised at high-end costs anymore when it comes to computers. I worked in High-End audio and $25,000 speakers doesn't even garner a glance anymore, maybe $125,000 speakers still do and yet there are source components that reach into the $100K+ easily. PC's are different, spending more on a PC for gaming doesn't equal more performance anymore, the performance curve starts to flatten out as costs increase.
 
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If the lan chipset is not to your liking, get a PCIe 10Gb lan card.

You shouldn't have to though for a board like this. Am I the only one underwhelmed by the lack of ports on this board? not like I would ever buy anything like this :p
 
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I'm sure there are those that can justify those prices. I'm not really surprised at high-end costs anymore when it comes to computers. I worked in High-End audio and $25,000 speakers doesn't even garner a glance anymore, maybe $125,000 speakers still do and yet there are source components that reach into the $100K+ easily. PC's are different, spending more on a PC for gaming doesn't equal more performance anymore, the performance curve starts to flatten out as costs increase.

how does 56 cores and 112 threads do not offer more performance then an 8 core counterpart? :D It's proberly wayyyyy overkill but there are some people on this planet who really need the processing power for doing realtime work at 4 or even 8K. For a full system build i think your set for 25 up to 35k depending on your wishes. And even then it's still a system that goes along a life time long. There is no application on the planet suiting al 56 cores and 112 threads lol.
 
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There is no application on the planet suiting al 56 cores and 112 threads lol.
Scaling to hundreds or even thousands of threads is no problem if each thread can work on their workload independently. We are not talking about consumer software here.
 
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how does 56 cores and 112 threads do not offer more performance then an 8 core counterpart? :D It's proberly wayyyyy overkill but there are some people on this planet who really need the processing power for doing realtime work at 4 or even 8K. For a full system build i think your set for 25 up to 35k depending on your wishes. And even then it's still a system that goes along a life time long. There is no application on the planet suiting al 56 cores and 112 threads lol.
I'm mostly referring to the needs of a gamer, Nvidia & AMD no longer support more than 2 graphics cards so by that rational the need for 56 cores and 4+ GPU's for gaming is irrelevant. For content creation - yes, the more power the better. Most people aren't doing any type of high-end computing inside their homes, that's what I'm thinking of here.
 
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A 8180 CPU is $10,009!
That is for the second most expensive CPU for the socket. There are excellent performers for the socket that are in the $1500-$2100 range.
Most people aren't doing any type of high-end computing inside their homes, that's what I'm thinking of here.
That would be incorrect. There are plenty of us doing it for work, research and scientific reasons.
 
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That is for the second most expensive CPU for the socket. There are excellent performers for the socket that are in the $1500-$2100 range.

That would be incorrect. There are plenty of us doing it for work, research and scientific reasons.
How much is your monthly eletrical bill like? I guess if that's the case, I was wrong. I didn't know that people did that kind of work at home due to the cost of such a high-end system. Do you pay for the system out of your own money or is it provided by your job?
 
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