ASUS Introduces Next-generation Serverboard Connectivity Features
P7F7-E WS SuperComputer Motherboard Leverages the Latest I/O Innovations for the Fastest and Most Comprehensive Data Transfers
 
ASUS today announced the launch of the new ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer motherboard which maximizes transmission speeds by integrating the industry’s latest I/O technologies such as USB 3.0, SATA 6G storage interface, and IEEE 1394b FireWire standard. Additionally, the ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer is equipped with the LGA1156 socket and the latest Intel® 3450 chipset with onboard graphics. For extreme gaming enjoyment, up to four ATI® CrossFireX cards or 3-way/2-way NVIDIA® SLI cards can be accommodated to generate smoother and sharper visuals. It also leverages NVIDIA® CUDA™ parallel computing architecture to support up to four NVIDIA® Tesla cards with Clarkdale Processors for intensive high-performance computing.
 

 
Ultra-fast Throughput with USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s and IEEE 1394b Interfaces
The ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer is the best choice for providing comprehensive I/O support. It includes USB 3.0 ports—the latest connectivity standard with 4.8Gb/s speeds—to support next-generation components and peripherals. USB 3.0 transfers data ten times faster and is backward compatible with USB 2.0 components. Additionally, the ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer includes Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/s storage interfaces for 6.0Gbps data throughput, thus enhancing scalability, accelerating data retrieval, and doubling the bandwidth of current bus systems. To support FireWire-enabled digital video recorders and computers, the ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer also includes two IEEE 1394b ports supporting up to 800Mb/s speeds—doubling the previous IEEE 1394a speeds.
 
Massive Computing Power up to 4 Teraflops with CUDA Parallel Processing
A powerful and efficient platform, the ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer supports high-performance computing for life sciences research, engineering and financial modeling with its NVIDIA ® CUDA™ parallel computing architecture. By accommodating up to four NVIDIA® Tesla cards with built-in Clarkdale processors, the ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer generates up to 4 Teraflops of processing power from a total of 960 CUDA parallel processing cores.
 
Stunning Graphics with Multi-GPUs Powered by SLI or CrossFireX™ Technology
The ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer provides incredible graphics flexibility and enhanced scalability from a single motherboard by supporting either 3-way/2-way SLI or 4-way CrossFireX technology. Users can install up to three SLI-capable GeForce® graphics cards at x16, x8, and x8 connection speeds, or two graphics cards at true x16 connection speeds.
 
Six Embedded Memory Slots for Flexible Memory Options
Embedded with six memory slots, the ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer can accommodate up to 16GB of DDR3 memory. The flexible options include installing four 4GB modules or two 4GB modules and two 2GB modules. As the price of a 2GB module is 15% less than a 4GB module, the ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer gives users the flexibility to acquire the most RAM at the lowest cost.
 
GPU Boost Delivers Free iGPU Upgrade
GPU Boost overclocks the integrated GPU in real time for the best graphics performance. The user-friendly UI supports direct frequency and voltage adjustments. Its ability to deliver multiple overclocking profiles also provides rapid and stable system-level upgrades within the OS environment.
 
Easy Connection of USB-based Devices with Quick Gate
Users can directly connect USB-based devices via the on-board Quick Gate interface—without an extension cable. This reinforces the connection link and prevents partial transmissions and loss of data.

 
Specifications
ModelP7F7-E WS SuperComputer
CPU Socket1x LGA1156 socket for Intel® Xeon™ 3400 series, Core™ i7/Core™ i5/ Core™ i3/Pentium®
Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
ChipsetIntel® Ibex Peak 3450 Chipset/ Nvidia NF200*1
Memory6 DIMMs, supporting up to 16GB DDR3 2000(O.C.)*/1600/1333MHz.ECC, un-buffered memory
Power Phase16 + 3
Expansion Slots2x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x16 or x8)
2x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x8)
3x PCIe x1 (@ x1)
Multi-GPUSupports 3-way/2-way NVIDIA® Geforce SLI™ technology
Supports ATI® CrossFireX™ technology, up to Quad CrossFireX™
CUDA SupportSupport up to 4 NVIDIA GPUs
3x NVIDIA Tesla cards + 1x NVIDIA Quadro fX5800 card up to 960 cores
Each core delivers one teraflop of processing power
Storage2x SATA 6Gb/s, 6x SATA 3Gb/s
Gigabit LAN2
Audio10-channel output, DTS encoding
Other I/O ports1*PS/2, 1*IEEE1394a, 2*LAN, 6*USB(4 for USB2.0 and 2 for USB3.0, 1*Optical S/PDIF out, 1*DVI-I output pot
USB  2 USB 3.0 ports ( 2 ports at back panel)
12 USB 2.0 ports ( 6 ports at back panel, 6 ports at mid-board)
1394a 2 1394b ports (2 at back panel) + 1 1394a port (1 at back panel)
Form FactorATX Form Factor, 12 inches x 9.6 inches ( 30.5cm x 24.5cm )

Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit www.asus.com for more details.

– GIGABYTE X58 Series Motherboards Support Intel Core™ i7-980X “Gulftown” CPUs –
– True Performance Powerhouse When Paired With GIGABYTE X58 Series Motherboards –
 

TAIPEI, Taiwan – March 17, 2010 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards and other computing hardware solutions today proudly announced their entire X58 Series of motherboards now support Intel’s newly introduced Core™ i7-980X “Gulftown” CPUs, enabling the industry’s most extreme level of processing power for gaming, computing enthusiasts and overclockers alike.
 
GIGABYTE has specially tuned the BIOS of their X58 Series motherboards to unlock the mind-blowing performance of Intel’s first 32nm 6 core CPU, featuring 12 processing threads and 12MB of L3 cache. With a simple BIOS upgrade that became available in 2009, users are able to take advantage of the Industry’s highest performing desktop CPU which is already shattering many overclocking records.
 
GIGABYTE X58 Series Motherboards
GA-EX58-UD3RGA-X58A-UD3RGA-X58A-UD5
GA-X58A-UD7GA-EX58-EXTREMEGA-EX58-UD5
GA-EX58-UD4PGA-EX58-UD4GA-EX58-DS4
GA-EX58-UD3R-SLI 

 
To download the latest BIOS to enable support for the Intel Core i7-980X, please visit your motherboard product page at the GIGABYTE website: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx

– GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P USB 3.0 Motherboard Validates World’s Fastest Memory –

– Intel Certifies Kingston HyperX Memory Clocked at Blazing 2400Mhz –

TAIPEI, Taiwan – March 16, 2010 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards and other computing hardware solutions today proudly announced that the GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P was used by Intel and Kingston® Technology Company, Inc., to certify the world’s fastest memory, Kingston’s HyperX® dual-channel DDR3 memory kit (Kingston® part#: KHX2400C9D3T1K2/4GX) running at 2400MHz.

“GIGABYTE’s outstanding memory design on the P55 platform has already enabled many of the world’s top overclockers to break several standout overclocking records,” commented Tim Handley,Deputy Director of Motherboard Marketing at GIGABYTE Technology Co. Ltd. “We expect many more overclocking records to fall to the formidable combination of the world’s fastest Intel certified Kingston HyperX memory paired with a GIGABYTE P55 motherboard.”

“It is a tremendous achievement to create the Kingston 2400MHz DDR HyperX memory and receive Intel XMP validation as the fastest memory in the world,” said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston. “We were able to reach this milestone using GIGABYTE’s GA-P55A-UD4P top-notch gaming motherboard. Together, with terrific partners like GIGABYTE, Kingston continues to push the frequency envelope when it comes to gaming and enthusiast memory.”

Intel’s certification is posted at: http://www.intel.com/en_US/Assets/PDF/prodspec/ww09-2010-XMP-self-cert_Core-i7-BlueBadge.pdf

To learn more about the extreme overclocking ability of GIGABYTE P55 motherboards, please visit:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/WebPage/mb_090908_p55_record/tech_090908_p55_record.htm

890GX Extreme3

Six-Core CPU Ready ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors Advanced V8 + 2 Power Phase Design, supports CPU up to 140W Supports UCC feature (Unlock CPU Core) Supports Dual Channel DDR3 1800(OC) Supports ATI™ Quad CrossFireX™, 3-Way CrossFireX™, CrossFireX™ and Hybrid CrossFireX™ Integrated AMD Radeon HD 4290 graphics, DX10.1 Class iGPU, Shader Model 4.1, Max. shared memory 512MB Built-in 128MB DDR3 1333/1200MHz SidePort Memory Multi VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI 1 x eSATAIII Connector, 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connector, 2 x USB 3.0 Ports, 2 x IEEE1394 Ports ErP/EuP Ready, Dr. Debug Smart Swith Design : Power / Reset / Clear CMOS Switch with LED Turbo 30 GPU Overclocking Supports ASRock Instant Boot, Instant Flash, OC DNA, OC Tuner, IES, Multi-Speed Fan Control 7.1 CH HD Audio (VT2020 Audio Codec with QSound), 110dB & Premium Blu-ray audio support Free Bundle: CyberLink DVD Suite – OEM and Trial; Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB – Trial This model may not be sold worldwide. Please contact your local dealer for the availability of this model in your region.

Features

ASRock UCC

UCC (Unlock CPU Core) feature simplifies AMD CPU activation. As long as a simple switch of the BIOS option “Unlock CPU Core”, you can unlock the extra CPU core to enjoy an instant performance boost.

more…

ASRock True333

ASRock True 333 motherboard series offer the unmatched performance with the onboard acceleration of the latest USB3.0 with advanced 10X faster speed; SATA3 technology supports up to 12Gbps data transfer speed (via RAID 0), and the most convenient connectivity of eSATA3 devices. To enjoy a completely true computing, ASRock True 333 series motherboards can run the PCI-E for VGA card, SATA3 and USB 3.0 at full speed together simultaneously.

more…

Six-Core CPU Ready

Smart Switch Design

Clear CMOS Switch

Power Switch

Reset Switch

EuP / ErP Reday

EuP / ErP, stands for Energy Using Product, was a provision regulated by European Union to define the power consumption for the completed system. According to EuP / ErP, the total AC power of the completed system shall be under 1.00W in off mode condition. To meet EuP / ErP standard, the EuP / ErP ready motherboard and the EuP / ErP ready power supply are required. (The EuP / ErP ready power supply must meet the standard of 5v standby power efficiency is higher than 50% under 100 mA current consumption.).

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Premium Blu-ray Audio

An outstanding technology developed on ASRock motherboard! It provides the excellent audio output of 24-bit/192 kHz with its respective Blu-ray DRM compatible driver/software.
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OC DNA

OC DNA, it’s an exclusive utility developed by ASRock’s outstanding RD team, provides a convenient way for user to share the OC settings with others. It helps you to save your overclocking settings under the operating system and simplifies the complicated recording process of overclocking settings. With OC DNA, you can save your OC settings as a profile and send the profile to your friends! Your friends then can load the OC profile to their own system to get the same OC settings as yours!more…

Intelligent Energy Saver

ASRock has overcome the technical obstacles and exclusively invented a new technology that allows you to turn on your PC and boot up to Windows^® in 4 seconds! ASRock Instant Boot not only excels in the Boot Up speed (3~4 sec.), it also provides clean OS, and saves the most power energy.

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Instant Flash

ASRock Instant Flash is an exclusive and the most user-friendly BIOS flash utility developed by ASRock. It is embedded in Flash ROM which is used to update the system BIOS without having to enter operating systems like MS-DOS or Windows.

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ASRock Software Suite

ASRock software suite is designed with the customer-oriented concept, delivers the best possible experience for today’s most demanding users. The Sound Blaster X-Fi MB solution ensures you the premium audio quality, effects and features for PC systems equipped with onboard audio. For instance, the X-Fi CMSS-3D technology expands your stereo audio into surround sound via multi-channel speaker, stereo speaker or even headphone; the X-Fi Crystalizer technology restores the compressed sound source and can even let you hear every detail in riveting surround sound. Combined with the Creative user-friendly software and the ASRock high performance motherboard, you will be assured to enjoy a rich variety of programming and be entertained by a better way.

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Dr. Debug

Dr. Debug helps you to diagnose the BIOS POST status of your system.

Heatpipe Design

Heatpipe with fan design for CPU power Mosfet

AMD Radeon HD 4290 DirectX 10.1 Onboard Graphics

Key features of DirectX 10.1 include an updated shader model, improved anti-aliasing support, more flexible data access, and tighter specifications for better applicationcompatibility.

Side port memory 128MB

Boost performance up to 8.13% which is rarely seen on other 890GX boards.

Other than the AMD 890GX board GA-890GPA-UD3H which we already reviewed at OCWorkbench, Gigabyte showcases 2 other futuristic AMD boards based on GA-880GMA-UD2H based on AMD 880G and and GA-890FXA-UD5 based on AMD 890FX chipset at CeBIT 2010.

The GA-880GMA-UD2H is a microATX board that is based on the upcoming AMD 880G chipset. In fact, AMD 880G chipset is not much different the AMD 785G launch a few months ago. The major difference is the integrated graphics is Radeon HD 4250 (DX10.1) instead of Radeon HD 4200 on 785G. From what we gather, it is just a higher GPU CLK but there might be some other changes as we get closer to the official launch.

This board supports the AM3 Phenom II/Athlon II with HT3. It supports up to DDR3-1800+. It uses 2oz copper PCB and UD3 classic design. It has NEC USB 3.0 chip on board with 3X USB power delivery for better compatibility and stability for USB devices.

It also include 2 full length PCIe lanes to support CrossFire X.

The GA-890FXA-UD5 is based on 890FX + SB850 chipset, a discrete chipset with no graphcis embedded inside. It is a full ATX board with 4 full length PCIe 2.0 slots on board for Quad CrossFire X. It also incorporates a UD3 design and has 4 DIMM slots supporting up to DDR3-1866+.

It also has NEC 3.0 chip on board to support USB 3.0 connector. 3X USB power is also availabel for better compatibility and extra power for USB devices.

The board also has 6 SATA 6Gbps ports supported by SB850 for RAID 0,1,5,10. There is a Jmicron controller which support 2 more SATA 3Gbps ports and 1 IDE channel.

Other features include Smart DualLAN with intelligent LAN port auto-switching and integrated powered eSATA/USB combo ports.

ASRock create another splash with its new series of mainboards, notebooks and HTPCs at the CeBIT exhibition held in Germany.

At the show, ASRock demonstrates their commitment to technology innovation. The ASRock 890GX Extreme 3 based on the AMD 890GX+SB850 chipsets is one of the AMD 890GX boards that can unlock the hidden cores of your Phenom II processor. The feature is known as UCC.

It also showed a range of Intel and AMD series of boards including the P55 Deluxe 3, X58 Deluxe 3, H55M/USB3, X58 Extreme3. ASRock is going to fore-demo the World’s first Core i7 980X 6-Core CPU running on the feature-complete motherboard – X58 Extreme3. Based on Intel® X58, ASRock X58 Extreme3 supports 6-Core CPU, Dual Channel DDR3 2000(OC), 3 PCIE 2.0 x16 slots, NVIDIA® Quad SLI™, ATI™ CrossFireX™ and Quad CrossFireX™, PCIE Gigabit LAN, IEEE 1394, 7.1 CH, VIA® VT2020 Audio Codec which supports Premium Blu-ray audio. The heatpipe with fan design makes the system cooler than ever! With this fan-heatpipe design, you don’t have to worry the chassis air-flow anymore, you can feel easy to use the water-cooling CPU cooler. In addition to excellent specs, this motherboard also features some ultimate designs include 2 x SATA3 6Gb/s connectors, 1 x Powered eSATAIII/USB2.0 connector, 2 x USB3.0 connectors, smart switch design, Dr. Debug and CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control.

ASRock Mini PC Series

New HTPC Season with ASRock Core 100 Series

In addition to the outstanding motherboards, ASRock is proud to release our latest Core 100 HTPC Series at CeBIT 2010. With the intention to present an affordable and functionable HTPC product to users, ASRock announced all series of Core 100 series which includes Core 100HT-BD, Core 100HT and Core 100. Utilizing Intel Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 and Arrandale-based processors, Core 100 series features Intel® HD Graphics that offers great FullHD 1080P performance and energy-efficient capability. Plus, it is the world’s first USB3.0 onboard HTPC on the market. Another “Must-Have” for users to experience is the industry’s highest level of True Blu-ray Video and Audio which can provide you “better than cinema” audio quality and stunning movie experience!

Based on the Intel® HM55 Express chipset, Core 100 series features Dual Channel DDR3 1066 memory, 2 x SO-DIMM slots, Max. 8GB, 2.5” HDD up to 500 GB supports 2nd 2.5” HDD (total up to 1TB). For audio aspect, it supports 7.1Ch HD Audio with THX Trustudio PC feature. Other excellent features include the GLAN, Powered eSATA/USB connects, BD Combo, WiFi 802.11n networking as well as green standards – EuP 2.0 and Energy Star 5.0. What’s more, ASRock Core 100 series even comes with exclusive MCE remote controller with mouse function!

Surprising slim and elegant appearance, ASRock Core 100 HTPC series bring you the best solution for multimedia entertainments and is definitely favored for your ideal HTPC shopping list!

ASRock MultiBook Series

Mobility is Everything – MultiBook M25 / F24

Another great product line is our MultiBook section. In this event, we’re going to demo our latest MultiBook M25 and F24. M25 is a 15 inch notebook and F24 is a 14 inch one that both come with exquisite features and affordable price. ASRock MultiBook M25, adopts the latest Intel® Core™ i5 processor and NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M MXM card that delivers solid performance for 3D games and everyday applications. ASRock MultiBook M25 & F24 come with excellent specifications and features, such as ASRock Multi-Touch trackpad, 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN, Bluetooth, HDMI, Powered eSATA/USB connector, 16:9 widescreen HD Glare Type LCD, 1.3M camera, and Full-size keyboard with numeric key. Multi-Touch trackpad allows you to maneuver your notebook tasks with simple gestures. Just enjoy scrolling up and down a webpage, zooming in and out an image, back or forth through browsing on the web by finger dancing with ASRock Multi-Touch trackpad.

A New Generation of High Performance
MSI’s New Products Shine at CeBIT 2010!
Mar. 2nd, 2010

MSI President Joseph Hsu says that the Wind Top AE2220 combines a stylish and aesthetic design with the latest technology. It has also garnered much praise from media present at CeBIT.

MSI’s All-in-One PC shines bright at CeBIT 2010! With its innovative technology and extraordinary styling, the Wind Top AE2220 has won the prestigious CeBIT Preview Award for 2010. The CeBIT Preview Award is granted by a panel of 300 local German professional media organizations after reviewing the year’s best products introduced at the tradeshow. The CeBIT Preview Award is widely regarded as objective recognition of product excellence. MSI’s AIO Wind Top AE2220 is the only All-in-one touch-screen product to have been awarded this coveted prize! It boasts a large 22-inch multi-touch screen with Windows® 7 and MSI’s exclusively developed intuitive touch-screen software. With its 16:9 cinematic, Full HD 1080p ultra-high-resolution screen, brilliant video effects can be fully realized. Combined with the powerful Intel® Core 2 Duo/Pentium processor and NVIDIA® ION graphics processor, multitasking is a breeze. The model is also equipped with wireless Internet access, and through the touch of a single finger, users can enjoy powerful multimedia features or surf the Net. The Wind Top AE2220 combines a stylish and aesthetic design with the latest technology. It has also garnered much praise from media present at CeBIT, who all gave it a resounding thumbs-up. In addition, MSI’s 3D All-in-One touch-screen technology was the focus of the show on opening day. With this new 3D touch-screen All-in-One PC, all a user needs to do is put on a pair of 3D glasses and touch the screen directly to experience immersive 3D images via the Full HD, 120Hz LED panel!
MSI President Joseph Hsu says that his company’s laptops and All-in-One PC products have equal emphasis on both style and performance, and this is evident from the very warm response the company has received from consumers. “With both commercial and consumer dimensions, MSI is definitely the pioneer to promote All-in-One PC worldwide,” said Joseph.

In addition to its star products, MSI is also introducing a full range of laptop models, the All-in-One PC Intel® CoreTM series and the Green Wind Top series.

GT 660 Notebook, the Best Audio Experience
MSI has collaborated with top audio equipment manufacturer Dynaudio to unveil its GT660 laptop with built-in Dynaudio technology. “We are very happy to cooperate with MSI to show that sound can be much better in computers,” said Wilfried Ehrenholz, CEO of Dynaudio International GmbH. GT660 displays the world’s only built-in LED light show technology, allowing users to experience the highest level of enjoyment whether they are playing games, watching movies or listening to music. “We try to deliver the best audio experience to the users with this brand new notebook, and it is a very successful product which we are proud of,” said Sam Chern, MSI Notebook Marketing Director.

“We are very happy to cooperate with MSI to show that sound can be much better in computers,” said Wilfried Ehrenholz, CEO of Dynaudio International GmbH.Sam Chern, MSI Notebook Marketing Director, says that MSI GT660 notebook delivers the best audio experience.

Besides, this year’s theme “Performance?Sound?Vision” also symbolizes MSI’s five major leading and innovative technical indicators of Notebook, which include their exclusive TDE overclocking and cooling technology, GPU Boost intelligent power management technology, Cinema Pro high quality imaging technology, outstanding audio technology, as well as award-winning and stylish ultra-light and slim designs. On display at the exhibition venue are the Wind U160 and the X-Slim X620, which have just won Germany’s iF Design Award for 2010, both of which are ground breaking laptop products designed with both style and performance in mind.

The Ultimate in Performance! Big Bang Series Mainboards Now Invading the Gaming Market

MSI Mainboard Marketing Director, Jason Lee, said that the Big Bang series gaming mainboards have been widely praised by consumers since their debut last year.
MSI Mainboard Marketing Director Jason Lee said that the Big Bang series of mainboards have been designed exclusively for the gaming market, and have been widely praised by consumers since their debut at the end of last year. The product that has received the most attention is the Big Bang-Fuzion mainboard, which is equipped with an exclusive Hydra Engine graphics chip developed by Israeli developer Lucidlogix. Gamers are no longer limited by specific manufacturers or graphics chips and will be able to use the Hydra Technology to upgrade their systems easily. To show how MSI has adopted its strategic “Performance?Sound?Vision” product development strategy, the Big Bang series of mainboards are equipped with exclusive THX® TruStudio PC™ and Creative EAX® ADVANCED HD™ 5.0 audio technology, capable of offering full 3D audiovisual effects.

Also on display in MSI’s graphics card product line at the exhibition is the company’s top video card product, the R5870 Lightning, which boasts the highest performance and unmatched specifications on the market. “Lightning currently is the world record of overclocking and is the best graphic card in the world,” said Jason Lee. In addition, the highly acclaimed Afterburner multi-purpose overclocking software that was introduced last year has been updated for this year’s CeBIT, together with the well-received Twin Frozr II dual-fan cooling unit. Jason Lee says that these products have taken into consideration hardware, software and cooling designs, indicating that MSI is once again creating an all-new graphics card performance benchmark for the industry.

Today AMD lanuch its new series of integrated chipsets. The AMD 890GX chipset integrates Radeon HD 4290 DX10.1 graphics which runs at 700MHz with sideport memory support. The 890GX comes with a RV620 core with 40 unified Shaders, a 64/128 bit memory interface. It supports ATI AVIVO HD and UVD 2.0.

How does this chispet perform when compared to a similarly clocked Intel Clarkdale solution ? Click the link to find out. http://www.ocworkbench.com/2010/AMD/AMD-890GX-Radeon-HD-4290/p1.htm

ECS 890GXM-A basic feature set is similar to any AMD 890GX board you see in the market. By virtue of the chipset AMD 890GX+SB850, it supports the AMD Radeon HD 4290 DX10.1 graphics that clocks at 700MHz with sideport memory. The SB850 also supports 6 ports of SATA 6Gbps in RAID 0,1,5,10 configuration. The chipset on board officially supports the future 6 core processor Thuban.

The board supports 4 DDR3 slots of up to 32GB of DDR3-1600(OC)/1333/1066/800 memory. ECS A890GXM-A being a board from the Black Label series definitely has something to horn about. This board features Dual GigaLAN, 15u Gold Contact, eJIFFY, Cooltech III, 4most Display (HDMI,DVI-D, D-SUB and DisplayPort), eSATA. There are also power on/off, reset buttons on the PCB and a Clear CMOS button at the back panel which aren’t found on other boards we tested so far. Although most manufacturers will go for USB 3.0, ECS left it out on board but has a version of the board that bundles in the add on card to support it.

The board also comes with 3 full length PCIe 2.0 slots supporting CrossFire X. So you have the extra PCIe 2.0×4 slot for an additional graphics card for 3 way crossfire. In addition, the board also has quite a flexible BIOS which allows you to increase the voltage levels applied to the CPU, NB etc.

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2010/ECS/A890GXM-A-Review/g1.htm

Gigabyte’s GA-890GPA-UD3H is based on the AMD 890GX+SB850 chipset. This new chipset features support for future 6 core CPU from AMD (Thuban) and now supports the native 6Gbps (SATA3) interface for HDD/SSD in RAID 0,1,5,10. It also has an integrated ATi Radeon HD 4290 (DX10.1) graphics with 128M sideport memory support. Just like its predecessor 790GX, it supports ATI CrossFireX, Hybrid Graphics.

Gigabyte’s GA-890GPA-UD3H features on its branding of “333″ – USB 3, Power 3X and SATA 3.0. As we all know, Gigabyte started the trend of embedding the NEC USB 3.0 chip on its P55 and H55 board last year. It had since released new models for both platforms. With the new AMD 890GX which offers better bandwidth, you can now get true USB 3.0 performance as the NEC USB 3.0 controller is now connected with 5Gb/s using native PCIe x1 2.0 from the AMD 890GX chipset.

On top of that, Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H comes with Ultra Durable3 that is 2oz copper PCB, 50,000 hrs Japanese solid caps and Dual BIOS. It incorporated a 4+1 power phase design for maximum stability. For the energy conscious, it has an Easy Energy Saver feature too. It is EuP Ready as well.

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2010/GIGABYTE/GA-890GPA-UD3H-Review/g1.htm

One of the models that will be shown is the ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3. This board, just like other AMD 890GX boards supports the AM3 Phenom II processors including the future Thuban 6 core processors. It also support Hybrid CrossFire and CrossFire X (Dual PCIe x 8). It also has option to overclock the Sideport memory and wide range of voltage adjustments in the BIOS. By virtue of SB850 south bridge, ASUS brings SATA3 (6Gbps) support to the boad.

The board comes with 4 DIMM slots that can accommodate up to 16GB of DDR3-1866(oc). It has 2 PCIe express 2.0×16 slot supporting ATI CrossfireX (dual 8x), 1 PCI express 2.0 x 4 and 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x 1, 2x PCI slots. Storage wise, it has 1 UDMA 133 for 2 PATA devices, 6 SATA 6Gbps ports with RAID 0,1,5,10 support and 1 eSATA 3Gb/s port (SATA on the go) port. The board also supports 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports using NEC controller chip. The on board 8 channel audio uses Realtek ALC892 CODEC and Gigabit Ethernet LAN is based on Realtek 8111E chipset.

Other than the standard chipset functions, one of the key feature on this board is the Core Unlocker. With a simple switch, it unlocks the hidden cores on your dual or tri core processor and turn it into a quad core processor (some processors might not be stable when hidden cores are enabled). It also has GPU Boost which gives instant iGPU level up in real time.

Turbo EVO is present on this board which gives you the ultimate OC in terms of stability and performance on the processor used using the option CPU Level UP! Other features include MemOK! EuP support.

Read Review :

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2010/ASUS/M4A89GTD-PRO-USB3-Review/g1.htm

If you remember, users are excited with Phenom II X3 710 or Phenom II 550BE as such processors have hidden cores that can be enabled by ACC feature which is supported on the SB710 or SB750 south bridges. Unfortunately, this won’t work with AMD 890GX as it is now paired with SB850 south bridge since the ACC feature is no longer available.

ASRock seems to have found a way to enable the hidden cores without ACC, they call it UCC (Unlock CPU Core). Not only 890GX board, ASRock also implemented it on entry level board NVIDIA N68 boards.

Below is a video which demonstrates how it is done using the ASRock

ECS A890GXM Series Motherboard Delivers Total Experience in Visual Entertainment

Taipei, Taiwan, March 1^st, 2010 – Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) launches the latest AMD® 890GX chipsets based motherboard family supporting AMD next generation 6-Core CPU with the best visual experience for users.

Foremost Designs, from A to A+

ECS A890GXM-AU and A890GXM-A are powered by ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 IGP with “ECS 4most™ Display Design” providing HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI and D-Sub connectors on the rear panel providing great convenience to meet both home entertainment and gaming requirement.  For home entertainment, A890GXM-AU and A890GXM-A motherboards bring Full HD 1080P video experience.

For gamers, A890GXM-AU and A890GXM-A support Microsoft® DirectX®10.1 with stunning 3D effects.  The on-board SidePort DDR3 1333 memory is a great plus on graphics for gamers.  It enhances the gaming experience by ATI Hybrid Graphics technology with no doubt.  In addition, A890GXM-AU and A890GXM-A assist with ATICrossFireX™ technology giving hardcore gamers magnified gaming performance.

User-friendly Technologies

A890GXM-AU and A890GXM-A comes with user friendly technologies:

?      ECS eBLU: ECS easy BIOS Live Update Utility which benefits users with easy on-line link the latest BIOS for right model.

?      SATA 6.0Gbps: provides 2 times faster than previous data transfer rate.

?      SuperSpeed USB 3.0: breakthrough the bottle neck of system performance up to 5Gbps data-transfer rate.

?      ECS Qooltech™ III: comes with twin-heat-pipe cooling solution, which provides a stable working environment when system is on.

?      ECS 15 ? Gold Contact: offers 3 times extra protection to secure the motherboard stabilities and durability

?      ECS Easy Button, Easy Clear and Easy Debug: designs offer an easy way to enjoy boosting system performance without pain.

?      All solid capacitors and lower RDS(on) MOSFET: improves up to 50% efficiency and lower temperatures by 16%.

ECS A890 series :

Ultra fast, ultimate performance & enhanced components – ASRock X58 Extreme3 is one of the most advanced True 333 (USB3.0, SATA3, eSATA3) series motherboard! Highlights of this year’s CeBIT Show, ASRock is going to fore-demo the word’s first Core i7 980X 6-Core CPU live show. Also, ASRock’s latest NetTop Core 100 series and MultiBooks will be showcased in this event! Take a look of our new collections and you will be amazed even more pleasure!

February. 26, 2010, Hannover, Germany – A coming wave of PC: pursuing the faster data transfer performance and storage capability, usher in a new era of extreme-speed computing. But have you ever experienced the true computing? ASRock, a global leading IT brand, struggles to provide the breakthrough well-rounded solutions for users to experience the real speed computing at the world’s famous IT technology tradeshow, CeBIT 2010 in Hannover, Germany, from March 2nd to March 6th at Hall 17, Stand C50. The best new hardware and software will be showcased during the show, including: motherboards, NetTops, MultiBooks and more. All you have to do is just come to ASRock CeBIT 2010 show, and you will be assured in the know!

ASRock Motherboard Series

Blisteringly Fast – ASRock Exclusive True 333 Series Motherboards

Fully Deliver USB 3.0 and SATA3 Bandwidth Without Sacrificing Graphics PCI-E X16 Bandwidth

Today’s motherboards hardly resemble the real computing. Whatever your reason for needing a faster system, we’ve got a host of technologies to improve your computing experience. The ASRock True 333 onboard motherboards born to bring the truth and sets an exactly true computing standard by combining the world’s highest speed transfer technologies. As the industry’s leader, ASRock is keen on providing the most demanding technology and has once again proof its innovative capability by True 333 series mainboards. ASRock True 333 series motherboards deliver the unmatched performance with the onboard acceleration of the latest USB3.0 (5Gb/s) from NEC with advanced 10X faster speed; SATA3 technologies from Marvell with up to 6Gb/s data transfer speed, and the most seamless connectivity of eSATA3 devices.

ASRock True 333 Bridge

As we know, Intel P55 Chipset only provides PCI-E 1.0 x1 bandwidth (2.5GT/s). However, it is definitely not enough for the latest SATA3 (6Gb/s) and USB 3.0 (5 Gb/s) bandwidth. Other 333 series motherboard may use the PCI-E 2.0 lane which comes from CPU for the SATA3 and USB 3.0, but it will suffer the PCI-E VGA slot downgrade from x16 to x8 or can’t run SLI/CrossFire. Thus, ASRock integrates the True 333 Bridge on P55 Deluxe3 and it provides the PCI-E 2.0 bandwidth for SATA3 and USB 3.0. Visit ASRock at CeBIT 2010, and you will be stunned by our ASRock P55 Deluxe3!

ASRock True 333 V.S. Other 333

Unprecedentedly, ASRock True 333 series motherboards can run the PCI-E for VGA card, SATA3 and USB3.0 at full speed together simultaneously. However, other 333 series motherboards can only run one of them at full speed at one time. If you are an eagle-eyed user looking for the true exciting computing, do not forget the come to experience the new wonder of ASRock located at Hall 17, Stand C50. Trust us! ASRock True 333 series motherboard can satisfy you with a completed and qualified PC experience!

Upgrade your system for free? World’s First AMD 890GX motherboard supports Unlock CPU Core –

ASRock 890GX Extreme3 supports ASRock UCC Feature!

Do you desire for the free upgrade? Of course, you do! Different from the traditional AMD motherboard, ASRock 890GX Extreme3 makes a new definition of how a motherboard will be used! It is a new upgradeable motherboard usage that users enable the ASRock UCC (Unlock CPU Cores) feature in BIOS, and the CPU cores could be upgraded from X2/X3 to X4. ASRock UCC simplifies AMD CPU activation. Just a simple switch of the BIOS option ‘UCC’, you can unlock the extra CPU core to enjoy an instant performance boost. Additionally, some CPU can even increase L3 cache size up to 6MB. Not only on AMD 8xx series motherboards, we implement the UCC feature on entry Nvidia N68 series motherboards as well. It is also the World’s First Nvidia Chipset motherboard supports “Unlock CPU Core”!

(Please be noted that UCC feature is supported with AM2+ / AM3 CPU only, also, not every AM2+ / AM3 CPU can support this function because some CPU’s hidden core may be malfunctioned.)

System Performance Boosts Up to 50% Increase by Turbo 50 – H55 series mainboards

As anyone who has overclocking experience knows, choosing a powerful motherboard is the crucial element for overclocking performance. ASRock H55 series motherboards come with the exclusive Turbo 50 technology which can smash your board’s performance limits and boost up to 50% increase by automatically overclocking all related settings! Simply click the Turbo 50 button in BIOS, the system performance will boost up to 50% increase by automatically overclocking CPU, Memory, GPU frequency and all related voltage settings! If 50% performance increase still can not satisfy you, how about 100%? With PentiumG 6950 processor, ASRock H55 series motherboards even supports Turbo 100! – Performance boots up to 100% increase by One Simple Click!

At ASRock, we do not merely pursue excellent – we also strive for the absolutely perfection in everything we do. In fact, our efforts have been recognized in the form of numerous professional media accolades! Currently, H55M Pro was proudly received The Most Recommended H55 MB from Tom’s Hardware Guide (THG), and was honored as the Best Recommended Motherboard by the AnandTech System Buyers Guide. Combined with ASRock exclusive Turbo 50 technology and ASRock H55 motherboard, your system performance will be increased up to 50% effortlessly. At CeBIT show, you can see the full ranges of ASRock H55 platform motherboards! Come to the show and check out by yourself!

World’s First Core i7 980X 6-Core CPU Live Demo – X58 Extreme3

This year, the hottest PC topic is definitely going to the Intel upcoming Six-Core CPU. During the CeBIT event, ASRock is going to fore-demo the World’s first Core i7 980X 6-Core CPU running on the feature-complete motherboard – X58 Extreme3. Based on Intel® X58, ASRock X58 Extreme3 supports 6-Core CPU, Dual Channel DDR3 2000(OC), 3 PCIE 2.0 x16 slots, NVIDIA® Quad SLI™, ATI™ CrossFireX™ and Quad CrossFireX™, PCIE Gigabit LAN, IEEE 1394, 7.1 CH, VIA® VT2020 Audio Codec which supports Premium Blu-ray audio. The heatpipe with fan design makes the system cooler than ever! With this fan-heatpipe design, you don’t have to worry the chassis air-flow anymore, you can feel easy to use the water-cooling CPU cooler. In addition to excellent specs, this motherboard also features some ultimate designs include 2 x SATA3 6Gb/s connectors, 1 x Powered eSATAIII/USB2.0 connector, 2 x USB3.0 connectors, smart switch design, Dr. Debug and CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control.

ASRock Mini PC Series

New HTPC Season with ASRock Core 100 Series

In addition to the outstanding motherboards, ASRock is proud to release our latest Core 100 HTPC Series at CeBIT 2010. With the intention to present an affordable and functionable HTPC product to users, ASRock announced all series of Core 100 series which includes Core 100HT-BD, Core 100HT and Core 100. Utilizing Intel Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 and Arrandale-based processors, Core 100 series features Intel® HD Graphics that offers great FullHD 1080P performance and energy-efficient capability. Plus, it is the world’s first USB3.0 onboard HTPC on the market. Another “Must-Have” for users to experience is the industry’s highest level of True Blu-ray Video and Audio which can provide you “better than cinema” audio quality and stunning movie experience!

Based on the Intel® HM55 Express chipset, Core 100 series features Dual Channel DDR3 1066 memory, 2 x SO-DIMM slots, Max. 8GB, 2.5” HDD up to 500 GB supports 2nd 2.5” HDD (total up to 1TB). For audio aspect, it supports 7.1Ch HD Audio with THX Trustudio PC feature. Other excellent features include the GLAN, Powered eSATA/USB connects, BD Combo, WiFi 802.11n networking as well as green standards – EuP 2.0 and Energy Star 5.0. What’s more, ASRock Core 100 series even comes with exclusive MCE remote controller with mouse function!

Surprising slim and elegant appearance, ASRock Core 100 HTPC series bring you the best solution for multimedia entertainments and is definitely favored for your ideal HTPC shopping list!

ASRock MultiBook Series

Mobility is Everything – MultiBook M25 / F24

Another great product line is our MultiBook section. In this event, we’re going to demo our latest MultiBook M25 and F24. M25 is a 15 inch notebook and F24 is a 14 inch one that both come with exquisite features and affordable price. ASRock MultiBook M25, adopts the latest Intel® Core™ i5 processor and NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M MXM card that delivers solid performance for 3D games and everyday applications. ASRock MultiBook M25 & F24 come with excellent specifications and features, such as ASRock Multi-Touch trackpad, 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN, Bluetooth, HDMI, Powered eSATA/USB connector, 16:9 widescreen HD Glare Type LCD, 1.3M camera, and Full-size keyboard with numeric key. Multi-Touch trackpad allows you to maneuver your notebook tasks with simple gestures. Just enjoy scrolling up and down a webpage, zooming in and out an image, back or forth through browsing on the web by finger dancing with ASRock Multi-Touch trackpad.

The Must See IT 2010 Tradeshow First at ASRock CeBIT, Hall 17, C50.

With a vast collection of product solutions, covering from motherboards, NetTops and MultiBooks, CeBIT visitors will gain insights into ASRock cutting-edge technologies with a wide range of futuristic technologies being showcased. After having a first look at all above ASRock new products, I suppose you’ll desire to know the whole show. Just visit ASRock CeBIT2010 tradeshow and you will be in the front row of IT trend! Trust us! Come to ASRock CeBIT2010 and you will be stunned by our superb hardware components, system performance and find out even more pleasure!

About ASRock Inc.
ASRock Inc., established in 2002, is an energetic company with the combination of technology innovation and humanity. Devoting efforts to bringing customers the innovative and reliable motherboards with the design concept of 3C, “Creative, Considerate, and Cost-effective “, ASRock has successfully established a well-known brand as the best price-performance motherboard maker in the industry.

Moving with the trend of PC technology, ASRock will always keep the commitments of creating products of best value for worldwide users. We always provide our users products with forward-looking vision.

According to news from China, retailers are beginning to stock up AMD 890GX mainboards for the March lanuch. Some vendors are already displaying the boards [not on sale] at retail shop front.

Gigabyte as usual as a number of 890GX products. One of these is the Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H which features “333″ – USB 3.0 (10 x speed), USB Power 3X and SATA 3.0 (4x speed via RAID 0). Of course you will also get the benefits of 2 oz Copper PCB , Enery Saver and ultra performance. On the box itself, it claims that the IGP can be overclocked to 1.15GHz with 128M DDR3 sideport that reaches beyond 3300+ in 3DMark06.

So stay tuned for CeBIT 2010 where all the news updates will be happening in almost realtime @ocworkbench on twitter, facebook, forums, main newspage in dual language.

In our quest to unlock the performance of our AM3 X3 710 processor, we found that the new boards still did not fully disable this function in the AMD 890GX series boards.

In fact, instead of enabling it through the cumbersome ACC, some boards offer hardware switches to unlock the cores. Of course, you would have to pair it up with a processor like Phenom II 550BE or Phenom II X3 710 to enable the hidden cores (these two processors are proven to unlock easily).

Everyone seems to be launching new products at CeBIT 2010. Likewise, ASUS will introduce its series of AMD 890GX+SB850 boards at the show.

Oen of the models that will be shown is the ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3. This board just like other AMD 890GX boards supports the AM3 Phenom II processors including the future Thuban 6 core processors. It also support Hybrid CrossFire and CrossFire X (Dual PCIe x 8). It also has option to overclock the Sideport memory and wide range of voltage adjustments in the BIOS. By virtue of SB850 south bridge, ASUS brings SATA3 (6Gbps) support to the boad.

The board comes with 4 DIMM slots that can accomodate up to 16GB of DDR3-1866(oc). It has 2 PCie express 2.0×16 slot supporting ati crossfireX (dual 8x), 1 PCI express 2.0 x 4 and 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x 1, 2x PCI slots. Storage wise, it has 1 UDMA 133 for 2 PATA devices, 6 SATA 6Gbps ports with RAID 0,1,5,10 support and 1 eSATA 3Gb/s port (SATA on the go) port. The board also supports 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports using NEC controller chip. The on board 8 channel audio uses Realtek ALC892 CODEC and Gigabit Ethernet LAN is based on Realtek 8111E chipset.

Other than the standard chipset functions, one of the key feature on this board is the Core Unlocker. With a simple switch, it unlocks the hidden cores on your dual or tri core processor and turn it into a quad core processor (some processors might not be stable when hidden cores are enabled). It also has GPU Boost which gives instant iGPU level up in real time.

Turbo EVO is present on this board which gives you the ultimate OCin terms of stability and performance on the processor used using the option CPU Level UP! Other features include MemOK! EuP support.

One thing good about AMD is that whenever there is a chance in chipset, you can still use your older cpu as it maintains the compatibility with the processor and socket type.

This has always been the case for dual core, tri core and quad core processors, what about the upcoming 6 core processors ? Will the older chipsets work with it ?

From what we gathered, AMD 790GX and 785G boards should support the upcoming AMD Hex core processor “Thuban”. This is because the new chipsets 890GX is similar to the 785G with an increased GPU clock and DX10.1 support. We will have to wait till early April to get see if there are any compatibility issues.

ASRock is slated to launch its AMD 890GX mainboard at CeBIT 2010 next week.

While waiting for CeBIT 2010 to open, lets have some first hand information about this board. The mainboard model is ASRock 890GX Extreme3 (true 333), and it features all solid capacitor design in a full ATX layout.  It support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom™ II X4 / X3 / X2 (except 920 / 940) / Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 / Sempron processors.

Based on the AMD 890GX + SB850, it supports 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots, 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 and 3 x PCI slots.

Other than its integrated Integrated AMD Radeon HD 4290 graphics, it can run in ATI™ Quad CrossFireX™, 3-Way CrossFireX™, CrossFireX™ and Hybrid CrossFireX™ mode.

As its part of the TRUE 333 series, it supports 6 SATA3 (SB850), 2 USB3 ports (NEC). It also comes with Smart Switch, octuner, IES, Instant Boot, Instant Flash, OC DNA, Good Night LED, Dr. Debug.

If you are a manufacturer, do send in your new product news releases/pictures etc to webmaster at ocworkbench.com for review/posting.