ASUS has released a new motherboard using Intel’s X58 chipset and it is quite obvious who the target consumer is. The motherboard has namely been dubbed SuperComputer, and has no less than seven(!) PCIe x16 slots. To make the motherboard capable of handling up to seven graphics cards ASUS has installed not one but two nForce 200 chips to help feed the cards with data. This means that the board has 4 slots with maximal x16 bandwidth and 3 slots with x8 bandwidth.
ASUS markets the card as the perfect solution for NVIDIA’s GPGPU technology CUDA and even if you can’t fit seven dual-slot graphics cards, which unfortunately excludes the major portion of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX family, there is still every possibility of building a monster system.
Prices and availability of ASUS’ new graphics card motherboard is unclear, but the specifications can be found below;
| CPU | Intel® Socket 1366 Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition/Core™ i7 Processor LGA1366 socket for Intel® Xeon® processor 3500 Series LGA1366 socket for Intel® Xeon® processor E5502/E5504/E5506 Supports Intel® Dynamic Speed Technology *Refer to www.asus.com for Intel CPU support list |
| Chipset | Intel® X58 + ICH10R Nvidia NF200*2 |
| System Bus | Up to 6400 MT/s ; Intel® QuickPath Interconnect |
| Memory | 6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1800(O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory Triple channel memory architecture *Support Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) ** Due to Intel spec definition, DIMMs of DDR3-1800 or above are supported by specific CPU models only. *** Please load X.M.P or D.O.C.P setting in BIOS for hyper DIMM (DDR3 1800MHz or above) support.” **** Refer to www.asus.com or this user manual for the Memory QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists) |
| Expansion Slots | 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x16 or x8) 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x8) 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x16) |
| Multi-GPU Support | Supports NVIDIA® Geforce 3-Way SLI™ techonology Supports ATI® CrossFireX™ technology, up to Quad CrossFireX™ |
| Storage | Intel ICH10R controller 6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Intel® Matrix Storage Support RAID 0,1,5,10 Ext Marvell 88SE6121 SATA controller 2 x eSATA 150/300 (RAID 0,1)* Ext Marvell 88SE6320 SAS controller 2 x SAS (RAID 0,1)* |
| LAN | 2 x Realtek 8111C Dual Gb LAN (Support teaming function) |
| Audio | ADI 2000B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC ASUS Noise Filter Multi-Streaming Jack-Sensing Front Panel Jack-Retasking Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O |
| IEEE 1394 | VIA VT6315N controller supports 1 x 1394a ports |
| USB | 12 USB 2.0 ports |
| ASUS Unique Features | EPU – 6 Engine True 16+2 Phase Power Design TurboV Fan Xpert Express Gate AI Nap Q-Shield Q-Connector Fanless Design: Heat-pipe solution Fanless Design: Stack Cool 2 My Logo 2 CrashFree BIOS 3 EZ Flash 2 C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall) SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) O.C. Profile |
| ASUS Workstation Special Features | 7 PCIe x 16 slots G.P. Diagnosis Card bundled ASUS SASsaby Cards support ASUS WS Diag. LED ASUS WS Heartbeat SAS Onboard |
| Back Panel I/O Ports | 2 x External SATA 1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial + Optical) 1 x IEEE 1394a 2 x LAN(RJ45) port 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 8 -Channel Audio I/O PS/2 KB/MS port |
| Internal I/O Connectors | 24-pin EATX Power connector 8-pin ATX +12V Power connector Chassis intrusion CPU fan with PWM control Chassis fan1 with Q-fan control Chassis fan2 with Q-fan control Chassis fan3 with Q-fan control PWR fan CD audio in 3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports 20-pin Panel connector 1 x IEEE 1394a port TPM header S/PDIF Out header Front panel connector |
| BIOS | 16 Mb Flash ROM AMI BIOS, Green, PnP, DMI v2.0, Wfm2.0, ACPI v2.0a, SMBIOS v 2.4, BIOS flash utility under DOS |
| Manageability | WOL/WOR by PME,WOR by Ring,Chasis Intrusion,AI NET2 |
| Support Disc | ASUS PC Probe II ASUS AI Suite Anti-virus software (OEM version) ASUS Update Adobe Acrobat Reader ver 8.0 Microsoft DirectX ver 9.0C Image-Editing Suite |
| Form Factor | CEB Form Factor 12 inch x 10.5 inch ( 30.5 cm x26.9 cm ) |
