Computex 2006: 300W GPUs, Conroe, HDMI Video Cards and Lots of Motherboards
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 5, 2006 10:24 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
ASUS' Conroe Motherboards
Of course Conroe was on ASUS' mind during our meeting as we got a chance to look at some of the top tier maker's P965 and 975X line:
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AUS P5B Deluxe is a starts off as a run of the mill P965 motherboard, but of course with the usual ASUS flair. ASUS' trademark heatpipe cooling solution is very present on this motherboard, as is a new addition - a wireless riser card:
The wireless riser card can be removed, and in theory upgraded later if ASUS offers such a card in the future. It connects via two on-board USB connectors (it's simply an 8-pin header on the board) and can be removed by taking out a single screw and unplugging the daughter card.
Like many new motherboards we encountered, the P5B Deluxe features an eSATA port for use with external hard drives. The benefit of eSATA of course is that you get the same performance as an internal SATA hard drive, but with the convenience of a removable drive.
Taking advantage of the motherboard's support for noise cancellation technology, ASUS bundles an array microphone with the P5B Deluxe. An array microphone with noise cancellation technology can significantly reduce the background noise and focus more specifically on the person speaking, especially useful for speaking in a noisy environment.
The last neat feature in ASUS' P5B Deluxe bundle is the inclusion of these riser blocks for the front panel and USB/FireWire headers. Their purpose is to allow you to connect your front panel and USB/FireWire connectors to the risers and then easily seat the riser on the header pins on the motherboard.
We would still prefer it if case manufacturers and motherboard manufacturers got together and enforced a standard pin header, but after years of hoping we'll take anything we can get.
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ASUS 975X motherboard with Conroe support, the P5W DH Deluxe, is pictured above.
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lopri - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. I thought the next gen Intel chips are supposed to consume less power? I admit that I'm ignorant when it comes to such things, but the common sense tells me that VRM which supports TDP 130 should have no problem handling TDP 80? Could anyone elaborate?
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
It happens every time Intel releases a new CPU. The then current chipset will support the CPU, but then the "VRM issue" pops up. It's a scam by Intel to force you to buy a new motherboard (preferrably with their chipset, of course). AMD doesn't seem to have this problem.ShapeGSX - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
Yeah, slam that AM2 CPU into your old Socket 939 board. It will work! AMD doesn't require you to buy a new motherboard to buy their latest and greatest!Conroe is a huge departure from the P4. The fact that it works at all in LGA775 and with old chipsets is impressive.
phusg - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
Bol(*#*&s, digitalfreak is right, of course this is a scam. Just because AMD is now using the same scam doesn't mean this is the way it has to be. I'm sure it wouldn't cost too many transistors to build in a legacy mode on the CPU die.Spoelie - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
U guys are missing the point, the X2 dual core socket 939 cpu with TDP 89w works on the socket 939 motherboards that were available at launch 2 years ago, when .13µ newcastle cpus were the only game in town, barring any bios updates of course.Same thing for socket A, altho not at the right FSB speed depending on chipset.
AMD only forces you to update if there is a significant feature difference that can't be worked out in the current socket. It seems that intel engineers its cpus without 'socket environment' consideration and then engineers a specific chipset for it, while amd engineers its cpus to fit in a specific socket environment that they defined a standard for long ago.
ShapeGSX - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
So you don't think that lower power consumption due to the new VRM is a significant feature difference? It is all the technical press is talking about these days.The LGA775 socket was launched in June of 2004. So, here we are 2 years later with the same socket for Intel, but a change to the voltage regulator. And you can run dual core processors on what was originally a socket meant just for one core, just like AMD.
Socket 939 was also launched 2 years ago, and it is already obsolete.
Sounds like both companies have similar track records, as of late. Perhaps the march of technology these days simply will not allow for using the same motherboard for more than two years.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
It could be that the VRM requirements are for lower voltages or cleaner power or something along those lines. Also, just because Conroe runs cooler than Presler doesn't mean it can't have more stringent voltage requirements. I wouldn't be surprised if this is less of a case of *can't* run Conroe but more can't run 100% *stably*. The newer 975X chipsets/motherboards will probably have a few slight tweaks to fix some erratta encountered with current 975X designs.giantpandaman2 - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
Conroe has new power states that aren't supported by older motherboards. For example, a Conroe would try to go to "sleep" and the motherboard wouldn't supply the right level of power to it.soydios - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
1 kilowatt power supply? bloody hellI like all the pictures. But I'm still waiting for Asus AM2 RD580.
highlandsun - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
Any news on iRAM2 or anything similar?