CES 2006: Motherboards, Memory, Cooling, and a Few Surprises
by Wesley Fink & Jarred Walton on January 11, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Sapphire
Sapphire was showing several interesting new products under NDA. We couldn't provide pictures, but the new ATI video card will be launching soon. Vendors tell us that they already have GPUs and completed cards this time around and therefore, product will be on the shelves at launch. Specifications hint that this may well be the new top-end video card, outperforming even the 7800GTX 512, which appeared in small quantities in what nVidia is now calling "limited release", and which has now disappeared from the market.
Sapphire was also showing several new motherboards based on the new ATI RD480 and the upcoming RD580 chipsets. While it took Sapphire quite a while to get 480 motherboards to market, they appear committed to providing ATI chipset motherboards looking ahead. Their RD580 boards look to be very competitive with the best products expected at the RD580 launch next month.
Since RD580 is also Socket AM2 compliant, you will see even more RD580 motherboards at the AMD M2 launch. We have also been told that the M2 launch is the likely time frame for release of the ATI SB600 south bridge.
Shuttle
Shuttle has updated several of their recent products, and we visited their suite to get a look at their latest offerings.
One of the more interesting items was their updated version of the M1000 HTPC system, the M2000. The original included a Pentium M 1.83 GHz chip and two analog AverMedia tuners. The M2000 has upgraded the chipset to the 945GM, and with the new chipset comes the Intel Core Duo processor (T1400 1.83 GHz 2MB L2 at present). The added processing power should help out quite a bit with video encoding/ transcoding, and it doesn't change the thermal characteristics much. A new chipset and processor aren't the only changes, though: they have added a hybrid HDTV/Analog tuner along with a second analog-only tuner. These changes address most of the concerns that we had with the M1000; all that really remains is proper CableCARD, which of course won't come until Windows Vista ships.
As expected, Shuttle is also working on various SFF updates. They have everything from a socket 754 update through socket 775 with Pentium D support and a socket 939 unit with SLI, the SN26P. If SFF designs interest you, Shuttle remains one of the top picks for any platform, and all of their designs are aesthetically pleasing.
Sapphire was showing several interesting new products under NDA. We couldn't provide pictures, but the new ATI video card will be launching soon. Vendors tell us that they already have GPUs and completed cards this time around and therefore, product will be on the shelves at launch. Specifications hint that this may well be the new top-end video card, outperforming even the 7800GTX 512, which appeared in small quantities in what nVidia is now calling "limited release", and which has now disappeared from the market.
Sapphire was also showing several new motherboards based on the new ATI RD480 and the upcoming RD580 chipsets. While it took Sapphire quite a while to get 480 motherboards to market, they appear committed to providing ATI chipset motherboards looking ahead. Their RD580 boards look to be very competitive with the best products expected at the RD580 launch next month.
Since RD580 is also Socket AM2 compliant, you will see even more RD580 motherboards at the AMD M2 launch. We have also been told that the M2 launch is the likely time frame for release of the ATI SB600 south bridge.
Shuttle
Shuttle has updated several of their recent products, and we visited their suite to get a look at their latest offerings.
One of the more interesting items was their updated version of the M1000 HTPC system, the M2000. The original included a Pentium M 1.83 GHz chip and two analog AverMedia tuners. The M2000 has upgraded the chipset to the 945GM, and with the new chipset comes the Intel Core Duo processor (T1400 1.83 GHz 2MB L2 at present). The added processing power should help out quite a bit with video encoding/ transcoding, and it doesn't change the thermal characteristics much. A new chipset and processor aren't the only changes, though: they have added a hybrid HDTV/Analog tuner along with a second analog-only tuner. These changes address most of the concerns that we had with the M1000; all that really remains is proper CableCARD, which of course won't come until Windows Vista ships.
As expected, Shuttle is also working on various SFF updates. They have everything from a socket 754 update through socket 775 with Pentium D support and a socket 939 unit with SLI, the SN26P. If SFF designs interest you, Shuttle remains one of the top picks for any platform, and all of their designs are aesthetically pleasing.
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Leinad - Saturday, March 4, 2006 - link
I see that the Corsair Nautilus500 is available, and at pretty much the expected price. I have searched around looking for any information on the Cryo-Z, and don't see any. Just curious if anyone in Anandland had any further information...I also wanted to second the request/suggestion of the addition of a cooling area to Anandtech.
yacoub - Thursday, January 12, 2006 - link
And the best thing about all the Asus boards pictured? EVERY ONE OF THEM IS PASSIVELY COOLED. About time. Dinky motherboard fans are the bane of many otherwise-quiet systems and they're often of such poor quality as to die within a few months and leave the user with a board that can overheat.Very nice work, Asus.
JarredWalton - Thursday, January 12, 2006 - link
Funny you should mention that. I have an ASUS K8N4-E Deluxe board that has been used less than 3 months. It has a dinky NB HSF, and guess what died this past week? So now I replaced that 30mm or whatever fan with a spare 60mm fan jury-rigged into the case, and it cools better and runs quieter. Small fans are garbage.SignalPST - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
Sounds very promising. Hopefully, they'll fix the problems with the NB heatsink and 7800GTX 512MB getting in the way. When should we expect more details for this board?
FlyingShawn - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
Quick correction on what looks like a typo on your DualCor coverage. The article states that the 1.5 Ghz processor runs XP Pro and the 400 Mhz runs XP Tablet. Actually, the 1.5 Ghz runs XP Tablet and the 400 Mhz runs Windows Mobile 5. So basically you have a full XP Tablet for when you need it and the instant-on benefits of a Mobile 5 PDA for when you need information like PIM data quickly.abakshi - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
Yeah I was about to post that.That brings up another interesting issue though -- is data synchronized between the two sections (e.g. Outlook contacts/calendar/etc.), and do that mean you can run both parts at once and simply switch between the two (since they seemingly share only the user interface elements)?
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
Yes, DualCor was demoing synchronized data between the 2 OS. I will correct the OS/processor statements in a few minutes.monsoon - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
since we didn't get the new MAC MINI at Macworld, i'm eager to read your coming review of the AOpen PC Mini with CORE DUO insideHoudani - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
Those Aopen boxes look stupendous on the outside. I'm eager to hear how their innards fare. All three of them there boxes are intriguing.wilburpan - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
This is probably the wrong trade show for this, but was there any indication from CES as to whether BTX is increasing its penetration into the market?