Computex 2008: Gigabyte, MSI Highlights
Taiwanese motherboard and graphics cards makers are exhibited their latest proposals mainly based on Intel's new 4-series of chipsets at Computex 2008.
The basic offerings are based on the recently announced G43, G45, P45 and X48 chipsets.
Gigabyte
Gigabyte is showcasing its latest range of high performance motherboards featuring its Ultra Secure and Ultra Power Efficient Technologies, including sneak peaks of the GA-EP45-EXTREME and GA-EG45M-DS2H motherboards based on Intel's latest 4 Series chipsets, as well as the GA-MA790GP-DS4H with support for the AMD 790GX chipset. The extreme series is sporting the company's Hybrid Silent Pipe cooling solution. Gigabyte has also added some extra features to some models, aimed at overclockers. These include the ability to tweak voltage increments by as little as 0.002V and onboard power and reset switches, both making overclocking easier. Diagnostic LEDs available on some mid-range boards in order to offer easier tracking of possible hardware issues, while high-end boards include the company's Debug LEDs system which goes even further in helping to resolve problems.
The company is highlighting some of its latest Ultra Secure and Ultra Power Efficient technologies equipped on their latest lineup of motherboards. Gigabyte includes a toolkit of features including Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced, GIGABYTE's Ultra TPM security feature - useful to users who want to secure their data using encryption and the Smart Backup - Plug & Play Hardware RAID feature. This consists of a RAID controller chip that allows hardware-based, operating system independent support for RAID 0 or 1.
For overclockers, Gygabyte offers the X48-based GA-X48T-DQ6, GA-X48-DQ6 and GA-X48-DS5 motherboards.
The GIGABYTE GA-X48T-DQ6 supports Intel Core 2 multi-core processors as well as the all-new Intel 45nm CPUs. In addition to providing record setting support for 1600MHz Front Side Bus and up to 1900MHz of fast DDR3 memory, the GA-X48T-DQ6 is further equipped to support ATI CrossFireX Technology with dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 interfaces.
The GIGABYTE X48 Motherboards also offer support for Intel XMP (Intel Extreme Memory Profiles), enabling quick and easy memory overclocking.
MSI
Micro-Star International (MSI) also showcases Intel 4-series motherboards, which feature the company's own DrMOS energy-saving technology.
The company also offers motherboards based on Nvidia's chipsets. MSI has already come out with K9N2 Diamond and K9N2 SLI Platinum mainboards which are Hybrid SLI technology ready. K9N2 Diamond utilizes nForce780a chipset and supports 3-way SLI technology. While, K9N2 SLI Platinum utilizes nForce750a chipset, making this mainboard cost-effective.
The K9N2 series mainboards come with MSI's exclusive Circu-Pipe design, for effective heat dissipation of temperature from the chipset and MOSFET.
However, what's more interesting at MSI's booth is the P4S8D motherboard. It comes equipped with a total of eight memory slots, and accepts both DDR2 and DDR3 momory modules. This would allow cost-conscious enthusiasts to build a system using cheap DDR2 memory now, while making it possible to upgrade to DRR3 later.
Cooperating with overclocking site called Coolaler (http://www.coolaler.com/), MSI demontrated the overclocking capabilities of a system using a P7N2 Diamond and two N9800GX2 graphics cards.
The Coolaler team selected the Intel QX9650 ( 3GHz) quad-core processors and MSI P7N2 Diamond mainboard. They also installed two specially modified N9800GX2 and enabled with NVIDIA Quad SLI configuration to build 4x4 ultimate overclocking platform which supports four-core CPU and four-core GPU. Using the liquid nitrogen to cool down to extremely low temperature, overclockers were able to achieve amazing 5GHz clock speed.
Gigabyte
Gigabyte is showcasing its latest range of high performance motherboards featuring its Ultra Secure and Ultra Power Efficient Technologies, including sneak peaks of the GA-EP45-EXTREME and GA-EG45M-DS2H motherboards based on Intel's latest 4 Series chipsets, as well as the GA-MA790GP-DS4H with support for the AMD 790GX chipset. The extreme series is sporting the company's Hybrid Silent Pipe cooling solution. Gigabyte has also added some extra features to some models, aimed at overclockers. These include the ability to tweak voltage increments by as little as 0.002V and onboard power and reset switches, both making overclocking easier. Diagnostic LEDs available on some mid-range boards in order to offer easier tracking of possible hardware issues, while high-end boards include the company's Debug LEDs system which goes even further in helping to resolve problems.
The company is highlighting some of its latest Ultra Secure and Ultra Power Efficient technologies equipped on their latest lineup of motherboards. Gigabyte includes a toolkit of features including Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced, GIGABYTE's Ultra TPM security feature - useful to users who want to secure their data using encryption and the Smart Backup - Plug & Play Hardware RAID feature. This consists of a RAID controller chip that allows hardware-based, operating system independent support for RAID 0 or 1.
For overclockers, Gygabyte offers the X48-based GA-X48T-DQ6, GA-X48-DQ6 and GA-X48-DS5 motherboards.
The GIGABYTE GA-X48T-DQ6 supports Intel Core 2 multi-core processors as well as the all-new Intel 45nm CPUs. In addition to providing record setting support for 1600MHz Front Side Bus and up to 1900MHz of fast DDR3 memory, the GA-X48T-DQ6 is further equipped to support ATI CrossFireX Technology with dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 interfaces.
The GIGABYTE X48 Motherboards also offer support for Intel XMP (Intel Extreme Memory Profiles), enabling quick and easy memory overclocking.
MSI
Micro-Star International (MSI) also showcases Intel 4-series motherboards, which feature the company's own DrMOS energy-saving technology.
The company also offers motherboards based on Nvidia's chipsets. MSI has already come out with K9N2 Diamond and K9N2 SLI Platinum mainboards which are Hybrid SLI technology ready. K9N2 Diamond utilizes nForce780a chipset and supports 3-way SLI technology. While, K9N2 SLI Platinum utilizes nForce750a chipset, making this mainboard cost-effective.
The K9N2 series mainboards come with MSI's exclusive Circu-Pipe design, for effective heat dissipation of temperature from the chipset and MOSFET.
However, what's more interesting at MSI's booth is the P4S8D motherboard. It comes equipped with a total of eight memory slots, and accepts both DDR2 and DDR3 momory modules. This would allow cost-conscious enthusiasts to build a system using cheap DDR2 memory now, while making it possible to upgrade to DRR3 later.
Cooperating with overclocking site called Coolaler (http://www.coolaler.com/), MSI demontrated the overclocking capabilities of a system using a P7N2 Diamond and two N9800GX2 graphics cards.
The Coolaler team selected the Intel QX9650 ( 3GHz) quad-core processors and MSI P7N2 Diamond mainboard. They also installed two specially modified N9800GX2 and enabled with NVIDIA Quad SLI configuration to build 4x4 ultimate overclocking platform which supports four-core CPU and four-core GPU. Using the liquid nitrogen to cool down to extremely low temperature, overclockers were able to achieve amazing 5GHz clock speed.
