[b]Have you ever been using your i7 motherboard unhappy about the fact that it only has 4 physical cores with 2 or maybe 3 PCIe ports, wishing that there was something far more insane?[/b]
[b][highlight]THEN GOOD NEWS![/highlight][/b]
[img]http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2010/01/evga-w555-dual-xeon-motherboard/angle1s.jpg[/img]
This is the EVGA W555 Motherboard, with 2x LGA1366 sockets, [b]7x PCIe sockets[/b], and [b][i]13x DDR3 sockets[/i][/b].
Also includes: 6x USB2, 2x USB3, 2x GigabitLAN, 8x SATA, & 2x external eSATA.
[quote]As several eagle-eyed readers already spotted, the W555 has two LGA1366 processor sockets, however, that doesn't mean you'll be able to chuck in a pair of Core i7s and start overclocking. This is because Core i7s only have a single QPI link, which is used to talk to the motherboard X58 chipset. To run a pair of processors in SMP, you'll need a pair of Xeon W5000-series CPUs, each of which has a pair of QPI links, one to talk to the motherboard chipset, and one to talk to the other CPU.
The good news is that there is a whole range of Xeon W5000-series CPUs to choose from, but the bad news is that they're all considerably more expensive than the equivalent-frequency Core i7. That said, the prospect of being able to overclock a pair of 8-thread CPUs (four physical cores, four logical cores) is more than a little exciting for performance enthusiasts. What's more, you should be able to drop in a pair of Xeon-branded 12-thread Gulftown cored CPUs when they are launched later this year; that's 24 threads from one box if you're salivating so much you can't read your monitor anymore.
Each CPU socket is provided with its own bank of 6 DIMM sockets, just crying out for some high-speed triple channel DDR3. Generally speaking, Xeon 5500-systems are equipped with ECC registered DDR3, which although far less prone to errors than standard unbuffered DDR3, is a lot more expensive and is only available up to PC3-10600, i.e. 1,333MHz. However, the memory controller in the CPUs can support standard unbuffered DDR3 - something you'll almost certainly need to use for big overclocks.
However, given the dire state of both ATI and Nvidia's quad-GPU drivers, we really can't see much use for this capability, unless you buy a W555 just to try and get the fastest 3DMark score in the world. A far better use for the W555 would be as an all-in-one folding farm, running a combination of the bigadv clients on the CPUs in Linux and several GPU clients on whatever graphics cards you have to hand. This would yield a titanic number of points per day, as Folding@home, unlike CrossFire and SLI, scales efficiently across multiple GPUs. Just make sure to add your W555 system to the Custom PC/bit-tech folding team, number 35947.
We can also see that the W555 is equiped with eight SATA ports, allegedly six running at 3Gb/sec and the two red ports at 6GB/sec. Unfortunately, at this stage we don't which SATA controllers EVGA is planning on using on the final production model.
The real curiosity though is the IDE port lurking at the edge of the PCB. While your first reaction might be 'what on earth is an IDE port doing a dual-processor/multi-GPU motherboard launching in 2010?' it's not a completely daft choice.
This is because some extreme overclockers still favour IDE hard drives over SATA, as many benchmarks aren't affected by the speed of the drive, and IDE controllers are less sensitive to big overclocks than SATA controllers.
Those living in the real world will still want to stick on a SATA hard disk or SSD however.
With so many PCI-E slots on-board, EVGA has clearly put some thought into how to provide sufficient power to so many graphics cards.
Thus, in addition to the 24-pin ATX and two 8-pin EPS12V power sockets dotted around the PCB, the W555 also sports three 6-pin PCI-E power sockets. This is a far better choice than sticking a load of Molex connectors on, like early multi-GPU motherboards had.
However, we're not quite sure how strictly necessary all this effort is. This because one of our folding rigs has six GeForce 9600 GTs and an overclocked Core i7-920 and has been happily running 24/7 at full load for the last six months without a hitch. There's also a question of which PSU could possibly power such a combination, or it'll take jump-starting a second alongside to provide the necessary connectors.[/quote]
All this does is make me depressed that I don't have enough money to buy one when they eventually come out :saddowns:
I swear, EVGA have started making MoBo's for the filthy rich, i wonder who'll buy it.
[QUOTE=MachiniOs;19901527]I swear, EVGA have started making MoBo's for the filthy rich, i wonder who'll buy it.[/QUOTE]
Trubritar, he's probably the only one though.
[QUOTE=leach139;19901481][b][i]12x DDR3 sockets[/i][/b].[/QUOTE]
Fixed :eng101:
[editline]03:20PM[/editline]
Also [url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=874218[/url]
can you link the source?
[quote]Each CPU socket is provided with its own bank of 6 DIMM sockets, just crying out for some high-speed triple channel DDR3.[/quote]
What is the 13th for?
[editline]10:22PM[/editline]
I guess OP just counted the red slots on the picture.
Oh hell yes I totally gotta get me one of these. I'm not satisfied with a X4 965 and a 5870. Fuck no I need this hardcore shit for my... my... whatever I'm doing.
[/fanboy]
it doesn't have any pci ports
this and 2 six core i7s and you have [B][U][I]MORE CORES THAN SENSE[/I][/U][/B]
[QUOTE=Yumyumbublegum;19901936]it doesn't have any pci ports[/QUOTE]
PCI cards work in PCI-E slots.
[QUOTE=Xplodzion;19901982]PCI cards work in PCI-E slots.[/QUOTE]
No. From the last thread:
[QUOTE=reapaninja;19449388][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/PCI_und_PCIe_Slots.jpg/800px-PCI_und_PCIe_Slots.jpg[/img]
yeah you just have to saw the hole in :downs:[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Xplodzion;19901982]PCI cards work in PCI-E slots.[/QUOTE]
no they don't
smaller PCI-Es (x1, x4) will work in larger ones, but PCI is just PCI
[img_thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/PCI_und_PCIe_Slots.jpg/800px-PCI_und_PCIe_Slots.jpg[/img_thumb]
note the locations of the spaces
^ah fuck you
[QUOTE=Roast Beast;19902090]No. From the last thread:[/QUOTE]
my pathetic blunder from the last "EVGA motherboard for crazy people" thread. :frown:
If I ran into about 4 thousand dollars, I would love to build a mega system basing it on this motherboard.
[QUOTE=gerbils_alt_2;19902891]If I ran into about 4 thousand dollars, I would love to build a mega system basing it on this motherboard.[/QUOTE]
This mobo and two i7980x cpu's would probably around $3000.
[QUOTE=Quantuam VTX;19903442]This mobo and two i7980x cpu's would probably around $3000.[/QUOTE]
Can't use i7's, the article quote says it requires Xeons.
wow. I bet you can run every game that's coming out in the next 7 years on max with that thing. With everything attached that is :buddy:
Holy shit it has a 8pin + a 6pin + a 6pin. Jesus christ so much power
[QUOTE=Sgt Pringles;19904340]Holy shit it has a 8pin + a 6pin + a 6pin. Jesus christ so much power[/QUOTE]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhuZWN9rVrI[/media]
[QUOTE=Sgt Pringles;19904340]Holy shit it has a 8pin + a 6pin + a 6pin. Jesus christ so much power[/QUOTE]
Plus an 8pin plus a 6pin.
that car and this motherboard both remind me of each other for some reason
[QUOTE=Quantuam VTX;19903442]This mobo and two i7980x cpu's would probably around $3000.[/QUOTE]
The 920 is 1366 too, right?
[QUOTE=gerbils_alt_2;19907493]The 920 is 1366 too, right?[/QUOTE]
Yes, but i7's are not SMP-capable, you need Xeon CPUs to use SMP (they have 2 QPI links).
I might get this once I can afford it and have a decent enough job. It's nice, a bit extraneous, but something I'd buy if I could. For now though, my goal is to buy myself a nice Canon 7D DSLR.
[QUOTE=trainman1337;19907648]Yes, but i7's are not SMP-capable, you need Xeon CPUs to use SMP (they have 2 QPI links).[/QUOTE]
Oh.
Can this motherboard boot with 1 out of the two CPU's, or does it absolutely require 2?
[editline]02:51AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Bredirish123;19907958]I might get this once I can afford it and have a decent enough job. It's nice, a bit extraneous, but something I'd buy if I could. For now though, my goal is to buy myself a nice Canon 7D DSLR.[/QUOTE]
If you do, throw us some benchmarks, and how much you paid. I would estimate 4000- 6000 USD
[QUOTE=gerbils_alt_2;19908048]Oh.
Can this motherboard boot with 1 out of the two CPU's, or does it absolutely require 2?
[editline]02:51AM[/editline]
If you do, throw us some benchmarks, and how much you paid. I would estimate 4000- 6000 USD[/QUOTE]
Hopefully by the time I can afford it the prices will have dropped some. But we'll wait and see what happens. Personally, I like my current set up. The only thing I feel I could upgrade is my CPU (From a Intel 5200 to at least a Q6600) and my Video Card (Getting an SLI board and adding one more GTS 250)
[QUOTE=Bredirish123;19908398]Hopefully by the time I can afford it the prices will have dropped some. But we'll wait and see what happens. Personally, I like my current set up. The only thing I feel I could upgrade is my CPU (From a Intel 5200 to at least a Q6600) and my Video Card (Getting an SLI board and adding one more GTS 250)[/QUOTE]
if you were going to change boards anyway you might as well get an i5 for roughly the same price, maybe a bit more expensive on the MoBo but easily worth it
That's true, I'll have to look into that once my wallet gets a bit thicker.
[QUOTE=Xplodzion;19901982]PCI cards work in PCI-E slots.[/QUOTE]
PCI is a parallel bus, PCIe is a serial bus. PCI-X =! PCIe and is also a parallel bus (64 bit extension of the PCI bus with clocks up to 533 MHz)
That motherboard is a fucking beast.
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