San Jose (CA) - Believe it or not, NVISION 08 is not just about Nvidia. Earlier today we met with Gigabyte to see what we can expect from the Taiwanese manufacturer – and got a glimpse at an upcoming motherboard for Intel’s Core i7 processors with Nehalem core. The board, called Extreme Edition, sets several highlights, including the ability to transform your PC in a true deskside supercomputer that offers the processing horsepower of thousands of processors ten years ago.

The prototype board on display was based on Intel's X58 chipset and supports up to six graphics cards, four PCIe Gen2 x16 slots and two wide-open Gen 2 x4 slots. Due to space constraints there is only Crossfire and no SLI support. So, what can you do with six graphics cards – for example six Radeon 4850 or six Nvidia 9800 GT models?

You could run up to 12 monitors, which should be a dream for any flight simulator enthusiast. While you can run up to four cards in Crossfire (graphics) mode, you can employ all six cards for GPGPU applications and floating point acceleration. The theoretical performance potential of such an environment would be in the 6 TFlops neighborhood for single-precision applications (double precision will cause the performance to drop by 80 – 90%.) To put this performance into perspective, consider the fact that Intel’s 1997 Pentium Pro supercomputer with 10,000 CPUs was rated at 1 TFlops.

The actual performance advantage of supercomputers is not entirely based on pure processing horsepower, but also memory capacity, which GPUs cannot match. But the simple thought that you can add six graphics cards with 4800 processors for about $1200 to rival the performance of supercomputers that cost billions of dollars  a decade ago (at least in some applications) is stunning.

On the power side, Gigabyte’s engineers developed a separated 12-phase power supply for the CPU; a 2-Phase structure is in place for the memory and a separate 2-Phase regulation for the PCI Express slots. The company indicated that there will be room for overclocking and special attention was paid to ensure “workstation-class stability under any conditions”.

The board can support up to 24 GB DDR3-1333, or 6 GB of DDR3-1900/2000 memory (using overclocked 2 GB DIMMs). Thanks to the 2-Phase regulation, there should be enough juice to hold future 4 GB DDR3-1333 modules.

The board is still being worked on and the prototype will undergo significant modifications in the storage and cooling department, we were told. The combined air/water-cooling block will be modified so that the six graphics cards can fit. All six SATA ports will be rotated to support extend-length PCIe cards.




No information on availability and pricing yet.

Amazing!!!

Aug 26, 2008 11:38     

It's amazing how far computer tech has come in the past decade! I'm sure it will be ahile before this motherboard goes to market, but I want one when it does!
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Water Cooling?

Aug 26, 2008 13:41     

"The combined air/water-cooling block will be modified so that the six graphics cards can fit." Is it really necessary to use water cooling? It's such a hassle to hook up water hoses, pumps, etc... What are they thinking? This would be a perfect multi-monitor business platform, were it not for "water cooling." They must be crazy. I take it this will be meant for a 64-bit Windows XP Pro or Vista or similar O/S? "Memory Limits for Windows Releases" MSDN Document: http://tinyurl.com/65tgf7 --------------------- Bold italic underline Memory Limits for Windows Releases

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eSata & USB 3.0?

Aug 26, 2008 13:55     

I hope Gigabyte's final revision of this board has eSata & USB 3.0. eSata is becoming more and more popular now. eSata is MUCH faster than USB 2.0 and even FireWire. There are many external HDD 3.5" enclosures which now support both eSata & USB 2.0. eSata does not use as many CPU cycles as USB or FireWire. Finally, eSata has a nifty 5 port-multiplier feature you can use. USB 3.0 is just around the corner. I hope they include it on this board. It might be a little early for its implementation though.

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eSata & USB 3.0?

Aug 26, 2008 13:58     

I hope Gigabyte's final revision of this board has eSata & USB 3.0. eSata is becoming more and more popular now. eSata is MUCH faster than USB 2.0 and even FireWire. There are many external HDD 3.5" enclosures which now support both eSata & USB 2.0. eSata does not use as many CPU cycles as USB or FireWire. Finally, eSata has a nifty 5 port-multiplier feature you can use. USB 3.0 is just around the corner. I hope they include it on this board. It might be a little early for its implementation though. ------------------ bullet

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eSata, Watercooling

Aug 26, 2008 18:13     

eSata could be off one of the internal headers (this is how my current Intel board does it, one of the internal headers is also an eSATA port if you attach the backplane header, works really well). Watercooling might be 'messy' but dam it is effective and in such a head generating environment I can totally understand its use to ensure stable operations (and not totally deafen you with fan noises).

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RE: eSata, Water Cooling

Aug 26, 2008 19:01     

The problem with water cooling is, to me at least, where and how to place all the extra gear. Are computer cases, even large ones, designed to hold such gear? Wouldn't it be a rather messy setup? Most importantly, if there is even one (1) leak, it will destroy all your expensive hardware. I am sure this is Gigabyte's first revision. It is not a certainty they will keep this design. Hopefully, they'll place a small ball bearing fan with a good heatsink instead, something standardized and easy to replace (especially the plug). Business users are more interested in productivity than experimenting with setting up hardware. They also want systems which are dependable, not ones which will be damaged due to water leaks.

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Water and size

Aug 27, 2008 06:34     

well they are designing this for enthusiats but you can always have an aftermarket cooler on it. The northbridge probably doesn't need water cooling because my mobo comes with the option to water cool it but it doesn't NEED it. Now about case size. Very large cases can easily have water cooling in them. In fact you could have more than one water cooling setups in your comp if ya wanted. Plus if you had a smaller case like a mid tower or even a mini pc you could use an external water cooling with the tubes going inside your comp. Water cooling isn't for every one but it is very effective.

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misleading

Aug 27, 2008 07:37     

the title is misleading - it implies that it was i7 that can pus out 6 TFlops, when in fact, it's the 6 GPUs that can do that.
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RE: watercooling

Aug 27, 2008 09:58     

There are a plethora of other operating systems out there that support above XP's max ram, not to mention by the time this comes out vista will be running rampant. As far as the water-cooling goes a proper setup is not only easily contained it also runs a low risk of shorting out anything. The liquid is non conductive so the risk you run is from heat damage if the system fails. I will give you that it certainly is messy to clean up though if you break it.

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Price?

Aug 27, 2008 10:46     

This looks like its shaping up to be a successor to the Skulltrail motherboard. Just hope it doesn't carry the same Skulltrail price tag.
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RE: Misleading

Aug 27, 2008 10:48     

"the title is misleading - it implies that it was i7 that can pus [sic] out 6 TFlops, when in fact, it's the 6 GPUs that can do that." OK, that may be true, but there are very few PC mobo's which have "4 PCIe Gen2 x16 slots and 2 wide-open Gen2 x4 slots." I can only think of one current mobo which has 2 PCIe Gen2 x16 slots and 2 Gen2 x4 slots and today that's considered a lot, the x48-based P5E64 WS Evolution: http://tinyurl.com/5noako The Evolution can only hold 8 GB of RAM. Whereas, the Gigabyte i7 can hold up to 24 GB! By the time the Gigabyte arrives, perhaps 64-bit XP Pro or Vista will be more common. Maybe all the drivers will be there and stable. One can hope at least. Because the Gigabyte can handle 24 GB RAM, it is really designed for a 64-bit O/S. I think it's time Micro$oft considered ending publishing their 32-bit O/S's when Windows 7 arrives. Yes, they should support 32-bit XP Pro & Vista, etc..., but they should not sell a 32-bit Windows 7 in Q3 2009. Most CPU's can handle 64-bit O/S's now.

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RE: eSata & USB 3.0?

Aug 27, 2008 13:39     

FireWire has no CPU overhead and it's faster than USB 2.0. eSata is nice, but you still need an external power adapter for anything you use with it, unlike a lot of USB devices and FireWire devices.
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RE: Misleading

Aug 27, 2008 14:47     

I don't think MS is going to end 32 bit yet as the drivers for 64 bit are on scale to move to only 64 bit. MS has seen a great increase in 64 bit Vista uptake so if more hardware and software manufacturers get off their butts and write 64 bit drivers then they could end 32 bit. Also you will need 64 bit OS to have 2 of the new 4870 X2 in crossfire as the system maps the memory from the cards also so you would defeat the purpose of having them with a 32 bit OS. And since now MS has a true 64 bit OS unlike XP, which was just a port. Just can't wait till the era of 128 bit.

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PS2 Ports? Get rid of them.

Aug 27, 2008 17:13     

Why do we still have PS2 Ports, really? remove em, get everything doing USB 3.0. I mean what you can't buy a 10$ USB keyboard and mouse?? Come on.
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RE: PS2 Ports? Get Rid of Them

Aug 27, 2008 22:55     

Perhaps my knowledge might be a bit outdated. If so, tell me. However, how exactly do you get into your mobo BIOS if you don't have at least a PS2 keyboard? USB ports must have drivers loaded to operate. Drivers do not load while you're in your BIOS.
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Water Cooling and PS2 Ports

Aug 28, 2008 12:09     

With the water cooling, Cypherdude said about one leak and all your hardware being destroyed. If you look hard enough you can find non conductive coolants, bit more expensive (negligible), but removes this problem.... just recommended you keep it clean of dust, because dust can act as a conductant when there is enough build up combined with a liquid -_- LOL, and probably not very good to keep using your pc whilst the liquid is on any components. But would help ensure the parts aren't fried and get the PC shut down to clean it out of any liquid or residue. PS2 ports aren't necessary... just with current BIOS chips we really need them, because I've found that although some of my USB keyboards are found in the POST, some aren't, and also that sometimes after taking the battery out to clear the BIOS back to default the BIOS that some motherboards have don't recognise any USB keyboards until after initial configuration. Solution could be a new universal BIOS design for computers with added support for the current/future (USB3.0) hardware to be automatically loaded, but that would probably be too much effort, so companies will ignore that idea as they can just continue to put PS2 ports on computers at the moment, cheaper and easier.

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RE: PS2 Ports? Get Rid of Them

Sep 25, 2008 23:31     

"Perhaps my knowledge might be a bit outdated. If so, tell me. However, how exactly do you get into your mobo BIOS if you don't have at least a PS2 keyboard? USB ports must have drivers loaded to operate. Drivers do not load while you're in your BIOS." You get into the motherboard BIOS the same way as a PS2 keyboard. I do that all the time. The only time I had problems was two years ago when I tried to use my old USB compaq keyboard that I had bought in 2001. I had to use a PS2 keyboard to get into the BIOS. I bought a newer $20 USB keyboard after that and can get into the BIOS just fine. PS2 is no longer needed and should be removed. I think you are referring to the older generation of USB that needed to have the drivers loaded. I am not sure but I think USB 1.1 and USB 2 fixed those issues.

Farhan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What an inaccurate article.

Oct 06, 2008 19:12     

How can you run six graphics cards? There are only 4 in TOTAL slots according to the picture. Why does engadget claim there are ten SATA while there are only six on this website.
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