With the launch of the new 7-series chipsets, we spent the last few weeks looking at numerous Mini-ITX motherboards in order to update our Echo line of systems. There are many boards available from various manufactures, but the motherboard that immediately caught our attention was the Intel DH77DF.
The Intel S2600COE is a part of the recently launched Romley platform and is intended exclusively for use in server systems. This motherboard includes onboard video and four integrated Intel Gigabit LAN ports, but is very limited in the number of USB ports available. Because of the strong server focus of this board, however, there are many desktop features (namely S3 sleep and fan throttling) that are not supported.
Intel’s new 22nm CPUs – codenamed Ivy Bridge – has finally launched. When combined with one of the recently released 7-series chipsets, this new CPU/Chipset combination provides support for PCIe 3.0 and USB 3.0 as well as allowing RAM up to speeds of 1600MHz to be used natively. The onboard graphics has also received a nice upgrade allowing for the use of onboard graphics in a much wider variety of applications.
At Puget Systems, we are always on the lookout for new products to keep our product at the forefront of technology. In this article, we will be looking at the Asus P8Z77-V Pro, P8Z77-V Deluxe, and P8Z77-M Pro motherboards to determine if they are worthy of a position on our product line.
The Z9PE-D8 WS is the first motherboard we have had a chance to qualify with the new Romley chipset. This board is geared towards workstation-class systems, but does it have what it takes to earn a place on our product line?
This motherboard is very nearly the ideal micro ATX motherboard for Intel 1155 CPUs; the chipset is well established to be a great performer with excellent reliability and all of the features present on this board have been well tested on other models. The main issue with this motherboard is the lack of an internal USB 3.0 header, although at the moment that is only a concern for a limited number of chassis.
The Asus Rampage IV Gene motherboard is a micro-ATX motherboard based on the Intel X79 chipset. Sandy Bridge-E has proven to be a powerhouse, but until not has been limited to full size computer systems. With this motherboard, Puget Systems will be able to offer smaller, micro-ATX computers with all the power of Sandy Bridge-E.
Our Echo line of systems has always strived to balance size, cost and performance. The Asus P8H61-I has just the right balance of features and cost and comes in the small mini-ITX form factor. There are a few features missing on this motherboard (SATA 6Gb/s notably), but overall this is a great motherboard at a great price point.
The Intel S1200BTS (based on the C202 chipset) is a micro ATX server motherboard designed for small to medium-sized business applications. Puget Systems is already offering another micro ATX server motherboard – the Asus P8B-M based on the C204 chipset – but Intel motherboards are often better choices for a server platform than other brands. In this article we will be examining the Intel S1200BTS to determine if there is enough of a reason to replace the Asus P8B-M.
With the launch of Sandy Bridge-E and its corresponding Socket 2011, a new line of motherboards has been developed based on the new Intel X79 chipset. What this means for Puget Systems is that we have to look at all the available options to determine which motherboards we want to offer for our customers. We’ve looked at several different motherboards over the weeks leading up to the launch of Sandy Bridge-E and the P9X79 Deluxe jumped out at us as having just the right mix of features and connectivity.
Puget Systems builds custom workstations, servers and storage solutions tailored for your work.
We provide:
Extensive performance testing
making you more productive and giving better value for your money
Reliable computers
with fewer crashes means more time working & less time waiting
Support that understands
your complex workflows and can get you back up & running ASAP
A proven track record
as shown by our case studies and customer testimonials
