ASUS Booth Tour at CES 2016: 10G Switches, External GPU Dock, USB-C Monitor and more
When
ASUS emailed a couple of weeks before CES announcing that they had
cancelled their press event for the show, we had a few question marks.
Previous shows involve Chairman Jonney Shih’s rapid fire but succinct
delivery, announcing up to 10 products in an hour. ASUS’ remit is large,
so not having a press event seemed odd. It turns out that for 2016,
Computex will be their show, and rather than announce the next level of
stuff half-a-year early, CES will be a show for updates to current
lines. Or so I was lead to believe – their booth at CES had numerous
hidden gems.
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ECS Goes Skylake with LIVA One
At
CES 2016, ECS displayed their consumer-focused as well as OEM products
to the press and business customers. On the direct-to-consumer side, ECS
had some 100-series chipset boards on display, but they were all ones
that had been announced before (like the
Z170-Claymore). However, my main intention was to check out updates to the LIVA mini-PC lineup and also get some information on the
5x5 form factor that ECS had hinted at prior to the show.
In our Intel Compute Stick review, we had talked about the efforts made by Intel to
take advantage of a second screen
(such as a tablet or smartphone) when interacting with the PC. ECS also
had something similar for the LIVA series. They have tied up with
Insyde Tools to install necessary support for
ShareKanTan
on the LIVA mini-PCs that come with the OS pre-installed. In addition
to the input options provided by apps such as the Intel Remote Keyboard,
this app also allows for display of media on the PC in the second
screen.
ECS
also took the opportunity at CES to show off their latest addition to
the LIVA lineup - the LIVA One. LIVA One is a Skylake mini-PC, which
uses a 35W TDP -T class processor. Unlike other members of the LIVA
family, this one is larger (1L volume - 173mm x 176mm x 33mm) and also
actively cooled. The default configuration from ECS utilizes a Core
i3-6100T, a LGA processor. The end user can actually upgrade the CPU
after purchase, or install any other CPU after buying a barebones
configuration. Even processors such as the Core i7-6700T can be used (as
long as the CPU is LGA1151 and has a TDP within 35W).
The
LIVA One uses 2x DDR3L SO-DIMMs.It has a free 2.5" SATA drive slot and
also a M.2 SSD slot (SATA interface). The industrial design is stylish
and functional, with the front panel including a microSD slot and a USB
3.1 port (with rapid charging features). The default configuration
contains a 1x1 802.11ac / BT 4.0 WLAN card, but that can be changed by
the end user.
ECS
has also used the same chassis design for a mini-PC to target business
users. This 'SF100' model will support Windows 7 officially. It also
supports vPro (thanks to the Q170 chipset) and Intel SBA (Small Business
Advantage) technology. Unlike the LIVA One's DDR3L SO-DIMM slots, the
SF100 has the costlier DDR4 SO-DIMM slots that can provide better RAM
capacity and performance. It also has a RS-232 port as well as a 2W
in-built speaker. The SF100 also uses an Intel I219-LM GbE NIC.
Both
the LIVA One and the SF100 can be augmented with an optical drive or
extra 2.5" bay using a special 'HD Drive Bay' (shown in the top picture)
that connects to the main system via one of the rear USB 3.0 ports. The
LIVA One will be priced $168 for the barebones configuration and $450
for the pre-built
default configuration. Pricing for the SF100 is not available yet.
Moving
on to the mini-STX front (the official name for the 5x5 boards that we
first uncovered at IDF 2015), ECS had one of the first motherboards in
this form factor on display. The H110SU-02 (with the S standing for the
mini-STX form factor in ECS's nomenclature) is meant for SFF systems,
thanks to the low-profile heat sink from Silverstone. ECS and
Silverstone have tied up to offer consumers a one-stop shop for those
attempting to build a system based on the H110SU-02 mSTX board. The
gallery below shows some shots of the motherboard with a low profile
heatsink installed.
The full details of the board are provided in the table below. Pricing is not available yet.
| ECS H110SU-02 Specifications |
| Form Factor |
Intel mSTX Form Factor |
| Chipset |
Intel H110/B150 Chipset
Intel i3/i5/i7/Pentium/Celeron Processors (65W) |
| Memory |
2x SO-DIMM DDR4 |
| Networking |
1 x M.2 Slot (2230) for WiFi/BT 4.0
1 x RJ45 1Gbps |
| Storage |
1 x M.2 Slot (2280) for SSD
1 x SATA support SSD or HDD or ODD |
| Display |
1 x HDMI 1.4a Output
1 x DP Output |
| Audio |
1 x Audio Combo Jack |
| External I/O |
1 x USB 3.1 Type C (with EZ charger)
2 x USB 3.0 Ports |
| Dimensions |
140(W) x 147(D) mm |
| Power Supply |
DC-in 19V 90W |
| OS / Driver Support |
Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10 / Linux |
On the whole, the consumer products from ECS on
display at CES point to where the desktop computing market is headed.
The market share for small form factor systems is increasing even as the
overall desktop PC market declines. SFF systems are also turning out to
be an attractive proposition in the business PC market.
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Supermicro Quietly Launches the C7Z170-OCE: Multi-GPU focused with PLX8747 for $300
One
of the biggest changes to the motherboard scene since the release of
Skylake is the distinct lack of motherboards designed to cater for more
than two PCIe cards using CPU-based lanes. Back in the era of the Z77
chipset, I gathered four motherboards that had the PLX8747 PCIe switch
installed, allowing for >2 GPUs, and we really went to town on
the detail and benchmarking. But with Z170, the use of the this chip has
severely diminished for two reasons. Firstly, GPUs are getting powerful
enough to drive 1440p gaming by themselves fairly easily, and secondly,
Avago bought PEX, the company that makes these switches, and the price
for them essentially doubled overnight. As a result, only a few
motherboards for Z170 will have them, such as the
Z170-Gaming G1
we reviewed at the end of last year, because of the consumer price
concerns and the market to which they are aimed. The GIGABYTE model we
reviewed was $500, and featured all the bells and whistles such as
Thunderbolt 3 – the Supermicro motherboard announced last week with this
PLX chip is the C7Z170-OCE but slides in at $300.
This
motherboard aims to be ‘green’ in more than just the aesthetics.
Supermicro’s value add to the community, and the part that they aim to
be the differentiating factor, is their long standing role in the server
space. They want to use this reputation to promote their use of server
grade components on consumer platforms. This will come through in their
regular consumer motherboard segments (such as the C7H170-M which we’ve
nearly finished testing) and their gaming motherboard line, which now
has a name: SuperO.
The C7Z170-OCE
is aimed squarely at the three-GPU user on Skylake. The PLX8747 chip
splits the PCIe lanes into x16/0/x16 or x16/x8/x8, leaving the chipset
enough space to add in an M.2 slot for up to PCIe 3.0 x4 bandwidth and
plenty of space on the bottom to make sure all the headers can still be
used when dual slot cards are in play. We have tested the PLX8747
before, and found that the chip does not noticeably (sub-1%) reduce
performance when in use. As SuperMicro is still feeling its way around
the consumer motherboard space, we are seeing features that enthusiasts
are used to being promoted as positive points. So for example this board
also gets some buttons for pre-overclock modes in the top right, and
promotes features such as ‘SuperFlash’ which other motherboards have had
for almost half a decade. Nonetheless, the fact that these exist now is
still a plus.
Audio
is provided by a Realtek ALC1150, and networking via Intel I219-V and
Intel I210-AT controllers. Due to the use of dual Intel controllers,
Supermicro lists teaming, fail over and load balancing as features of
this combination. USB 3.1 is given on the rear in a Type-C configuration
through the ASMedia ASM1142 controller, although it seems a little odd
that only one port of this controller is being used. There is another
ASM1142 onboard near the bottom, which is connected to a USB 3.0 header –
the motherboard is advertised as having a USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) header, but
this standard isn’t finalized so we are looking into whether Supermicro
is actually validating this header at double the data rate than normal.
(It turns out this header will support two USB 3.0 or one USB 3.1, but
it requires the right connectors/ports which will not be included in the
bundle.)
On
the software side, our upcoming C7H170-M review will go into an
interesting feature called SuperDoctor 5, which is a pseudo server-like
web interface for motherboard features and monitoring.
At
this point, the C7Z170-OCE will be the cheapest tri-PCIe focused (both
SLI and CrossFire) on the market for Skylake at $300. Also anyone
wanting to build a green machine will love the aesthetic. I am told it
should hit the shelves by the end of January.
Source:
Supermicro
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D-Link Demonstrates Innovative Networking Solutions at CES
D-Link
had two major core networking announcements at CES along with a host of
updates for their home automation product line. There are a number of
things to discuss with respect to the core networking announcements. So,
I will get the minor home automation stuff out of the way first.
D-Link
has been offering a set of home automation products with unified
cloud-based control using the mydlink Home app. At CES, they announced
the integration of the IFTTT (If-this-then-that) service with the app,
allowing more customization in the home automation experience. It is
slated to appear in the free app later this quarter. IFTTT integration
has been a staple of many home automation products (including the Belkin
WeMo) for some time now. So, it is good to see D-Link putting the
effort to integrate with IFTTT with their own cloud back-end.
The
other home automation-related announcement was a new product - a Wi-Fi
based alarm detector. Simply put, this device plugs into a wall outlet
and connects via Wi-Fi to the Internet. A microphone in the device is
set to trigger an alarm if the sound of a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide
alarm is heard. This allows legacy smoke and CO detectors to become
part of the smart home - definitely more cost effective than installing
completely new smoke alarms (like what Nest suggests). D-Link indicated
that, in the future, it might also be able to make the microphones in
their IP cameras do the same job.
Moving on to the core
networking announcements, we first have the EXO series of routers. This
series has two members, the AC1750 DIR-869 and the AC1900 DIR-879. Both
have a 3x3 configuration in the 5GHz band for 1300 Mbps of theoretical
bandwidth. However, the DIR-879 does 600 Mbps in the 2.4GHz band and the
DIR-869 does 450 Mbps in the same. The DIR-869 will retail for $130 and
the DIR-879 will retail for $150 when they go on sale later this
quarter.
In
order to achieve this lower price, D-Link has opted to not integrate a
USB port on either model. Both have a hardware toggle switch to move
between router and extender modes. However, the devices do have
high-performance power amplifiers (1000mW). The interesting aspect here
is the core platform. While vendors such as Amped Wireless have gone in
for the integrated Qualcomm Atheros 2x2 solution for their $130-price
point router, D-Link has moved to Realtek for the same. The SoC used is
the RTL8198C with a 620 MHz MIPS-based dual-core host processor and 5
GbE ports integrated. The WLAN chips are RTL8814AR for the 5GHz radio
and RTL8194AR for the 2.4GHz radio.
The most innovative
demonstration in D-Link's suite was the Unified Home Wi-Fi Networking
Kit with Adaptive Roaming Technology (DKT-891). This is a
router-extender kit that will retail at $370when it launches in Q2. The
DKT-891 consists of two products - the DIR-891L, an AC4300 tri-band
MU-MIMO router, and the DAP-1655, an AC1300 gigabit Wi-Fi extender. The
DIR-891L seems to be the first tri-band 4x4 router based on a Qualcomm
Atheros chipset. With two 5GHz 4x4 radios, each band can support 1733
Mbps (for a total of 3466 Mbps). The 2.4 GHz band can support 800 Mbps
with the 256-QAM feature. This gives a total bandwidth of 4266 Mbps,
enabling classification as a AC4300 class router. The DAP-1655 provides
867 Mbps in the single 5GHz band and 450 Mbps in the 2.4GHz.
The Unified Home Wi-Fi Networking Kit with Adaptive Roaming is based on Qualcomm's Wi-Fi S.O.N technology (
video).
At their CES suite, D-Link demonstrated 'Smart Steering' - clients
moving from the router to the extender automatically (depending on which
one was providing a better signal). They also showed 'Dynamic
Adaptation' - clients moving inbetween the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for
load balancing purposes. All of this was done without any end-user
intervention. Even though the demonstration looked market ready, it is
likely that more 'interoperability' testing will be needed. Getting
'Smart Steering' and 'Dynamic Adaptation' to work across multiple client
platforms will definitely be a challenge.
In
addition to the above new announcements, D-Link also showed their
currently-shipping Broadcom-based Ultra series of routers. the 3x3
DWA-192 USB 3.0 AC1900 WLAN adapter and some IP cameras (including the
Komfy switch
launched in November).
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New GIGABYTE Server Motherboards Show Xeon D Round 2
The Xeon D platform,
as reviewed by Johan back in June,
put together eight Broadwell cores, 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes, dual 10 Gbit
Ethernet and USB/SATA control all into one SoC within a 45W TDP design.
It almost sounded too good to be true (I’ve run some benchmarks my side,
to be in a review later), as this is the only real way to get eight
14nm cores into a single die. Even at 2 GHz, Johan’s piece showed that
the Xeon D based on Broadwell aims to fit between the Xeon E3 and Xeon
E5 in terms of performance and power efficiency, and to quote Johan
‘Xeon D is probably the most awesome product Intel has delivered in
years, even if it is slightly hidden away from the mainstream’. There is
interest both server side and NAS side for this, and with the next wave
of Xeon D parts being introduced GIGABYTE Server is one of the first to
announce some new models.
Technically, the four
motherboards being launched are a single base design, but with either a
different SoC or different networking:
The
image above is the top end MB10-DS3 model, featuring the Xeon D-1541
processor with 8 cores, 16 threads, running at 2.1/2.7 GHz for base and
turbo frequencies. This is a mini-ITX board aimed at the typical 1U
chassis, with four RDIMM/UDIMM DDR4 slots for up to 128 GB RDIMM support
in ECC or non-ECC fashion. As mentioned before, the differentiator on
this model aside from the SoC is the networking, and here we get dual
Intel I210-V gigabit Ethernet paired with dual Cortina CS4227 10GbE SFP+
LAN ports to either route teamed to an SFP+ switch or to different
switches althogther.
The
motherboard uses a single PCIe 3.0 x16 slot which can be used for
compute, and storage comes via five SATA 6 Gbps ports and another
similar port that also supports SATA DOM. With it being a server
motherboard, the onboard Aspeed AST2400 provides an IPMI interface for
management as well as a 2D acceleration video chip. There are two extra
fan headers on board, as well as a USB 3.0 header and a TPM header.
The
SoC here has a list price of $581 on its own, and given that this is a
server part I’m not too sure we will see these set of boards actually up
at retail, although I do know that GIGABYTE Server is trying to push
more product through that distribution channel. Businesses interested in
the platform will have to enquire to their local GIGABYTE office to
find out more information on pricing and availability.
As
part of the second wave of Xeon D processors, Intel seems to be
releasing a number of 35W and 45W models, from four cores to eight cores
(with Hyperthreading), varying otherwise by speed and last level cache
in-line with core count. I imagine that as more of these trickle through
into the hands of OEMs, we will see more products through 2016.
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Available Tags:
ASUS ,
GPU ,
GIGABYTE ,
Server ,
Motherboards ,
Xeon ,
