ASUS, a technology-oriented company blessed with one of the world's top R&D teams, is well known for high-quality and innovative technology. As a leading provider of 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) total solutions, ASUS offers a complete product portfolio to compete in the new millennium. In 2006, the company shipped 55 million motherboards, which means one in three desktop PCs sold last year was powered by an ASUS motherboard. Our 2006 revenues reached US$16.5 billion, and is expected to garner US$23 billion in 2007. ASUS products' top quality stems from product development. It's like learning Chinese Kung-Fu; one must begin with cultivating the "Chi" and inner strength. Besides innovating cutting-edge features, ASUS engineers also pay special attention to EMI (electromagnetic interference), thermal, acoustics and details that usually go unnoticed to achieve complete customer satisfaction. ASUS notebooks are the first TCO'99-certified notebooks worldwide. The requirements for this honor include radiation emission control, energy (battery consumption), ecology (environment friendly) and ergonomics. To succeed in this ultra-competitive industry, great products need to be complimented by speed-to-market, cost and service. That's why all 100,000 over employees of ASUS strive for the "ASUS Way of Total Quality Management" to offer the best quality without compromising cost and time-to-market while providing maximum value to all customers through world-class services. With unyielding commitment to innovation and quality, ASUS won 2,168 awards in 2006, meaning on average, the company received over 5 awards everyday last year.

Previous reviews containing Asus motherboards:

7 Intel Core i7 X58 Motherboards Tested and Compared

Asus P6T-Deluxe X58 Nehalem Motherboard Presentation

P45 head-to-head: MSI P45 Platinum and Asus Maximus II Formula

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

Asus Blitz Formula S775 P35 Motherboard OC Review

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Intel nForce4 SLI Overclocking Review

Asus A8V revision 2.0: Exploring Max HTT Adventure

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Above image is of course not the car that brought us to this Cebit 2009 convention in Hannover, but the car that was shown at the Asus booth this year to visually explain why Asus choose Lamborghini as partner in their new high-end notebook series. However, instead of boring you hardware fanatics with untweakable laptops, here's what we found at the Asus stand this year.


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Before you all get overexcited: this Marine Cool LGA775 P45 motherboard is not going to be released on the market; it's more of a concept design, hence why Asus decided to implement So-Dimm memory on the motherboard. The backplate you see on the left is supposed to be attached to the back of the motherboard to decrease the overall temperature of your system.


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The very cool looking northbridge heatsink


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We have a new player on the µATX overclocking market; next to Dfi's JR series we now have the Asus Maximus II Gene, a P45 chipset based motherboard which allows frequent visitors of LAN parties to have a small, yet very powerful and tweakable system. We already noticed this motherboard a couple of days before the Cebit convention and already have requested our sample to compare it the Dfi JR series, which is the proof that µATX doesn't not equal µOC.


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This picture would seem meaningless to most of you readers, but what if I told you this is a picture of the socket of the Rampage II Gene, the small X58 motherboard? And what if I pointed out that the really interesting part is located four times around the socket? Yes, correct, Asus now also has added LGA775 mounting holes; exactly like the Bloodrage we reviewed in our X58 motherboard round-up. It's not really original, but who cares: it's handy!


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This is the G-Panel, which is a small box something in between the overclocking software in windows and the Tweak-It. It's completely hardware-level, so one doesn't need a special software packet to be installed, but it's a lot more user-friendly than the Tweak-It utility. This product will be sold separately and should be working with any ROG product of Asus.

We secretly tested this on Cebit and made the system crash live on Cebit!


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Oh yes! Amongst the new product releases of this year's Cebit convention we have found numerous P55-based motherboards. The P55 is the chipset for the new mainstream product series of Intel, which will be called the i5 ... after the i7. Although this motherboard looks pretty much ready for launch, we were assured that the final design was not yet ready, which could explain the awful looking PCB of this board, which very much reminds me of the P5K motherboard series, the very first P35 motherboards of Asus. In all fairness, the board may have not been the eye-candy we're used to at the moment, but the board definitely was a very decent overclocking motherboard. I distinctively remember my very first LN2 session on this motherboard, making 630FSB with my old E6300 seem so, so easy. Let's hope Asus' new P55 motherboards will bring the same overclocking joy!


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Moving on to the video cards of Asus with first of all the new Matrix series. Asus presents these cards as thé card for the energy-saver and overclocker, which does seem a bit contradictory. However, it's not. Asus implemented the same EPU-features as on their motherboard series on the these videocards, which means that the different phases of the videocard's power management area will be switched off when the card is in idle mode, making it use less voltage (and thus less heat). Next to that, Asus also installed a new method of fan control. Instead of raising the fan speed when the core hits a certain temperature, the fans spin up when the card requires more voltage. This overcomes the issue of the fan speed being raised either too late or too sudden: since the fans spin harder from the moment the card needs a higher voltage to work (for instance, in 3D mode), the technology anticipates the heat increase.


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A lot less spectacular is the design of the new vga coolers. Some might find the design extraordinary and super fancy, others may dislike it ... it's a matter of personal taste. As you probably know, the previous sentence clearly is just a euphemism used by me to say that I don't really like the new design


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This is the new 4870X2 cooler design; three coolers for two cores ... I wonder why the specifications only mention the temperature and not the noise.


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This is actually the only real novelty at Cebit: the new GT250. Well, new ... let's just say that Nvidia is pleased to announce that they've come up with a new name, again.

In 1980, the IT industry was growing at a breathtaking rate. The founder of BIOSTAR GROUP, equipped with accumulated experiences in electronic parts buying and selling and with a careful study of the future demand for mainboards and add-on cards, established BIOSTAR MICROTECH INTERNATIONAL CORP in 1986.
In the early years, BIOSTAR was concentrating on the manufacturing of mainboard built for XT form factor. To maintain steady business growth, BIOSTAR managed to keep investing large portion of capitals and manpower in new products design and development, which at the same time has been enabling us to stay in competitive rank in the rapid evolution of computer industry.

To meet the demands of market development by providing more integrated solutions to customers, BIOSTAR has enriched our competence in the designing and manufacturing of products such as add-on cards, multi-media and system products.
In 1990, in order to expand our capacity to meet demands of global customers, BIOSTAR was the first to establish our manufacturing premises in China. In 1998, our sales revenues exceeded 130 million US dollars and we ranked 227th among the top 1000 enterprises in Taiwan. Furthermore, in 1999 we obtained the ISO 9001 certification and became a publicly listed company in the same year. The future of BIOSTAR is unlimited

Previous reviews containing Biostar motherboards:

None (time for a change!)

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This is actually a much simpler way of writing articles about new products: just add a picture of the specifications plate standing next to the product at the tradeshow!

Anyway, this is Biostar's answer for the AM3 DDR3 platform which has been released a couple of weeks ago. Since there are no high-end quadcore DDR3 solutions, we're still waiting for a processor to come our way, but be assured that we'll be putting these motherboards to test very soon.


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This is the Biostar wall (of fame) with the Intel based motherboards, accompanied by the logo of Ripping.org, which is a website which lists all kinds of world records, more or less the unofficial database of world records. The reason why is pretty easy to figure out: the Biostar T-power I45 motherboards are known for their excellent overclocking capabilities as many different sources have reported over 700FSB stable overclocks, which is something only a very select group of motherboards are capable of doing. Biostar recently launched a new P45-based product in line with the T-Power motherboards.


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The P55 motherboard sample from Biostar; again it's subject to change shape for the actual release of the product. Our sources told us, by the way, that Intel is planning to move the launch of the i5 even further down the calendar. We expect a release around October-November, maybe even Christmas.


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The wall with Ati-based videocards from Biostar. Nothing really spectacular here and we expect to see these cards in the more mainstream class.

Micro Star International was founded 22 years ago, back in 1986. From then on MSI grew to become one of the world largest mainboard manufacturer as well as being a market leader in the video card industry. But there is more, MSI is specialized in the server industry, notebooks, barebone systems, add-on cards, communication and many more consumer electronics. When you go visit your nearby computer retailer the chance that you stumble upon a MSI product is very real, not just because MSI offers a wide range of products but also because of their large availability in the entire world. Everyone who has done something with computers probable recognizes these three letters in group.

Previous reviews containing MSI motherboards:

7 Intel Core i7 X58 Motherboards Tested and Compared

MSI P45-8D Memory Lover Motherboard Review

P45 head-to-head: MSI P45 Platinum and Asus Maximus II Formula

MSI P7N SLI Platinum (750i) Motherboard Review

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

MSI K9N SLI Platinum AM2 Motherboard Preview

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum A64 S939 Review

MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum Athlon XP nForce2 Review

VIA KT400 Chipset Overclocking

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This is the 790GX DDR3 solution from MSI. The people from MSI mentioned that they are currently looking into implementing the Dr.MOS technology in the AMD motherboards as well.


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A lot of people complain about the ridiculous price a decent i7 setup costs. Thus, MSI decided to strip their X58 Platinum motherboard and provide a solution for the more budget-minded people. This board will be sold under €200.


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Winki is the new EFI bios of MSI and much like the Expressgate from Asus it offers a series of handy software solutions that don't require your system to up and running. For instance, it's possible to listen to music, to browse the web, it's even possible to use your favorite instant messenger. Winki also allows people to try out a new bios without it actually being flashed on the motherboard.


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This is the USB device that gives motherboards the Winki features. As the usb key has plenty of storage capacities, you can use it to save bios files, software to use in Winki and also as Vista Ready-boost solution.


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Of course, the P55 prototype of MSI, which looks a lot like the Eclipse. Again, this is just a prototype.


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The newly released Nvidia gpu, MSI-style.


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It has to be said, MSI starts to focus more and more on the overclockers. Following the motherboard manufacturers who add voltage readout points on the PCB's to help the people who run motherboards outside a casing; MSI adds the same features to their video cards, or at least certain video cards. They were also talking about adding an 'easy voltmod' function where the user would be able to increase the voltage beyond safe stock values without having to solder. We did not get a solid answer when we inquired about the warranty of the cards, but we expect to see a non-standard warranty disclaimer.


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The AirForce utility is pretty much what Tweak-It does for Asus: it's an external solution for overclockers. Actually, one can increase the frequency or voltage by stroking over the LEDs.

ASRock Inc., established in 2002, is an energetic company with the combination of technology and humanity. Devoting efforts to bring customers the innovative and reliable motherboards with the design concept of 3C, "Creative, Considerate, Cost-effective", ASRock has successfully established a well-known leading brand of the best price-performance motherboard in the industry. Facing the constantly changing technologies of motherboard, ASRock will always keep the vision of the future and develop future-proof products upon our 3C design concept to our customers. It is the commitment to our customers and products, like the spirit presented in our 2004 maxim: "Fly to the Future with ASRock!"

Previous reviews containing Asrock motherboards:

7 Intel Core i7 X58 Motherboards Tested and Compared

Asrock Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi S775 Motherboard Review

Tweaking the fastest AGP Based System - Part 1

ASRock 4Core1600 P35 WiFi+ S775 Motherboard Review

ASRock 4Core1333-eSATA2 R5.0 Intel P31 Motherboard Review

ASRock 4Core1333-Viiv and Intel E4400 Performance Review

ASRock ConRoe 1333-DVI/H & Intel E2140 Budget System Review

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The AM3 platform solution from Asrock.


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This is the supercomputer concept from Asrock, featuring of course the X58 Supercomputer motherboard as the leading star of this system. Asrock told us they have fixed bugs that occurred when installing three GTX295 cards and the board is fully capable now running 4 video accelerators and 6 memory banks filled.


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Actually, we were wrong when we said Cebit didn't offer any novelties. Of course there's the GT250, but there's also Asrock, who seems to have the on of the most talented R&D teams of the market. This time, they don't bring a motherboard with agp/pci-e or support for different types of memory, this time they cracked the Crossfire code. Yes, it's now possible to run Crossfire on Nvidia chipset based motherboard. Apparently, it only took them three days to figure out the bios modifications necessary to enable crossfire ... impressive. Underneath you find the behind-the-scene pictures of the system running:


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Gainward is a world leading producer of High-quality, High-End 3D accelerators for the Personal Computer market. Gainward offers a full product line of value adding products targeting gaming enthusiasts as well as entry-level consumers. Since 2000 Gainward has become an official NVIDIA launch partner and have well made their name in since their establishment back on the 80's. Let's hope they can charm us yet again, for now have a look at their Bliss 9800 GTX.

Previous reviews containing Gainward videocards:

Leadtek 9600 GT SLI reviewed and compared with 9800 GTX

Gainward Bliss 9800 GTX PCX 512MB Video Card Review

Entry level VGA round-up, 7 Geforce 8400GS compared

10 Geforce 8800 GTS 320Mb Video Cards Compared

Geforce 8800 GTS 320Mb Roundup - Six Models Compared

Gainward FX 5800 Ultra: First review at [M] , Your next upgrade?

MSI Ti4600 versus Gainward Ti4400

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The still very reference design looking GT250 solution from Gainward. We're expecting GLH editions soon, though.


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This is Gainward's HD4870 dual slot cooling solution.


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The Rampage700 is the overclocked HD 4870X2 from Gainward, featuring higher frequencies (750/950) and a tri-slot cooling solution.


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The Rampage700 seen from the side; notice the turbo switch !

Founded in 1986, Gigabyte started as a research and development team and has since taken the lead in the world's motherboard and graphics accelerator markets. To truly reach out to all consumers, GIGABYTE further expanded its product portfolio to include more diverse digital products such as Notebook and desktop PCs, digital home appliances, networking servers, communications, mobile and handheld devices, servicing every facet of people's lives at home or at work.

Everyday, GIGABYTE aims to “Upgrade Your Life” by knitting a global network to effectively honor its commitment to world wide customers. What's more important, GIGABYTE wishes all users to see and feel the brand through its products and all the touch points from GIGABYTE to the hands of all users.

Previous reviews containing Gigabyte motherboards:

7 Intel Core i7 X58 Motherboards Tested and Compared

Gigabyte GA-X58-Extreme Motherboard Preview

Overclocking with Gigabyte P35C-DS3R and Intel Q6600

Gigabyte P965-DS3 Motherboard Overclocking Review

Gigabyte GA-G1975X Turbo S775 Motherboard Review

VIA KT400 Chipset Overclocking

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A picture which sums up what Gigabyte offers in the high-end X58 segment. The first motherboard, the X58-Extreme, has already been reviewed (and approved) by Madshrimps.


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Gigabyte doesn't only think about the high-end enthusiasts; media-center addicts will also find their hardware with Gigabyte.


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A fanless, and thus noise-less, HD4850.


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The prototype P55 motherboard of Gigabyte. Around June this year, we should be seeing the first final versions of these motherboards as Intel will be launching the new i5 at Computex. At least, that's what the rumors are!


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Pioneers in a new era of how data is displayed and games are played, Sapphire shepherds the performance oriented with ground-breaking solutions to an environment that remains in a constant state of flux and ultimate evolution. For over ten years Sapphire has held true to its unwavering commitment, the commitment to deliver the most feature rich and soundly engineered products. Because of Sapphire's firm position on achieving excellence with each product that leaves our ISO9001 and ISO14001 certified factories, you can rest assured that your customers will recognize YOUR commitment to selling only the highest of quality components.

"Sapphire is ATI's largest and best performing partner World Wide" Dave Orton, CEO ATI

Since ATI announced its manufacturing & distribution relationships with ODMs and AiBs in June of 2001, SAPPHIRE has been THE key ATI Graphics Boards Supplier worldwide and now stands poised and ready to capture the mainboard audience of those who seek a stable platform for their mission critical operations ...

Previous reviews containing Sapphire motherboards and video cards:

ATI HD Radeon 4850 vs NVIDIA Geforce 9800 GTX

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Although we didn't have an appointment, we got a nice tour around Sapphire's booth. First up is a completely passive cooled ATi 4670, which Sapphire calls the "Ultimate" version.


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The toxic versions by Sapphire feature an upgraded cooling system with considerably less noise production compared to the stock coolers. Sapphire is planning to expand the "toxic" lineup in the near future as customer's demand is quite high.


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One of the best buys around at the moment is the dual gpu 4850 card. It is actually a reasonably priced card, well below its 4870X2 counterpart. Anandtech recently declared the 2gb version a price-performance winner and Sapphire is one of the few manufacturers offering the card.


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Sapphire is also entering the motherboard market, as an ATi/AMD partner offering boards with their chipset. This is the high end 790GX board:


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For the time being the boards are still DDR2, but a DDR3 board is also in the works at Sapphire. Slightly below the 790GX is the midrange 770:


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A micro ATX board base around the 780G board is also offered. It features onboard VGA and hybrid crossfire. It comes fully equipped with plenty of Sata connectors and even a diagnostic LED. Some overclocking should be possible than...


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Sapphire had a nice gaming setup running at the booth, being tested by a known "gaming team" from Italy.


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Of course the board was setup with all the bells and whistles, including water cooled crossfire graphics with low profile water blocks from XSPC:


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Finally, a strange figure was dwelling the Sapphire booth : she's quite friendly though ;-)


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Let's continue to DFI's booth >

Diamond Flowers International, in short DFI, is an international IT expert based in Taiwan, with headquarters in Hsi-Chih City. DFI was established in 1981 by Mr. Y.C. Lu. dedicated to serving customers with high technology, DFI has been earning a worldwide reputation for quality, owing much to the continuing support from our customers, suppliers and affiliates as well as our own efforts over the past twenty years. With more than 20 years of computer product development and manufacturing, our team of highly skilled engineers helps DFI position ourselves as the standard setter of price-performance solutions in the manufacturing and marketing of computer products. DFI offers a complete line-up of advanced motherboards as well as graphics solutions and Applied Computing Platforms, to meet the expanding needs of the IT market. DFI also co-develops with Intel and 3rd party developers for the latest technology on IT solution. These relationships lead customers to adopt DFI products with confidence. With our Headquarter in Taiwan and Regional Offices in the States, Europe, China and Japan, DFI has been stably growing from its start 20 years ago into a leader in the IT field today. Close relationships with Intel, AMD, VIA and SiS ensure that DFI products reach the market with leading timing. DFI products are built with Quality as the rock base.

Previous reviews containing DFI motherboards:

7 Intel Core i7 X58 Motherboards Tested and Compared

DFI LanParty DK 790GX-M2RS Motherboard Review

DFI X48-T3RS review - redefining the high end ?

DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS Plus Motherboard Review

DFI Lanparty LT X38-T2R S775 Motherboard Review

4-Way Intel P35 Motherboard Overclocking Roundup

DFI nForce 680i LT-T2R Overclocking Motherboard Review

DFI Lanparty UT NF590 SLI-M2RG AM2 Motherboard Review

KT400A vs nForce2 vs SiS746

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DFI's booth was tucked away to the side a little in Hall 21, but we got a nice welcome from Wendell and Eric, and a complete tour as well. Although DFI's presence seemed a little low profile, they were present all over the floor by means of their top notch X58 motherboard : nearly all of the live showcases of Core i7 memory were done with the X58 T3eH8 motherboard, because it is simply the best memory overclocking board available :


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Real novelty in the booth was the first AMD DDR3 motherboard, in its micro-ATX variant : the Junior 790GX-M3H5.


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Expect availability in the summer of this year, a little earlier as the P55 launch (which was not on show, but planned by DFI for Q3).

Let's see a bunch more on the final page ...>

Point of View

Point of view had quite a big booth, only novelty (like most other GFX partners) was nVidia's GTS250, in this case with a custom cooler :


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Force 3D

To conclude, we have two new entries onto the European market. For those that haven't heard of Force 3D yet, they're trying to get a foodhold here and were present with a rather modest booth. As an ATi partner, they mainly offer the midrange video cards, like the HD4830 :


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Manli

Manli is another new entry, and they try to come in with a bang. They got a big booth at Cebit, which was filled up with lots of hardware and... staff. They also try to get into the European market, where better to start than Cebit, they must have thought...

Manli will offer both ATi and nVidia products, in all ranges. They'll also be offering X58 based motherboards with SLI and Crossfire support.


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Their high end packaging looks very nice indeed : these "carrying boxes" are offered on the GTX285, 295 and the ATi 4870X2. On picture is their 285 card before a 295 box ;-)


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I hope you liked this little preview of what's to come in motherboard and video card land, make sure to check out our other Cebit coverage, linked below. Thanks for reading, and see you soon.