"It's ALIIIIVE!" - ATI's RD600 will get to see the light after all on the new DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G.
The future of ATI as a chipset maker has been in doubt for quite some time. For starters, the previous renditions (especially the RS480) were incredibly flaky. Even if basic design wasn't such a problem, the business climate itself fought against ATI. First, NVIDIA snapped up the southbridge manufacturer ULi, leaving it in a rather fragile position . Then, right when it looked like the company had recovered well by partnering with Intel for the Conroe launches, ATI itself became a takeover target when AMD bought it.
Right before being swallowed by AMD, the union of ATI and Intel spawned one child - the RD600. The chipset was to offer a host of new features never really seen before, but many expected boards would never get to market. However, DFI has managed to do just that - introducing the
LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G.
Though little has been known up til now about the features, DFI has been pretty adamant that it would be amazing. Surprisingly,
preliminary looks by XtremeSystems don't disappoint. According to them, the board is stable at a 100% overclock. The big thing, though, is the new RAM system - note the words "asynch" in the CPU-Z pictures. That's right, your RAM is no longer locked to your FSB.
At all.
This feature was promised to us with NVIDIA's most recent 680 chipset, though it hasn't entirely delivered as planned on that front (the 680 only runs
semi-asynchronously). Of course, we can't be too sure of this board, either, at least until Tim and Rich get their hands on it. That may be a little while, since only 100 boards are expected to be finished before Christmas.
Of course, we'll let you know as soon as it happens. If you want something to look at before then, DailyTech has a great picture of the board
with the RD600 heatsink removed. That is one big chip.
Give us your thoughts on the upcoming addition to DFI's lineup
in our forums.
TBH, id buy this board with any questions asked then spend the rest of the month paying off for it, it will cost an arm and a leg but it would be worth it.
Ill gladly wait after the inital rush for the first batch and wat till they have them in full retail channels.
the new Asus Commando looks like a good choice also at the moment, tho the only thing that worries me about these new "super" mobo's is the price.
eh not anymore...they are X16 in both lanes...... so speed wise the same as X32 SLi.
It was looking promising to being two x16 lanes and a x8 lane like on the 680i lanes which would be really nice
[edit]Full specs. :)[/edit]
http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=5075&CATEGORY_TYPE=INFINITY&SITE=US
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1888998&postcount=234
Doesn't look much bigger than the old nForce 4 chips from where I'm sitting, and the board doesn't seem to be set up for heatpipe cooling, either...
I'll think about getting one if K8L turns out to be a dud. If it works, though, I'm going to go K8L + Crossfire for my next system.
That sucks, I was really hoping for it. Guess I would have to go with ECS MVP board.
If all goes to plan, I'll try and get this to perfectly match the colour-scheme of my new case. ;)
EDIT: Any guesses on the pricing? ;)
So this mobo will support the R600 DX10 card? I am actually VERY confused now :(
Board looks to clock pretty well, seems to max ~ 510 FSB or so though which is a lot lower than the 965 boards have been hitting.
True async memory overclocking looks very nice though, should make ram clocking nice and easy.
Shame it caps at ~ 51- FSB though, means a 965 board is still going to be required to pull the high FSB's needed with a 6600 and 6300 under DICE :( Should make a nice 24/7 base though...
RD(RS)600 = chipset. R600 = DX10 GPU.
Yes the board will support R600 in Crossfire, you should be able to run R600 crossfire on any dual PCI-E capable mobo though (ie 975, RD580, RD480 etc) as long as the drivers are left "open"
R600 is the DX10 core
RD600 is the next chipset.
ATI wont need heatpipe cooling like NVIDIA, since they are far better at producing low power chipsets. Most of AMD laptop parts even before the buyout were ATI chipsets because of their superior power management.
Dann: my prediction based on what Ive seen of the architecture is: don't hold your breath on the K8L.
Of course, they've only just started designing/planning their next chip....
The resource allocation, FAB upgrades, design etc would have been in place before ATI was purchased.
AMD's also upgrading/upgraded their FAB's to 65nm anyway, there's 65nm versions of the current gen AM2's out soon iirc :)