Asus' Z7S WS Skulltrail motherboard gets pictured

Tired of lookin' at that stock motherboard that supports Intel's latest and greatest gaming platform? Yeah, us too, so we're fairly stoked that HotHardware has rounded up a few snapshots of Asus' upcoming Z7S WS. Said mobo will reportedly feature "dual LGA771 sockets that support Intel Xeon 5000, 5100, and 5300 series processors of both the dual and quad-core varieties." Additionally, you'll find a pair of gigabit Ethernet jacks, a plethora of expansion slots, six DDR2 DIMM slots and support for 1600MHz / 1333MHz / 1066MHz / 800MHz front side bus speeds. Go on, tag the read link for a few more looks and even more technobabble.

[Zorque @ Feb 16th 2008 7:19PM]

... Are those DIP switches?

[Dave @ Feb 16th 2008 7:24PM]

gaming platform with support for Xeon processors? huh???

[JLTate @ Feb 16th 2008 8:04PM]

Well, I have never seen an multi-socket LGA775 motherboard so I'm not surprised. I would be willing to bet money that the difference between LGA771 and LGA775 is that the latter lacks the required memory coherency lines on the bus connection that would be required to support shared memory.

But the real problem with Skulltrail (and something Engadget neglected to mention) is that it doesn't in fact use DDR2 memory. Rather, it uses FB-DDR2 which costs ridiculously more for less performance. (FB-DDR2 is a server memory standard -- it sacrifices speed for data integrity)

[raptor87 @ Feb 16th 2008 8:10PM]

looks like 8 of them yeah. havent seen those in a while

[Gav @ Feb 17th 2008 4:50AM]

The 781 socket is now being used on the latest Core 2 Extreme processors, not just Xeons... :)

[E71 @ Feb 17th 2008 12:34PM]

@JLTate

That's horrible news if it's true.

Delayed building my new PC for a long time now because that a-holes @ nvidia decided not to allow Intel x38 chipset to support SLI so unless if you wanna be stuck with a crossfire setup you gotta wait until the next generation of mobos come out.

[Ghen @ Feb 17th 2008 9:45PM]

Wasn't that the whole reason the Socket 940 design got scrapped, error correcting memory requirement?

Maybe we'll see a skulltrail -1 in a few months.

[OneLove @ Feb 18th 2008 11:39AM]

nice image

[ARealOG @ Feb 16th 2008 7:19PM]

Any word on regular DDR2 support. Those damn FB-DIMMs are expensive as hell. I'm looking to build a hackintosh with power comparable to a Mac Pro. (and one that allows me to use whatever video card my heart desires)

[Iain @ Feb 16th 2008 7:53PM]

It's impossible to use regular DDR2 DIMMs with Xeon processors.

In case you're curious as to why, read this: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3216&p=3

[cheng @ Feb 16th 2008 8:45PM]

why build a hackintosh if you want to use whatever video card you want? you never know if drivers are unsupported. Better to stick with running windows.

[Abuzar @ Feb 16th 2008 9:49PM]

Get a 3870, you'll be fine. Mac OSX is over rated anyway, use Linux and Windows.

[Sam Winter @ Feb 17th 2008 6:35PM]

@abuzar

OSX overrated compared to windows??? HAHAHH. Are you kidding?

Anyways, to the OP, yeah I'd be careful about drivers. You may be able to hack something together though, as I know the OSX86 crowd has gotten alot of the nVidia cards working...

[Abuzar @ Feb 17th 2008 9:54PM]

Like I said, the 3870 has working drivers.

YES I said over rated. Mac has NOTHING that makes it better than any other Linux distro, or hell even Windows. Don't give the "it's more stable" bull shit, because it's not. It's a fucking CLOSED platform, and they only use Apple hardware and it still manages to gte large amounts of Kernel Panics.

[evandena @ Feb 16th 2008 7:36PM]

Perfect. Time to build a monster ESX white box.

[broli @ Feb 16th 2008 7:47PM]

What a poor excuse to make an extra buck from Intel. What's the point of labeling it "skulltrail", they might have just called it the "here's a server mobo for ya rich mommy boys, now hand over the green stuff bishes" platform.

[evandena @ Feb 16th 2008 9:19PM]

Well, without knowing the price, it has a few things going for it.

1. 6 DIMM slots. That means 12GB of ram for pretty cheap.
2. Dual CPU support. Extra cores = more VM's.
3. 16x PCI-E. Raid controller.
4. Intel chipset and LAN. On the ESX HCL.

[Iain @ Feb 17th 2008 5:27AM]

12GB of RAM 'for cheap'?

Yeah right, not when it uses FB-DIMMs...

[torqueo @ Feb 16th 2008 7:47PM]

FB-DIMM is nice in theory, but it's a dying technology, and if this chipset were made by anyone but Intel it probably would be DDR3-DIMM. Note the cooling on top of the RAM.. it's not added for luxury, but because FB-DIMM runs much hotter.

[Dhanik @ Feb 16th 2008 7:52PM]

Do you really need Xeons for gaming? I thought thts wat the Core 2 Xtremes were for.

[Iain @ Feb 16th 2008 7:57PM]

The QX9775 Xeon-based processors are identical in pretty much all respects to the QX9770s (the top-of-the-range Penryn chips).
So, you don't need Xeons, individually they're not better that standard processors on the market but this way you can have two of them.

[fh @ Feb 16th 2008 8:11PM]

This is more of a workstation (number-crunching) motherboard. Skulltrail can provide some marginal performance gain for gaming, but it's not as if other (far cheaper) solutions aren't equally competative. The real problems are the (currently unresolved) multi-GPU solutions from nVidia and ATi; those will affect gaming performance more so than chipset/cpu/platform.

[Rollins @ Feb 17th 2008 12:00AM]

Given the cost of Xeons and FB-DIMM memory, I would say that the only reason that you'd use something like this for gaming is if you really wanted to use two separate processors.

That said, your avatar looks vaguely familiar.

[ben @ Feb 17th 2008 3:12AM]

This is not for a gaming machine or a personal computer. This would be for things like creating CAD Assemblies of entire cars.

[Iain @ Feb 17th 2008 3:11PM]

@ben & fh: Intel is marketing this as a gamer's motherboard and the benchmarks run by the likes of Anandtech and Tom's Hardware show that there's a good reason why - they're calling it the best SLI platform ever.

[Yevon @ Feb 16th 2008 9:37PM]

It's not technobabble.




...It's a way of life.

[Chris @ Feb 16th 2008 9:59PM]

I wouldn't call it a gaming mobo, more of an extreme HD video editing monster.

[James Cameron @ Feb 16th 2008 10:12PM]

Nice motherboard. Too bad, this doesn't support socket775 heatsink. The cpu are too close to one another. The Intel Skulltrail have a better CPU layout.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Feb 16th 2008 10:23PM]

FB-DIMMs NEVER.

They're too expensive, take too much power and rob too much performance.

It's amazing Intel can get so many things right now and yet blow this so badly.

[frankXchange @ Feb 17th 2008 12:06AM]

Some semi-noob questions:

1) How does this compare to Mac's 8-core xeon workstation?
2) What software can actually make good use of all that power?

I use 3D animation software, so I know I could use 8 cores to render - very quickly, but most OS's aren't designed to take advantage of those processors, let alone 90% of the software out there. My current machine is a decent dual-core with lots of RAM, and fast drives, and well-maintained, but I still have to wait for Outlook to get its sorry butt in gear, and I don't see ANY of that seamless multi-tasking that my ancient Amiga could once do. AT this point I'd be a lot more impressed with improvements in with the Operating Systems and general software design, than with hardware.

[Ayle @ Feb 17th 2008 12:18AM]

1)It's the same type of board used by the mac pro so with the same configuration the performance should be the same with the only difference being the OS.
2)Number crunching apps, video production, 3d modeling, some games. Pretty much any apps designed with multi-threading in mind will see a boost in performance....

[jhaks @ Feb 17th 2008 12:50AM]

Most OS's do provide access and support for all cores just fine; it is the software that has to be multithreaded correctly and have each thread doing something usefull. As for how this compares to Apple, you should understand that Apple doesn't use any exotic hardware. If you plunk some high end Core2 Quad Extremes this mobo it will perform equally or better. There isn't support for multi GPU in OSX but this motherboard with Windows can do quad GPU if you want. I don't understand how your computer runs slow unless your definition of slow is anything less than instantanious. Outlook 07 for me takes about 3-4 seconds to fully boot up and this is on a five year old machine (Sempron and 1GB ram) running Vista.

[jhaks @ Feb 17th 2008 12:51AM]

Most OS's do provide access and support for all cores just fine; it is the software that has to be multi-threaded correctly and have each thread doing something useful. As for how this compares to Apple, you should understand that Apple doesn't use any exotic hardware. If you plunk some high end Core2 Quad Extremes this mobo it will perform equally or better. There isn't support for multi GPU in OSX but this motherboard with Windows can do quad GPU if you want. I don't understand how your computer runs slow unless your definition of slow is anything less than instantaneous. Outlook 07 for me takes about 3-4 seconds to fully boot up and this is on a five year old machine (Sempron 1.8GHz and 1GB ram) running Vista.

[ben @ Feb 17th 2008 3:16AM]

Are you hooked into an exchange server? Network delay could be part of why Outlook seems like it's running slow.

[Meridimus @ Feb 17th 2008 9:07AM]

Very nice points you make about the operating systems performane. Sure we all want extra whizz bang stuff since we've seen it, but why does vista need 2gb of ram? It's just the OS, I'm way more interested in using that ram in better ways like for say, gaming/video-editing/etc.

We should be trying to squeeze what's possible out of the least amount of hardware, so when there is loads we can use it for better things. Come on!

[frankXchange @ Feb 17th 2008 1:09PM]

Thank you for your replies. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that my ancient Amiga had a better operating system in terms of multitasking (efficient use of resources) than my current XP machine. I was reminded of that when I watched a demonstation for Haiku (formerly BeOS). I also used to use an old SGI workstation, which rarely left me wanting, despite being years out of date.
In XP I can manually tell certain programs to use one or other kernal, but there's none of the smooth sharing of resources that, on much older machines, let me forget I had something rendering in the background while I worked in the foreground. XP always reminds me. There are slow-downs, or micro-hangs, but when I check memory and CPU usage, neither is being used anywhere near capacity. I know the hardware is capable, but the software isn't, and I put most of the blame at the feet of the OS.

[Skyfox2k @ Feb 17th 2008 1:43AM]

It isnt just 'like' more of a workstation motherboard, it says clearly on it that is IS a workstation motherboard. Move along people..

[Roger Singh @ Feb 17th 2008 2:30AM]

We just upgraded to dual Xeons recently.... the only reason we wanted the skulltrail was that it had 4 PCIe x16 Slots. not for video cards, but lots of expansions for scsi cards, raid cards, and Fibre Channel Card, but it's not coming out till april. This asus looks okay, but the Asus DSEB-DG looks to be a better motherboard, and probably a better purchase. From what I read, this asus one, has support to 667mhz ram only too, but don't quote me on that. I think it may off the advantage of having a bios that allows for overclocking.

The size of this board is useless. From the looks of it, you still need a SSI EEB compatible Case. What was the point of making this smaller when you have to put it in a server case either way. The Skulltrail is a pure e-atx designed board. The skulltrail is the perfect Workstation Board.

Also, another thing to note, this Asus board has no built in sound, so you need to add a soundcard.

If this board did come out today, I'm still glad that we went with the Asus DSEB-DG over this board. Just wished skulltrail came out when it was suppose to :(

[Gav @ Feb 17th 2008 5:04AM]

I still do not understand the point of these motherboards? There are currently similar motherboards on the market.

Take a look at the Dell Precision T5400, you can configure it with Dual Quad-Core Xeons, and Dual nVidia Quadro FX 4600 cards.

That's just an example, because there are obviously boards out there that can do the same. Also, everybody seems to be forgetting AMDs Mutli-Processor platform, the Opteron.

[Roger Singh @ Feb 17th 2008 5:52PM]

I don't think you build your PCs.

Dell overcharges bigtime on their higher end computers. the X5450 is already $500 more expensive than newegg.com The FX 4600 is $650 more expensive than what you can get on Ebay. At the end, you'll be spending thousands more buying a computer at Dell than building it yourself.

Nobody is talking Opteron, because AMD has been out of the game for well over a year now. Buying anything AMD now is the worst purchase decision you can make.

[Gav @ Feb 17th 2008 5:06AM]

WOAHHH

Hang on a minute. I just looked at that picture, the two CPU sockets are next to each other? Smart move that...

And they say these things can be clocked to 5Ghz? I'm surprised you can even fit two stock coolers on there, let alone anything better...

[ammi @ Feb 17th 2008 9:54AM]

Damn. I was drooling until I came across "no SLI support" period. Why, exactly, would this board have the "enthusiast" label without Dual SLI? Isn't that the POINT of running out to spend the extra money for another crossfire?

Also wtf FB-DIMM? Yeah, Xenon processors are FB-DIMM restricted... which leads me to ask "why the hell didn't they just use 775 standard instead of 771 and bump up the ram to DDR3, or even just give us a mixed bag of DDR3 and DDR2 slots to allow for a bit more flexibility?"

Can anyone with more tech-savvy know how answer these? Am I completely just talking out of my ass here? As far as I know this board seems to kinda... fail... on being awesome because of the above mentioned issues... is that correct?

What are the advantages to Asus having used the Xenon? I mean, I'm assuming there has to be something I've missed here. Somebody clue me in plzkthx?

=(

[remedy @ Feb 17th 2008 10:14AM]

Because the Core 2's do NOT support Symmetric Multiprocessing as the Xeons do. Thus, you can only use Xeons in 2-way or greater configuration. The FB-DIMM support pretty much made that obvious as there are no Core2Duo or Core2Quad that support FB-DIMM's in the first place. It's basically a Xeon system custom made for Gaming. It was cheaper to use a processor (Xeon) that supported 2-way functionality already rather than fabricate a new processor(Core2) to support such a niche factor market. There is a thread in forums.2cpu.com on the whole ordeal.

[ammi @ Feb 17th 2008 10:57AM]

Thanks, remedy. Will definitely read when I get the chance.

[Iain @ Feb 17th 2008 3:17PM]

As well as what remedy has said, there's the fact that Intel doesn't want to take too many sales away from it's other boards.
Also, they see it as a sort of dead-end product, one that has a limited lifespan/appeal (ie will be obsolete once Nehalem is released). As such, there's no great reason for them to invest heavily in this platform, so they've effectively cobbled it together from existing parts.

For more of an insight, I'd recommend the excellent articles on Anandtech or Tom's Hardware.

[Roger Singh @ Feb 17th 2008 5:56PM]

It's part of the SSI EEB design to have the two CPUS close together like that.

Thermalright makes a nice socket 771 cpu Cooler.

[dulwhite @ Feb 19th 2008 2:22AM]

The day that Photoshop has a x64 release, I'll think of getting something bigger than my current quad-core proc.