CeBIT Hannover 2007 (Part 10)
In the final installment of our grand CeBIT 2007 tour, we take a look at HIS, Nikko, Philips, Sapphire, Sony, Spire, Thermaltake, Tyan, Gigabyte's lifestyle and server boards, and MSI's server boards. Star Wars fans have something to look forward to as well, so read on and find out!
Gigabyte's Lifestyle Products
Gigabyte is increasingly rolling out solutions for the digital home and one of their latest entries is Gigabyte's GN-IV01 Triple-Play IP Set-top box. Supports DVB digital TV standard, video streaming, VoIP and Wireless functions, compatible with MPEG2, WMA9, MPEG4 part 2 and H.264 compressed video formats, has a VFD display and integrates a smart card reader.
These are Gigabyte's entertainment personal computers for the living room. From left to right, the models are H110, H663 and the H971. Though the most powerful of these three systems is the H971 system at the right corner which has Full HD processing capabilities and great connectivity options, all three cater to different users depending on one's storage, processing and functional needs.
While the above entertainment PCs are designed around their existing micro-ATX motherboards, here's an ultra slim multimedia PC based on a proprietary board to achieve its smaller form factor. Uses an ATI RS600ME + SB600 platform, Intel Core 2 Duo or Celeron M processor, two DIMMs for 4GB of memory, integrated Radeon X1300 class GPU, one PCI expansion slot, Gigabit Ethernet, HD Audio, card reader, one internal HDD and one slim ODD (either a Super Multi DVD or a Blu-ray drive). The entire unit is powered by a built-in 110W PSU. And yes, it has HDMI output among other expected connectors like DVI-D, VGA, S/PDIF and USB.
These mini-ITX solutions are suitable for office deployment and may even bode well for home use like in bedrooms where simple computing needs would suffice. The unit is based on the VIA C7 1GHz or 1.5GHz processor running off a VIA CN700 platform. You can expect them to operate cool and quiet.
The Gigabyte M100 digital audio unit looks somewhat like an SFF unit, but it is more of an appliance than a PC. The M100 is your personal jukebox capable of storing thousands of songs on its 80GB HDD, has an AM/FM tuner built-in and WLAN support to search and obtain more music as well as listen to Internet radio. A remote is provided but speakers however are sold separately.
Gigabyte's Server Motherboards
The GA-5EASV-RH is Gigabyte's entry-level Micro-ATX server board based on the Intel 3000 chipset. It supports all LGA775 processors, including the Intel Xeon 3000 series processors. It has dual Gigabit LAN ports, quad SATA 3Gbps ports with RAID (0, 1, 5, 10), GSMT Lite, one PCIe x8, one PCIe x4, and two PCI slots.
This is an ATX version of the above board and with that, the GA-5EXSH-RH sports a different expansion slot configuration:- one PCIe x8, two PCI-X and one PCI slot.
This dual socket performance motherboard (GA-7BESH-RH) based on the Intel 5000P chipset supports two multi-core Xeon processors of 1333MHz or 1066MHz FSB. Supports up to 32GB of DDR2 ECC FBDIMM in 8 DIMM slots, Adaptec AIC7901 SCSI RAID, two Gigabit Ethernet port with Intel I/OAT and has an expansion slot configuration of three PCIe x8, two PCI-X and one PC slot.
If 32GB of memory isn't adequate, this GA-7BESP-RH should do the job nicely with its 16 DIMM slots capable of addressing 64GB of memory. The board itself is quite similar to the GA-7BESH-RH with the exception that this is optimized for 2U rack systems and it uses a riser card of sorts to achieve it massive memory support (as shown in this shot).
For AMD Opteron processors, Gigabyte has this dual socket GA-3CCWV-RH workstation motherboard based on the NVDIA nForce Professional 3000 chipset. The board supports two AMD Opteron 2000 series Socket F processors, 32GB of DDR2 ECC registered memory on 8 DIMM slots, six SATA 3Gbps ports with RAID, two Gigabit connections and an expansion slot configuration of one PCIe x8, one PCI-X and one PCI slot.
HIS' Booth
What's special about this Radeon X1550 graphics card is that its using a PCIe x1 interface.
Using the PCIe x1 graphics card along with PCIe x16 and PCI versions of the same graphics card, HIS was demonstrating how inexpensive it is to go multi-screen without having multiple PCIe x16 slots since HIS has PCI and PCIe x1 solutions that many other vendors lack.
This all-passively cooled Radeon X1650 XT graphics card is another recent entry to their lineup.
Sapphire's Booth
The main highlight over at Sapphire's booth is a CrossFire system running a pair of dual Radeon X1950 graphics cards. That's right, each card has a pair of Radeon X1950 GPUs which are internally CrossFire'ed. So this is a 'quad-CrossFire' system.
MSI's Server Motherboards
This petite little server board sure packs a punch in the networking department with 6 Gigabit ports! The MSI Keeper 945GM is based on the Intel 945GM mobile chipset platform and must be paired with mobile Core 2 Duo processors.
The 3000 Master-A4 is MSI's new uni-processor (LGA775) server motherboard based on the Intel 3000 chipset (and the ICH7R Southbridge). Supports up to 4GB of DDR2-667 unbuffered ECC memory, single PCIe based Gigabit LAN, 3 PCI slots, two PCIe x8 slots (one of them runs at x4 speeds only) and has an XGI Z7 graphics controller on board.
Based on the Intel 5000V chipset, the MSI 5000V Master-A6 is a new generation entry-level dual Xeon processor motherboard. Using four FBDIMM slots, this board can handle 16GB of DDR-667 FBDIMM memory. Expansion slot configuration is two PCI, two PCI-X (100MHz) and two PCIe x8 slots (one of which operates at x4).
The K9ND Speedster-A6 is a powerful AMD Opteron motherboard built around the nForce Professional 3600 MCP (MCP55 Pro). Supports 16GB of DDR2 ECC registered memory of speeds up to DDR2-667. The board has dual Gigabit LAN ports, two PCIe x16 slots, one PCIe x8 slot and two PCI slots.
This is a uni-processor variant also based on the nForce platform, has FireWire, dual Gigabit LAN ports and an integrated XGI Z7 graphics controller.
Nikko's Booth
Nikko had some very ingenious products appealing to the Star Wars community.
Would you believe this is a real projector unit? We wouldn't have either, but this same unit was projecting Episode V on one of the walls! The specs are decent too:- Tri-chip LCOS projection system, XGA resolution, 24 to 80-inch projections size (1.5m to 5m), 1000:1 contrast ratio, 1800 lumens, 1500 hours lamp life, various playback formats (DVD, VCD, MP4, CD, MP3, WMA, JPEG, DivX 3.0 or higher).
- digital optical output for DTS 2.0 / 5.1, headphone jack, FM transmitter and stereo RCA outputs.
Here you'll find the optical drive slot (which is denoted as Disk Slot), iPod connectivity as well as other I/O hidden away neatly.
The connectivity options revealed.
More Star Wars Goodies
Here's another view of the R2D2 projection system. Currently there are only 4000 units of these worldwide and it costs a cool 2500 Euros.
The Millennium Falcon is a companion to the R2D2 projector unit. You can't tell much of what it does in this photo, but ...
... it transforms into a remote control, complete with all the sound effects from the movie.
Besides the projection system, there's also an R2-D2 communication system. This is little unit is Skype enabled, has an integrated webcam, is fully motorized and can be wirelessly operated. Anakin's lightsaber acts as a remote control for the R2-D2 communication system as well as a Skype USB phone.
Here are the controls for the R2-D2 and Skype phone controls.
Philips' Booth
Ambilight technology first graced Philips high-end LCD TVs and the concept has now been taken a step ahead to encompass other forms ambient experiences, which is now known as the amBX technology. The aim of the amBX technology is to provide a full sensory experience in your entertainment. With that in mind, Philips has incorporated amBX technology into this new PC gaming peripherals kit, the SGC5103BD.
The kit is made up of four components to satisfy the touch, feel and audio sensory. The speakers of course provide sound effects to envelope you in the game, while the lighting is color-coordinated with that of the game (much like Ambilight). Vibration feedback is courtesy of the long bar just in front of the keyboard (which sort of replaces your keyboard rest) and finally, air effects are the work of dual 5000rpm fan units to simulate breeze, storm or other air effects like a helicopter taking off. An interesting concept, but this will require game support for which patches are made available through the website.
The central control unit where all the components are hooked up.
A 2x Blu-ray writer from Philips was also spotted at the show.
Spire's Booth
Sony's Booth
Sony didn't seem to have much new stuff to showcase during CeBIT this year.
However, they did have this huge monstrosity to showoff. It's a 4K cinema-grade video projector costing a whopping 100K Euros. Its exact capability is 4096 x 2160 (roughly equivalent to 8.8MP) and it is using three LCOS chips to achieve this.
Here are its connectivity options at the rear.
Though not really a new product, this all-in-one PC design from Sony is not widely seen. The entire system is right behind the LCD screen and is very petite too. The only items needed are the mouse and keyboard. Kind of like the iMac systems these days. Specs: 19-inch WSXGA+ screen, Intel Core 2 Duo T5600, Intel 945PM platform and 2GB of DDR2 memory.
Looks like MO media is still going strong in the Europe as Sony's showcase shows.
Thermaltake's Booth
More Stuff from Thermaltake
Thermaltake's Lan Box VF is slightly larger than a typical SFF but this allows you to use standard parts off the shelf like a Micro ATX motherboard and other components.
A lighter, boxier and less elegant version of the VF variant above is this Lan Box Lite chassis.
Thermaltake's BigWater 760Li is a dual 5.25-inch bay height self-contained water-cooling system.
Thermaltake's new liquid cooling system's (LCS) monitoring unit works in conjunction with the provided software to relay key information in a friendly GUI.
Here's how the monitoring interface looks like and its various features.
The Flow TX is in its second incarnation now and is equipped with a temperature sensor.
These aren't normal VGA cooler, but are actually VGA water blocks with an active fan to quicken the heat removal process. There's a model to fit almost every graphics card type since the GeForce 6 days.
Tyan's Booth
Over at Tyan's booth, we chanced upon some of their most recently released server products and those coming up in the next month.
This is the Tyan Thunder n3600M motherboard built around the nForce Professional 3600 MCP with 16 DDR2 DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB of registered DDR2-667 memory. It has two PCIe x16 slots (x8 links), three PCI-X slots and a single PCI slot. The storage subsystem is impressive with six SATA 3Gbps ports (with RAID) and eight SAS connectors also supporting RAID. Dual Gigabit LAN ports and an ATI ES1000 graphics controller (with 32MB RAM) round up the main features of this board.
This is also a dual processor board for AMD's Socket F processors, but this Thunder h2100R is based on the Serverworks HT2100 + HT1000 chipset. It has only one PCIe x16 slot, one PCI-X slot and 8 DIMM slots for 32GB of maximum memory. Even storage options have been reduced to four SATA 3Gpbs ports and four SAS connectors. However, it maintains two Gigabit LAN ports and it even features an OPMA connector for an M2 OPMA card to support KVM over IP functionality.
For high density compute power, without sacrificing rack space, Tyan has a couple of new sub-1U sized racks. In fact, two of these can fit into the space of a normal 1U chassis. This particular model is the Tank GT14 barebones server chassis utilizing an Intel 5000V platform, has six FBDIMM slots capable of supporting up to 24GB of memory, dual Gigabit LAN ports, space to house dual 2.5-inch SATA 3Gbps drives and can accommodate either one PCIe x16 expansion card or one 133MHz PCI-X slot. Comes with a 400W PSU.
This is an AMD version of the above based on the nForce Professional 3600 MCP- the Tyan Transport GT14.
Probably the most powerful AMD server board offering from Tyan, the Thunder n3600QX motherboard takes in four Socket F AMD Opteron 8000 series processors. That equates to 8 processing cores in total and when AMD's native quad-core processors arrive, that number doubles to 16 processing cores! Based on the nForce Professional 3600 chipset, the board's features include 32 DIMM slots for a total of 128GB of registered DDR2-667 memory, one PCIe x16 slot, one HTX slot, one OPMA connector, four SATA 3Gbps with RAID, eight SAS connectors with RAID, dual Gigabit Ethernet, one Infiniband port and integrates an ATI ES1000 graphics controller with 32MB memory.
The Tyan Thunder n3600QX motherboard is actually qualified to be used in a 1U chassis and Tyan's Transport GT26 does just that (with a 1KW PSU). It's quite amazing that all that computing power can be squeezed in such a slim form factor.
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