Computex 2008 - Part 1
It's that time of the year again, when the IT vendors flock to Taipei for the annual mega trade show that is Computex. This year, the show has increased in scale, with a new exhibition venue opening up for manufacturers to show their products. Join us as we take a whirlwind tour of this year's exhibits.
Computex 2008: Bigger Than Ever
Computex has never been bigger, with this year's show spilling over to a new venue, the Nangang Exhibition Hall. With up to 1725 exhibitors from 27 countries, this represents an increase of 27% in the number of exhibitors. This just means more fodder for us as we cover the ground to bring you the latest upcoming products from the industry's movers and shakers. Watch this space as this part is the first of many from www.hardwarezone.com, with the best from Computex 2008.
The start of Computex 2008.
abit's Booth
Motherboards have been abit's strong suit and unsurprisingly, the booth was all about that, with the latest chipsets for both AMD and Intel processors.
The first abit's P45 motherboards that we saw is the IP45-MAX, which has four DDR3 DIMM slots (1600/1333MHz). The rest of the specifications look typical for a P45 board, with abit including only one Gigabit Ethernet unlike some other vendors. abit does include its own patented uGuru and Silent OTES technology. However, there is no exotic cooling solution for the board besides the now common heat pipe based cooler.
Similar to the MAX except for its use of DDR2 instead of DDR3 memory, the IP45 Pro has a more appealing color scheme in our opinion. The feature set remains however.
Eschewing the Silent OTES and heat pipes on the MAX or Pro, this is the basic P45 model from abit. There's no uGuru either and the DDR2 memory support is 1066/800 and not 1200/1066 like on the Pro.
While it has been available already, let's not forget the X48 chipsets amidst all the P45/43 releases. Here's abit's IX48-MAX, which supports up to 4 DIMM of DDR3 1600 memory and has 2 PCIe x 16 Gen 2 slots but no CrossFireX (no dual x8). It does have abit's proprietary uGuru and OTES technologies.
The abit IP43 Pro has the associated abit technologies but since it's based on Intel's P43 and ICH10 chipsets, there's no RAID functionality. Only one PCIe x 16 is also found instead of two.
Remove the abit technologies and degrade the DDR2 memory support to 1066/800 from the IP43 Pro and you'll get the base model, IP43. See the trend here?
abit Continued
Not forgetting the AMD processors, this is a demonstration of Hybrid SLI technology working with the GeForce 8200 integrated graphics chipset on this NVIDIA GeForce 8200 board.
The actual abit AN78GS is an AM2+ board that supports up to 4 DIMM (DDR2 1066/800/667), 6 SATA 3.0 devices and thanks to its integrated GeForce 8 graphics, has PureVideo HD. There's also a HDMI, DVI and analog sub output to go with its 7.1 channel HD audio.
Even abit is thinking of going into the Mobile Internet Device segment with this early design here at Computex. Only details we know at this moment is that it will use an Intel Centrino Atom of 800MHz or less, have 512MB of SDRAM and a SSD soldiered onto the motherboard of varying capacities (2 - 8GB). It also has a 4.8-inch touchscreen and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. WiMax is also possible with an add-on card.
Albatron's Booth
Albatron was showing off a Car PC at its booth but since that's more of a concept item, we quickly got down to its main offerings: motherboards.
Albatron's PX48 motherboards obviously combines Intel's X48 chipset with ICH9R Southbridge. This is a DDR2 version, supporting up to DDR2-800 only officially. It has two PCIe x 16 Gen 2 lanes for CrossFireX, six SATA 3.0 channels and uses a Realtek HD audio CODEC.
Albatron's P45 board, the PXP45 apparently only supports up to DDR2-800 and a FSB of up to 1333MHz. It does have dual x8 CrossFireX for its two PCIe x 16 Gen 2 slots while the other aspects like audio and Gigabit Ethernet are rather standard. The lack of any heavy duty cooling points to its mainstream focus.
Arctic Cooling's Booth
Arctic Cooling does more than just coolers and heatsinks nowadays and the vendor has a substantial booth at Computex showcasing its coolers, chassis and even PSUs.
Arctic Cooling has put together a demo system most of its products to show their effectiveness in enabling an impressive overclock of both the CPU and the dual GeForce 9800 GTX in SLI.
The chassis itself, the Silentium T Eco 80 splits the various heat producing components into separate 'compartments'. While the concept not exactly revolutionary, Arctic Cooling did juggle the placement of the components, such that the PSU is found at the lower front of the chassis unlike the ATX standard.
The Accelero Xtreme uses fluid dynamic bearing and is made for the highest end and warmest graphics cards in the market now, compatible with the GeForce 9800 GTX and all variants of the GeForce 8800 series using the G80 core. For the ATI side, it also fits the Radeon HD 2900 XT. What it claims to have over the reference cooler (besides having two more fans) is a lower temperature of 20 � 29 degrees Celsius. The noise level is also comparable to the reference, with the Xtreme about 0.1 Sone more.
Rated at a 160W maximum cooling capacity, the Freezer Xtreme is compatible with both AMD and Intel CPUs. With a PWM controlled fan speed of 800 � 1500RPM, this cooler fares better than the stock in both heat dissipation and noise.
More Arctic Cooling
There's quite a few models in the Silentium T Eco 80 series of chassis if you're intrigued by its design. Consumers can choose from their range of exterior designs, though the internals are similar, with its unique thermodynamic design and tool-free installation.
One of Arctic Cooling's upcoming products is the Fusion 550W PSU, which is certfiied 80 PLUS with a power efficiency of 86%. At 550W, it's suitable for the mid-range to lower high-end systems.
According to Arctic Cooling, the 80mm fan that seems to be outside the PSU enclosure has a patented vibration absorption feature that ensures its silent operation even at full load. While it does look to have the credentials for quiet and efficient performance, cable management is lacking, which hopefully can be dealt with in a future, higher end model.
A notebook cooler with adjustable fan speeds ranging from 1200 to 2000RPM, the Arctic NC has two quiet 60mm fans doing the work of drawing in cool air from the back to the front. It weighs 250g, which is not heavy enough to be a burden to users. And it actually comes with four USB ports, thereby expanding the ports on a notebook.
Those who overclock their memory modules may opt for Arctic Cooling's RAM coolers, which increase the surface area for heat dissipation. And if that's insufficient, the two 60mm fans in the Turbo version are quiet and effective in stretching your memory overclocking limits.
Foxconn's Booth
Overclocking is Foxconn's big draw this year at Computex as evident from its booth. Here's a demonstration of extreme overclocking with Foxconn's BlackOps X48 motherboard as the star and overseen by a team of international experts assembled by Foxconn for this event.
Overclocking is Foxconn's big draw this year at Computex as evident from its booth. Here's a demonstration of extreme overclocking with Foxconn's BlackOps X48 motherboard as the star and overseen by a team of international experts assembled by Foxconn for this event.
The BlackOps motherboard is part of Foxconn's Quantum Force series of boards which are designed for extreme overclocking. This is a X48 + ICH9R board with a FSB capable of 2000MHz (OC) and supporting up to 8GB DDR3 1600MHz. Foxconn has also added a SONAR high definition audio daughter card for minimal interference and best signal quality.
Another Quantum Force board, the Avenger is the P45 + ICH10R version, with all the features that you can expect from this chipset. Like the BlackOps, Foxconn has upped the FSB to 2000MHz for OC and thrown in the SONAR audio card. The cooling system for this board however is more normal looking at least, with no excessive heatsinks visible.
The SLI equivalent of the BlackOps (with the liquid cooling option), the Avenger is based on NVIDIA's nForce 790i Ultra SLI and is capable of a maximum FSB of 1600MHz. DDR3 memory is supported up to 2000MHz, while there are three Gen 2 PCIe x 16 slots and 6 SATA 3.0 ports along with 2 eSATA ports. No daughter card is included this time but there's the standard HD Audio.
Those with an AMD processor have only one Quantum Force board to choose from, the Destroyer, which is based on NVIDIA's nForce 780a SLI. With 4 DIMM DDR2 slots supporting up to 1066MHz and with onboard GeForce graphics with PureVideo HD, this motherboard is suitable for the new Phenom CPUs along with other AM2 processors. There are four PCIe x 16 slots, with 3-way SLI support. The protruding heatsink near the IDE connector seems like it would get in the way, though with 6 SATA 3.0 ports, it may not be used much.
Targeted at those interested in digital entertainment rather than overclocking performance, Foxconn has its DigitaLife series of boards, which includes this upcoming Concerto motherboard, based on the G45 + ICH10R. With a decent OC FSB of 1600MHz and dual DDR3 memory support of 1600MHz (OC), it should be enough for users in this segment. The integrated Intel GMA X4500HD is there to provide HD video playback and Foxconn has complemented this with HD Audio with DTS Connect and Dolby Digital Live.
If you prefer to use a discrete graphics solution, then the Foxconn Ela (P45 + ICH10R) is for you. The features including its audio capabilities are similar to the Concerto but there's an extra PCIe x 16 slot for the lack of integrated graphics.
AMD CPUs too gets their own DigitaLife in the form of an AMD790FX + SB750 chipset. This board supports the latest AM2/AM2+ processors and DDR2 memory of up to 1066MHz. There's also four PCIe x 16 Gen 2 slots and up to 6 SATA 3.0 ports with RAID. The audio specifications are also similar to the other DigitaLife boards.
Foxconn's Booth Continued
Coming soon from Foxconn is its mainstream P45 board, known as the P45A-S. This seems to be the standard P45 + ICH10R board with all the expected features and a modest cooling solution.
With no RAID functionality, Foxconn's P43A-S is the standard issue board supporting 45nm Intel processors, 1600MHz FSB, DDR2-1066 and two PCIe x 16 slots.
Another upcoming board is Foxconn's G45MG, the 'G' at the end maning it's part of the company's Green series. This includes features like power savings technology and greater energy efficiency than the usual models that purports to provide energy savings for all situations. The board itself is a standard G45 chipset with ICH10R Southbridge and supporting DDR3 1333/1066/800MHz.
AMD's 780G chipset is matched with SB700 on this Foxconn A7GMX-S. Targeted at mainstream consumers, it has a decent integrated graphics (Radeon 3200) and supports DDR2-1066 memory. It also has 4 SATA 3.0 ports with RAID and Gigabit Ethernet. And as you can see by now, this is a microATX board.
This is Foxconn's 1GB GeForce 9600 GT with a non-standard cooler. Every vendor is pumping up the memory buffer on their graphics cards in order to show that they are doing something other than waiting for the release dates for the next-gen graphics from both ATI and NVIDIA.
Besides boosting the memory, Foxconn also has the inevitable OC version and this black, two-slot card is the result, with clocks at 700/2000MHz.
At 780MHz for its core and 2360MHz DDR for the memory, Foxconn arguably has the fastest GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB we have seen.
Foxconn also has these handsome chassis at its booth, looking rather like those used by system integrators and OEMs.
There are even HTPC microATX casings, though like its other chassis, they are more functional looking rather than flashy or glamorous.
Intel's Booth
As one would expect from an industry leader, Intel has an impressive presence at Computex, with showcases for its latest technologies, like the much discussed Atom, WiMax and of course, the mainstream P45/43 and G45/43 chipsets.
Showing off the many motherboards from vendors using Intel's latest 4-series chipsets.
In plain sight are motherboards based on Intel's upcoming X58 chipset that support the new Nehalem processor. Here is the abit IX58-MAX.
Running Assassin's Creed on a next-gen system (read: Nehalem) from Intel. What it conveniently does not mention of course is the graphics card powering the game.
The Nehalem compatible socket, the LGA 1366 close up.
Intel's reference X58 board.
ASUS' Nehalem board - T6T-VC1.
Foxconn's Nehalem board - Renaissance.
Gigabyte's Nehalem board - GA-36S-Extreme.
Mitac's Nehalem board - XE10TX.
MSI's Tylersburg Diamond is its next generation motherboard.
Nehalem server motherboards look to be ready too, from this wall of boards, similar to the one with the X58 boards.
Intel's Atom Showcase
Heavily promoted by Intel, the Atom processor is meant for low powered portable devices and have been adopted by vendors for this new category of nettops and netbooks.
A slim PC using an Atom processor from Lenovo. The Nettop concept seems to be alive and kicking.
MSI's version, the Wind PC.
A more exotic implementation of the Nettop platform. The small form factor and relatively low power consumption make such devices possible.
Of course, the Atom is most likely to be found in these highly portable netbooks rather than in the desktop PC bound versions.
Coming in all designs and colors, there are almost ten models on display at Intel's netbooks section, all using the Atom processor naturally.
The delay of Intel's Centrino 2 platform has not prevented the processor giant from showing off the number of models equipped with Penryn processors.
Another demonstration of Intel's Cliffside technology, first shown at IDF this year, which turns a Wi-Fi adapter into two, both working at the same time. At the booth, a picture was uploaded directly to the notebook from a digital camera through Wi-Fi.
Intel's WiMAX demonstration at Nangang Exhibition Hall consisted of a Segway mounted with a webcam and PC, transmitting video and data to the Internet thru the WiMAX network while on the go around Computex;s exhibition halls. This Internet feed is then transmitted to partner booths and locations like this notebook here.
Shuttle's Booth
What developments can we expect from barebones, SFF innovator Shuttle at Computex?
It seems that Shuttle is doing touchscreen in a big way with the D10, a home entertainment media center PC with a 7-inch touchscreen. In this case, Shuttle is using the surveillance capabilities of this screen for purposes like internet monitoring. However, we are more excited about the media center elements of this screen, with a virtual keyboard possible on this screen. This new Shuttle can be powered by a Core 2 Duo CPU on Intel's G31 + ICH7 chipset. The integrated GMA X3100 graphics and the lack of HDMI output however can be a major stumbling block.
Another Shuttle idea to glam up the SFF is the K48, which is intended to be a low powered and quiet PC for office and home use. With its Intel 945GC + ICH7 chipset, it's not the most powerful of systems, but requires only a 100W PSU. Obviously, quiet and low power consumption are the objectives here, along with the fancy display of course.
Going one step further from the K48 is the K58, which uses an Atom processor (1.6GHz) to save even more energy. The rest of the specifications is similar to the K48, with DDR2-667 support and GMA950.
Shuttle has always been quick to update their chipsets to the latest and as expected, they have a G45 based solution on show. The Shuttle SG45H7 uses the G45 + ICH10 and has the new integrated X4500HD graphics from Intel. With HDMI output, this could be a decent HTPC for HD content.
The AMD side of the equation is addressed by the Shuttle SN78H7. Using the same chassis as the G45 version, this new model goes for NVIDIA GeForce 8200 chipset instead and supports AM2+ CPUs. It can take up to 2 x DDR2-1066 and has 8 channel HD audio along with its GeForce 8200 integrated graphics.
Another Atom implementation, the Shuttle X27 is similar to the K58 but with a very portable, slim chassis and with a 60W external power adapter. Like the K58, it uses the 945GC/ICH7 chipset.
Zalman's Booth
Peripherals are Zalman's mainstay and the Korean vendor continues to focus on its core products at Computex 2008.
Zalman has been pushing its Trimon 3D displays which uses NVIDIA's GeForce 3D Stereo technology. We can say personally that games can look extremely realistic and alive using it and with up to 100 games supporting this technology, it's not as faddish as you may think.
Zalman's GS1000 full tower chassis supports up to the Extended ATX form factor and is constructed using aluminum/steel. This 14.4kg, solid chassis can support up to 4 external 5.25-inch drive bays and up to 6 3.5-inch drives.
Plenty of space inside the chassis. It also looks to be a mostly tool-free, cable management friendly model, with the PSU isolated at the bottom due to thermal reasons.
Zalman's strength lies in its cooler and the pure copper CNPS9900 is optimized for maximum cooling efficiency, with 4 heatpipes, a PWM controlled 120mm fan (900 - 1800RPM) and compatible with both AMD and Intel CPUs.
Zalman's 80 PLUS certified PSUs are worth a look, especially if you need a decently high-end model. Rated at 87% maximum efficiency and SLI/CrossFire ready, this series of PSUs have quiet 140mm fans and four independent +12V rails. Finally, we really like modular cables like those found here.
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.