ASUS Z8 SERIES DUAL XEON MOTHERBOARDS + 2x W5580

When you talk about server boards, names like Tyan and SuperMicro come to mind, not Asus.  Asus brings up thoughts of enthusiast, overclocker boards, video cards, and other similar gadgetry, not solid workhorse boards for servers and workstations.  But with Intel blurring the lines with the Nehalem-core desktop and Xeon processors, Asus has come out with a line of workstation and server motherboards worthy of deeper examination.  In this article, we take a look at two of the new Z8 series boards from Asustek, and the top-end of the Xeon food chain, Intel's W5580.

First, let us pay attention to the little brother, the Z8NA-D6. 

Notice how Asus has this board in a flashy, yet subdued retail package.  Clearly, the image depicts the Z8NA-D6 as a workstation board.

Its claim to fame is its compact, ATX size without sacrificing features, or so we thought...

This board is so dense, you can hardly see any green from the PCB except for the restricted area around the sockets

Rear IO panel shows PS/2 ports, 2x USB ports, DB9 serial, HDB15 VGA, and 2x gigabit LAN

PCIe x16, 2x PCIe x8, PCIe x1, and a PCI 32/33

No FDD, no PATA, just 6x SATA ports

With sockets this close together, some larger HSFs would interfere with each other or board components

WHAT???  No W5580 support?  OMG!  Well looks like we cannot judge this board based on its performance.  So we can only judge it based on specs.  No way can we see its BIOS or stability...

> NEXT PAGE >