Computex 2014: The ASUS Booth Tour
by Ian Cutress on June 11, 2014 11:45 AM ESTEducation and Business
One element of ASUS’ business that we as consumers tend not to realize is the business-to-business aspect. These are corporate clients interested in an ASUS solution to their IT infrastructure. On show were two sides of the same coin – the models geared towards education (typically lower performance parts but backed up by security) and business models that require higher performance or specific functionality.
Education based PCs have to be able to allow multiple users to interact and sign-in, and are often controlled by a single machine in the IT supervisors office. The model that caught my attention was a unit based on Bay Trail-D, the quad-core Celeron J1900:
The VESA mount it straight design is a stark difference to the big desktops back when I was in high school, suggesting the student can focus more on what is on the screen rather than a wide range of noises coming from the box underneath the desk.
As mentioned, another element is security, such as students attaching unauthorized devices, or teachers needing to disable the workstations in the classroom in order to get attention. ASUS software for this from a central terminal was on display, but also for the more digital signage aspect (moving into business), there is per-unit software too:
One unit on the business side caught my attention essentially because the CPU it listed (i7-4785T) is a Haswell refresh version of a 35W CPU that is not on sale to the public. It was housed in a small chassis capable of add-ons such as an ODD:
The left hand side of this 1-liter unit contains the whole system (which can be VESA mounted) whereas the modular nature means that the business can add in other components such as ODD and storage to the devices that need it.
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457R4LDR34DKN07 - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
Are you sure the MPCIE combo IV is PCIE 3.0? JJ from ASUS told me it was PCIE 2.0.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
I'm double checking for you. I was under the impression that it was only PCIe 2.0 by virtue of a lack of PCIe 3.0 drives but still PCIe 3.0 capable due to CPU lanes rather than PCH lanes. I'm sure I asked this question during my tour; I either remembered what I hoped, or what I heard, given the whirlwind of meetings that week. I'll update when I get an answer back.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
I got a response: PCIe version not yet confirmed. Device is due out Q3, and they have time to choose either way. If you have a preference, note it here: I'm sure ASUS will be looking.PCIe 3.0 x4 will reduce the main GPU slot to PCIe 3.0 x8, but in my testing at 1080p gaming, frame rates drop less than 1%.
PCIe 2.0 x4 will give a full 16 lanes to the GPU, but might restrict some of the lane allocations for extra functionality. This effect is lessened by using a mITX board because there is less space for the extra functionality so the designers are restricted in what they can do.
457R4LDR34DKN07 - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
I don't have a preference as I have a z77 and not compelled to upgrade until broadwell or beyond. If I was ASUS I would stick to PCIE 2.0 because: A) No current M.2 drives with gen3 B) PCIE 16X 3.0 might be more important in future video cards and is a more likely upgrade for a gaming motherboard.k4z3t5ub4k1 - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
Awesome, thanks for taking the time to ask. IMO, on the Mini-ITX boards, I am hoping that the combo card is 4x PCIe 3.0 from the CPU. Since the Mobo only has one PCIe slot for graphics, thus SLI or Crossfire is not even an option, PCIe 8x is more than enough so satisfy the requirement of even a top end GPU. I would rather lose the 1% FPS going from 16x to 8x and gain the added storage speed that can be brought with M.2 over 4x PCIe 3.0.Freakie - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
I would vote for PCIe 3.0. Waiting for drives to catch up is better than waiting for drives to be the ones that start. The faster the rest of the ecosystem is ready for a new technology, the faster we get the new technology. It would be nice if they could implement a BIOS feature to switch it from 2.0 to 3.0 (not sure if that is even possible) so that way we have the flexibility to upgrade in the future, or customize our current setup by deciding if we want to give the mPCIe device 3.0 bandwidth and sacrifice slight GPU performance, or give the device 2.0 bandwidth and keep the performance.In the end, I think SSD's need more attention than GPU's right now.
dgingeri - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
I saw my MB up there in the Server section. The Z97-WS is a really nice board, but I have already had trouble with it. The DIMM slots 3 and 4 died on me after 10 days.I understand that issues like this do come up once in a while. (I'm the admin of a server software test lab. As reliable as server hardware is, I still have about a quarter of my time taken up replacing defective parts.) Still, Asus's support system is a bit lacking when things do go bad. I started this ticket last Thursday, and they still haven't shipped my replacement board. The hoops I had to jump through took me until yesterday to get done, and they say they'll ship it within 48 hours. It looks like I probably won't have a replacement in time for the weekend. This has discouraged me from buying any of their server line for my employer. It just takes too long to get things swapped, specifically because their support system is flawed.
extide - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
If both slots on a single channel no longer work you may want to try removing and re-inserting the CPU... Sometimes you can have issues like that.dgingeri - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
yeah, tried that. no luck. There are a couple solder points on the back of the board at the DIMM slots that look suspect, though. That's why I went for the RMA.martixy - Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - link
I've been waiting for precisely this article.Light on the details, but in any case at least we have an update on upcoming release dates, be it from here or other coverage of Computex.