Today, we managed to get some information on the next two additions to Asus’ Republic Of Gamers motherboard line-up.
The next two boards added to the company’s high-end motherboard line-up will be based on Intel’s upcoming Bearlake chipset and will follow one another in quick succession.
Bearlake supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory modules, and that could potentially pose problems for many enthusiasts if motherboard manufacturers only opt to support DDR3 on their new boards. We have witnessed the problems before with the transition from DDR to DDR2, where most Intel motherboards only supported DDR2 modules. This was a problem for enthusiasts, as it meant spending more money in order to get hold of the latest kit.
Thankfully, Asus is going to address this problem with its next Republic Of Gamers board(s) that is currently codenamed ‘Sauternes’. There will be two iterations of the board: one with DDR2 memory slots, and one with DDR3 memory slots. As far as we’re aware, the board is in the early stages of development and the layout isn’t quite finalised yet.
It will support CrossFire with two dual PCI-Express x16 slots and four PCI slots (at the moment). In addition, there will also be some interesting heatpipe technology used on the board. From what we can see in the rather confined spaces where we saw the board, the heatpipe cooling the PWMs along the top of the board actually wrap underneath the PCB and attach to a metal plate on the underside. It looks like an interesting idea, and we can’t wait to see how this works in practice.
Given that Bearlake isn’t due until later this year, don’t expect to see Sauternes anytime soon. It’s good to see that Asus is working on the next board already though, and we’ll bring you more information as and when we get it.
We'll leave you with some pictures and you can discuss the board(s) in
our forums.
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