Computex 2012

As I’m sure a lot of readers here already know, Computex 2012 is going on right now in Taipei, Taiwan. Just like CES, which Overclockers.com attended, is a showcase for all kinds of technology manufacturers to show off their new wares. Sadly, we do not have a physical presence at this year’s show, but that certainly doesn’t stop the emails coming in or us looking around the web to see what cool products are coming out. So enough rambling, let’s see some of the products!

ASRock

ASRock has been getting a lot of attention lately from members, especially from their Z77 motherboard lineup. After their separation with ASUS, we are left with a quality product without a premium price. To that end, ASRock has shown off a few new Intel motherboards there such as the Z77 Extreme6/TB4,  77 Extreme9, and the one that may be of particular interest to our benchmarking team or other enthusiasts, the ASRock Z77 OC Formula (pictured below).

This motherboard was designed by a world famous overclocker, Nick Shih. As you can see the VRM area is cooled by a monster heatsink that also has ports for water cooling. Another area of interest that I would love to hear more about is the dual LED post code/debug displays as well as having + or – button adjustments on the motherboard. Looks like this could be a monster!

Asrock Z77 OC Formula (Image Courtesy of legitreviews.com)
ASRock Z77 OC Formula (Image Courtesy of legitreviews.com)

GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE is another popular manufacturer of motherboards for both Intel and AMD. Among other items they have displayed, something we thought our readers would like are the  first FM2 based motherboards based on the new AMD A85 FCH chipset. Some AMD users know the previous generations A55 FCH chipset which both support the next generation ‘Trinity’ based APU’s.

There are at least three models, the high end F2A85X-UP4 sporting a beefy VRM area and power components (8 phase VRM) along with your typical array of features (SATA3, USB3, etc).

Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4
GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4

Next is the F2A55-DS3 which is a slim ATX board. It has less power phases than the F2A85X-UP4, 2 DIMM slots, and one PCIe slot.

Gigabyte F2A55-DS3
GIGABYTE F2A55-DS3

The last FM2 based board we will mention is rounds out the bottom of this lineup. It is a mATX form factor board based off the A55 FCH chipset. All of the basics are there, just some of the bells and whistles may not be.

Gigabyte F2A55M-DS2
GIGABYTE F2A55M-DS2

(Images above Courtesy of Techpowerup.com)

To tickle the Intel crowd, GIGABYTE is showing off their flagship Z77 based motherboard, the Z77X UP7. The main feature on this unit is the massive 32 phase VRM section using new International Rectifier IR3550 VRMs (smaller size, more efficient and cheaper than previous VRM’s). This is also one of the first boards sporting their Ultra Durable 5 technology. You can also see  an integrated mSATA port, as well as your other typical goodies one would expect from a high-end board like Bluetooth, LucidMVP, and dual LAN ports.

Gigabyte Z77X-UP7
GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 (Image Courtesy of VR-zone.com)

 

ASUS

ASUS also has a booth to show of its new wares at Computex as well, some of their offerings you may (or may not) be interested like the ASUS Zeus motherboard. This little engine that could packs an X79 based board along with two, yes TWO, GPUs built in to the expansion slot (think PCIe) area. The thinking is that there are 2 Tahiti XT based (7970) GPU’s hiding under that heatsink. Each GPU appears to have its own set of memory and you can also see an 8+6pin configuration for each one. I’m not quite sure who this is marketed towards but sure looks like it has potential with all that horsepower of the X79 platform and two 7970’s(unconfirmed).

Asus Zues (1)
ASUS Zeus (Board)

Asus Zeus (Expansion slot/GPU area)
ASUS Zeus (Expansion slot/GPU area)

Asus Zeus (I/O)
ASUS Zeus (I/O)

Asus Zeus (Socket area)
ASUS Zeus (Socket area)

(Images above Courtesy of Vr-zone.com).

Next up from ASUS is what I am sure our benchmarking team will be salivating over… a ROG Matrix 7970. There is no mention of clockspeeds so far, however we do know it should contain a 20 phase digi+ VRM as well as the usual software (GPUTweak) to adjust voltages and clockspeeds. It looks to have a Direct CU II cooler on it as well as in past Matrix versions along with one button fan control and hardware based voltage tweaks.

Would anyone care to take a guess at what board its sitting on?

Asus, 7970x2
ASUS Matrix 7970

Asus 7970x2
ASUS Matrix 7970

(Images Courtesy of Techpowerup.com)

EVGA

Evga has announced one of the first entry level gaming videocards from Nvidia, the GT640. Right out of the gate EVGA is offering this card in two flavors, a single slot, and dual slot version. You  can see more detailed specs below but it comes in with 384 CUDA cores, 901 Mhz core clock, and 2GB of DDR3 vram clocked at 1782Mhz. These are actually available now at the EVGA website, both for $109.00 each. Pricing puts it around AMD 7770/7750 levels, so it will be interesting to see how those cards compare against each other.

EVGA GT240 Single slot version
EVGA GT640 Single slot version (Photo courtesy of EVGA)

EVGA GT240 Dual slot version (Photo courtesy of EVGA website below)
EVGA GT640 Dual slot version (Photo courtesy of EVGA)

 

Core Specs

  • 384 CUDA Cores
  • GPU Clock: 901 MHz
  • Bus: PCI-E 3.01
  • Texture Fill Rate: 28.8 GT/s

Memory Specs

  • Memory Detail: 2048 MB DDR3
  • Memory Bit Width: 128 Bit
  • Memory Clock: 1782 MHz
  • Memory Bandwidth: 28.5 GB/sec

PowerColor

PowerColor has brought to the table a dual GPU 7970 dubbed the PowerColor HD7970 X2 Devil 13 (according to techpowerup.com – image credits to them as well). Looking at the pictures, not only is it a technical marvel, its a physical marvel too with the PCB appearing to be longer than a reference 7970. You can count 24 memory IC’s, see the PLX chip, and what appears to be a 5+2+1 VRM configuration for each GPU.

Powercolor 7970 X2
PowerColor 7970 X2

7970 X2 (heatsink removed)
7970 X2 (heatsink removed)

Patriot

Patriot Memory also has a presence at Computex 2012. We have a press release from them regarding their new line of DDR3 memory, The Viper3. This line will come in 4 colors/tiers. Black Mamba, Venom Red, Sapphire Blue, and Jungle Green with speeds ranging from 1600Mhz to 2133Mhz and voltages starting at 1.35v. Other options include 4 or 8GB DIMMS and dual/quad channel kits.

Patriot Viper 3 (Black Mamba Pictured)
Patriot Viper 3 (Black Mamba Pictured)

Features, Lineup, and Availability Chart
Features, Lineup, and Availability Chart

G.SKILL

G.SKILL debuts the largest memory computer system at Computex 2012. It “runs a total of 96GB (8GBx 12) RipjawsZ DDR3 1600MHz kit on the latest EVGA SR-X motherboard”.

G.SKILL also showed off “the fastest memory of G.SKILL’s TridentX which achieved the amazing speed over DDR3 3000MHz CL11 16GB (4GBx4) on both ASUS Z77 MAXIMUS V FORMULA and GIGABYTE Z77A-UD5 motherboards”.

GSkill - 96GB DDR3 1600 on SR-X motherboard
GSkill - 96GB DDR3 1600 on SR-X motherboard

GSkill - DDR3 2800 @ 3002Mhz
GSkill - DDR3 2800 @ 3002Mhz

What you have seen here is just the tip of the iceberg that is Computex 2012. It looks like some very interesting products are coming down the pike from our favorite vendors. Keep a close eye out on the Front Page for potential reviews on some of the items listed.

– Joe Shields (Earthdog)

About Joe Shields 326 Articles
Joe started writing around 2010 for Overclockers.com covering the latest news and reviews that include video cards, motherboards, storage and processors. In 2018, he went ‘pro’ writing for Anandtech.com covering news and motherboards. Eventually, he landed at Tom’s Hardware where he wrote news, covered graphic card reviews, and currently writes motherboard reviews. If you can’t find him benchmarking and gathering data, Joe can be found working on his website (Overclockers.com), supporting his two kids in athletics, hanging out with his wife catching up on Game of Thrones, watching sports (Go Browns/Guardians/Cavs/Buckeyes!), or playing PUBG on PC.

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