We’re constructing an Intel Xeon W-3400 collection system for an upcoming article/ video. Within the meantime, we thought our readers would possibly like a have a look at the motherboard, the ASUS Professional WS W790E SAGE SE. This motherboard is giant and has a ton of options onboard so we thought it was value a fast characteristic.
ASUS Professional WS W790E SAGE SE Overview
It is a giant motherboard. One of many challenges we had planning our construct was clearance. The motherboard is 30.5 x 33cm or 12″ x 13″. That’s not the most important board now we have seen, however not each case on the market helps SSI EEB type issue motherboards.
The LGA4677 socket on this motherboard is primarily destined to host the Intel Xeon W-3400 collection. The board, nonetheless, comes with the service for the Xeon W-2400 as properly. We expect that the majority of us will use the Xeon W-3400 collection with a $1200+ motherboard, however at the very least that’s an possibility.
On the reminiscence facet, we get DDR5-4800 assist (on most SKUs.) These programs assist as much as 8-channel DDR5 ECC RDIMMs and even overclocked XMP RDIMMs. The one caveat is that it is a 1DPC not 2DPC as has change into normal on workstations.
There are seven PCIe Gen5 x16 slots. Certainly one of these runs at x8 speeds and the remainder at x16 when a Xeon W-3400 collection is put in. When a W-2400 is put in, then there are solely 4 PCIe Gen5 x16’s lively. We defined a bit about how Intel is making the completely different variations from its Sapphire Rapids base platforms in our New Workstation Kingpins Intel Xeon W-3400 Xeon W-2400 and W790 Launch piece.
One can see the remoted Realtek audio in addition to the ASPEED AST2600 BMC subsequent to the PCIe slots.
By far, the strangest a part of this method is the M.2 WiFi slot. It’s in the course of the board, however it’s empty. It’s <$25 so as to add WiFi 6E to the platform after the very fact, however it simply appears like on a $1200+ workstation motherboard this must be normal.
The onboard M.2 slots have two to the CPU and one to the W790 chipset. There are nonetheless 8x SATA III ports and two SlimSAS ports (PCIe Gen4 x4) for storage, however we count on these M.2 slots for use typically.
Listed below are the places of the M.2 SSD slots with the covers eliminated. ASUS is utilizing its tool-less M.2 SSD retention mechanism which is nice.
The subsequent ultra-fun half is that this method has not one, however two units of ATX 24-pin and twin 8-pin CPU connectors for people who want extra energy. The covers are on the second set right here within the photograph under.
Rear I/O is plentiful. There are eight USB ports. Two are USB 2.0 Sort A. One is a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Sort-C. There are 5 USB 3.2 Gen2 ports with 4 Sort-A and one Sort-C. There are 5 audio jacks, one optical S/PDIF out, and ASUS BIOS FlashBack and clear CMOS buttons.
Major networking is offered by an Intel X710 twin 10Gbase-T community controller. Since now we have the ASPEED AST2600 for administration, we even have the VGA port and 1GbE administration port. This workstation motherboard has a server administration interface.
The again of the motherboard has covers throughout lots of the parts. We aren’t positive why the duvet doesn’t span the complete motherboard, however it is a step in the suitable course. GPUs with backplates are a lot simpler to deal with so it could be nice to see on motherboards as properly.
It is a motherboard designed for high-end programs.
ASUS Professional WS W790E SAGE SE Intel Xeon W-3400 vs W-2400 Block Diagrams
One thing notable right here is that as a result of the Intel Xeon W-3400 and W-2400 have completely different PCIe and reminiscence characteristic units, the connectivity of the platform just isn’t the identical. Here’s a have a look at the ASUS motherboard block diagram with the Intel Xeon W-3400 collection put in:
Right here is identical platform block diagram with a Xeon W-2400 collection CPU:
Though it is a pricey platform, one can get a decrease core rely Xeon w3-2423/ w3-2425 $500-600 CPUs, put them in right here, and nonetheless get 64 lanes of PCIe Gen5 plus the PCH. That may be a large quantity of PCIe bandwidth within the $1800 value vary for CPU plus motherboard (with onboard Intel X710 10Gbase-T.)
Ultimate Phrases
There’s a lot occurring with the ASUS Professional WS W790E SAGE SE. It has taken a while to get this built-in right into a platform together with altering coolers, chassis, energy provides, and extra. That put the construct article/ video a bit not on time, however we’re planning for it to go-live later this month. Within the meantime, we needed to indicate our readers the platform in a bit extra element as a result of we all know now we have readers in search of PCIe bandwidth.
