Hello there!

I was wondering about the ASUS P8B WS Motherboard based on the C206 chipset.

And the reason for this is that since the 3000 and P3000 Integrated Graphics that comes within some of the LGA 1155 E3 class Xeon processors and the i7 2600 Sandy Bridges is totally useless for our line of work. The situation is as follows:

The XEON E3 line of processors have some models without the P3000 which are quite cheaper. for example, the E3-1275 is a 3,4 Ghz processor w/ P3000 for around $350. On the other hand, there is the E3-1240, a 3,3 Ghz CPU WITHOUT integrated graphics for $264. Both have 4 cores, 8 threads and 8MB of cache, which makes them comparable to a Sandy Bridge Desktop model like the i7-2600.

After checking out all the problems that both the P67 and Z68 chipsets for Sandy Bridge CPU’s are having when they get overclocked, I find that It may be wiser to be safe on the path with the C206 chipset keeping in mind that Overclocking is out of the question due to stability issues. While taking advantage of a perfectly capable Sandy Bridge Xeon that lacks integrated graphics which we don’t ever need, runs cooler and consumes less power while being close to 25% cheaper.

In essence, the situation with the Sandy Bridge i7 line is that they all have integrated graphics, can overclock but with random issues, are more expensive, power hungry and hotter. While the Server/Workstation class Xeon E3 line have multiple choices from which you can select non integrated graphics, offer extra stability when paired with ECC memory, run cooler, cheaper and have no issues with overclocking (given you find the way to do so).

At present, only ASUS has a C206 Motherboard for the street market. It’s an ATX form factor unit with 4 X 2.0 PCIe, which makes it ideal for Tesla setups and most important, it has the ability to accept both ECC and non-ECC memory. There are big names out there that offer Workstations with C206 uATX MoBo’s which I wish were available on the street market for those DIY’s that rather assemble smaller towers and don’t need all those PCIe slots.

I’d like to know what you think about setting up a Xeon based Sandy Bridge for our line of work.. Or better then, if you have one that happens to be paired with a C206 motherboard like the ASUS P8B WS, please share your experience to set an ideal entry level workstation which would be cooler, more stable and perfectly capable of keeping up with intense work loads.

Thanks in advance..