ASUS P8C WS Professional Motherboard Launched

Intel's Xeon E3 series central processing units need motherboards just like all other CPUs out there, so ASUS decided it was time for its labs to spawn another platform. 

The motherboard we are looking at here is called P8C WS, uses the LGA 1155 socket and the brand-new chipset C216. The WS in the name stands for “workstation,” making it clear that this item isn't something that consumers should be interested in. Of course, in addition to Xeon E3 CPUs, 32nm and 22nm Core i3 processors are compatible with the mainboard, from both the second and third generations. There are two PCI Express Gen 3.0 x16 slots (dual x8 mode), for graphics cards, alongside two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots, a PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot and a normal PCI slot. 

Moving on, storage space can be added to a desktop via HDDs and/or SSDs featuring SATA II interface support (four ports, blue) and SATA III 6.0 Gbps (two ports, grey). ASUS could have raised the number by implementing some third-party SATA controllers, but decided against it. All other ports and pin headers are present and accounted for though. Not counting the rear I/O panel, it is possible to establish one USB 3.0 connection, three USB 2.0 links (two internal ports, one pin header set) and a FireWire connection. Serial / parallel pins and a TPM module exist as well. And now we finally reach the issue of connectivity and I/O options usable via the back of the mainboard. 

Two Gigabit LAN controllers enable dual-Ethernet support. ASUS also went for FireWire, six USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0, 7.1 channel audio (with optical and coaxial S/PDIF out), a PS/2 port and a dual-link DVI output (displayport is unavailable for some reason). No triple-display setups possible here. ASUS will supposedly sell the PC8 WS for around $240, or 187 Euro according to exchange rates. The European price is more likely to hover around 220 Euro, but we'll have to wait for listings to be sure.

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