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Asus E3 Pro Gaming V5 is a Xeon motherboard aimed at gamers

by Mark Tyson on 21 December 2015, 11:01

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacw66

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ASUS has launched a new gaming motherboard that allows users to pick from the latest server-class Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5 processors or consumer 6th gen Intel Core/Pentium/Celeron processors which use the LGA1151 socket. This ATX motherboard is based upon the Intel C232 Express chipset with the usual ASUS Gaming enhancements ladled on top. The ASUS E3 Pro Gaming V5 is available immediately in the UK, priced at £118.10.

Why has ASUS decided to design and market such a motherboard? In an email to HEXUS we were told that this Intel C232 chipset board will provide gamers an improved price-to-performance ratio. For example an Intel Xeon E3 v5 CPU can offer Core i7-class performance for Core i5-class pricing, said ASUS. There are also some shortages evident in Intel's consumer Skylake i7 range.

ASUS bullet points the following E3 Pro Gaming V5 motherboard highlights:

  • LGA1151 socket for Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5 processors and 6th-genereation Core, Pentium and Celeron processors
  • Dual-channel DDR4 2133 support
  • SupremeFX: Flawless audio that makes you part of the game
  • Sonic Radar ll: Scan and detect your enemies to dominate
  • Intel Gigabit Ethernet, LANGuard and GameFirst technology: Top-speed protected networking
  • RAMCache: Speed up your game loads
  • Gamer's Guardian: Highly-durable components and smart DIY features
  • USB 3.1 Type-A/C and M.2: Ultra-speedy transfers for faster gaming

In terms of basic hardware specifications users will benefit from 4x DIMM slots for max of 64GB of RAM with Intel XMP support, expansions slots including 1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 mode), 1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode), 2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1, 2 x PCI. AMD Multi GPU is supported up to quad-GPU CrossFireX.

Storage devices can be attached via 1x M.2 socket (either SATA or PCIe types) and 6x SATA 6Gbps ports, supporting various Raid configurations, are present. There's plenty of USB ports available, including a Type-C USB 3.1 port and 6x USB 3.0/2.0 ports. The built-in Gigabit LAN uses the Intel I219LM controller. ASUS has equipped SupremeFX 8-channel shielded audio with optical S/PDIF out.

There's a host of ASUS 'built to game' special features equipped, and these include; Gamer's Guardian ESD guards on LAN, Audio, keyboard, mouse and USB ports, plus durable components and DIGI+ VRM. Users also get SupremeFX audio, GameFirst networking, ASUS Ai Charger+, ASUS Fan Xpert 3, ASUS EZ DIY, ASUS Q-Design, Media Streamer and RAMCache (and more).

As mentioned in the intro, ASUS UK says the E3 Pro Gaming V5 is available immediately in the UK priced just under £120.



HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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Hmmm. Interesting idea. Any downsides though? I thought Xeon's would be more optimised for server work (different caching algorithms etc) than gaming although I guess they've still got to be better than a regular i5?
Usually xeons on the desktop boards are the same as the i5/i7 with support for ecc memory and slightly different clockspeeds. Some come without a gpu which considering most users will add one makes no difference.

There may be limitations on things like overclocking, haswell ones ‘can’t' overclock but I'm not sure over skylake, if they can overclock I can see the logic in picking a xeon up.
You used to be able to use Haswell Xeons with consumer chipset motherboards like the Z97 chipset, but Intel stopped that with the recent Skylake Xeons, apparently. So you now have to use server chipset motherboards like the C232. Skylake Xeons like the E3-1245 V5 (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-xeon-e3-1245-v5-s-1151-skylake-quad-core-35ghz-39ghz-turbo-8mb-350mhz-gpu-35x-ratio-80w-cpu-re) offer four cores / eight threads like the i7 6700, while costing only Ā£20 or so more than the i5 6600. They aren't multiplyer unlocked though like K series chips, but might still be overclockable by increasing the bus speeds, and lack a GPU.
Thanks for the info. Figured there was more to a xeon than price and ECC support but apparently not. Wonder if I should be looking to replace my 3570k with a xeon to get 8 core performance then?
cheesemp
Thanks for the info. Figured there was more to a xeon than price and ECC support but apparently not. Wonder if I should be looking to replace my 3570k with a xeon to get 8 core performance then?

I have a 3570k myself, overclocked to 4.4Ghz. What do you use your PC for? If you're mostly gaming, I'd save your money for the moment, there really aren't many games out which can take advantage of 8 threads; given the lower clock frequency of the a Xeon like the E3-1245 V5, you might actually get slightly lower performance. If you're editing or transcoding video though, going from a 4 thread to an 8 thread cpu might make some sense.