X-bit labs

X-bit Labs CeBIT Hannover 2004 Coverage: Part 2 (page 2)

Category: Editorial

by Anton Shilov

[ 03/22/2004 | 11:01 PM ]

ASUS: Introducing the DigiMatrix II

As I noted yesterday, ASUSTeK has loads of hardware in its booth: mainboards, graphics cards, barebones, notebooks, cell phones, PDAs and even servers.

The most interesting mainboards are probably those based on Intel’s Grantsdale (i915P, i915G) chipset series. To address practically all end-users and OEMs, ASUS plans to offer different kinds of mainboards based on the upcoming core-logic from Intel: with DDR2 or DDR support, and even with Socket 478 for better flexibility in compatibility with available CPUs right after the release and in future. All those mainboards will still have PCI Express x16 slot for graphics cards – no AGP support at all.

Platforms for AMD’s new PGA939 processors are also presented, but not widely, the only solution I noticed is based on VIA K8T800 Pro, not nForce3 or KT890. This is not a big disadvantage as at initial stages of the launch there will not be a lot of AMD64 processors for Socket 939 to put it midly

ASUS intends to begin shipping Socket T mainboards sometime in May, as it is awaiting for Intel to unveil the final specifications and chipset revisions. VIA PT890-based mainboards probably have a chance to emerge a little bit earlier.

NVIDIA nForce3 250 and nForce3 250Gb are still not quite ready to go, according to ASUS. The company’s final platforms based on these two chipsets will also be available sometime towards May, certainly not now, as some sources close to NVIDIA claimed in regards of some other mainboards.

Despite of indisputable interest of ASUSTeK’s mainboards, there is a thing that impresses even more in ASUS booth at CeBIT 2004. I am talking about the DigiMatrix II – the successor of the well-known DigiMatrix – a PC-based device that can serve both as computer and like a consumer electronics appliance.

  

The DigiMatrix II is based on the RADEON 9100 IGP chipset and is also expected to support Intel Pentium 4 or Celeron processors for Socket 478. Unlike the original DigiMatrix, the upcoming DigiMatrix II (or DigiMatrix 2?) is quite large so to match living room’s devices both by size and by style. The device has loads of connectors, some are needed out now, others are for some future needs. The personal computer is also not really prepared for commercial launch, but will definitely be available sometime in summer.

Initially ASUS plans to ship both DigiMatrix and DigiMatrix II, but at some point the former will be totally replaced by the latter. ASUS pins a lot of hopes on its second version of the DigiMatrix, even though even the first version is quite good.

One more thing for the living room is… ASUS M6000NE notebook! Created keeping in mind design of consumer electronics devices, this trendy laptop is especially suitable for various living room activities like DVD or CD playback, TV watching (it is equipped with TV-tuner) and so on. Surely, this Intel Centrino notebook is also capable of playing games, including the latest DirectX 9 titles, thanks to the Mobility RADEON 9600 PRO/RADEON 9700 graphics chip, as well as perform typical activities of a PC.