ASUS P9X79-E WS Review: Xeon meets PLX for 7x
by Ian Cutress on January 10, 2014 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Workstation
- X79
- Prosumer
ASUS P9X79-E WS Conclusion
As mentioned in the outset of the review, workstation motherboards have not had much attention on AnandTech of late. They aim at a market almost more straightforward than the consumer market – they have to do a job, do it well, and remain stable. This is why Xeon processors and ECC memory compatibility are paramount, to go along with the extended or business oriented warranties and to be able to power mission critical systems without failure.
The market for prosumer level motherboards is a difficult one to gauge, especially in terms of numbers. ASUS have had WS models for several generations, and their competitors are certainly viewing it as a market with consistent sales – as a business customer the need for something that is powerful and stable is a path on the road to success.
ASUS have taken the standard P9X79 WS and essentially pimped it out with more of everything, as well as updating the package specifically of Intel’s Ivy Bridge-E consumer processors and Xeons. It does support ECC memory, albeit up to 64 GB is listed though it would be interesting to see 16GB ECC modules in place. One of the key features for the P9X79-E WS, and the ASUS WS range, is the level of validation testing of PCIe devices (RAID cards, GPUs, GPGPUs, sound cards, storage, and so on): while a consumer level product might have issues with a particular card, ASUS aim to make the WS series support it.
One of the main draws of the P9X79-E WS will be the numerate PCIe slots. Due to the use of PLX PCIe switches on board, these slots are wired for x16/x16/x16/x16 up to x16/x8/x8/x8/x16/x8/x8, and will accept Xeon Phi processing boards with the relevant BIOS switch activated. ASUS have only placed one 6-pin PCIe VGA power connector on board, which may not be enough for a potential total 525W power draw through these 7 slots (75W per slot). In order to help diagnose this, the Dr. Power circuitry added on board (with software in Windows) is designed to help should the power supply or motherboard be pushed for power draw.
Other functionality includes 12 SATA ports (6 PCH, 4 SATA 6 Gbps via Marvell, 2 eSATA), with the Marvell ports suitable for SSD Caching – whether SSD caching is suitable for 2014 is another matter. ASUS could have used the Intel C606 chipset to add SAS/SATA ports instead, but went down the X79+Marvell route. Despite no native USB 3.0 on X79, there are two USB 3.0 ports on the rear IO and a header on board. Alongside dual Intel I210 NICs we also get the Realtek ALC1150 audio codec, the high end audio codec from Realtek.
Due to the P9X79-E WS implementing MultiCore Turbo, our consumer CPU saw 4.0 GHz on any load, which allowed the P9X79-E WS to hit the top of the charts in many of our benchmarks, like other X79 motherboards that also enable MultiCore Turbo properly. Despite the focus on workstations, Xeons and ECC, there are minor overclock options which set our consumer overclockable CPU to 4.5 GHz with just a flick of a switch.
The BIOS is updated to the new ‘Z87’ generation, using features such as My Favorites, Quick Note and Last Modified as well as a fixed length font to aid user readability. The fan headers on board are designed to be controlled via the BIOS and the OS, with the OS software wrapped up in the X79/Z77 generation of AI Suite. This still includes features like Fan Xpert, USB 3.0 Boost, TurboV Evo, EPU, AI Charger and SSD Caching as mentioned before.
One issue I came across was that USB 3.0 Boost needed updating from the version on the CD (Turbo mode would not disable), and the other is the extended heatsink arrangement – due to the number of extra controllers and PCIe switches used onboard, the heatsink did heat up to be uncomfortable to touch. After speaking with ASUS, it was clear that they recommended a high airflow environment for workstation model products. The P9X79-E WS does come with a 3 year warranty and ASUS Premium Service for North America users.
The P9X79-E WS fits in that high end, prosumer niche. It is perhaps missing some features the high end performance needs (Thunderbolt, native USB 3.0), but that should be at the feet of Intel not updating X79 rather than ASUS. When a user is spending $560 to $3000 on a CPU (4930K or E5-26xx v2), then the motherboard becomes less of a % of the build overall and thus moving to a high end product is less of an overall percentage hit. This is the market ASUS is going for, and the P9X79-E WS goes well for the prosumer that needs as many PCIe slots with all the PCIe lanes as a motherboard can carry.
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pewterrock - Friday, January 10, 2014 - link
Intel Widi-capable network card (http://intel.ly/1iY9cjx) or if on Windows 8.1 use Miracast (http://bit.ly/1ktIfpq). Either will work with this receiver (http://amzn.to/1lJjrYS) at the TV or monitor.dgingeri - Friday, January 10, 2014 - link
WiDi would only work for one user at a time. It would have to be a Virtual Desktop type thing like extide mentions, but, as he said, that doesn't work too well for home user activities. Although, it could be with thin-clients: one of these for each user http://www.amazon.com/HP-Smart-Client-T5565z-1-00G...eanazag - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
Yes and no. Virtual Desktops exist and can be done. Gaming is kind of a weak and expensive option. You can allocate graphics cards to VMs, but latency for screen are not going to be optimal for the money. Cheaper and better to go individual systems. If you're just watchnig youtube and converting video it wouldn't be a bad option and can be done reasonably. Check out nVidia's game streaming servers. It exists. The Grid GPUs are pushing in the thousands of dollars, but you would only need one. Supermicro has some systems that, I believe, fall into that category. VMware and Xenserver/Xendesktop can share the video cards as the hypervisors. Windows server with RemoteFX may work better. I haven't tried that.extide - Friday, January 10, 2014 - link
Note: At the beginning of the article you mention 5 year warranty but at the end you mention 3 years. Which is it?Ian Cutress - Friday, January 10, 2014 - link
Thanks for pointing the error. I initially thought I had read it as five but it is three.Li_Thium - Friday, January 10, 2014 - link
At last...triple SLI with space between from ASUS.Plus one and only SLI bridge: ASRock 3way 2S2S.
artemisgoldfish - Friday, January 10, 2014 - link
I'd like to see how this board compares against an x16/x16/x8 board with 3 290Xs (if thermal issues didn't prevent this). Since they communicate from card to card through PCIe rather than a Crossfire bridge, a card in PCIe 5 communicating with a card in PCIe 1 would have to traverse the root complex and 2 switches. Wonder what the performance penalty would be like.mapesdhs - Friday, January 10, 2014 - link
I have the older P9X79 WS board, very nice BIOS to work with, easy to setup a good oc,
currently have a 3930K @ 4.7. I see your NV tests had two 580s; aww, only two? Mine
has four. :D (though this is more for exploring CUDA issues with AE rather than gaming)
See: http://valid.canardpc.com/zk69q8
The main thing I'd like to know is if the Marvell controller is any good, because so far
every Marvell controller I've tested has been pretty awful, including the one on the older
WS board. And how does the ASMedia controller compare? Come to think of it, does
Intel sell any kind of simple SATA RAID PCIe card which just has its own controller so
one can add a bunch of 6gbit ports that work properly?
Should anyone contemplate using this newer WS, here are some build hints: fans on the
chipset heatsinks are essential; it helps a lot with GPU swapping to have a water cooler
(I recommend the Corsair H110 if your case can take it, though I'm using an H80 since
I only have a HAF 932 with the PSU at the top); take note of what case you choose if you
want to have a 2/3-slot GPU in the lowest slot (if so, the PSU needs space such as there
is in an Aerocool X-Predator, or put the PSU at the top as I've done with my HAF 932);
and if multiple GPUs are pumping out heat then remove the drive cage & reverse the front
fan to be an exhaust.
Also, the CPU socket is very close to the top PCIe slot, so if you do use an air cooler,
note that larger units may press right up against the back of the top-slot GPU (a Phanteks
will do this, the cooler I originally had before switching to an H80).
I can mention a few other things if anyone's interested, plus some picture build links. All
the same stuff would apply to the newer E version. Ah, an important point: if one upgrades
the BIOS on this board, all oc profiles will be erased, so make sure you've either used the
screenshot function to make a record of your oc settings, or written them down manually.
Btw Ian, something you missed which I think is worth mentioning: compared to the older
WS, ASUS have moved the 2-digit debug LED to the right side edge of the PCB. I suspect
they did this because, as I discovered, with four GPUs installed one cannot see the debug
display at all, which is rather annoying. Glad they've moved it, but a pity it wasn't on the
right side edge to begin with.
Hmm, one other question Ian, do you know if it's possible to use any of the lower slots
as the primary display GPU slot with the E version? (presumably one of the blue slots)
I tried this with the older board but it didn't work.
Ian.
PS. Are you sure your 580 isn't being hampered in any of the tests by its meagre 1.5GB RAM?
I sourced only 3GB 580s for my build (four MSI Lightning Xtremes, 832MHz stock, though they
oc like crazy).
Ian Cutress - Saturday, January 11, 2014 - link
Dual GTX 580s is all I got! We don't all work in one big office at AnandTech, as we are dotted around the world. It is hard to source four GPUs of exactly the same type without laying down some personal cash in the process. That being said, for my new 2014 benchmark suite starting soon, I have three GTX 770 Lightnings which will feature in the testing.On the couple of points:
Marvell Controller: ASUS use this to enable SSD Caching, other controllers do not do it. That is perhaps at the expense of speed, although I do not have appropriate hardware (i.e. two drives in RAID 0 suitable of breaking SATA 6 Gbps) connected via SATA. Perhaps if I had something like an ACARD ANS-9010 that would be good, but sourcing one would be difficult, as well as being expensive.
Close proximity to first PCIe: This happens with all motherboards that use the first slot as a PCIe device, hence the change in mainstream boards to now make that top slot a PCIe x1 or nothing at all.
OC Profiles being erased: Again, this is standard. You're flashing the whole BIOS, OC Profiles included.
2-Digit Debug: The RIVE had this as well - basically any board where ASUS believes that users will use 4 cards has it moved there. You also need an E-ATX layout or it becomes an issue with routing (at least more difficult to trace on the PCB).
Lower slots for GPUs: I would assume so, but I am not 100%. I cannot see any reason why not, but I have not tested it. If I get a chance to put the motherboard back on the test bed (never always easy with a backlog of boards waiting to be tested) I will attempt.
GPU Memory: Perhaps. I work with what I have at the time ;) That should be less of an issue for 2014 testing.
-Ian
mapesdhs - Saturday, January 11, 2014 - link
Ian Cutress writes:
> ... It is hard to source four GPUs of exactly the same type without
> laying down some personal cash in the process. ...
True, it took a while and some moolah to get the cards for my system,
all off eBay of course (eg. item 161179653299).
> ... I have three GTX 770 Lightnings which will feature in the testing.
Sounds good!
> Marvell Controller: ASUS use this to enable SSD Caching, other controllers do not do it.
So far I've found it's more useful for providing RAID1 with mechanical drives.
A while ago I built an AE system using the older WS board; 3930K @ 4.7, 64GB @ 2133,
two Samsung 830s on the Intel 6gbit ports (C-drive and AE cache), two Enterprise SATA
2TB on the Marvell in RAID1 for long term data storage. GPUs were a Quadro 4000 and
three GTX 580 3GB for CUDA.
> (i.e. two drives in RAID 0 suitable of breaking SATA 6 Gbps) ...
I tested an HP branded LSI card with 512MB cache, behaved much as expected:
2GB/sec for accesses that can exploit the cache, less than that when the drives
have to be read/written, scaling pretty much based on the no. of drives.
> Close proximity to first PCIe: This happens with all motherboards that use the first
> slot as a PCIe device, hence the change in mainstream boards to now make that top slot
> a PCIe x1 or nothing at all.
It certainly helps with HS spacing on an M4E.
> OC Profiles being erased: Again, this is standard. You're flashing the whole BIOS, OC
> Profiles included.
Pity they can't find a way to preserve the profiles though, or at the very least
include a warning when about to flash that the oc profiles are going to be wiped.
> 2-Digit Debug: The RIVE had this as well - basically any board where ASUS believes
> that users will use 4 cards has it moved there. ...
Which is why it's a bit surprising that the older P9X79 WS doesn't have it on the edge.
> Lower slots for GPUs: I would assume so, but I am not 100%. I cannot see any reason
> why not, but I have not tested it. If I get a chance to put the motherboard back on
> the test bed (never always easy with a backlog of boards waiting to be tested) I will
> attempt.
Ach I wouldn't worry about it too much. It was a more interesting idea with the older
WS because the slot spacing meant being able to fit a 1-slot Quadro in a lower slot
would give a more efficient slot usage for 2-slot CUDA cards & RAID cards.
> GPU Memory: Perhaps. I work with what I have at the time ;) That should be less of an
> issue for 2014 testing.
I asked because of my experiences of playing Crysis2 at max settings just at 1920x1200
on two 1GB cards SLI (switching to 3GB cards made a nice difference). Couldn't help
wondering if Metro, etc., at 1440p would exceed 1.5GB.
Ian.