A quick 1st look: GA-G33M-DS2R, mATX P35 mobo (pic heavy)

[SP1]

Horrible colour those Asus motherboards.

[pvhk]

Color does not matter when it performs well and is reliable:

Nice look indeed!

[__Miguel_]

It seems the "open-ended" PCI-E 4x slot is becoming popular... Maybe the dream some of us had of full-featured mATX boards (including OC capabilities and more "exotic" GPU solutions) will come true...

Now the only thing missing is an E-mATX board with dual quad-core CPU sockets and true CF/SLI support (or just single GPU, I don't really use dual GPU solutions)... hehehe Hey, one CAN dream... :P

Btw, anyone knows why Asus had the "brilliant" (NOT!) idea of loosing the mouse port? Now I have to get a new mouse and a new KVM switch just to be able to use those new boards...

Appart from that, I think you can expect a P5K-VM Deluxe model (or something like that), with black PCB and the ICH9R. I don't think Asus will let the DS2R take the lead on this one...

Cheers.

Miguel

[SP1]

I have an Asus board that colour and I don't like it.
I have seen people with teeth that colour and its not a very nice look indeed!

[hot_fifty]

anyone have the P5K-VM? Oc-results?

[SP1]

No but I have seen people with teeth the same colour.

[hot_fifty]

the colour. wee like performance, stability and layout. Loves the mouse-PS2 port is gone > 2 x USB

[Tobit]

As a builder who doesn't build anything larger than SFF boxes, I have been waiting for this kind of board for a long, long time. According to Gigabyte, the boards are going to be released in the US on June 4th. They said all authorized dealers have the boards in-stock but Intel is holding back sales until the 4th.

Not much longer to go!

[tam2]

Abit's F-I90HD doesnt oc too well
Gigabyte's doesnt have 1:1 ratio
Asus's doesnt have raid
Gee, they never listen to us dont they
I'll just wait what MSI will give
But for now gigabyte's is still better
And about the colour, i dont care about it too much
I guess P5K vanilla has that colour and still perform great for the price

-tam2-

[BulldogPO]

Does this come with mobo?
http://multivak.mu.funpic.de/bilder/...33M-DS2R_2.jpg

And where is spdif?
I need to connect it digitaly to my amplifier.

[Lestat]

looks like theres the reason for the open ended 4x slot.

the HDMI card ,,, look at it, it only has 4x slot worth of pins,, and the rest is missing the pins so you would need an open ended slot to make the card fit.

i think the size of the PCB is retarded but hell if they are willing to give you an HDMI adapter, more power to them, its just too bad the intel onboard video chipset is just absolutely worthless and even if you did use the HDMI adapter it still wouldnt be worth it.

i just highly doubt its capabilities for VC1 and x264 encoding/decoding and proper video out color, black levels, etc etc..

intel, king of the cpu market cant even make a decent video chipset. lol

[BulldogPO]

Look at mobos 4X connector, it really is opened at factory

But I´ll probably go with 8600GT with HDMI.

Is there spdiff bracket with this mobo?

[__Miguel_]

looks like theres the reason for the open ended 4x slot.

the HDMI card ,,, look at it, it only has 4x slot worth of pins,, and the rest is missing the pins so you would need an open ended slot to make the card fit.

Well, from my personal opinion, all PCI-E slots should be open-ended (except maybe 16x slots, which are currently the biggest ones available... - Anyone ever seen a 32x slot, btw?). Most PCI-E hardware is able to work with reduced bandwidths. I remember reading an article on Tom's Hardware a couple of months back which tested if PCI-E bandwidth was really needed for GPUs, and they configured a X1950XTX as 2x-16x, and it worked with no problems, only reduced performance, in some cases. The same thing is also known to happen with RAID cards, so for me it makes more sense all PCI-E slots being open ended...

As for the HDMI card, not knowing the board and the add-ons, I must say, though, that Intel IGP chipsets use the primary PCI-E 16x slot (or AGP, whichever the case) for external links, not secondary ones... It would be a very good thing if Gigabyte went around this issue, because that would mean Surround View options would grow a lot...

Anyway, just my

Cheers.

Miguel

[oohms]

The open ended PCI-E slot on the P5K-VM is blocked by the battery

Good luck fitting anything longer than 4x cards in

[__Miguel_]

The open ended PCI-E slot on the P5K-VM is blocked by the battery

Good luck fitting anything longer than 4x cards in

That's just plain dumb board design...

Unless somehow a bigger card can fit (or be made fit) even with such an obstacle in its way, there is yet another reason NOT to go with the P5K-VM... Seriously, I AM an Asus fan, but sometimes I don't know what goes on with Asus's board designers... I guess they forgot open-ended 4x PCI-E slots can be used for Crossfire...

[RANT]I mean, putting an open-ended slot next to an obstacle? Yeah, right... Not to mention that GREAT idea they had to put the only non IRQ-sharing PCI slot on the P5B Deluxe next to the first PCI-E 16x slot (and similarly with another PCI slot, right next to the second PCI-E 16x slot, all along leaving an 1x PCI-E slot - disabled in Crossfire - always available...) [/RANT]

Cheers.

Miguel


P.S.: Sorry for venting, won't happen again. It's just sometimes I can't understand some somewhat obvious - and VERY wrong - choices manufacturers make...

[ziddey]

dude, p5k-vm has lpt!!!!!!!! !!!

[pvhk]

@BulldogPO:
no spdif bracket nore DVI additionnal card!

[Clint]

I got this baby home a couple of days ago.

The sticks to go with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146118

..now, I'm really stunned by this combo...the sticks will do 1160MHz on stock voltage..that is 1.8v folks!

truly amazing..

[BulldogPO]

@BulldogPO:
no spdif bracket nore DVI additionnal card!

Damn, gotta get that bracket somewhere then.

[oohms]

That's just plain dumb board design...

Unless somehow a bigger card can fit (or be made fit) even with such an obstacle in its way, there is yet another reason NOT to go with the P5K-VM... Seriously, I AM an Asus fan, but sometimes I don't know what goes on with Asus's board designers... I guess they forgot open-ended 4x PCI-E slots can be used for Crossfire...

Cheers.

Miguel

Don't worry, you can desolder the battery and mount it to the back of the board if you want

[__Miguel_]

Don't worry, you can desolder the battery and mount it to the back of the board if you want

Nice one, but I'm not really a "soldering major"... lol I majored in law, with minors in law, law, economics and IT Besides, that would kill the warranty, and here in Portugal we have a 2-year standard warranty for all new products (except for batteries - 6 months - and perishable/consumable products - most food products and PC media). Not a very good move to do that...

Also, I simply hate the way Asus went by killing one PS/2 port... Another generation and only the floppy drive will remain... I'm sorry, but NO, I don't like that one tiny bit. PS/2 ports are just fine, and you don't have IRQ problems with them, like you can have with USB ones... Besides, there's not one thing I can't do with a USB mouse that the can't be done with the same mouse and a PS/2 converter...

Ok, did that sound like a rant? I REALLY have to stop venting like this... Besides, I'm off-topic already... Ups...

Speaking on off-topics... Anyone has an idea of if/when the ratio problem will be adressed (sp)? Also, do post more results with this board, it's always a pleasure to see its performance.

Cheers.

Miguel

[pvhk]

Let's play now with the fsb!
locking the ratio to 6x in order not to be cpu limited! (e6600)
vddr@2.00v, vMCH +0.2v, vFSB+0.2v
fsb@420

[__Miguel_]

Let's play now with the fsb!
locking the ratio to 6x in order not to be cpu limited! (e6600)
vddr@2.00v, vMCH +0.2v, vFSB+0.2v
fsb@420

What kind of CPU is that? 4x420 with NO voltage increase?

Also, those insanely low voltage increases are also very nice... I mean, that board simply pulverises many low-end P5Bs... Sweet!

Btw, I do have to ask... Those values are with external or internal graphics? I'm figuring external, but it would also be nice to know how much more to expect from the IGP... Can you try running some IGP-enabled OC?

Thanks and nice work!

Cheers.

Miguel

[pvhk]

My rig:
7900GS pcie, crucial ballistix 5300 @2.00v, e6600:

fsb@440: nothing else change:

[Harshal]

Damn nice board, Wats gone into GB lately?? BTW, MacClipper wats da price for this in SG??