<@Kubicki> Joseph while we wait for Ala, can you go ahead and introduce yourself real quick? <+ASUS_Jose> Sure! I am Joseph from ASUS marketing department, who is responsible component product marketing <+AS_george> ASUS george again! ASUS RDMB1 team leader, one of guys responsble for own brand motherboard (hardware) <@wesley> Hello, Joseph. This is Wesley from AnandTech. <@Kubicki> Excellent, great to have both of you here <@wesley> Hello George <@wesley> Let's start with Asus while we wait for Intel <+ASUS_Jose> Hi Wesley, thank you for your help on this <+AS_george> Hi again Wesley, Do you remember me in Computex Taipei? <@wesley> For Asus: 14. Do you plan on expanding your eight-phase power and fanless heatpipe technology to other board series? <+AS_george> Yes, We will aggressively expand this features to high -end products. <@Gary> 16. Will the ASUS P5WD2 Premium ever support NVIDIA SLI? <@wesley> Does this mean we will see most high-end with 8-phase in the future? <+AS_george> Yes, I believe. <@Gary> Thank you George. <+AS_george> P5WD2 didn't support SLI, Or correctly say Nvidia doesn't officially support Intel's platform yet! <+AS_george> Gary, sorry to confuse you, it's for wesley's answer. <@Gary> Okay, will NVIDIA support the Intel Platform in the near future.... <+ASUS_PM> No information from nVidia at all....Actually we hope so. <@wesley> 11. Your current value based AMD motherboard with the ATI chipset is an incredible overclocker, but it is a mainstream board. Do you plan on offering a Premium line with this chipset or the RD580? <+ASUS_PM> Yes, we meant to make ASUS A8R-MVP as a solid and stable product. <+ASUS_PM> As to RD580, it's still under evaluation. <@wesley> It is a VERY solid product at a good price point as our readers will see in an upcoming review. <@wesley> I just imagine it could be even better with a premium 8-phase design from Asus. <+ASUS_PM> Thank you, we are glad to hear that! <@wesley> Do you have rough launch dates for your ATI RD580 products yet? <+ASUS_PM> You know, ATI's launch date is not that...... <@Gary> 9. Is it easier to design a motherboard for Intel or AMD processor based systems? <@wesley> We won't make you answer that <+AS_george> Actually it's not issue! Our difficulty depends on high/low-end product but not platform difference. <+ASUS_PM> So I dare not tell you when ATI plan to launch RD580, just wait and see the real available date. <@Gary> Thank you George..... <@wesley> You used the ULi 1575 south bridge on the A8R-MVP. Where do you see utilizing ULI, SIS, and VIA in your future product offerings? <+AS_george> Welcome! & you guys may like high-end products but I hate it to let me sleep not enough <+ASUS_PM> To Welsey's question: they all provide very wide chipset product lines, <@wesley> You used the ULi 1575 south bridge on the A8R-MVP. Where do you see utilizing ULI, SIS, and VIA in your future product offerings? <+ASUS_PM> And gengerally pick one or two for each segmentation <+ASUS_PM> We for sure cooperate will all of these three <@Gary> This question is for our Intel group- 24. Is Intel interested in regaining the performance crown from AMD? <@wesley> Intel is trying to reconnect. <+ASUS_PM> I would like to know the image of ULI SIS and VIA from user's point of view, would you advise? <@wesley> I'll try to answer this <@wesley> ULi has generated some excitely with their chipsets recently. <@wesley> Your ASRock board is a big seller and uses the ULi chipset for AGP and PCIe. <@wesley> But Asus does not have a similar board. <@wesley> Will you have future ULi boards under the Asus name? <+ASUS_PM> ULI1695+1689 right? <@wesley> yes <+ASUS_PM> The spec is quite good, but ASUS K8-754 boards are quite enough... <@Gary> We would like to welcome our Intel representative - Ala Dean, Product Marketing Manager for Intel. <+ASUS_PM> So we didn't make this ULI chipset to simplify product lines. <+intel> Hello everyone. I do chipset marketing for Intel <@Gary> Intel Question- 18. Will there be a new ICH for Conroe/Yonah? Can we expect an ICH8R? <+intel> for conroe, we will have new desktop platforms supporting it <@Gary> Okay- 21. Do you plan on changing socket types for the Conroe/Yonah processors? <+intel> we plan to continue supporting Raid in our chipsets <+intel> Yonah is a mobile processor, so it has a mobile socket <+intel> Conroe is a desktop processor, so it has a desktop socket <+intel> our next generation desktop chipset will continue to support LGA775 <+AS_george> For Yanah is Socket 479, right? But I hear not same pin definition with Centrino. <@wesley> That's Cedar Mill and Pressler? <@wesley> For Asus. Will you aggressively pursue the hardcore enthusiast market like DFI has at this time? What type of products will you launch into this marketplace? <+intel> Cedar Mill and Pressler are LGA775 processors <+ASUS_PM> For high-end boards, of course OC and very agressive SPEC are both important. <+ASUS_PM> We will focus on trying to provide more features on performance products. <@Gary> Intel- Do you plan on supporting Conroe with LGA775? <+ASUS_PM> Like thermal solution and better user interface <+AS_george> For DRAM tuning skills, personally I think DFI do really great! But I think ASUS can do, too. <@Kubicki> Here is a question for both Intel and ASUS - We just saw the launch of 975X, can you tell us the role of 975X on the desktop, and where we can see that product line going forward? <@wesley> You did a great job on both your Intel and AMD 8-phase boards. That is why we asked if you planned to get more serious about the hard-core enthusiast. <+intel> our next generation chipset will support LGA775 socket processors such as Cedar Mill, Presler and Conroe <+ASUS_PM> To Welsly: Yes, you can look forward to more features on the Broadwater and M2 new products <+ASUS_PM> ASUS PM is pushing R&D team to generate more ideas very hard <+ASUS_PCF> To Wesley: also, except to that, we always keep enthusiasts' requests in mind.... <+ASUS_PM> I would also appreciate if Anandtech can provide some advices <+intel> 975X is designed to support the high-end enthusiast market with support for next generation Extreme Edition processors, with single x16 or dual x8 configurations <@Kubicki> Joseph or George - what are your thoughts on 975X as well? <+AS_george> 975X is our best Intel based platform until now, no doubt! <+AS_george> Especially now we get ATI's crossfire supporting! <@wesley> When will the Asus 975x be launched? <+ASUS_PM> Next month. <@Kubicki> Anything specific you can tell us about the 975X ASUS board? <@wesley> Intel and Asus: Intel is providing ATI Crossfire support on 975x. Will there also be nVidia SLI suppot? <+AS_george> Just like P5WD2 P5WD2-E mainly add ATI crossfire supprting. Other should be the same. <+ASUS_PCF> Its performance outpaced current Inte-based platform due to its dual PCIE. Officially, only ATI support it. <+ASUS_PCF> Maybe you could help to push nVidia <+AS_george> Ya! We love to hear that request from end-user marketing <+intel> the 975X is designed to support dual x8 functionality - independantly of gfx card vendor <@Kubicki> Intel or ASUS: We are just starting to see x1 and x4 devices on PCIe motherboards. Do either of you expect to see more devices? Can you give us some specific examples of x1 and x4 devices we will see soon? <+AS_george> Let me introduce PCF, He's a top guy in ASUS BIOS team. <@wesley> Welcome, PCF <+ASUS_PCF> Hi, Wesley, long time no see. <@wesley> Indeed. <+ASUS_PM> Second to George, PCF is our BIOS team leader <@Kubicki> In the last 15 minutes of the chat, if anyone has a specific question to ask Intel or ASUS please feel free to messsage it to me privately <+ASUS_PCF> To Kubicki <@Gary> PCF- Will you match recent competitorâ..s memory voltages of up 2.5V on the Intel DDR2 based systems? <+intel> We expect more high bandwidth PCI products to migrate to PCIe <+AS_george> To Gary's question, We think 2.5V may serious affect life time of DDR2 memory chip. <+ASUS_PCF> currently we see a lot of card with x1 like NIC, WiFi, and it seemed only some mass storage cards would use more than 1 PCIE lanes <+ASUS_PM> To Kubicki, but I can't find too many PCIe X1 or X4 devices in shops <+ASUS_PM> Maybe gradually <+AS_george> I just need to emphasize a concept, With higher operation you may get lower life time with exponential decay. <+ASUS_PCF> to Gary, didn't you think it's too risky? Increase to 2.5V, I am not dare to do that even I am acquainted with DDR2.... <+AS_george> If you are interested in that, I 'll tell you an example! <@Gary> PCF- Yes but you never know what the hardcore overclocker will do with such settings. <+AS_george> For a 1.7~1.8V Pentium 3 processor, We have researched from foundry factory. <+ASUS_PCF> True But I still feel it's uncomfortable. Technically, we have no problem to get that voltage setting <+AS_george> The life time will be more than 10 years if use standard voltage, but become less than 2 month if over-voltage to 2.5V <@wesley> Here's a question from our readers for Intel. Speed Step only allows 14X Speed Step. Will you allow lower multipliers in the future? <@Gary> From one of our Anandtech Readers - Asus / Intel- Are there any plans on having PCI-E audio solutions? <+AS_george> to Gary, We just want user to trust our operation range will not hurt their device. <+intel> I am the desktop chipset marketing rep... we don't have the right product marketing rep available to answer your question about Speed Step <@wesley> ok <@Gary> Understood George, thank you and we understand your concerns. <@Kubicki> jemm_ asks: Will we high performance sound integrated onto the motherboard in the near future from ASUS? If so, which products can we expect? <+ASUS_PM> To Gary's last question, we will stick to high definition audio CODEC, no PCI-E audio plan. <+ASUS_PCF> to Gary, Azalia, or HDA, it is already a PCI-E solution, with codec. We did not see 3part or IDV has the product with pure x1 PCIE audio. <+ASUS_PCF> to Jemm, we do have plan to integrate high-end audio chips on the MB. You will see that. <@Kubicki> PCF: anything specific you can tell us about that? <@Gary> PCF- Will you use the Sigmatel 9220 family HD codecs in the future as Intel has done recently? <+AS_george> Hi PCF, IS Audio controller use different PCI bridge from atndard PCI bus? (I don't knoe exactly) <+ASUS_PCF> For audio, it's a PCI product available as I knew. <@wesley> Will current owners of your Intel 955x and 945 boards be able to run Presler and Cedar Mill processors without issues? <+ASUS_PCF> to Gary, no, we have no plan to use Sigmatel HD codec in the near futrure. <+AS_george> to wesley, Yes, 945/955 support Cedarmill & Presler but not support Presler EE <+ASUS_PCF> Of course, please update BIOS to support the newest CPUs. <@wesley> Thank you, George and PCF <@Kubicki> OK everyone, we have just a couple minutes left. ASUS, Intel, would you like to close with anything for our readers today? <@Gary> Thank you Ala... <+AS_george> Or We should say for current P5WD2 board <+ASUS_PCF> Ya, I am glad to be here. And if anyone has interests in BIOS stuff, it's welcome.... <+intel> thank you for the opportunity to join this chat and we will continue to work with Asus on great products <+AS_george> Again for every body, The overvoltage does increase response speed of signal, but you need to lose lifetime, you shold trade off on this. <@Kubicki> Thank you very much! Ala, George, Sharon, PFC and Joseph - it's been a pleasure! For those of you who didn't get your questions in on time, please post them on our forums at http://labs.anandtech.com/asusforum.php <+ASUS_Jose> See you guys on 11/21, more information to tell <@wesley> Thank you all. <+AS_george> Thank you!