It seems like using Intel Xeon processors for gaming is becoming rather trendy in recent months. Earlier, Asus unveiled the E3 Pro Gaming V5 motherboard which introduced support for Intel Xeon E3-1200 V5 processors. Now, Asus’ spinoff, ASRock, will be releasing two Intel C232 chipset-based motherboards, which support the same Xeon CPU family.
The first motherboard announced by ASRock is called the Fatal1ty E3V5 Performance Gaming/OC motherboard. Like its name, the motherboard is primarily aimed at gamers as well as PC enthusiasts. Interestingly, ASRock claims that although Xeon processors lack Intel onboard graphics, it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle since most gamers tend to not use integrated graphics card when a more powerful dedicated graphics card is present.
ASRock didn’t forget true Intel Xeon processor consumers either. Prior to the usage of Xeon processors for gaming, the chip largely exists in a workstation environment. This is why ASRock has come up with a second option for the E3v5 motherboard called the E3V5 WS. The workstation motherboard essentially shares the same specification as its gaming counterpart with additional support for AMD FirePro and Nvidia Quadro GPUs.
In addition to that, the E3V5 WS motherboard comes with an onboard Intel 1219M LAN chip which will allow the motherboard to have server-grade Internet connections as well as support for server-based operating systems. Bear in mind that both motherboards have support for Intel Skylake processors too. Normal DDR4 RAMs as well as ECC DIMMs (Error-Correcting Code Dual In-Line Memory) are also supported.
ASRock mentioned that the release date for the motherboard would be some time after Christmas this year. Oddly, ASRock’s official website states that both the motherboards may not be sold worldwide. However, since ASRock motherboards have been widely available in Malaysia for a long time, the company should make it available here as well. Further details regarding the motherboards can be found here.
(Source: ASRock via TechPowerUp)
