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Asus has just introduced an interesting new motherboard that moves away from the traditional idea of RAM. Instead of giving you a set of DIMM slots, they just integrated 2GB of DDR3 1333 MHz memory onto their new P5K3 Premium motherboard.
Asus claims that with their configuration called a “perfect T-Tree design” will reduce clock cycle timing by 50% when compared to traditional methods. Overclocking will allow speeds above 1500MHz, though you’ll need a good processor to reach those speeds. You’ll also get features such as CrossFire compatibility, a single ATA133 slot, 6 SATA3.0Gb/s, and 2 e.SATA 3.0Gb/s ports.
I’m not really sure what to think of this idea. I suppose for people that don’t ever want to upgrade their systems past 2GB of RAM, it’s going to be fine, but I just have something against integrated components. In this case, the RAM is locked into the board, you can’t change it or upgrade it in any way. I have no doubt that the overclocking features will be very good, and allow you to squeeze out every drop of performance out of your memory, but at the end of the day you’re still only going to have 2GB.
We don’t currently have pricing or availability for these boards, though they are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
ASUS Announces P5K3 Premium with 2GB Onboard [via dailytech]
it is kind of sad that they integrated, but i think the issue that Asus saw was that the performance per gig of RAM at 1300mhz was better than the performance per gig at 800mhz for DDR2 and, as far as i know, DDR3 is unavailable in stick form, likely because they are having problems working out the method of connection for memory that fast.
so asus decided that it had to be done one way or the other, and integrated wound up being the only option for now.
plus the type of people that buy (likely pricey) components like this, generally have no problem buying the newer non-integrated stuff if/when it comes out.
yeah, it goes against the principle of DIY computing :(
This would be great if price is not >1000$, maybe I will buy 2008 when FSB is 1666Mhz and price is under $300