Intel's Xeon Shows Its Stuff in 7 Motherboards

Asus NCT-D (E7525), Continued

Asus provides lots of additional stuff.

We found some mounting screws in the box that make it possible to install this motherboard into a desktop computer. Starting with the Xeon Nocona, the motherboard companies do not bundle their products with CPU coolers any more, since the FSB800 Xeons are shipped as boxed versions including CPU coolers.

Asus offers a server management utility that allows monitoring the system status using any IP network available.

When we started benchmarking, the memory bandwidth was only 2.6 GB/s. After updating the BIOS, the NCT-D improved to 3.3 GB/s, which is the best result among the E7525 motherboards.

At 103°C, the THERMTRIP signal was activated, which caused the system to shut down.