THG Looks at ClawHammer Mobo

An anonymous reader writes "Tom's Hardware Guide managed to get a first look at the new Socket 754 ClawHammer motherboard. While they don't provide the benchmarks that you might be looking for, they do an excellent job and providing pictures and an overview of the ClawHammer Platform."

Comments

isnt there a saying...

[Snuffub]

I think this pretty much defines putting the cart in front of the horse. still a fun read though.

Interesting

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

My co-worker was telling me about this earlier this morning. I especially like the vacuum tubes for the audio on the motherboard. Audiophiles will be drooling over that. Do they make mobos now with that on them?

On a side note, I like the number of pins on the cpu socket. Hammer is gonna be interesting to say the least.

Re:Interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutely NOT a good idea. Besides the heat concerns and the microphonic nature of vacuum tubes, putting them in the EM radiation bath that is a computer case with the heavy vibrations that you'll need from the fans that have to cool that thing means that this will sound much worse than a well-engineered soundcard.

Jeez. Pay $60 for a Turtle Beach card and be done with is unless you LIKE overheating, humming audio, and replacing tube.

Re:Interesting

[Dr. Spork]

I hope it's more than a gimmick. Somehow I am dubious about all in-case analog sound solutions because there is just so much damn noise. If you listen to your computer with headphones, you can actually hear things like the closing of desktop windows, because all that electricity swishing around in the case causes fields that mess with the signal once it's converted to analog.

It seems dumb to put those tubes on the motherboard. I would much rather see that space used for three more PCI slots--the sorts of things that audiophiles and amateur musicians always find some use for. No matter how you do it, doing the D/A sound conversion inside the case will always suck. I don't know why the market for PCI cards that connect to D/A-A/D break-out boxes is so small.

memory

[hedley]

3 DDR slots? I know there are loading issues with lots of that ram but this chip needs RAM it has a 40bit address bus coming out of it. At least 12GB physical ram, then it will be a serious challenge to high end cad machines. It they aim at just replacing your desktop, it will not do very well in my opinion.

Hedley

Re:memory

[p3d0]

This is the Clawhammer. The desktop is exactly where it is aimed. If you want a server machine, you want the Sledgehammer.

Re:Vacum Tubes

[jhawkins]

As opposed to what happens when your drop your PC without vacuum tubes in it?
Does it just fire right up after you drop it?
I think, vacuum tubes or not, dropping a computer is not a good idea.

Re:32 Bit PCI

[Jim Norton]

This is probably only a reference board, and one for a desktop user at that. 64-bit PCI slots are of marginal utility for a workstation user.

Re:At least they're smart enough

[Zathrus]

So add a fan on yourself if you want to OC.

Most people don't want to OC. I've done it before and I won't do it again - the added speed isn't worth the instability. Especially if you're planning to keep using the computer for several years.

As others have said, adding yet another fan is a detriment for normal use. It's another mechanical part that will fail - especially since most of the bundled fans are as cheap as they can afford to keep prices down.

One of my buying criteria on a motherboard is passive cooling for the north bridge. I don't need the active cooling and I really don't need the added noise.

Re:Why vacuum tubes?

[kenp2002]

I don't belive this has to really do with sound quality. Vac tubes are a cost item that wear out after time (ohh money) and are probably provided so you don't have to buy powered speaker systems (I am sure Altec is going to be pissed about that). We won't know until they start selling to the general public. I hope that this is just a temporary fad and they'll come to their senses

Vacuum tubes?

[Lord Kestrel]

I was under the impression that they were for the audiophiles who want better sound. That sort doesn't use the onboard sound, no matter how good it may be. It's pointless to use them on a motherboard. If someone really cares enough about sound quality to use vacuum tubes, they'll have their own sound card to use.

Besides, they just look ugly. 3 big balls of glass sitting on your motherboard. And then when one blows, you'll have to replace it.

Take the damn things off please!

Sweet Review

[kirn_malinus]

Why do you bash the review for lacking benchmarks? This is still one of the sweetest reviews I've seen in a long time. The level of detail they get into about the hardware is awesome.

Re:Tube Board.

[ivan256]

Seems like a waste to me. If I'm going to buy a good tube based amp I'd want it to be seperate so I wouldn't have to re-buy it for upgrades and I'd have more choice in the matter. I'd also not connect it to AC97 hardware. I like my A/D conversion electrically decoupled from my (electrically) noisy PC. When you have good headphones it's easy to tell.

Besides, people are just going to connect indpendantly (solid state) amplified speakers to this thing and cancel out the potential benifit.