Our last day at Computex revolved around covering loose ends, like memory, other chipsets, and the growing tide of ATI Crossfire boards. We arranged several meetings to put into perspective the show hits and the directions of a few companies that have been much in the news (and rumors) of recent months.

We apologize for the delays in this final coverage, but all five staff members who went to Taiwan with AnandTech brought home an unexpected present - the flu. Even Anand didn't escape the virus - he was first in Taiwan, caught it first, and was the first to recover. A fever and aching all over is no fun at all, particularly when it is 90 degrees outside. Everyone seems to be recovering, so we thought that you might enjoy our final farewell to Computex 2005 and a look at some directions that the show has charted for the next computer year.

DDR2-1000

There is a subtle, but clear shift in the Memory manufacturers that we saw from standard DDR to high-speed DDR2. Now that roadmaps from AMD are showing a move to DDR2 early in 2006, the big news and new speed bumps seemed to be coming in the DDR2 arena.

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Corsair had a very splashy display of an Asus 955x machine running their latest XPert PC2-8000 DDR2 (DDR2-1000) in their suite.

The XPert line continues and refines the LED information display that was first introduced by Corsair at CES in January.

This is Corsair's first official DDR2-1000 memory. AnandTech reached DDR1066 with this same Corsair memory/Asus combination when the Asus P5WD2 Premium was first introduced, so we know that Corsair performs very well on this outstanding Asus 955x motherboard.

OCZ did not have an official suite at Computex, but they were also showing a DDR2-1000 memory in meetings with the media.

OCZ PC2-8000 (DDR2-1000) was introduced the week before Comdex and many of the larger review sites already have samples of the PC2-8000 modules for evaluation.

Thus far the improvements in performance from high-speed DDR2 have been pretty small on the Intel chipsets. We are hoping DDR2 coupled with the on-processor memory controller of the Athlon 64 will be a different animal.

Geil was showing their latest DDR2 running at DDR2-1066 speed, with an error-free demo cycling Memtest-86.

As we saw in our first tests of the new Intel 955x, a very few Micron modules can reach DDR2-1066, but the percentage that can hit DDR2-1066 from current production is likely to be extremely small. Very few can be binned to operate with stability at that speed. We have also shown in the past that single-sided DIMMs, like 256MB DIMMs, overclock better in almost every case than double-sided DIMMs like the more often used DDR512MB DIMMs. Geil's DDR2 performance was helped by demonstrating with single-sided DDR2 modules.

DDR2 Capacity Continues to Increase

Kingston was displaying a full line of their latest Hyper-X DDR2 rated at DDR2-750. This included 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB DIMMs - with matched pairs to 2GB.

Other memory vendors like Patriot, Kingmax, and PQI were displaying their latest official DDR2-800 or DDR2-667 modules. It seemed that everywhere we turned, there were faster DDR2 modules on display.

TwinMOS is better known to readers in Europe and Asia than to US buyers, but they are a huge player in the global memory market.

We were excited to see TwinMOS displaying 2GB ECC DDR2 modules. While the DIMMs are only rated at DDR2-533 currently, faster 2GB DIMMs will likely appear in the future. This means that you can finally pair the new dual-core processors with 8GB of DDR2 ECC memory in the 4 available DIMM slots. Those building servers supporting DDR2 will already be calculating capacities with these new reasonably-priced 2GB DIMMs.

Geil's Impressive Display

Geil went all out at Computex to demonstrate what they could do with DDR and DDR-2. In addition to the DDR2-1066 that we have already talked about, there were several DDR demos.

There seemed to be a lot of interest in the Geil demonstration of DDR400 at CAS 1.5.

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The new DFI nForce4 boards support CAS 1.5 as a BIOS choice, and possibly a few other high-end boards. CAS 1.5 sounds impressive, but AMD tells us that they do not support CAS 1.5 in their on-chip memory controller. And the memory controller is on the AMD chip after all - and not on the motherboard. Our own tests several weeks ago comparing CAS 1.5 and CAS 2.0 on the DFI board did not find any performance difference in these two CAS timings using an AMD processor. We've asked Geil for samples, but we will reserve judgement until we have actually tested the new CAS 1.5 DIMMs.

Geil was also showing DDR running at a stable DDR700 speed at fast timings.

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Again, part of the secret was single-sided DIMMs - and everyone's single-sided DIMMs run faster than the double-sided DIMMs that most everyone actually buys. Geil's performance is impressive, and it demonstrates their excellent binning capabilities, but we suspect that many of the single-sided high-speed dimms from competitors will perform similarly if we tested with 256MB single-bank DIMMs. If you enlarge the image you will also see the FSB is 350 (700), but the CPU/RAM ratios are CPU/4. Our experience at this setting with Athlon 64 is that the true RAM speed sets to about 80% of CPU speed instead of the expected 100%. We would really be more comfortable that the memory is truly running at DDR700 if we could see it verified with other utilities that measure the RAM speed. We plan to take a closer look at these DIMMs in our standard double-sided configuration on our standard DFI DDR test bed.

Geil was also proudly displaying their new carbon-fiber heatspreaders. They claim that the carbon-fiber is lighter, cooler, and more efficient than the more commonly used aluminum and copper heatspreaders. However they work, it is undeniable that the carbon-fiber is a great look - and really makes the high-end Geil memory stand out from the crowd.

ATI Crossfire Picks Up Momentum

ATI Crossfire was the big story at Computex. Each new day brought more displays of Crossfire dual-VGA boards or an announcement of new vendors that would support the new ATI chipsets. In earlier Computex coverage, we have already shown you pictures of ATI Crossfire boards from Asus (Intel), MSI (AMD), DFI (AMD), Gigabyte (AMD and Intel), Sapphire (AMD and Intel) and HIS.

In addition, ECS made it clear that they would be supplying High-End ATI boards in their new Extreme line.

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ECS will be shipping an AMD Crossfire.

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You will also see an Intel Crossfire from ECS. Both ECS boards were featured on ATI's board wall and they were also on display at the ECS booth.

Jetway displayed boards based on the AMD version of Radeon Express 200, and they will likely produce ATI Crossfire as well.

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In addition to Crossfire in both AMD and Intel flavors, Sapphire also plans to produce a single graphics card version of the Crossfire AMD chipset, which looks like a dead ringer for the latest ATI Grouper Reference board. This board will appeal to many enthusiasts, based on the incredible range of overclocking controls and options that you will find on the board.

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We have talked about the Power Color/TUL ATI Crossfire boards, but we were finally able to catch a picture of a TUL board. This is the single video version, but TUL will also produce AMD and Intel Crossfire versions.

While Abit was not showing finished ATI boards, they announced at Computex that Abit would be producing both AMD and Intel versions of ATI Crossfire motherboards supporting dual-graphics cards.

This time around, manufacturers tell us that they are impressed with the performance and outstanding overclocking capabilities of ATI's Reference Crossfire boards. It is clear that ATI has finally gained the attention of all the top makers of Enthusiast motherboards, since they are all represented in the list of manufacturers that will produce ATI Crossfire motherboards. With this kind of manufacturer support, we are looking forward to testing a production Crossfire board in the near future. Our guess is to expect July or August availability of Crossfire boards in the retail channel.

Abit Discusses their Finances and Future

Abit has been rocked in the last 6 months with unpleasant news about their finances and questions about their future in a very competitive motherboard market. We met with Abit at the end of Computex to discuss frankly their widely reported financial problems and their directions for the near future.

Abit was very frank about the difficulties that they faced when their purchasing was frozen by the investigation into reported irregularities by the Taiwan equivalent of the Stock Exchange. During that difficult period, Abit was forced to do all purchasing on a cash basis, which severely limited their ability to sample and launch new products.

Recent developments, however, bode better for Abit's future. The complaint against Abit has been returned with the recommendation, according to Abit, that there was no evidence found to warrant further actions on the charges brought against Abit. Abit expects all charges against the company to be dropped in the near future.

In addition, Abit now has a new financial partner in Wan Hai Industries. Wan Hai is a huge Chinese containerized shipping company, and they are also a principal investor in China Airlines. As a new principal investor in Abit, Wan Hai has infused new capital and credit lines into the Abit organization.

Abit's new-found confidence about their future was evident everywhere in the extensive range of new products in their booth. This was quite an improvement from the Abit gloom of CES last January.

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These ranged form the long-awaited Fatality SLI with innovative heat-pipe cooling for the nForce4 chipset.

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Similar features are found on the Intel-chipset AW8.

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To the Abit version of the full ULI chipset for AMD. This board should turn a lot of heads in buyers looking for value and performance in an AMD 939 motherboard.

Abit was also displaying the very innovative external uGuru clock, which allows adjustments of just about everything that an enthusiast can imagine...

...combined with a Windows XP uGuru utility that even integrates the popular Skype Voice-Over-IP utility.

SiS Features AMD and Intel PCIe Solutions Supporting Dual-Core

Chipset-maker ULI was receiving huge exposure at Computex, mostly because of their partnership with ATI in the Crossfire platform. However, SiS was also showing new chipsets with great potential in today's market. Since many manufacturers expressed disappointment that VIA's chipsets still don't support dual-core processors, SiS was featuring their own support of dual core in all their new chipsets.

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This included the AMD 939 based 756/965 combo...

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...and a chipset targeted at the Intel Socket T based on the SiS 656FX/966 chipset.

Foxconn Targets AMD and the Computer Enthusiast

Many do not realize how huge Foxconn is in the computer market. They may have seen Foxconn connectors on their motherboards, but they would likely be surprised at how many motherboards Foxconn makes for other companies. This includes the fact that Foxconn is a huge manufacturer of motherboards for Intel. Perhaps because of that relationship, Foxconn was displaying very few AMD boards in their booth.

However, once you were in private meetings with Foxconn, the picture changed. It is clear that Foxconn is planning a major push into the AMD market with their own branded motherboards. We have seen this developing over the last couple of years, as Foxconn has produced new boards with more and more features and controls aimed at the Computer Enthusiast. Now, what has been a trickle will likely turn into a torrent.

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These ranged from the full blown Winfast nForce4-SLI, which expands the line that already includes a Winfast nF4 Ultra...

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...to the micro-ATX integrated graphics of the C51G/MCP51.

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Foxconn also is keeping a full-blown SiS AMD board in their AMD offerings. We have been very pleased with the Foxconn implementations of the SiS chipset for AMD in the past, so it is good to see a continuing commitment to the SiS chipset.

The World’s Largest Manufacturer of CPU Cooling

Foxconn is at or near the top in most every area of computer components. One little known fact is that Foxconn is the largest manufacturer of Computer Cooling in the world.

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You begin to get an idea of how pervasive the Foxconn cooler line really is when you see the cooler wall. If you look closely, you can see air-cooling in a huge assortment of cooling approaches. Foxconn manufactures coolers for others, as well as marketing under their own brand.

Like every other major player in the cooler market, Foxconn was also prominently displaying new water-cooling solutions. With the increasing problems in cooling a new computer system and the giant strides in water-cooling with non-conductive liquids, this may well be the year that we see many move to water-cooling for their computer system.

The variety of Foxconn coolers also included quite a few unique heatpipe coolers with heatpipe arrays in finned radiators, sometimes cooled by additional fans to increase efficiency.

And a Range of Innovative Systems

In keeping with their status as a huge supplier in the OEM market and an increasingly important player in the "branded" market, Foxconn was showing some of the more interesting complete systems on display at Computex.

Their all-red mini system was an eye-catcher and should appeal to buyers looking for a compact computer that will stand out from the crowd.

Foxconn was showing a "Set-top-box" form-factor computer that they called the Tuckaway. This full-featured system with a flat panel is a champion in saving desk space without giving up too many current features.

Last, but certainly not least, is the tiniest real computer that we saw at Computex this year. Called the Net Box, the unit has an embedded 500 MHz CPU consuming 1.0 Watt of power, 128MB of memory in one DIMM, built-in high-speed LAN, and a fast-boot integrated Windows CE OS.

As a system, the wires take up a lot more room than the Net Box computer, but we are certain that many manufacturers will find other places besides the desktop to use this tiny, flexible computer.