The annual Channel Expo is back and this time being held at Olympia, London.
The Channel Expo is an annual event targeted primarily at IT resellers, retailers and system builders. This year, it was being held at the National Hall, Olympia in London lasting two days, the 12-13th May. The Expo is host to over 100 companies ranging from hardware manufacturers to software and security providers, as well as vendors and distributors hoping to get the attention of the public. Of course, here at Vortez we are more interested in the hardware manufacturers and this year’s show didn’t disappoint.
Channel Expo 2010
The centre area was surrounded by some of the bigger companies such as Intel and Microsoft.
Intel
Intel had on display an array of laptops showcasing their new range of mobile CPUs codenamed Arrandale and Clarksfield which represent the i3/i5/i7 range. In fact, one of the laptops housed a hex core i7 chip, an impressive feat in itself!
Dual CPU Intel workstation
Cinebench demo using 24 threads
The main attraction was this Coolermaster Cosmos case that was shown running a server grade dual socket motherboard with two Nehalem-EX hex core chips. The graphics power was being delivered by an ATI workstation accelerator. As you can see, Intel was demonstrating running Cinebench on the 24 threaded workstation and comparing it with the performance delivered by a single thread. Rather unsurprisingly, 24 threads did come handy.
PNY & Kingston
PNY
PNY are highly popular in the OEM market, being one of the few manufacturers producing Nvidia’s Quadro card. Their booth was dedicated to showing these professional solutions but of course they did have several products targeting enthusiasts such as Nvidia’s latest ‘Fermi’ graphics cards.
PNY GTX470 on display
Kingston
Being an expo with a primary focus on resellers and retailers, Kingston’s presence came as no surprise with their array of flash drives that have been very successful over the years. Some RAM modules were also present to demonstrate new heat spreader designs.
Kingston flash drives, memory modules and SSDs
With the sale of SSDs gaining momentum, Kingston also took the opportunity to display their own solutions in the form of the Toshiba based V series and the Intel re-branded X25-M G2. They even had a demo of two laptops booting up to show just how fast and beneficial an SSD is to a system, thereby breaking the final bottleneck of a modern day PC/laptop.
I wonder if Kingston can send one for ermm…’review’
In the background (yes, there is stuff going on there if you look harder), you can see the HDD vs. SSD demo and a PC showing off their new fan designed for RAM modules.
Foxconn & ASRock
Foxconn
Foxconn was another large manufacturer present to the Channel Expo this year. They had on display a range of new motherboards pitted in the new ‘Digital Life’ series. Their range of AMD motherboards are being targeted at the mass consumer market as opposed to enthusiasts, hence the use of AMD’s latest 800 chipset. Their focus on this market has meant that the 890FX chipset will not be used in their latest range of motherboards.
Of course, on the Intel side, Foxconn were showing that they could still produce enthusiast level motherboards in the form of the X58 based Blood Rage GTI.
ASRock
ASRock has been a little talked about company for a long time, focussing their attention mostly on budget solutions. However, they have had some very innovative products in the past such as the socket 939 Dual-SATA2 motherboard. More recently, ASRock has delved into the enthusiast market with their X58 motherboards. For the most part, ASRock remains a budget conscious company as portrayed by the products they had on display at the expo.
The ASRock booth
ASRock 890GX Extreme3
Along with P55 and H55 based motherboards for the Intel platform, ASRock also has the above 890GX Extreme3 motherboard. In similar fashion to Foxconn, they are catering to the budget platform while still bringing support for USB3, SATA3 and E-SATA3.
ASROck Intel atom based nettop
Amongst their new line of products was this Intel atom based nettop that aims to appeal HTPC users and media aficionados.
Gigabyte
Gigabyte had one of the larger booths in comparison to other hardware vendors and from the vast array of both Intel and AMD motherboards on display, we can see why. There were two cabinets reserved for AMD and Intel boards and a third one in the middle showing two very interesting products.
The Gigabyte Booth
USB 3.0 compatibility
Gigabyte were emphasising their motherboards’ capabilities and support for USB 3.0 on their entire range of enthusiast boards.
Gigabyte’S 880GM-UD2H
Gigabyte’s promise to cater to the entire market could definitely be seen throughout their booth and the above mATX 880G based motherboard is testament to that. This board is aimed at the HTPC market and mainstream users.
Gigabyte’s H55-USB3
One of the best products Gigabyte were showing off was this mITX H55 based motherboard. With one PCIe x16 slot and support for Core i7/i5/i3 processors, this will make for a miniature powerhouse! It even has support for the latest USB 3.0, courtesy of the onboard NEC chip. With the growing popularity of this form factor, this will no doubt be a hit.
The specifications
The GA-H55N-USB3 even sports an onboard graphics chip. This is by far the best product Gigabyte had on show in my opinion. However, at the other end of the spectrum, they had another product on show. Read on to find out.
Gigabyte (Continued)
To compete with the ASUS Rampage III Extreme and EVGA’s range of classified motherboards, Gigabyte have gone all out to deliver their best enthusiast board yet, the GA-X58A-UD9. As the name implies, this is based on Intel’s flagship X58 platform. This particular sample is currently the only one in the UK so these are some very exclusive photos.
Gigabyte’s GA-X58A-UD9
You only have to look at the board to admire just what Gigabyte have achieved here. If you read the Rampage III Extreme motherboard review, then some of the features will look very familiar such as the dual 12V 8 pin CPU power connectors behind the MOSFET cooler and the two Molex plugs onboard. One downside from my initial observation is that the lower Molex plug may interfere with the graphics card in the last PCIe slot but it is yet to be seen if it is actually beneficial. Another unique feature of the board is its sheer size. This board is larger than even the Rampage III Extreme settling for the XL-ATX form factor, a massive difference to the GA-H55N-USB3 board Gigabyte were showcasing next to it.
With 7 PCIe x16 slots, this board will have serious graphics power at its disposal and thanks to two NF200 chips onboard, the UD9 is able to have four cards running at the full x16 link width and another three running at x8. The chipset cooling is also very impressive with one whole block spanning to cool the ICH10R Southbridge chip, the X58 chip and the two NF200 chips. The MOSFETs and phase regulators have their own ‘Ultra Durable’ heatsinks with two heat pipes coming from the main heatsink. The chipset cooling also sports nozzles for water cooling loops. The ferrite core chokes around the CPU and RAM areas are included to ensure the best power delivery to the board.
As you would expect, the UD9 has the usual array of connectors and features including a legacy IDE connector. Unlike the Rampage III Extreme, it also has dual LAN support. Ultra Durable 3 technology makes a usual appearance on the board along with a 2oz copper PCB. This board will no doubt be popular amongst the extreme overclocking scene. The main downside to this board will be its pricing. Tipped to be £150 more than the ASUS Rampage III Extreme, it’s not going to be cheap.
Microsoft, Logitech & Saitek
Microsoft
Microsoft had a big presence at the event and the biggest booth showcasing both hardware and software. In terms of hardware, they had the usual selection of keyboards and mice to fit the different audiences. Furthermore, they had several webcams in the Lifestyle range and some brand new headsets which is a new venture for their hardware department.
One of the main attractions was this rather small, funky wireless keyboard aimed at multimedia users. With a curved surface and soft touch buttons, it’s definitely something to look out for.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Microsoft without the software aspect and they didn’t fail on that one. With the release of Office 2010 imminent, Microsoft was demonstrating the benefits of their new software suite over its previous offering, and their business application. Apart from the new features included in all the applications, the presentation also emphasised heavily on the inclusion of ‘Web Apps’. Users will now be able to save their work online and with their live account, be able to sign into a web browser and access their work that way. The main benefit of such a system is being able to actually work on documents in a web browser remotely without the need to save all the work on a flash drive to access later on. This means that any system with a web browser can be used to edit documents including mobile phones!
Logitech
Logitech also had a number of peripherals being shown including a G27 and driver seat set-up to play racing games.
Saitek
One of the most revered names in the gaming peripherals market is Saitek but, for a long time they have been quiet on that front. The popular console peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz recently acquired Saitek and the result is the new line of products under the Eclipse brand including keyboards and mice. The above keyboard is aimed at multimedia users and you can immediately see its appeal. With a sleek design and individually back lit keys, the keyboard is very aesthetically pleasing. Its unique customisable touch screen on the side is highly innovative and looks very promising. For more information on this line of products, check out the Eclipse website.
Antec
Antec also had several new products on display across the range of products they sell. The notebook coolers were getting quite a bit of attention and for good reason. They also had the Antec 600 and while I’ve personally never been a big fan of the look of Antec’s recent cases, the 600 wasn’t too bad in person.
Antec’s flagship TruePower Quattro power supply was also on display amongst its other offerings. Based on Delta Electronics, this power supply has already proven itself to be excellent for continuous sustained power delivery as shown here with even higher peak power delivery in demanding situations.
That’s it from Channel Expo for this year.
