Tyan Thunder K8WE nForce4 Pro 2200 Motherboard Review

The release of Tyan’s Thunder K8WE is an important step forward for the Opteron platform, as AMD now has a board in their arsenal which can combat any workstation-class board for Intel’s Xeon processor. No longer is the Opteron platform lagging behind in terms of motherboard level features or functionality. If anything, the Thunder K8WE has catapulted the Opteron platform ahead of the Xeon, as functions like NUMA and SLI are still not available for Intel’s workstation platforms.

..Not surprisingly, the Thunder K8WE won’t come cheap, with price tags hovering around $500, which is anywhere from 30-50% more expensive compared to the Asus K8N-DL nForce4 Pro board which will be hitting shelves soon. The K8WE does feel like a more solid platform, with a much better board layout and memory module, along with the ability to use PCI Express graphics and PCI-X expansion cards. With a feature set and a price tag like this, the Thunder K8WE should only be recommended for serious workstation users. When the board’s quirks get worked out and we can see what the board’s SLI abilities are capable of, Tyan will have an utterly incredible platform on their hands with the Thunder K8WE.

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