The Intel W480 Motherboard Overview: LGA1200 For Xeon W-1200
by Gavin Bonshor on June 24, 2020 9:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE W480M Vision W
The smallest of GIGABYTE's W480 models is the W480M Vision W with its micro-ATX frame. It is identical in design to the more jumbo W480 Vision W with its black heatsinks and heavily visible traces on the PCB. The most notable features of the W480M Vision W includes dual PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, eight SATA ports, dual Ethernet ports with one Intel 2.5 GbE Ethernet controller, and a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec.
Despite the smaller micro-ATX size, the GIGABYTE W480M Vision W crams in a solid feature set. Included are two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate at x16, and x8/x8, with two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. For storage, there is a pair of PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, with eight SATA ports that include support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Memory support includes both ECC and non-ECC memory, with speeds of up to DDR4-2933 listed and a maximum capacity of up to 128 GB across four available memory slots.
On the rear panel is a good selection of input and output for a micro-ATX model, with two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports. For users looking to use Intel's UHD integrated graphics, there's two DisplayPort 1.4, one D-Sub, and one HDMI 1.4 video output. At the same time, a PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo port allows the use of legacy peripherals. Looking at networking, there are two Ethernet ports with one port powered by an Intel 2.5 GbE Ethernet controller, while the other port is a standard Intel Gigabit port. However, GIGABYTE hasn't specified which controllers are being used. Finishing off the rear panel is five 3.5 mm audio jacks and an S/PDIF optical output which is controlled by a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec.
The GIGABYTE W480M Vision W is a solid alternative for users looking to use Intel's Xeon and Xeon W-1200 series processors, but need something with a smaller desktop footprint such as micro-ATX. There's plenty of features on offer including dual PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, an Intel 2.5 GbE Ethernet controller, and eight SATA slots with full chipset support on RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. GIGABYTE hasn't unveiled pricing at this moment, but it will likely be the cheapest of the three models showcased in this overview.
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YB1064 - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
Underwhelming at best. Why would anybody go for this over EPYC?Jorgp2 - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
Lolextide - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
This doesn't even compete with Threadripper, much less Epyc. This chipset allows you to use LGA1200 Xeons which are identical to the 10th gen Core series plus ECC support -- which is essentially what you get with regular Ryzen line -- except the regular ryzen line goes to 16 cores and ECC is only "semi official"foobaz - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
The Xeon has one minor advantage over Ryzen - the Xeon does both ECC and integrated graphics. Ryzen APUs can't do ECC, so if you want ECC, you need to pair a Ryzen without integrated graphics with either a discrete GPU or a motherboard with onboard graphics like the X470D4U.PixyMisa - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
For a server though, you want BMC, so you want a motherboard like the X470D4U.And for a workstation, in most cases you want discrete graphics.
abeetz - Sunday, January 23, 2022 - link
For one, the W480 Vision W from Gigabyte includes AMT, as far as I can tell. Some are selling it as a workstation board, and the W-1370 / 1370P CPUs are positioned as workstation processors. But I don't see any downside to using this as a pretty beefy server. It does have a fancy audio section, but that in itself shouldn't disqualify server use. Happy to get anyone else's take on this here. Saying this, of course, because I was able to get a hold of that motherboard + W-1370P CPU, both currently rare, and am considering them as a server for a small business whose network I run.abeetz - Sunday, January 23, 2022 - link
Correction - I meant that some are selling it as a SERVER board...0ldman79 - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
When you're talking servers the dinky GPU doesn't factor in.The price difference between the Intel and AMD line they can more than afford to toss in any motherboard-integrated GPU they can think of.
I'd say 99% of the time the server GPU is only used during initial setup and config. Everything is remote managed.
I even go so far as to disconnect the mouse, keyboard and monitor on almost every server I set up. Keeps the business owner's kids from screwing with it.
The iGPU is not a deciding factor in a server purchase.
eek2121 - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
I don’t know about that. Ryzen chips can do ECC, I actually haven’t looked at whether the APUs have a different memory controller, but all Ryzen chips support ECC. My X570 board let’s me enable it via the BIOS (F20a, AMD CBS menu).Slash3 - Thursday, June 25, 2020 - link
Pro series APUs do support ECC, but non-Pro APUs do not.