Tyan has launched a close to mATX format dual CPU Opteron motherboard and it doesn't skimp on features considerings its tiny size. At 265x240mm the Thunder n3600s packs a serious punch.
It's a shame that it's 11mm too long to fit into a standard mATX case and it seems like this is a recent problem for server board maker, as Supermicro had a similar problem with a board that didn't follow standard form factors earlier this year.
What you get is a board based on the nVIDIA nForce Pro 3600 chipset and it has a total of eight memory slots, four per CPU. It will take two Opteron 2000-series CPUs and up to 32GB or DDR2 RAM.
The onboard graphics is powered by an XGI Volari Z7 with 16MB of memory, ideal for server applications. It also has a single x16 PCI Express slot, dual Gigabit Ethernet, four SATA, a single IDE and a Floppy connector.
It's also pretty good value for money at US$290, although if you live in the UK, you have to fork out just over £203 for the same board.
You can find the full specifications here
