Want the power of Intel’s Core i7 CPUs in a small “shoebox-sized” PC chassis?

One new motherboard to consider may be Asus’ Rampage II GENE, a “small brother” of the no-holds-barred Rampage II Extreme motherboard, which I used in my own watercooled PC as well as Digital Life’s Dream PC 2008.

The Rampage II GENE is a micro ATX board with the same Intel X58 chipset, and tri-channel DDR3 support. More importantly, it will support both Nvidia SLI and ATI Crossfire dual-graphics modes. That lets you squeeze two graphics cards onto a small shoebox PC – cool!

I’m not sure how you’re gonna dissipate the heat of two giant graphics cards in a rather tight shoebox PC, but at least this board lets you try!

Right after I wrote the annual Dream PC article for Digital Life in Dec 2008, I felt an itch to upgrade my existing PC, which was actually doing well as it was. For the DL article, I had played with an Intel Core i7-965 chip, some Corsair DDR3 RAM and a nice Lian Li case, and I couldn’t help the urge to upgrade my own rig!

Thus began the an almost two-month long sourcing plus building process for a new, souped up rig.

It’s been said that recessions come and go but life goes on at Sim Lim Square, that six-storey techie haunt in Singapore, for those unfamilar.

The best evidence comes from the way PC buffs snapped up Intel’s new Core i7s, as they hit the stores late last week.

So popular are these Core i7s that the supporting high-end DDR3 modules are near sold out. Popular retailer Cybermind, for example, now has stocks for only 3 x 1GB DDR3s from Corsair (S$255 with bundle). The 3 x 2GB packs (S$499 with bundle) are already sold out.