This ASUS TUF Gaming Motherboard With SODIMM Memory Slots Looks Totally Bonkers
A rather unusual looking motherboard is making the rounds after it was posted to X, formerly Twitter, which is turning heads because of its SO-DIMM memory slots. That's because it's a full-size ATX motherboard that should be flexing regular DIMM slots instead of their truncated SO-DIMM cousin, which is typically reserved for laptops and some small form factor (SFF) systems, particularly mini PCs in the style of the NUC.
SO-DIMM, or Small Outline Dual In-Line Memory Module slots are around half the size of a regular DIMM slot, measuring in the neighborhood of 2.66 inches with a 260-pin connector versus 288 pins on a regular DDR5 or DDR4 DIMM slot. They are not interchangeable (not without a SO-DIMM adapter, anyway), so you won't get very far trying to cram a SO-DIMM memory module into a regular DIMM slot.
That's not the only unusual thing about the modified ASUS motherboard that @wxnod posted to X/Twitter. If you close, you can see that above the top PCI Express x16 slot that it's labeled as a Maximus XIII Hero motherboard from ASUS ROG, with the ROG branding also visible I/O cover. However, the CPU socket cover suggests it's a TUF Gaming model, and it's missing some of the ROG heatsink accoutrements on the bottom half of the motherboard.
So, what exactly is this monstrosity? One possibility is that it's a clever Photoshop job. If we're to assume it's real, however, another possibility is that it's a testing platform.
With regards to the latter, @wxnod posted a couple of additional photos that show it booting to the BIOS. One of the images reveals a Kingston Fury splash screen, so this could be a custom designed or otherwise modified board that Kingston used to test and validate RAM leading up to the launch of Intel's 11th Gen Rocket Lake processors.
Barring one of those possibilities, there's little reason we can fathom for something like to this exist, save for perhaps a modding project just for spits and giggles. From a usability standpoint, there's no real advantage to outfitting a full-size ATX desktop motherboard to laptop memory slots. That said, this would make for an interesting collector's piece.
