Asus shows off X79 motherboards "LGA 2011"

 Asus images and some specs of motherboards that support Intel's new Sandy Bridge E chips. Asus has three of its upcoming X79 products, P9X79 DELUXE, P9X79 Pro and Rampage IV Extreme

 ASUS P9X79 DELUXE

Picture source: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk

ASUS P9X79 Pro 

The biggest difference between P9X79 Pro and Deluxe is the 16+2+2+2 VRM setup on the Deluxe over the 8+2+2+2 setup on the Pro. The higher amount of power phases means that overclocking ability should be a little better on the Deluxe version. The DELUXE board has Triple card SLI / CrossFireX making it that little bit more enthusiast orientated. It has another Gigabit networking port with two extra USB 3.0 ports and a new BT V3.0 GO similar to P8P67 DELUXE - BT GO V2.1.
Another interesting feature is USB 3.0 Boost. Asus claims a performance increase of up to "170%".More about USB 3.0 boost you can find here: (vr-zone.com) - Asus-launches USB 3.0 speed booster UASP support for ASMedia

ASUS RAMPAGE IV EXTREME

Picture source: http://www.tweaktown.com


The ASUS Rampage IV Extreme looks to be one of the best ROG boards to date from the company.

The Rampage IV Extreme is a overclocking motherboard and it's going to be "expensive". This is going to be one of the most hardcore options on the market and any true ROG fan is going to absolutely love what ASUS has brought to the table.

All of Asus boards will support UEFI BIOS and one-touch USB BIOS "flash" updates. It allows you to flash the BIOS of a motherboard with literally nothing in the system. It gets handy if you get a motherboard and a brand new CPU that wasn't supported on the shipping BIOS. With a USB flash drive you can get to the latest BIOS without the need of getting an older compatible CPU.


Intel's X79 brings support for four memory channels resulting in a possible eight DDR3 DIMMs, plus USB3, AMD Crossfire and Nvidia SLI support.

Intel is expected to release its Core i7 39XX range of chips in the coming weeks, which are set to replace the LGA1366 Core i7 Nehalem chips that launched the Core-series chips back in 2008. Socket LGA2011 mainboards will also support the so-called Sandy Bridge E chips, which are Core i7 processors marketed for workstations.

While pictures are out, Intel's NDA still hasn't expired so there's no official word on pricing, but expect both Asus and Gigabyte to price their X79 boards from £200, with the RoG and Assassin boards coming in at £300 or above.

 More news, pictures on: 

(expertreviews.co.uk) Asus-motherboards show off
(tweaktown.com) Asus P9X79 Pro and Deluxe motherboard preview
(tweaktown.com) Asus_RAMPAGE IV EXTREME_motherboard_preview

Time to get excited! Gigabyte X79 motherboards "LGA 2011"

New Gigabyte images and some specs of motherboards that support Intel's new Sandy Bridge E chips. Gigabyte has four of its upcoming X79 products, G1.Assassin 2, X79-UD7, X79-UD5 and X79-UD3.

These LGA 2011 boards make use of 3-way digital power technology, and have four or eight (only UD5) DDR3 memory, slots, up to ten SATA ports (both 6.0 Gbps and 3.0 Gbps), three (G1.Assassin 2, X79-UD5) or four (X79-UD7, X79-UD3) PCI-Express x16 slots, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1 channel audio, USB 3.0 connectivity, and various other, model-specific goodies. The G1.Assassin 2 for example includes a Killer 2100 NIC and a Creative X-Fi audio processor, while the X79-UD7 boasts with two SATA port connectors and overclocking buttons.

Expect an official announcement from Gigabyte in the coming weeks.

G1.Assassin 2 

GA-X79-UD7

GA-X79-UD5

 

GA-X79-UD3

Picture source: http://sinhardware.com

Some quick info about Gigabytes BIOS/UEFI on screenshots from (anandtech.com):First looka at Gigabytes UEFI setup on X79

I'm not an ASUS fanboy either. But if you compare these boards to ASUS! You can see an instant change. ASUS includes 8 DIMMS on every motherboard, and their SLI support increases as the boards become higher-spec. ASUS's layouts make much more sense than Gigabytes.

Facebook page:
GIGABYTE USA page:
http://www.facebook.com-Gigabyte X79

Intel's X79 brings support for four memory channels resulting in a possible eight DDR3 DIMMs, plus USB3, AMD Crossfire and Nvidia SLI support.

Intel is expected to release its Core i7 39XX range of chips in the coming weeks, which are set to replace the LGA1366 Core i7 Nehalem chips that launched the Core-series chips back in 2008. Socket LGA2011 mainboards will also support the so-called Sandy Bridge E chips, which are Core i7 processors marketed for workstations.

While pictures are out, Intel's NDA still hasn't expired so there's no official word on pricing, but expect both Asus and Gigabyte to price their X79 boards from £200, with the RoG and Assassin boards coming in at £300 or above.