Tech update for 11/1/2012

Last week was cebit 2012. first in line is EVGA finally announced their Classified SR-X motherboard, this is a dual Xeon LGA 2011 motherboard. it has 7 pcie slots capable of 4 way SLI and CrossfireX. it also has a dual 6 phase PWM and has 12 DDR3 dimm slots.

Source: Techpowerup


MSI shown their full lineup of ivy bridge based motherboards. for now the MSI Z77-AGD80 is the most high end board they can offer. these motherboards feature military class iii components certified with MIL-STD-810G, OC Genie II, Clck Bios II and PCI Express 3.0

one of the killer features of the MSI Z77A-GD80 is the fact that there is a thunderbolt port which has transfer speeds of up to 10 Gb/s and can also be a display out

The thunderbolt port is below the D-Sub connector

Source: Techpowerup, Techpowerup via Hardwareinfo

Meet the Asrock Extreme 11, this motherboard is the best board Asrock can give on the X79 chipset. this board has a 16+2 power phase design and a pair of 8 pin 12v power connector. has dual ehternet ports as well as molex power for PCI express lanes. this board has two PLX chips. 14 sata ports; 4 of them are sata 3, 6Gb/s. this board has 2 internal usb 3.0 headers with  a total of 8 usb 3.0 ports including the ones at the rear I/O.

Source: Vr-Zone

Finally is the MSI R7970 Lightning edition. this may just be the best card out there. this card not only performs fast but also has a very sleek look to it. this card has military class III components, 2048 Shader Units, a 384-bit memory interface, 3 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, Eyefinity 6 support, plus two DVI and four mini DisplayPort outputs.

The cutout behind the backplate is for the Reactor core

 Source: Techpowerup

 Stay tuned for another update about Asus Lineup of intel 7 series chipset

Asus Maximus V Gene motherboard detailed

The Asus Maximus V Gene is packed with the Z77 chipset and supports the upcoming line of Ivy Bridge Processors. The LGA1155 Socket processor would be powered through an 8+3 Phase Extreme Engine DIGI+II VRM (Power is provided through an 8 Pin connector). A total of four Dual Channel DDR3 DIMM slots are included on the board featuring support for upto 32GB Ram with frequencies of 2600Mhz+ O.C. Two PCI-e x16 3.0 expansion slots allow for SLI and CrossfireX Configurations, A PCI-e x4 slot is also included. In addition to these ASUS also included MPCIE Combo connector located at the I/O panel which allows space for a Mini PCIe slot. Storage includes four SATA 6Gbps and two SATA 3Gbps ports. A total of 4 USB 3.0 ports are located at the back and two through front panel connector.Other I/O panel connectors include Clear Cmos Switch, ROG Connect Button, eSATA, SPDIF (Optical), HDMI, Display port, Intel GB LAN (Intel LAN + Gamer First) and Supreme FXIII Powered 7.1 Channel Audio Jack. Overall the motherboard looks really great for gamers looking forward to the Z77 platform, Pricing should be announced in early April.

Source: Wccftech via Maximum-Tech

Gigabyte Z77 Motherboards

Gigabyte's Lineup of the Intel Z77 platform (Panther Point). first up the Gigabyte Z77-UD3H and Z77-UD5H

This board has a more beefy looking heatsink 

Look like it has a matte black PCB

The Z77X-UD5H is an extremely feature-rich offering, in some aspects a more complete package than even the G1.Sniper 3. It provides a 15-phase CPU and 2-phase memory VRM. Expansion slots on this board include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4), three PCIe 2.0 x1, and one legacy PCI. SATA connectivity on the Z77X-UD5H includes five internal SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, three from third-party controllers), four SATA 3 Gb/s, one mSATA, and one eSATA. Display I/O includes one each of DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort. There are two gigabit Ethernet interfaces (one driven by an Intel controller, one by a Qualcomm-Atheros controller), 8+2 channel HD audio driven by Realtek ALC898, ten USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, six via front-panel headers), FireWire, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Moving on to the Z77X-UD3H, we find a leaner loadout overall. A 9-phase VRM powers the CPU, 2-phase memory. The expansion slot arrangement is identical to that of the Z77X-UD5H. SATA connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s, four SATA 3 Gb/s internal ports, one mSATA, and two eSATA ports. This board has even more USB 3.0 ports than the UD5H: six on the rear-panel, two via header. The rest of the connectivity includes 8+2 channel HD audio (VIA-made CODEC, we're not too sure about the 108 dBA SNR marking), one gigabit Ethernet interface (likely Realtek 8111F). Display connectivity includes one each of DVI, HDMI, Display Port, and D-Sub. 


Source: Techpowerup


G1 Sniper M3 

this is the first Micro ATX G1 killer motherboard and is based on the same Z77 chipset, and is backed by a fairly exhaustive feature-set that makes it a formidable high-end micro-ATX gaming desktop choice (good for LAN party rigs). The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 9-phase VRM, which draws power from a 4-pin ATX connector (instead of 8-pin EPS). The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel memory.Out of the four expansion slots this form-factor permits, three slots on this board are physical PCI-Express x16. The topmost one is PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/x8), the bottom-most one is electrical PCI-Express 3.0 x8. These two slots are wired to the CPU. The x16 slot in the middle of the two is electrical PCI-Express 2.0 x4, wired to the Z77 PCH. Then there's a PCI-Express 2.0 x1, also wired to the PCH. SATA connectivity doesn't rely on any third-party controllers, internally there are two SATA 6 Gb/s ports, three SATA 3 Gb/s, the fourth 3 Gb/s port is wired out as eSATA, on the rear panel.Further, the board doesn't rely on third-party USB 3.0 controllers. There are just four USB 3.0 ports, two on the rear-panel, two via front-panel header, all four wired to the PCH. Like the G1.Sniper 3, this board lacks fancy Creative or Bigfoot made connectivity. It makes use of Creative Sound Core3D audio, which is backed by amplifier circuitry that's better ground-isolated from the rest of the motherboard; and Intel 82579V gigabit Ethernet. Display connectivity includes one each of DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort. A number of USB 2.0 ports top it off.


Source: Techpowerup

As you can see the rear I/O only has usb 3.0 ports

Finally is the Highest end in the gigabyte line of Z77 (most probably not official yet). The motherboard is designed to drive up to four graphics cards in 4-way CrossFire/SLI configurations. It takes advantage of a PLX PEX8747 bridge chip, which takes in one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link, giving out two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 links, it even has a native multiplex that splits its second downstream x16 link to two x8 links. This way, the G1.Sniper 3 is ready for 4-way action with the latest PCIe Gen. 3.0 graphics cards. The socket LGA1155 CPU is powered by a 15-phase VRM. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory. Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC/x16/NC; x16/NC/x8/x8; x8/x8/x8/x8); two PCI-Express 2.0 x1 (wired to the PCH), and one legacy PCI. There's a boat-load of SATA connectivity, starting with six SATA 6 Gb/s ports (two from the PCH, four from additional controllers), four SATA 3 Gb/s, and one mSATA 6 Gb/s. For a change, Gigabyte did away with both Creative X-Fi audio (at least the CA20K2-based version) and Bigfoot Killer NIC, and replaced them with more familiar parts, such as HD audio (probably Realtek ALC898) driving the audio, with better ground-isolated amp circuitry, and Intel Gigabit Ethernet controller (probably 82579V). There's a second GbE connection, driven by a Realtek controller. Display connectivity looks to include DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort (the whole lot). All USB ports on the rear panel are USB 3.0, four of them could be wired to the PCH. There are a number of USB 2.0 ports available by headers, not to mention two more USB 3.0 ports via front-panel header. Moving on, the G1.Sniper 3 has Gigabyte's dual-UEFI BIOS with 3DBIOS UI. While the board retains the gunmetal black+green color scheme, it did away with retarded-looking heatsink designs. It packs a whole bunch of features for overclockers, including consolidated voltage measurement points, a feature-rich BIOS, etc. The G1.Sniper 3 could feature in Gigabyte's first wave of Z77 motherboards.


Source: Techpowerup

Asus Z77

the Usual style of the back of the asus motherboards box. there are many info about this board in this picture. one of the key things are they still retain their sandy bridge motherboard look

Chinese online marketplace site Taobao has listings of two yet-to-launch motherboards based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, the Wibtek Z77 Hacker (we earlier covered news of that listing  and now, the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe. This will be among ASUS' premium LGA1155 motherboards based on the new chipset. It is priced at (US $396), which seems to be at the price of a low end X79 motherboard.The P8Z77-V Deluxe supports DDR3-2800 MHz with overclocking. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), wired to the CPU, supporting NVIDIA SLI, AMD CrossFire and Lucid VirtuMVP; one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH); and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots. Good riddance to legacy PCI. Display connectivity lacks archaic connectors such as DVI and D-Sub, includes HDMI and DisplayPort, instead. Storage connectivity consists of four SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, two from a third-party controller), four SATA 3 Gb/s, and two eSATA 6 Gb/s. Other connectivity includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces (one driven by Intel 82579V, one by Realtek RTL8111F PHY); Wireless b/g/n (quad-band); Bluetooth 3.0; 8+2 channel HD audio (Realtek ALC898 HDA CODEC); 8 USB 3.0 ports (six on the rear panel, two via front-panel header); and 8 USB 2.0 ports. There are several ASUS-exclusives to be had, such as its UEFI BIOS with EZMode, EPU, TurboV Processing Unit (TPU), and others. all this info brings to a conclusion, the ivy bridge platfor is about to be released.


Source: Techpowerup, Tweaktown

Biostar TZ77XE4

The Biostar TZ77XE4 is based on intel's new Z77 chipset, which for the first time incorporates tri-gate transistors manufactured using the 22-nm fab process which, for the first time, delivers a native support for the high-speed USB 3.0 interface and fast SSD caching with the Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT). Fully compatible with the second-generation Intel Core CPUs (Sandy Bridge), the new boards for the first time support the third generation Intel Core CPUs codenamed Ivy Bridge, also manufactured with the 3D-transistors using the 22-nm fab process and designed for the popular LGA 1155 socket. This board also has integrated HDMI 3D Visual interface for stereo content of various 3D formats. For the first time the BIOSTAR boards for the third-gen Intel Core CPUs fully realized the new BIOS, with the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI BIOS), which delivers high flexibility and easy setup for basic settings thanks to the intuitive graphics interface. This mobo supports up to four SATA2 drives and up to four SATA 3.0 drives with astonishing performance up to 600 MB/s (up to 4.8 Gbit/s of uncoded data) which can be arranged in the RAID 0,1,5 or 10 arrays. The boards support up to eight USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0 ports. The speedy GbE LAN interface delivers a high speed for local and external network resources. This board packs a THX TruStudio Pro technology specially developed by Creative and THX for delivering acoustic impressions usually associated with live music, movies or studio sound. Besides, for the first time the new boards feature the Puro Tone - 110 dB technology which delivers high authenticity of multi-channel sound with extremely effective noise reduction, with the SNR of 110 dB.


Source: Techpowerup