Details on Intel's Z68/X68 and Patsburg models

[Castiel]

It didn't take long for additional details to make its way online about Intel's Z68 motherboards that we wrote about earlier today and now a slide detailing both models have appeared over at Xfastest which gives a lot more details than what we'd seen so far. It also gives us a few additional details of Intel's upcoming consumer focused Patsburg chipset models codenamed Siler and Thorsby that we wrote about a few weeks ago.

Also on the roadmap are details of Intel's first H61 model, the DH61AG which is a mini-ITX board. Although the H61 chipset is Intel's budget chipset, this board has a few extra features that you don't normally get as standard with it, such as SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 support. The board will also sport DVI and HDMI connectivity and SO-DIMM slots, the latter most likely to save space on the PCB. It's also interesting to note that Intel labels this as a thin-AIO (All-in-One) board which means it might be a low profile board.

As for the Z68 boards, first up we have the media focused DZ68DB which will offer USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps connectivity as well as DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. It's clear that this isn't the board most people have been waiting for, but if you want an ATX size board that has a good selection of display outputs alongside overclocking abilities and RAID support, this might be the one for you.

The board that is interesting in this case is the DZ68BC which again sports USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps, but it also offers a pair of x16 PCI Express slots (in dual x8 configuration), a feature that should appeal to high-end users and the reason why this board is located in Intel's Extreme range of boards. The DZ68BC also offers Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity via a USB adapter (a feature Intel is already offering on some of its other boards) and it does of course feature overclocking and RAID support. There's no mention of any display outputs on this board, although we'd guess there is at least one port on the board.



As for the Patsburg boards, well, still no model number, but the Siler model is now listed as the DXxxSI so all that's left for Intel to insert is the expect 68 or 78 numbers in the middle (for X68 or X78) depending on what the company decides it want to call its next high-end chipset. The Thorsby is now the DXxxTO and shared features between the two models include dual x16 PCI Express slots, although it might be worth pointing out that these are PCI Express 3.0 slots and both boards also sports eight DIMMs (four more than we expected), USB 3.0 connectivity, most likely SATA 6Gbps even though it isn't mentioned, but it's part of the chipset spec and of course overclocking and RAID support. The DXxxSI also offers dual Ethernet ports, most likely of the Gigabit variety and the DXxxTO sports a TPM module.

It's interesting that Intel has chosen to go with eight DIMMs, as this means two DIMMs per channel as the LGA-2011 Sandy Bridge-E processors use quad channel memory. However, as the memory controller will throttle the memory speed if you add more than one DIMM per channel, this seems like a bad move on a consumer motherboard as it could have a potential negative impact on the system performance. Pictures that leaked of a somewhat blurred out MSI board about a month ago showed that MSI had decided to go with only one DIMM per channel for a total of four DIMMs and we're not sure why Intel didn't do the same.

According to this roadmap we're looking at the H61 chipset to arrive fairly shortly and the Z68 towards the end of this half of the year, at least if the scale is corresponding to launch dates. This falls in line with what we said in our earlier post today with most Z68 chipset boards launching at Computex. As for the Patsburg based boards, well, it looks like we're in for a longer wait here and we're hearing late Q3 or early Q4, suggesting a potential IDF San Francisco launch in September. So for all of those of you waiting for new chipsets and motherboards, sadly you're going to have to wait a bit longer as Intel doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry at the moment.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/additional-details-on-intel-s-z68-and-patsburg-models/11294.html

 

[Rifter]

I have also seen a rumour that the x68(or whatever its called) will only be one chipset this time not one for the enthusiast boards and one for servers like the past. So we should get all the server features(ECC, extra SATA ports, Extra RAM slots) on the enthusiast boards. Im really looking forward to 2011.

 

[Castiel]

I have also seen a rumour that the x68(or whatever its called) will only be one chipset this time not one for the enthusiast boards and one for servers like the past. So we should get all the server features(ECC, extra SATA ports, Extra RAM slots) on the enthusiast boards. Im really looking forward to 2011.

If thats true they're going to be expensive

 

[Rifter]

If thats true they're going to be expensive

i know but worth it!

 

[ShadowVVL]

will the extreme editions still have a igp?

and whats of cost $999?

 

[justinm]

Holding out for SKT2011... I'm pretty sure there will be some vanilla versions release too.

 

[Dadofamunky]

If the posted data is right, and you'll pay a performance penalty for having more than one DIMM per channel, that doesn't sound like a great upgrade. Frankly, it makes no sense. I don't think I'll be "investing" in that platform anyway.

 

[IntelUser2000]

will the extreme editions still have a igp?

and whats of cost $999?

No graphics.

 

[Accord99]

If the posted data is right, and you'll pay a performance penalty for having more than one DIMM per channel, that doesn't sound like a great upgrade. Frankly, it makes no sense. I don't think I'll be "investing" in that platform anyway.

The platform is quad-channel so you can use up to 4 DIMMs without loss of speed (though I'd imagine enthusiast boards will allow you to violate this limitation). And there's always a compromise between speed and capacity; that's why there are things like registered memory and FB-DIMMs being used in workstation and server products.

 

[Castiel]

will the extreme editions still have a igp?

and whats of cost $999?

Rumor has it 2011 will only have EE processors

 

[PreferLinux]

I have also seen a rumour that the x68(or whatever its called) will only be one chipset this time not one for the enthusiast boards and one for servers like the past. So we should get all the server features(ECC, extra SATA ports, Extra RAM slots) on the enthusiast boards. Im really looking forward to 2011.

Just because it's in the chipset doesn't mean it's on the board. The memory controller is in the CPU anyway, so no ECC or extra RAM, sorry.

 

[jsedlak]

If the posted data is right, and you'll pay a performance penalty for having more than one DIMM per channel, that doesn't sound like a great upgrade. Frankly, it makes no sense. I don't think I'll be "investing" in that platform anyway.

This confuses me. Does the information imply the same was true for 1366 and 6 slotted boards?

 

[dangerman1337]

It looks like Patsburg is going to get USB 3.0 but according the same slide Z68 is going to get it? I thought it wasn't.

 

[Rifter]

Just because it's in the chipset doesn't mean it's on the board. The memory controller is in the CPU anyway, so no ECC or extra RAM, sorry.

Not true if you buy a xeon CPU, if the chipset is the same then the xeon CPU's will work on all boards, not only server boards.

So if you buy any board you can run a xeon, which will give you ECC. And since the xeons are usualy the same price as the enthusiast counterparts this will not cost you extra. The W3530 is same price as i7 930 for example, and the X3450 is same price as i7 860.

The only differnce before was you usually needed the server chipsets to fully take advantage or even use the xeon CPU's. But if 2011 is the same chipset this will not be the case going forward.

This will also give you more overclocking headroom as the xeons are usually binned better than the regular i7's.

 

[AdamK47]

It's interesting that Intel has chosen to go with eight DIMMs, as this means two DIMMs per channel as the LGA-2011 Sandy Bridge-E processors use quad channel memory. However, as the memory controller will throttle the memory speed if you add more than one DIMM per channel, this seems like a bad move on a consumer motherboard as it could have a potential negative impact on the system performance. Pictures that leaked of a somewhat blurred out MSI board about a month ago showed that MSI had decided to go with only one DIMM per channel for a total of four DIMMs and we're not sure why Intel didn't do the same.

I'm not sure why they arrived at this conclusion. It's obvious that the board has two banks, each quad channel. Similar to the two banks of triple channel on the x58.

 

[Edrick]

I have read rumors before that state that Patsburg will have SAS supprt as well. Granted not all boards would have this since the price would be higer, but I wonder if we will see high end boards with SAS and SATA 6 support. That would be nice since I could use some 15K HDDs.

And we also start seeing some SSD makers coming out with SAS drives. Might not be related, but it would help sales if Intel did support it.

 

[blckgrffn]

Anymore news on the "SSD Caching" this chipset is supposedly bringing to the table? That's likely the feature that would motivate me the most if it works like I hope - ie, a 40GB SSD in front of a 1TB SATA drive with only the 1TB showing up in the OS and read/write caching on the SSD...

 

[Edrick]

And where is Lightpeak? Apple already announced it, but it is missing from the Intel boards.

 

[bryanW1995]

Rumor has it 2011 will only have EE processors

that would SUCK. God I hope that BD is competitive, if nothing else so that they keep intel honest!

Interesting info re SSD caching. That could convince me to upgrade if it works as advertised.

 

[PreferLinux]

Not true if you buy a xeon CPU, if the chipset is the same then the xeon CPU's will work on all boards, not only server boards.

So if you buy any board you can run a xeon, which will give you ECC. And since the xeons are usualy the same price as the enthusiast counterparts this will not cost you extra. The W3530 is same price as i7 930 for example, and the X3450 is same price as i7 860.

The only differnce before was you usually needed the server chipsets to fully take advantage or even use the xeon CPU's. But if 2011 is the same chipset this will not be the case going forward.

This will also give you more overclocking headroom as the xeons are usually binned better than the regular i7's.

True, except that using a Xeon CPU would also require BIOS support..

 

[Mopetar]

i know but worth it!

Just out of curiosity, what would you need ECC for? I can understand some features such as extra RAM slots if you were building a box that was going to do a heavy amount of virtualization, but most consumer grade stuff has no need for the rest of that feature list.

I'd rather just pocket the difference in cost or put it towards some other facet of the system.

 

[Wuzup101]

that would SUCK. God I hope that BD is competitive, if nothing else so that they keep intel honest!

Interesting info re SSD caching. That could convince me to upgrade if it works as advertised.

QFT. I'm definitely not an AMD fanboy... but I would really like to see both sides churning out options (instead of just seeing what intel will put out next). It would be nice to see them have to lower prices on some of their chips... oh yeah... I wouldn't mind buying something fromt the AMD side for a change!

 

[Rifter]

Just out of curiosity, what would you need ECC for? I can understand some features such as extra RAM slots if you were building a box that was going to do a heavy amount of virtualization, but most consumer grade stuff has no need for the rest of that feature list.

I'd rather just pocket the difference in cost or put it towards some other facet of the system.

I always prefer to use ECC whenever possible, especially since i do alot of encoding and my main rig usually ends up being retired to become my home server which houses and serves over 8TB of media, plus various other server tasks(traffic shaping, firewall, packet inspection, HTTP server, FTP server, Email server as well as various game servers) all of which would be better served with ECC memory. I just dont like data corruption.

 

[SickBeast]

Anymore news on the "SSD Caching" this chipset is supposedly bringing to the table? That's likely the feature that would motivate me the most if it works like I hope - ie, a 40GB SSD in front of a 1TB SATA drive with only the 1TB showing up in the OS and read/write caching on the SSD...

That sounds like an awesome feature. Hopefully all motherboards will have it integrated soon.

 

[Jovec]

Anymore news on the "SSD Caching" this chipset is supposedly bringing to the table? That's likely the feature that would motivate me the most if it works like I hope - ie, a 40GB SSD in front of a 1TB SATA drive with only the 1TB showing up in the OS and read/write caching on the SSD...

This should be an option at the OS level as a sort of transparent and partial mirroring between the HDD (which would always have all files) and the SSD (which would have key files and folders as space permitts).