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First Sandy Bridge board available!!!

Look at that featureset! Intel-integrated Sata3, USB3 front panel connectors, SLI/Crossfire x8/x8.

Exciting times.
 
Look at that featureset! Intel-integrated Sata3, USB3 front panel connectors, SLI/Crossfire x8/x8.

Exciting times.

Are you sure about intel integrated Sata3? It says "2 x USB 3.0 + 6 x USB 2.0", if it was intel integrated, why wouldn't it have 8 x USB 3.0 ports? Or is USB 3.0 not backwards compatible with 2.0?
 
When a new socket is introduced. Is it normal for boards to be released before the CPU's? Cause that would be pretty stupid.
 
If you go to the ASRock site it's not listed under the products page (under mobo). Why does newegg have it as "deactivated" ? My guess it was never on sale, maybe just uploaded the product page ?
 
When a new socket is introduced. Is it normal for boards to be released before the CPU's? Cause that would be pretty stupid.

Umm, I guess it could be other way around too. I got my board on my sig at Craiglist from a guy that said bought the board 2 weeks ago(that would mean he got it 7-10 days before the official release date), was selling it because it wasn't compatible - he had Core 2.
 
Well, that was more of a trickle than the floodgates opening. ASRock (or Newegg) jumped the gun, maybe? I would think we'd see the motherboards before SB is launched so folks have time to look things over, but maybe that's wishful thinking on my part.
 
Are you sure about intel integrated Sata3? It says "2 x USB 3.0 + 6 x USB 2.0", if it was intel integrated, why wouldn't it have 8 x USB 3.0 ports? Or is USB 3.0 not backwards compatible with 2.0?

I have no idea how USB comes into this, but here:

"2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID(RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5 and Intel Rapid Storage), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions"

Meaning it's from a native Intel controller.
 
Eh ? Lots of other boards have "triple-slot cooler spacing" if you don't mind losing the PCI & a PCIe slot...

The layout for this board, you still lose slots...

You couldnt have triple slot clearance and not lose slots so its kinda irrelevant.

ATX spec says you got 7 slots. So unless your mobo only has 2 PCIe 16 and ONE other slot thats in the middle of the PCIe slots or at either end then dual card triple slot clearance is going to make you lose expansion slots regardless of board layout.


As to the OP this makes anyone that went with 1366/1156 i7 look better and better. If the ASrock board is $159 then the top tier overclocking Asus and EVGA boards will be in the $180-200+ price range. You can do that now with a 1366 or 1156 board and not have to pay a premium for the unlocked chips to be able to overclock. I think SB is great for what it is but the enthusiast market will have to wait for 2011.
 
Eh ? Lots of other boards have "triple-slot cooler spacing" if you don't mind losing the PCI & a PCIe slot...

The layout for this board, you still lose slots...

Few have them spaced in a usable fashion for CF/SLI, while also retaining at least a PCIex1 slot for a soundcard/tv tuner, etc. One triple-slot card is easy.
 
or you could get a P67 with an 1156 socket

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/17732/asrock_p67_transformer_motherboard_video_hands_on/index.html

just noticed a guy from taiwan on ebay selling an ES 2600k for a $699 (8 avail)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-i7-2...ING-/140488592620?pt=CPUs&hash=item20b5c5ccec

NDA supposedly drops on Jan 5
Chips on sale on Jan 9
Price for this chip should be $317, tho I would prefer to have an ES
http://www.trubritarforums.com/foru...-intel-sandy-bridge-prices-and-release-dates/
 
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As to the OP this makes anyone that went with 1366/1156 i7 look better and better. If the ASrock board is $159 then the top tier overclocking Asus and EVGA boards will be in the $180-200+ price range. You can do that now with a 1366 or 1156 board and not have to pay a premium for the unlocked chips to be able to overclock. I think SB is great for what it is but the enthusiast market will have to wait for 2011.

Yes Premium OCing targeted boards will be around $200+. Asus Maximus Formula P55 MB, $190, so this is a small price premium.

Early Information on SB Air overclocking is reporting ~ 5GHz. Your welcome to your opinion although once confirmed I plan to be running at 5GHz+ with a 10% IPC gain for most applications and 50-100%+ gain possible for Floating Point applications (AVX) as they are re-coded.

~$216 for the i5-2500k unlocked is not a burdensome price premium 🙂

http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/12/10/p67-and-h67-boards-get-priced/

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic157230.html
 
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If I got a 2600K I will just buy a cheap Gigabyte/Asus/MSI mobo and simply crank the multipier way up and leave the rest untouched. The CPU will almost always going to be the limiting factor rather than the mobo, so it doesn't make sense to me splurging on a $200+ mobo.
 
They clearly have additional headroom over current processors. Turbo Boost alone can jump 4 bins now. Sorry I can just find reports at about ~5.1 GHz,

http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/866724-intel-lga1155-i7-2600k-w-biostar.html
http://forum.coolaler.com/showthread.php?t=251959
http://hwbot.org/community/submission/1078494_


No problem. I have been scouring the net for 2600k oc reports and I thought I may have missed a few. The one concern I have about cranking it over 5.0ghz is the volts that will be needed to do so.
 
There was a brief leak of SB CPU prices on some online shops two weeks ago, and I think some MB models got listed too. Naturally, both product types ceased to be listed practically overnight.
 
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