PCIe 3.0 but not USB 3.0?

[Edrick]

So rumors, if true, suggest that the Sandy Bridge-E platform will include PCIe 3.0 (up to 40 lanes) on the CPU, however will not include USB 3.0 on the chipset. http://vr-zone.com/articles/a-look-...latform--sandy-bridge-e--waimea-bay/8877.html

I find this rather interesting considering the USB spec has been finalized for some time now. Meanwhile, the PCIe 3.0 spec is still in draft and will not be finalized until the end of year: (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2365574,00.asp). Intel should be sampling SB-E soon and some photo's of the 2011 socket are already released: http://www.dvhardware.net/article44509.html

I do not understand how USB 3.0 does not fit their "time to market" and yet PCIe 3.0 somehow does. The only thing I can think is either the rumors are false and SB-E will not have PCIe 3.0, or that Intel will push their Light Peak technology as a competitor to USB.

But this would explain why SB-E is due out so long after the entry level SB.

 

[extra]

Meh. I don't think Intel would not include usb 3.0 because of lightpeak--Intel is not stupid. USB 3.0 would be a good thing for Intel--an excuse for people to buy more high speed devices to plug into those high speed ports--like say, a nice Intel SSD. It's probably more realistic that...usb 3.0 really just didn't fit in the development schedule. The chipset is probably almost fully developed at this point and there just aren't very many usb 3.0 devices.

If you notice in the article, it says that Intel WILL be including usb 3.0 ports on their Intel branded SB-e motherboards. They'll just be using someone else's chipset for now. 🙂 No lightpeak conspiracy weirdness there. Just that they felt their in-house implementation wasn't quite up to the "rock solid" standard that Intel chipsets have had since the good old BX days. 🙂 (Or it didn't make business sense to devote engineering time to it yet, given that there aren't many usb 3.0 devices).