3D view of MSI X79A-GD45 Intel X79 Express Sandy Bridge-E motherboard

Extreme cooling is something that we don’t usually do. Sometimes it is good to know how far one can push the processor. We had the opportunity to witness the latest LGA2011 processor on LN2.

The test was conducted at the Plug Fest event held at ParkRoyal Hotel in KL. The Indo team tested the ES processor from and was able to achieve 5.4GHz using LN2. The CPU vcore voltage was raised to 1.62v for the test. Cinbench 11.5 CPU result 15pts
More details can be seen at the link below :

Link

Gigabyte Plug Fest 2011 (ASEAN)
bluetooth 23 Nov 2011

Last Thursday, 17 Nov 2011, our Singapore overclockers were invited to the first Plug Fest event held in ASEAN. Despite the bad weather, representatives from ASEAN media and overclockers reached Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 17th on time.

The Plug Fest event in ASEAN is first of it’s kind. In the past, Gigabyte has held that in Taipei. Gigabyte invited two separate large groups of media and overclockers from around the world. They test out the boards and give feedback on issues faced during testing and overclocking using extreme methods such as LN2 cooling.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we took a rest before we proceed to a nearby local restaurant for our dinner together with representatives from Gigabyte, media and overclockers from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand.

Registration starts in the morning of 18th November. We were brought to a small ballroom where benches of equipment are laid out for our test. As there are 4 of us, 2 get to share a bench. I am delighted to be in the same “team” as SpyBoy.

Before testing and benchmarking takes place, we were given a presentation of the new X79 series of boards.

Gigabyte will soon release 3 new iOS apps for their motherboards.

THe first is a Picture Viewer. The 2nd is Cloud OC where you can now
access commonly used OC functions eg. Tuner, System INfo, Hardware Monitor etc.

Cloud BIOS is the third application and you can overclock, select boot disk, check PC status.

These few applications will be available once App Store approve it.

Android versions are on it’s way.

The MSI X79 Big Bang-XpowerII is the board that will be well liked by overclockers, power users and gamers. Featuring 6 full length PCIe 3.0 slots, it offers the maximum expandability for graphics cards, supporting both Quad NVIDIA SLI or AMD Quad CrossFire X. It supports the next generation LGA2011 processor with quad channel memory architecture. The board also has 8 DIMM slots capable of supporting up to DDR3-2400(OC).

Multimedia capabilities wise, it supports X-Fi sound Loseless HD audio. It also has dual GbE LAN, USB Safeguard feature.

On board you will also find OC Genie, the auto overclocking button. There is also MultiBios, Debug LED on the left bottom corner of the board.

The components are Military class certified to last longer than others under extreme conditions.

BIOSTAR TPOWER X79 Motherboard
“The most powerful motherboard on the planet”

BIOSTAR Group, a world famous manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and computer peripherals, proudly announces the TPOWER X79 motherboard aimed at the most demanding over-lockers and enthusiasts.

The latest Intel SNB-E processor with LGA 2011 socket along with X79 chipset is officially released on 11/14, while BIOSTAR is announcing its TPOWER X79 motherboard which indicates extreme overclocking capability, rich functionalities as well as highest standard of quality. The TPOWER X79 has the advantages of integrated Heat-Pipe design, Three-way CrossFire SLI, Four-channel memory support, Eight USB 3.0 ports, and Nine-phase luxurious power supply design.

The BIOSTAR TPOWER X79 supports the latest Intel LGA 2011 processor, with luxurious nine-phase power supply, large heat-radiating fins and heat-tube radiation for better thermal conductivity.

The TPOWER X79 supports four-channel memory which located on the two sides of CPU socket. The memory frequency supports standard 1066/1333/1600MHz, and can be overclocked to 1866/2133/2400MHz.

The extension slots consist of three PCI-E x16, two PCI-E x1 and one PCI; and CrossFireX, SLI and PCI-E 2.0 support.

The TPOWER X79 provides a Debug LED indicating lamp, buttons for booting, restarting and CMOS emptying; USB 3.0 extension insertion pins; seven SATA disk interfaces; and heat-radiating fins on the main chipset to ensure extreme overclocking and excellent system heat radiation. Another important characteristic, through the approved THX theater sound effect, an impressive and lifelike home theater environment is already in place.

On the aspect of I/O interfaces, the TPOWER X79 provides one PS/2; six USB 3.0, two USB 2.0; one eSATA 3Gbps; RJ-45; Optical fiber; S/PDIF and six channel audio interfaces.

The spirit of BIOSTAR TPOWER X79 is designed for users who’s always pursing for higher limitations. Let’s wait for another world overclocking record from it!

ASRock releases pictures of 4 models of Intel X79 boards – X79 Extreme4 M, X79 Extreme4, X79 Extreme7 and X79 Extreme9; X79 Extreme4 M – the first mATX X79 board

ASRock X79 Extreme4 M

So far we have seen a number of ATX boards. This is probably the first mATX board that we come across.

The ASRock X79 Extreme4-M looks very elegant in that Gold/Black colour scheme. With 3 full length PCIe 3.0 slots and 1 PCI slot on board, the PCIe  slots are capable of supporting either CrossFire X or SLI.

In terms of expansion, there are only 4 memory slots, 2 on each side of the socket LGA2011. DDR3-2400+ (OC) is supported as indicated on the mainboard.

On the board, we can also see the power on/off, reset, debug led. There are 6 SATA connectors on the front. The board also supports 1394a, USB 3.0.

On the back of the mainboard, we can see the PS/2 keyboard & mouse connectors, S/PDIF optical and digital out, USB 3.0, eSATA, GbE and audio ports.

The chipset is attached with a heatsink / fan powered by X-FAN.

More on next page

ASUS P9X79 Series
Bluetooth 26 Oct 2011

If you are not a gamer or overclocker, the ASUS P9X79 series motherboards should be a better bet in terms of cost/performance ratio.

The P9X79 series comes in 3 variations but most of the features are the same. The picture below shows motherboard has 8 DDR3 slots capable of DDR3-2400 (OC). There are 3 PCIe slots allowing 3 way CrossFire/SLI. It has a new DIGI+ Power control, SSD caching, BT GO 3.0! just to name a few of the new feature set on this board.

From the set up below, you can see that the heatsink   almost occupy 1/4 of the mainboard. At the rear of the mainboard, we can see USB 3.0 ports, eSATA 6Gbps ports and audio ports.

Preview of ECS X79R-AX Intel X79 Mainboard
bluetooth 25 Oct 2011

Intel is scheduled to launch it’s new generation of processors November 2011. With the new chipset and new processor, it means a new motherboard for the larger processor with a new socket type LGA2011.

In the following pages, we will preview the upcoming board from ECS. This is the first SKU from ECS which features the Intel X79 Express Chipset. Below are pictures of the mainboard.

The Black Extreme X79R-AX is ECS’s gaming board.It supports Quad channel DDR3 memory with support of up to DDR3-2500 (OC). This board supports 4 way SLI or CrossFireX with 4 slots operating in PCIe x16 Gen3 bandwidth. (2 slots at x8 bandwidth)

X79R-AX also adds in USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps to complement the Intel X79 Express chipset. The SATA 6Gbps is suported by ASM 1061. There is also Dual GbE by Realtek RTL8111E and 8 ch audio by Realtek ALC892.

Other features of this board include 15u Gold contact, Bluetooth v2.1+ for faster dat transfer, QoolTech IV with three heat pipes that combines Thermolchromic technology with heatsinks. M.I.B X which allows users to save OC profiles in BIOS.

On board you will find Power on/off swtich, Debug LED, (4 x SATA3Gbps + 8 SATA 6Gbps)12 SATA ports on the front. On the PCB, there are also voltage measuring points.

The rear panel I/O consists of 4 USB 3.0, 6 USB 2.0, 2 eSATA 6Gbps, 1 PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse, 2 GbE, 1 WIFI dongle, 1 Bluetooth DOngle, 1 Clear CMOS button.

Intel (INTC) is likely to launch their next generation processor and chipset in Mid of Nov 2011. This new generation of processors spot a new Socket type LGA 2011, larger than the current ones. The in built memory controller supports quad channel DDR3 which gives a memory performance boost compared to existing Intel X58 which employs a tri channel memory architecture.

Although the platform is not launched, motherboard makers are already leaking pictures of their boards on social networks and website while asking media to sign NDA.

From various sources, the new generation of boards will have difficulties with installation of heatsinks with the RAM slots on one side of the board.

While we already have information and information of the platform, we are not allowed to disclose too much of it. Do stay tuned to our forums, twitter, facebook for updates when the date gets closer.

INTC is now trading at $23.74 (-0.50 or -2.05%).

The GA-X79A-UD3 is the upcoming board that supports the next generation Intel processor on Socket 2011 also known as Sandy Bridge-E.

It has a 6 phase power VRM and supports Touch BIOS. Apart from early generation designs, the X79A board features PCI express Generation 3 slot.

There are also 4 DDR3 memory slots on board. SATA3 and USB3 are supported. In addition, the board supports both SLI and CrossFireX with it’s 4 full length PCIe slots.

INTEL Shows X79 mainboards ASUS CIX79 Deluxe, ASROCK X79 Extreme4, Gigabyte GD X79A-UD3 and the MSI X79A-GD65

Intel has a LOT of motherboards on display, the more prominent onces however are based on the X79 chipset, Intels next gen enthusiast platform with 2011-pin LGA socket, the Sandy Bridge-E (enthusiast) processor that features a massive quad-channel DDR3 memory controller and 32+ lane PCI-Express 2.0 hub, and the X79 chipset. Intel might actually skip the 6-series chipset family with its next high-end platform chipset as the platform is slated for Q4 2011 already, though Z68 will still be launched, but as a Premium chipset.

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