14 DAY TRIAL // Since Intel has finally released its new Core i7 Extreme Edition central processing units, known as Ivy Bridge-E, makers of motherboards have started launching platforms compatible with them.
Speaking of which, a motherboard needs the LGA 2011 socket in order to support the new high-end processors.
ASUS has launched such a mainboard, called X79-Deluxe and, obviously, powered by the X79 chipset. It is priced at $349.99 / €265.
Design-wise, it borrows elements from the LGA 1150 motherboard lineup, specifically the black PCB (printed circuit board) and the gold-plated heatsinks.
Spec-wise, the X79-Deluxe powers the CPU socket through a 10-phase VRM (voltage regulation module), which can be used for overclocking.
The VRM, along with everything else on the motherboard, receives its power, in turn, from a 24-pin ATX and an 8-pin EPS connector.
Eight SATA 6.0 Gbps ports are the ones that will connect HDDs, HHDs and/or SSDs to the X79-Deluxe platform.
Only two of them are wired to the PCH, though. The others are handled by third-party controllers.
Moving on, ASUS' creation also possesses two eSATA 6 Gbps ports and four SATA 3 Gbps ports.
The add-in board expansion slot array is impressive as well, with four PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots and two PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots.
Furthermore, the newcomer boasts eight DDR3 DIMM memory slots, eight USB 3.0 ports (two via header), 8-channel HD audio, some USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and the latest WiFi GO! module by ASUS, providing 802.11 ac WLAN (the latest Wi-Fi specification) and Bluetooth 4.0. Two Gigabit Ethernet ports complete the list (one via chipset, one by Intel controller).
As for ASUS exclusives, there's an EPU (energy processing unit), a TPU II (TurboV Processing Unit), USB 3.0 Boost, and ASUS SSD Caching.