Intel Motherboard Sales Will Suffer Badly, Fixed Models Only Coming in April

It has already been found that Intel's newest chipset series has a fairly troublesome design flaw, and it appears that sales will be quite a while before the entire issue is resolved, which can only mean financial drawbacks for everyone involved.

Many users no doubt already know that, not too long ago, Intel issued a press release in which it revealed the existence of a design flaw in its Cougar Point 6-Series chipsets.

Following that announcement, pretty much everyone of its manufacturing partners halted sales of product based on them (motherboards, notebooks etc.).

Among the affected companies were MSI (Micro-Star International), Puget, HP and others.

The problem was related to the SATA ports. Apparently, ports are subject to deterioration over time, leading to functionality impairment.

Intel was, of course, quick to mention that it has corrected the problem on all new products, but it still advised its partners to cease selling those already available.

Unfortunately, things aren't bound to get better as soon as some may hope, especially not with how long it will take for the next batch of chipsets to come out.

As it has since been found, the Santa Clara, California-based company expects good motherboards to make it to stores sometime in April.

Given that phrasing usually means the later part of the month instead of the first week, it is quite possible that users will have to wait a full three months.

This means that, for three months, the chip giant and all of its collaborators on the motherboard market will sell zero Sandy Bridge-ready motherboards, provided, of course, that consumers don't decide to acquire flawed models anyway (if it will even be an option).

Coupled with the costs involved in the replacement programs, this will have a visible impact on the finances of everyone involved.