14 DAY TRIAL // With almost every major motherboard maker out there unveiling their new X58-based desktop boards, it looks as if some of NVIDIA's board partners have decided to shift sides for a while, by revealing products that are based on Intel's chipset. One such board partner is XFX and it is set to introduce a new desktop motherboard coming to support the latest Intel socket 775 desktop processors. The move is somewhat strange, as most mobo makers are now gearing up with their new X58-based boards, which provide support for the new Core i7 processors and triple-channel DDR3 memory.
The company's XG31i motherboard is built on the G31 Express chipset, which the leading Santa Clara, California-based chip maker introduced back in mid 2007. It boasts an LGA 775 socket, and can provide support for up to a maximum of 4GB of dual-channel DDR2 800MHz memory. The motherboard can support an up to 1333MHz front side bus, a technology that Intel's has left out of its new Core i7 desktop processors, replacing it with the much more efficient QPI (QuickPath Interconnect).
With the move, it would seem that XFX will try to provide users with a full lineup of Intel CPU-supporting motherboards, slowly making way for itself towards the newest release in the computing industry, the Core i7. Additional features enabled on the new XFX XG31i include the Intel Fast Memory Access and Intel Flex Memory technologies, which improve memory performance, but also allow users to take advantage of the dual-channel mode for memory modules that come in different sizes.
Also, aside from the built-in PCI Express X16 graphics slot, which can be used for a discrete graphics card, the new XFX motherboard also comes with the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, which will ensure a faster PC build.
No specific details regarding pricing and availability are known at this time, but according to XFX, its new Intel-based desktop motherboard should come as a "versatile, yet affordable" solution.