14 DAY TRIAL // Intel will soon launch its next-generation series of central processing units, so Micro-Star International figured this was a good time to say which motherboards possessed or would offer support for them.
MSI has quite a few mainboards based on the Z68 and H61 chipsets, these being the ones that will be able to handle the upcoming 22nm processors. Go here to see the list.
The company claims that all of them will be able to allow the Ivy Bridge to operate, provided the BIOS version is up to date.
Out of the eight Z68 motherboards, none have the required BIOS, since MSI hasn't exactly completed it yet.
The situation is only slightly different for the seven H61 models: most have yet to receive an Ivy Bridge-ready BIOS, but three of them are ready.
Owners of an MSI Z68 (G3)/H61 (G3) series of motherboards, as the collection is called, only need to use the company's proprietary Live Update tool to install the new BIOS (available for free).
The software will detect the correct BIOS, download it and then apply it all on its own.
Intel's Ivy Bridge series of central processing units will most likely be formally unleashed in April, 2012. That is one and a half months from now, give or take.
There were concerns that the CPUs were going to be pushed back to June, in an effort to encourage sales of Sandy Bridge processors.
Fortunately, only some dual-core models have actually been delayed, which means that enthusiasts can go ahead and rub their hands together in anticipation.
Coincidentally, the Ivy Bridge die was estimated just yesterday (February 22, 2012), and even its HD 4000 video accelerator has been benchmarked.
With a boost of up to 122.1% in graphics tests, not to mention very high x86 clocks, this is going to be one seriously overpowered chip line. And if this doesn't impress you, wait for that monster of a 10-core Ivy Bridge-EP model we spotted a few weeks back.