14 DAY TRIAL // Even though Intel doesn't have any plans to officially release its Sandy Bridge-E processors and X79 Express chipset until the forth quarter of 2011, motherboard makers are set to showcase their first LGA 2011 products at the upcoming Computex 2011 fair.
The Intel X79 chipset is codenamed Patsburg-HEDT PCH and together with Sandy Bridge-E CPUs forms Intel's Waimea Bay platform.
Compared to its predecessor, the new chipset features a PCH (platform controller hub) design as most of the tasks that were handled by the X58 chipset, such as the PCI Express connectivity, were integrated inside the Sandy Bridge-E CPUs.
This leaves the X79 controlling only the storage sub-system as well as an 8-lane PCI-Express 2.0 hub, which can be used to drive the x1 and x4 slots.
However, the storage capabilities of the PCH have been greatly improved as the chip can support no less than 10 SATA 6Gbps ports, which are connected to the CPU via a regular DMI 2.0 interface as well as through an additional PCI-Express 3.0 x4 link.
This can be enabled or disabled by the user in the motherboard's EFI BIOS and should bring a noticeable performance increase in machines that pack high-performance storage systems.
In addition, the X79 PCH also features an Intel Rapid Storage enterprise controller that enables RAID 0/1/5/10 support, can host a maximum of 14 USB 2.0 ports, and eight of the available SATA interfaces can be configured as SAS by motherboard manufacturers.
Sadly, the PCH doesn't feature native USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt support, which is an important omission considering its target market.
According to VR-Zone, the first Intel X79 LGA-2011 motherboards will be ready as soon as August and the first Sandy Bridge-E processors about a month after.
The Computex 2011 fair will take place between May 31 and June 4 in Taipei, Taiwan.
