14 DAY TRIAL // Just a few moments after the company made official its Z68 chipset, Intel has also announced the availability of the DZ68DB motherboard that is based on this latest PCH and offers support for the Lucid Virtu graphics switching technology.
The DZ68DB is part of Intel's media series of motherboards and is compatible with the company's second-generation Core processors that use the LGA 1155 socket.
These are powered by what appears to be a 4+1 phase design and the expansion options include one PCI Express x16 port, two PCI-E x1 ports as well as no less than three legacy PCI ports.
Two of these can be easily removed by Intel, to transform the DZ68DB in an micro-ATX motherboard, something that the company has done in the past with its P67 and P55 solutions.
As far as storage is concerned, Intel has placed a total of five SATA ports around the board, two of the 6Gbps variety, while an additional port is routed to the back of the motherboard as an eSATA connector. Sadly, none of the five SATA ports are angled to reduce cable clutter.
Moving to the back of the board, we get to see that Intel has removed all the legacy connectors that are usually found here, like PS/2 and D-Sub.
The DZ68DB does, however, feature everything else that one might expect from a modern motherboard including USB 3.0 connectivity (via a third-party Renesas controller) and high-definition 7.1-channel audio.
These are also accompanied by a FireWire port, an optical S/PIDF out, a DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI port as well as by an Intel Gigabit Ethernet port.
Pricing hasn't been disclosed, but the board was listed by one retailer in the US at $135.
In addition to the DZ68DB, Intel is also expected to release a high-end Z68 motherboard that will go by the name of DZ68BC. (via VR-Zone)