14 DAY TRIAL // Micro Center, one of the largest brick and mortar computer retailers in the US, has started sending out e-mails to the customers affected by the Intel 6-series chipset SATA bug to update them on the current situation, stating that from March 3rd, it will start to receive inventory from several motherboard manufacturers.
The news was awaited by many users who bought boards cards from Micro Center, but the company also point out in the e-mail that inventory will only last for 2, or 3 weeks, as availability will remain limited until early April.
Customers who want to replace their motherboard right now have to complete a short questionnaire that asks them whether they would be interested in postponing the replacement if they were to receive a 25$ gift card, as one of Micro Center's clients has explained in a post on the Tech Report website.
After completing the questionnaire, the user is directed towards a webpage (available here) that currently lists five Asus P67 motherboard models.
According to the same webpage, after returning the previously purchased motherboard customers will receive full credit for the original purchase amount that can be used for buying any in-stock motherboard available.
Judging by the details provided by Micro Center, regarding the replacement of Cougar Point Sandy Bridge motherboards, it becomes apparent that supply will remain tight for a few weeks.
Intel also doesn't expect full volume recovery of 6-series chipset shipments until April.
On January 31, Intel has identified a design issue of the 6-series B2 chipset which forced Micro Center, as well as all the other hardware retailers, to retire their 6 series models from the market.
The bug, which affected the Cougar Point PCH, could, over time, degrade the performance of the four SATA 3Gbps ports driven by Intel's chipset, eventually leading to the failure of these ports.