Wednesday, March 30th 2011
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Intel X79 Enthusiast Chipset Sketched in Roadmap
Intel's next platform for enthusiasts (successor to LGA1366, X58), will consist of a 2011-pin LGA socket, the Sandy Bridge-E (enthusiast) processor that features a massive quad-channel DDR3 memory controller and 32+ lane PCI-Express 2.0 hub, and the X79 chipset. Intel is looking to skip the 6-series chipset family with its next high-end platform chipset, and perhaps it makes sense since the platform is slated for Q4 2011. The X79 is a PCH (platform controller hub), like P55 and P67, since Intel has reorganized the platform. The beefy PCI-E hub housed in the X58 northbridge is relocated to the processor die, and the southbridge is given a much needed overhaul in terms of connectivity.
The X79 is much bigger than P67 in terms of connectivity and features. Differences start right at the interconnect. While P67 connects to the processor over DMI (physical PCI-Express 2.0 x4), X79 supplements this link with an additional PCI-Express 2.0 x4 link to the processor's PCI-E hub if the user chooses so, in the EFI setup program. The chipset bus hence ends up with 8 GB/s of bandwidth, and wait till you hear what will make use of it: a 10-port SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller integrated to the PCH! That is a huge improvement in terms of storage connectivity, which is limping with 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s (next to four 3 Gb/s ports) on 6-series chipsets.Out of the 10 SATA 6 Gb/s ports, eight can be configured as SAS (serial-attached SCSI) by motherboard manufacturers. In RAID mode, the controller supports RAID 0/1/5/10 modes. Unfortunately, there's no talk of an integrated USB 3.0 controller, the PCH still features 14 USB 2.0 ports. Perhaps Intel is pushing Thunderbolt, but there's no evidence of that integrated with the chipset, either. The PCH itself features an 8-lane PCI-Express 2.0 hub to drive the x1, x4 slots on the motherboard and onboard PCI-E devices. It features an Intel GbE interface (physically PCI-E 2.0 x1 at 50 MHz), to drive a Lewisville gigabit Ethernet PHY chip. Lastly, X79 is geared for extreme overclocking of the processor and memory. That's expected of this platform.
Source:
it.com.cn
The X79 is much bigger than P67 in terms of connectivity and features. Differences start right at the interconnect. While P67 connects to the processor over DMI (physical PCI-Express 2.0 x4), X79 supplements this link with an additional PCI-Express 2.0 x4 link to the processor's PCI-E hub if the user chooses so, in the EFI setup program. The chipset bus hence ends up with 8 GB/s of bandwidth, and wait till you hear what will make use of it: a 10-port SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller integrated to the PCH! That is a huge improvement in terms of storage connectivity, which is limping with 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s (next to four 3 Gb/s ports) on 6-series chipsets.Out of the 10 SATA 6 Gb/s ports, eight can be configured as SAS (serial-attached SCSI) by motherboard manufacturers. In RAID mode, the controller supports RAID 0/1/5/10 modes. Unfortunately, there's no talk of an integrated USB 3.0 controller, the PCH still features 14 USB 2.0 ports. Perhaps Intel is pushing Thunderbolt, but there's no evidence of that integrated with the chipset, either. The PCH itself features an 8-lane PCI-Express 2.0 hub to drive the x1, x4 slots on the motherboard and onboard PCI-E devices. It features an Intel GbE interface (physically PCI-E 2.0 x1 at 50 MHz), to drive a Lewisville gigabit Ethernet PHY chip. Lastly, X79 is geared for extreme overclocking of the processor and memory. That's expected of this platform.
53 Comments on Intel X79 Enthusiast Chipset Sketched in Roadmap
OMG Intel , enough with the weird nomenclature .. P55 .. P67 .. H67 .. H61 .. B65 .. Z68 .. and now, X79.
I got my X58/i7 930 a year ago .. and I will upgrade next year when things get clearer about the new Enthusiast platform .. bugs fixed .. any cracked chips and so on.
:rockout:
i may upgrade to this even though i don't really need it :D
You can gather money in the next half year!:laugh::toast:
I am quite worried by the quad channel, assuming that we have the standard 4 ram slots, it means that we have to populate all slots at once, leaving no room for future upgrades.
I am still newly married with my P55 so I'll come back in at least 1,5 year, my normal mobo cycle. But it looks like it is the F**k ALL platform!
Intel changes mainstream platforms like a girl changes clothes.
Buy High-end Intel or get AMD
I don't need quad channel memory controller but the idea of having all those memory slots is attractive.
How come they made LGA775 last so long, then in the last 3 years or so we've had 1156, 1336 and 1155.
Like the chipset though, I wonder how the good the RAID chip is.
they think we have money tree?
quad channel? you must be kidding
it looks intel push their product pretty far and push the market accept that and you know the rest...