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Sapphire Z77 Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

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Here is the first picture of Sapphire's socket LGA1155 motherboard in the works, based on Intel Z77 "Panther Point" chipset. Carrying the model number PT-CI7Z77, the board will probably carry the company's "Pure Black" branding. Its chipset and VRM heatsink designs have not been finalized, yet. To begin with, the LGA1155 socket, which supports upcoming "Ivy Bridge" processors out of the box, is powered by a 10-phase VRM. This VRM uses ferrite-core chokes, Driver-MOSFETs, and a secondary NEC-TOKIN multi-phase capacitor to condition power. Three other phases handle memory and miscellaneous power domains on the board.

The processor is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory. It is also wired to two PCI Express 3.0 long slots, which are auto-configured as x16/NC or x8/x8, depending on the second slot being populated. Other slots include a PCI Express 2.0 x1, and a PCI Express 2.0 long slot (gray), which is electrically PCIe 2.0 x4, and wired to the Z77 PCH. There are two legacy PCI slots, driven by an ASMedia-made bridge chip.



Storage connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s, four SATA 3 Gb/s, wired to the PCH. There are no eSATA ports. There are plenty of USB 3.0 ports, since the PCH is also contributing a few ports. It appears as if all USB 3.0 ports from the PCH are wired to two USB 3.0 front-panel headers (4 ports), while ASMedia-made controllers are driving the USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel. Other connectivity includes Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, 8+2 channel HD audio. The display I/O includes D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Expect this board to feature in the first-wave of Z77 motherboards, slated for April.

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Its still funny to me that sapphire makes Intel motherboards.
Its like when your gf finds your Playboy magazines, She's just very disappointed
asking what's wrong with her that isnt enough...
 
Its still funny to me that sapphire makes Intel motherboards.
Its like when your gf finds your Playboy magazines, She's just very disappointed
asking what's wrong with her that isnt enough...

On the bright side, Sapphire's Intel motherboards lack SLI and overpromote CrossFireX.

But hey, you even find Zotac motherboards with AMD APUs (Zotac is PCPartner's NVIDIA-centric brand, and Sapphire is its ATI-centric one).
 
they remind me an awful lot of the evga P55 boards, oh wait most of evga's motherboard team went to sapphire soon before the 1155 board launches thats right.
 
No, just most of the BIOS team and EVGA is apparently struggling a bit with their BIOS development now...
 
release date of z77 boards, anyone ... ??? please :)
 
i wonder when sapphire wil release a skulltrail type mainboard
 
Excuse my ignorance as I been a long time AMD fan and now moved to the Damm fast team :D
But with the chip set, whats the real difference from the z68 to the z77?
 
PCIex 3.0 I believe is the only new feature. maybe some newer power features. Also its out of the box ivy bridge ready.
 
PCIex 3.0 I believe is the only new feature. maybe some newer power features. Also its out of the box ivy bridge ready.
Cool and thanks brandon :toast:
But im rma'n this mobo and getting a ROG board but do I really need PCI-E 3.0 atm?
tick tock as im getting to place my order tonight.
 
Cool and thanks brandon :toast:
But im rma'n this mobo and getting a ROG board but do I really need PCI-E 3.0 atm?
tick tock as im getting to place my order tonight.

From what I have read, the 7970 doesn't benefit from PCIex 3.0 but future cards maybe different.

I would go ahead and get a ROG board cause most Z68 and P67 will have a bios release to support Ivy bridge anyway. I have noticed some Gigabyte and asus already ready for them.
 
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