GIGABYTE showed off some of its first Ultra Durable 5 motherboards, which included its first Thunderbolt-equipped ones, the Z77X-UP4 TH and the Z77X-UP5 TH. The two are slated to be notches above the current-generation Z77X-UD3H and Z77X-UD5H, respectively. Their most striking feature is the Thunderbolt interface, which gives high-bandwidth devices (such as DAS) access to 10 Gb/s of bandwidth. The Thunderbolt interface is also wired to the Intel Flexible Display Interface (FDI), which routes the Intel HD 4000/2500 series graphics of the processor through a common Thunderbolt + mini-DisplayPort, which can then be daisy-chained between 6 devices, including a monitor. The two also feature high-grade CPU VRM, which utilize new high-current chokes and PowIRstage IR3550 driver-MOSFETs, and a VRD12-compliant VRM controller, also made by IR. The Z77X-UP4 TH and the Z77X-UP5 TH are otherwise similar to the UD3H and UD5H, respectively, in terms of other features.

It's good to see GIGABYTE back to doing high-end motherboards with overkill CPU power designs. Its latest creation, the Z77X-UP7, was shown to sections of the media, at a private exhibition, ahead of Computex. The Z77X-UP7 is the company's first motherboard to feature its Ultra Durable 5 motherboard construction technology, which is basically Ultra Durable 4 augmented with higher current 60A chokes, and International Rectifier PowIRStage IR3550 ICs (a highly potent driver-MOSFET implementation). The Z77X-UP7 is based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, and supports Core "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" processors in the LGA1155 package.

MSI is working on its first Big Bang series motherboard based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, supporting Core "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" processors in the LGA1155 package, which is called Big Bang ZPower (we could be wrong with the name), carrying an MSI internal model number MS-7751 v 3.0. The model number seems to suggest that the PCB design is similar to that of the Z77A-GD65. For now we only have two cutout teaser pictures with us.

The pictures reveal the ZPower to be a bustling metropolis with a swanky heatsink design that keeps up with the theme of MSI's Lightning series graphics cards. The motherboard will be designed for 3-way multi-GPU setups, although a PLX-made bridge chip won't be used. Instead it will use Pericom PCIe lane switches to split the x16 link from the processor into x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4. The focus of this board will be towards overclocking, a lot of overclocker-friendly features, options (in the UEFI BIOS setup program), and a strong VRM will be added to the mix. MSI is likely to exhibit the new motherboard at the upcoming Computex event.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has announced the A85F2-A Deluxe, a new motherboard built around the AMD A85X chipset with support for the latest socket FM2 CPUs.

The A85F2-A Deluxe is one of the most powerful and reliable motherboards currently available. In the ATX format, this ECS motherboard features two 2nd generation PCIe x16 slots for graphics card upgrades and CrossFireX support, as well as three 2nd generation PCIe x1 and 2 PCI slots for other cards. Up to 64 GB of dual channel DDR3 memory can be installed in 4 sockets, with a maximum speed of 1866, or up to 2300 for overclockers. There are seven 6 Gb/s SATA sockets, with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, & 10.

GIGABYTE recently rolled out the 6PXSV3, a workstation motherboard designed for Xeon E5-1600/2600 processors in the LGA2011 package. Based on the Intel C604 chipset, the motherboard is designed to provide essential modern and legacy connectivity to workstations in mission-critical environments. The LGA2011 socket is powered by a 6-phase VRM with CPL-made chokes, and IR-made FETs and VRM controller. It is wired to eight DIMM slots, which support up to 256 GB (RDIMM) and 64 GB (UDIMM) of quad-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory.

There are just the three expansion slots, two PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and one open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4. The remainder of the processor and chipset's PCI-Express lane budgets are allocated PCI-Express DMI-assist, which helps drive the mini SAS with 4 x SAS ports (3Gb/s), apart from four SATA 3 Gb/s, and two SATA 6 Gb/s ports. An ASPEED 2300 provides display output (resolutions up to 1920x1200 supported), and remote management (iKVM, IPMI 2.0). There are two gigbit Ethernet interfaces, driven by Intel 82574L chips, a third management port is also available. The GA-6PXSV3 will be available shortly.

For various reasons, ASUS confined its Z77 Express-based Republic of Gamers (ROG) lineup to just the micro-ATX Maximus V Gene, and although we've got to see its ATX sibling, the Maximus V Formula on several occasions, ASUS didn't officially launch it. According to a new report by VR-Zone, ASUS will be offering two SKUs of the Maximus V Formula. The company is known to offer these tiny sub-variants with its ROG products. Sometimes the differences between such sub-variants are as major as inclusion/exclusion of a component (eg: Crosshair V Formula/ThunderBolt), and as minor as inclusion of a game (eg: Rampage IV Extreme/Battlefield 3). In this case, it's the inclusion/exclusion of a component called ThunderFX, which makes up the two variants.

ThunderFX is a USB sound card and headphones amplifier. Backed by the C-Media CMI6631 chipset, the device could be used for headphones amplification. The CMI6631 has been implemented on several other solutions for console headset noise-cancellation. It is possible that ThunderFX does the same, using an external microphone array. That aside, the motherboard has a headphones amplifier of its own. The motherboard's onboard audio is backed by a TI 6120A2 amplifier, the same kit found on high-end sound cards such as ASUS Xonar Essence ST/STX. Find other fine details about the Maximus V Formula in our previous article.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the record highest validated CPU clock speed on the Intel Core i7 3770K processor using a GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3H motherboard, as well as the new world record highest DDR3 memory speed using the GIGABYTE Z77X-U5H motherboard.

The 7.0 GHz milestone was surpassed using an Intel 3rd generation Core i7 3770k processor (aka Ivy Bridge) by renowned overclocker HiCookie, pushing the GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3H motherboard to a fully validated 7.03 GHz using liquid nitrogen cooling. This is regarded as the current #1 highest Ivy Bridge CPU frequency and a world record according to respected global overclocking website HWBot.org.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) will be in Computex 2012 in Nangang Exhibition Hall 4F, Booth No. L118. This time, ECS will present a series of innovative products using their exclusive Nonstop Technology testing processes to ensure only the highest product quality.

ECS will display its series of motherboards of using the latest Intel and AMD platforms and a wide range of Thin Mini-ITX motherboards at Computex 2012. ECS will also introduce its latest Nonstop Technology for its motherboards which improve upon the long-term stability of ECS motherboards as well as the ECS GeForce GTX 680, a top choice of high-end graphics cards.

It looks like Sapphire wants slices of not just the performance and enthusiast pies, but also the high-volume mainstream one. Its latest creation is a motherboard based on Intel's small business-oriented B75 chipset, the Pure White B75M-MA. Built in the micro-ATX form-factor, this board doesn't add too much over the B75's feature set. To begin with, its LGA1155 socket, which supports current generation Core "Ivy Bridge" and previous generation Core "Sandy Bridge" processors, is powered by a 4+1 phase VRM, which draws power from an 8-pin EPS connector. That's a giveaway that a performance/enthusiast design team was behind this mainstream motherboard.

The LGA1155 socket is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory; and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. Three PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots that are wired to the B75 PCH, make up the rest of the all-PCIe layout. Storage connectivity includes one SATA 6 Gb/s, and three SATA 3 Gb/s ports. The board provides a total of four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear-panel, two via headers). 6+2 channel HD audio, a number of USB 2.0 ports, a keyboard/mouse combo PS/2, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of the connectivity. Display outputs include DVI and D-Sub. Expect competitive pricing.

BIOSTAR, a world famous manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and peripherals, starts sales of the next-generation BIOSTAR TZ77B boards based on the latest Intel Z77 chipset and meant for powerful desktop systems with an excellent price/performance.

The boards are designed for the latest third-gen Intel Core CPUs (Ivy Bridge) manufactured using the 22 nm fab process based on the 3D transistors and retain the full backward compatibility with the second-gen Intel Core CPUs (Sandy Bridge). They support all Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 chips for the LGA 1155 socket with the TDP up to 95 W including Intel K-Series chips with the unlocked multiplier.

Nonstop Technology from Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) finally delivers a hassle free computing experience by solving common PC hardware problems before they can even occur. A specially-devised testing regime - far stricter than common industry standards - combined with the highest quality components and shielding, ensures that ECS Nonstop certified motherboards can be relied on for stability and reliability far into the future.

For PC owners suffering crashes, instability and poor performance, ECS Nonstop motherboards can now deliver the stability, reliability and power that other manufacturers only promise. All ECS Black Series Motherboards are Nonstop certified, including these models: X79R-AX, X79R-AX deluxe, A990FXM-A, A990FXM-A Deluxe, A75F-A, H61H2-A2 Deluxe, Z77H2-AX, Z77H2-A2X, and Z77H2-A2X deluxe. Future Black Series Motherboards will adopt ECS Nonstop Technology, as well.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of server hardware, today announced the launch of its series of server motherboard based on Intel latest generation of server CPUs, the Xeon processor E5-2400 family.

GIGABYTE is mostly known for its various innovations on motherboards and graphics cards for desktop computers, but it has also relied on this long time experience for many years to deliver outstanding server hardware, constantly at the edge of technology.

The latest Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 family based units are no exception and provide extremely high-value building blocks for demanding server applications, notably through their ability to outperform their competitors in memory frequency. Indeed, this series supports 1.35V RDIMMs up to 32 GB running at 1600 MHz in a two DIMMs per channel configuration, when the rest of the market only supports similar configuration running at 1333 MHz. Achieved through GIGABYTE's capabilities in design, PCB layout and BIOS fine-tuning, this feature will be most appreciated in industries where each incremental improvement in performance results in significant benefits, such as in finance or HPC applications.

Further demonstrating its market leading innovation, ASUS has announced the launch of its P8Z77-V PREMIUM motherboard - the flagship of the P8Z77 Series and the first Intel certified motherboard in the market to offer the latest Thunderbolt connection interface. The PREMIUM designation has been reserved for only the best motherboards with the latest technologies, and the P8Z77-V PREMIUM maintains this standard. In addition to the onboard Thunderbolt connection on the P8Z77-V PREMIUM, ASUS also offers the same technology on the P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT to give consumers a wider range of choices.

"Intel and Asus have worked closely on the implementation of Thunderbolt technology onto Asus motherboards," said Jason Ziller, Intel's Director of Thunderbolt Marketing. "The P8Z77-V PREMIUM is the first Thunderbolt certified motherboard in the industry, a testament to its solid design and compatibility."

Intel is ready to top off its Desktop Board Extreme Series 7-series "Panther Point" lineup with the DZ77RE-75K. Its most characteristic feature is Thunderbolt I/O. Along with a handful other high-end socket LGA1155 motherboards featuring the 10 Gb/s interconnect, the DZ77RE-75K will be launched early next week.

To a very large extant, the DZ77RE-75K resembles the DZ77GA-70K, which Intel topped its Desktop Board "Panther Point" lineup with. In fact, the two share the same PCB design. The only distinguishing feature of the DZ77RE-75K is the presence of a mini-DisplayPort+Thunderbolt connector, and a DSL3310 Thunderbolt controller driving it, in tandem with Intel FDI. The DSL3310, unfortunately, is a slim variant in Intel's Thunderbolt controller lineup, and only takes advantage of PCI-Express 2.0 x2, so Thunderbolt might not perform to its fullest.

The ASUS P8C WS motherboard combines the advantages of several product classes. While mainly a workstation board, it also incorporates server readiness, and can be easily used in high end standard desktop builds.

As a flexible choice for system integrators, its compact design and Intel C216 chipset offer better convenience and compatibility. It is fully Independent Software Vendor certified, and supports Intel Xeon E3-1200/12x5 v2 series processors as well as 2nd and 3rd generation Intel Core i3 processors. The board also works equally well with non-ECC and ECC DDR3 memory. Four USB 3.0 ports cover both the rear I/O and front panel to enhance user-friendly connectivity, while dual Intel Ethernet ports double networking capabilities and reduce CPU workload.

Seeing as how some of the newest socket LGA1155 processors, such as the Core i7-3770K, competes with Sandy Bridge-E HEDT platform, and how today's GPUs are beginning to benefit from PCI-Express 3.0 in x8 and x4 configurations, ASRock decided to go beyond its Z77 Fatal1ty Professional, and launched a new Extreme series model, with a focus on features and connectivity. The Z77 Extreme9 from ASRock crams has every square inch of its standard ATX size PCB with features.

To begin with, the Z77 Extreme9 uses a fairly strong 8+4 phase VRM, which is similar to that of the Z77 Extreme6. The CPU VRM MOSFETs are cooled by a fairly big heatsink, which shares its head with a neighbouring heatsink, which cools a PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip, which takes in the lone PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link from the processor, and drives four of the board's six PCI-Express 3.0 x16 long slots, enabling 3-way and 4-way SLI/CrossFireX capability. The other slots are electrical PCI-Express 2.0, and wired to the Z77 PCH.

World's top 3 motherboard manufacturer ASRock today announced that its entire line of Intel P67, H67 and Z68 series motherboards will support Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs by updating the latest P version BIOS & Drivers! Via an Intel Ivy Bridge CPU, ASRock P67, H67 and Z68 series motherboards are resurrected. Users may expect more powerful processing speed yet lower power consumption by the world's first 22 nm 3-D Transistors.

"Besides pursuing extremes with hardcore hardware enthusiasts and die-hard gamers, making high-end technology easy and accessible for everybody is also one of ASRock's goals." commented James Lee, V.P. of Sales and Marketing at ASRock. "We have no doubt that users will be thrilled as much as we are with these updates, it will be like experiencing a brand new motherboard all over again."

GIGABYTE, at its PlugFest event held in Malaysia, talked about plans to unveil as many as three new motherboard models that feature Thunderbolt 10 Gb/s I/O. The rear I/O panel of one of the three was shown on a slide, which reveals it to have a Thunderbolt + mini-DisplayPort connector, alongside standard DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, and D-Sub, among other common I/O connectors.

The Thunderbolt connector will also be wired to the Flexible Display Interface (FDI), letting you use processor-integrated Intel HD 4000/2500 graphics, and probably discrete graphics over LucidLogix Virtu MVP. The Thunderbolt I/O will allow users to daisy-chain as many as six high-bandwidth devices (such as external storage), apart from a display.

ECS revealed its newest value-segment LGA1155 motherboard based on the Z77 Express chipset, the X77H2-A3. Pictured below, the X77H2-A3 is a variation of the Z77H2-A3, with ECS' Super Alloy Chokes powering the CPU VRM, an all solid-state capacitor design, golden-colored VRM and PCH heatsinks, and slightly darker piano-black PCB. Besides these four, the X77H2-A3 is identical to the Z77H2-A3. It features a 4+1 phase CPU VRM, single PCI-Express 3.0 x16 expansion slot, two SATA 6 Gb/s, four SATA 3 Gb/s, four USB 3.0 ports (two front-panel, two rear), and display outputs that include DVI and D-Sub. Expect this model to be slightly pricier than its cousin.

ASUS is working on two new value P8Z77-V series socket LGA1155 motherboards based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset. These are the P8Z77-V LK and P8Z77-V LX. The two are designed to occupy price-points well under US $150. The P8Z77-V LK is the costlier of the two, featuring three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4), 6-phase CPU VRM, six USB 3.0 ports, two SATA 6 Gb/s and four SATA 3 Gb/s internal ports; and display outputs that include DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort.

The P8Z77-V LX is probably ASUS' cheapest Z77 motherboard, with the same 6-phase CPU VRM, but a single PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot wired to the CPU, a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4) wired to the Z77 PCH, three PCI, two PCI-Express 2.0 x1, all internal ports wired to the PCH (2x SATA 6 Gb/s, 4x SATA 3 Gb/s), and a slightly slimmer connectivity loadout that includes 6-channel HD audio, four USB 3.0 ports (2x rear, 2x front-panel, all from PCH), and display outputs that include DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI.

ECS introduced a new Intel Atom "Cedar Trail" motherboard in the micro-ATX form-factor. The board only slightly steps out of the size specifications of mini-ITX (measuring 190 x 170 mm), yet it wouldn't fit in most mini-ITX cases. The board draws power from a 24-pin ATX power connector. It is driven by Intel Atom D2700 dual-core processor clocked at 2.13 GHz, with HyperThreading technology enabling 4 logical CPUs, and TDP of just 10W; and Intel NM10 chipset.

The CPU is cooled by a chunky passive heatsink.It is wired to two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, supporting up to 4 GB of single-channel DDR3-1066 MHz memory. Expansion slots include one each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes two internal SATA 3 Gb/s ports. The rest of the connectivity consists of 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, serial/COM, eight USB 2.0 ports (four on the rear panel, four via headers), and PS/2. Display outputs include DVI and D-Sub. It is priced at a juicy 7,280 JPY (US $89).

To an interview with Anandtech, ASUSTek USA representative JJ carried with him a sackful of new Z77 Express-based motherboards. One of these caught keen eyes at VR-Zone, which attempted to describe what it saw. Called the P8Z77-V Premium, this motherboard is poised to go a notch above the already launched P8Z77-V Deluxe, in terms of features. The new P8Z77-V Premium is a crossover between the Deluxe and WS (Workstation) models, in that it features no less than four PCI-Express x16 slots in its all-PCIe slot loadout. The electrical configuration of these four slots is hard to guess, but there is a tiny PLX bridge chip that adds a few PCIe 2.0 lanes to the board's PCIe budget, to wire out onboard controllers.

Speaking of onboard connectivity, apart from eight angled internal SATA ports, there clearly is an mSATA slot, which is populated by an SSD. Perhaps an SSD that's fit for Rapid Storage and Rapid Start technologies is a standard accessory with the P8Z77-V Premium. Just below the WLAN b/g/n + Bluetooth add-on card, one could spy a mini-DisplayPort. It's highly likely that the port is wired to a Thunderbolt controller apart from Intel Flexible Display Interface. The rest of the rear panel could be similar to that of the P8Z77-V Deluxe. The P8Z77-V Premium could command a price-point over US $300, the source postulates.

CPU overclocking new record releases today! Record-breaking motherboard maker, ASRock Inc., is excited to announce that Intel's new start Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K processor was able to be overclocked to incredible 6.9 GHz with the company's newly released Z77 Extreme6 motherboard. The overclocking-friendly Z77 Extreme6 mobo was designed for optimized performance and built upon top-quality components that are ripe for extreme amounts of overclocking.

New record was created by the World's Legendary Overclocker, Nick Shih, who had been topped the Professional Overclockers League for 18 months straight. With only two-year overclocking experience, Nick Shih is a living legend who holds the world champion title as well as being multiple overclocking world-records keeper which included both 2D and 3D tests.

MSI is happy to announce that it's B75MA-P45 mainboard has passed Intel Small Business Advantage certification. This adds to an already impressive array of professional advantages of MSI's B75 mainboards. Intel Small Business Advantage ensures software and hardware stability and security and when combined with MSI's excellent Military Class based B75 mainboards provide the best overall quality and stability.

Intel Small Business Advantage Certified

The MSI B75MA-P45 is the first Intel B75 mainboard in the industry with Intel SBA Certification. Intel SBA (Small Business Advantage) enhances Security and Productivity without switching to a traditional corporate platform. By making traditional software features hardware based, it improves stability and doesn't reduce performance.

ASUS has introduced a new addition to their acclaimed TUF series of motherboards, the SABERTOOTH Z77, based on the latest Intel 3rd Generation Ivy Bridge processors and Z77 Chipset. The TUF Series' commitment to provide users a stable computing experience is built on strong foundations, starting with military-grade components to ensure long-lasting quality and reliability.

The latest iteration features a series of innovative thermal solutions, including a new Thermal Armor design with enhanced cooling of the VRM area and a unique convection hole design, while an upgraded Thermal Radar with a new function called Fan Overtime protects vital system components against overheating after PC shut down. Another design beneficial for the longevity of the motherboard is Dust Defender, which prevents dust accumulation and the interference that could affect the many contact points scattered throughout the motherboard.