IDF has been dominating the news columns of tech and PC websites for most of this week. For those of you out of the loop, IDF or Intel Developer Forum is held annually in San Francisco and is one of the most widely anticipated events of the year. At IDF you’ll find Intel and its partners revealing a bestockinged leg or two - technologically speaking, just to get you all worked up and panting hard as we head into Q4, and the new wave of product offerings that inevitably follow.
This year the main focus from our own motherboard perspective, is of course the forthcoming Intel X79 platform launch and the new Sandy-Bridge-E processors that will form the new enthusiast DIY PC segment for some time to come. Various media at the event have published images of our new X79 offerings, here is a selection of the best for your perusal:
Hot Hardware
Our buddy Marco Chiappetta was on patrol at the show and took this beauty of the back panel IO of the X79-UD7 board.
“The UD7 also features a newer color scheme which eschews the blue and black of the other boards in favor of an orange and black color scheme. Also note, the UD7’s slot configuration will allow for quad-GPU setups, whereas the other boards can “only” do 3-way SLI or CrossFire.” – Hot Hardware
Tech Report
Another veteran motherboard commentator and reviewer Geoff Gasior was un hand to take this shot of our new G1-Killer board, the G1.Assassin 2. Wowser!
“Want upgraded integrated peripherals? Gigabyte also has a G1.Assasin 2 model with Bigfoot networking and Creative audio. There are still three PCIe x16 slots, but the number of DIMM slots and Serial ATA ports has been trimmed. Although it still sports a whopping dozen SATA ports…..” – Tech Report.
VR-Zone
LG Nilsson published a bunch of images including this one of the whole family sitting side by side. A mouth watering posse of X79 goodness!
“Starting at the top we have the G1.Assassin 2 X79 and the biggest surprise here really is the re-designed heatsinks which are much less in your face than the current models. That said, Gigabyte might very well change this before the board is launching, but we'll just have to wait and see if we'll get a gun themed heatsink or not on the final boards. Expected features include a Killer NIC, Creative X-Fi audio and 3-way SLI and CrossFireX support. We also spotted a Marvell controller for a pair of eSATAp (eSATA/USB combo) ports and a Fresco Logic USB 3.0 host controller on the board.” – VR-Zone
AnandTech
Mr Lal Shimpi was of course in his element during the show, posting a whole bunch great photos, including this brilliant shot of our X79-UD5. Enough RAM slots for yer Ananand?
“Although Sandy Bridge E is still a couple of months away from launch, Intel's partners were allowed to show systems as long as they didn't divulge clock speeds or allow for anyone to play with the USB ports….Major themes? Cheaper boards have 4 DIMM slots (1 DIMM per channel) while the more expensive boards will have 8 DIMM slots (2 DIMMs per channel).” - AnandTech
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