Asus Sandy Bridge motherboard previews hit the web

[Jos]

Intel’s Sandy Bridge is scheduled to arrive in early 2011 along a family of 6-series core-logic chipsets and a flood of motherboards fitted with the updated LGA1155 socket. Asus plans to have a bunch of compatible products ready for the big launch day, and over the weekend they begun sharing a bit of what you can expect in terms of features and diversity. In total, the company is planning to release 17 boards based on the P67, H67 and Q67 chipsets.

The folks over at Tech Report have the details on five of those products, including the Asus Maximus IV Extreme, Sabertooth P67, and three P8P67 variants. The Maximus IV Extreme is Asus’ latest addition to its Republic of Gamers line and includes several ROG-exclusive features like ROG Connect for on-the-fly overclocking and on-board voltage read points. It also has four DDR3 memory slots, four PCI-Express x16 slots for multi-GPU configurations, four SATA II and SATA III ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and 7.1-channel audio.

The Sabertooth P67 is part of Asus' recently introduced TUF line that caters to folks looking for better reliability. The board is covered with a plastic layer, dubbed ‘Tactical Jacket’, designed to direct airflow over various onboard components. It comes with a 5-year warranty, "military-grade" electrical components, and a slew of thermal sensors.

Meanwhile among the P8P67 boards is a Mini-ITX variant, the P8P67-I, which squeezes in two SO-DIMM slots, one PCI-Express x16 slot, two SATA 6.0 Gbps and two 3.0 Gbps ports, and a bunch of connectivity options within a diminutive footprint. You’ll be able to find USB 3.0 spread all over these boards, some of them using the company’s own he ASMedia controller, which is still going through USB-IF certification and is said to be faster than NEC’s silicon. Many details are still under NDA but you can find some additional pictures and more information here.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/41124-asus-sandy-bridge-motherboard-previews-hit-the-web.html

 

[kiddesign]

cool!

 

[Cryptopsy]

Pretty nice, I'm wondering if the "case" that cover the mobo will make it overheat, probably not - good engineer worked on it I guess.

 

[Guest]

Geezuz! A military motherboard!

 

[cardriverx]

That P67 is extreamly sexy...

 

[Guest]

This is just frigging awesome. Coving all the breakable, non-upgradable bits should make it SO much easier to work with. If it cools better too... well, then one day all motherboards should be made like that .

 

[mattfrompa]

I do like the look of the covering much better. As long as it isn't too tough to remove so you can check capacitors I'm all for it becoming standard.

 

[grvalderrama]

Tidy! Looks really tidy with that cover... I might just wait for Sandy bridge to come out so that prices of all Intel's sockets go down! By the way, I asked this question time ago in another news, Sandy it's a chipset or a socket? =S

 

[madboyv1]

There needs to be more quality miniITX motherboards, so I am glad to see ASUS is gonna give Intel some love considering its EXCELLENT AM3 miniITX motherboard it released a couple months ago

 

[taea00]

That thing looks so fierce. I really wonder how well that plastic covering does at directing airflow. It still looks amazing.

 

[blimp01]

thats so cool, i would have never thought of making the entire thing have a heatsink

 

[madboyv1]

blimp01 said:
thats so cool, i would have never thought of making the entire thing have a heatsink

From my understanding it is essentially a plastic shroud that forces airflow below it (assuming there is airflow going into it). I wouldn't call it a heatsink, but it looks like it is supposed to direct air through the shroud to help improve cooling of passive chips and capacitors. Assuming ASUS knows what it is doing, it should cool better than true open passive cooling, at least for the components closest to the airflow entrance.

 

[dividebyzero]

By the way, I asked this question time ago in another news, Sandy it's a chipset or a socket? =S

Sandy Bridge is the CPU architecture - Two versions:

Sandy Bridge ( P/H/Q67 chipset, LGA 1155 socket)-mainstream -supercedes Core i3/i5/i7/Xeon LGA1156 used in the P55/H55/H57 and Intel 3420 chipsets

Sandy Bridge-E (X68? chipset, LGA 2011 socket)-enthusiast- supercedes Core i7/Xeon LGA 1366 used with the X58 and Intel 5520 chipsets

 

[Puiu]

that mb looks really good but it also looks very expensive

 

[Gars]

Sabertooth is not a news http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=AM2RChl84MZrKh6J
(there is another version with P55 which is oldest i think) and ofc, its so expensive here - like $300 or so

i saw it a few months ago and i want it badly

im already fan of of the WS series cos i was able to work one of these

but here, the design is much more improved and i like it so much =)~

im waiting for the first benchmarks with the SBridge

 

[bioflex]

now this looks like a motherboard you are going to spend quite a lot of cash on and i am sure in the long run its going to be worth it......imo, it looks gorgeous.

 

[Technochicken]

I don't really understand how the plastic shroud helps with airflow, but it sure looks cool.

 

[KG363]

Did they get rid of that BIOS and replace it with that UEFI thing or whatever

 

[JMMD]

Getting excited to see this stuff come out, gonna make things really interesting.

 

[Guest]

what they forgot to say is that the sabretooth also comes with a 70mm fan that sits over the north bridge (spot with 4 screws in it).

 

[TeamworkGuy2]

I can't wait for Sandy Bridge!
Not sure if I like the shroud... But if it helps temps I am for it.

 

[UT66]

cool, but pointless. all the motherboards look the same inside a case.

 

[Wendig0]

Now if only that "Tactical Jacket" was a full board water block. I don't see how it would be useful to directing airflow.

 

[dividebyzero]

Why would it need a water block?
As with the P55 boards the only parts that need cooling are the voltage regulation circuit and the CPU. And as with heatpipes and heatsinks over non-existant chipsets it's all marketing gimmick.

 

[Guest]

can you imagine how dusty that thing is going to get under there?
in 3 months the usefulness of it directing airflow would probally be void

being plastic it probally absorbs heat but doesnt dissipate it very well
consider adonized aluminum instead..

and, the mounting screws there would be a real headache

"military grade" is a double edged sword
it could mean the cheapest parts that survive the durability test
you know how the military loves the lowest bidder