MSI is readying yet another socket AM3 motherboard that features the Lucid Hydra chip, called the 870A Fuzion Power Edition. MSI had earlier launched a motherboard with nearly the same features called the 870A Fuzion. The ‘new’ motherboard from MSI uses the AMD 770 northbridge with the SB850 southbridge, a confusing name. The Lucid Hydra LT22102 chip that lets you pair two different ATI or NVIDIA graphics cards in ATI+ATI, NVIDIA+NVIDIA, and ATI+NVIDIA configurations. What’s new with this board, however, is that a few components have been relocated, and the CPU VRM has been upgraded to 10+1 phases with high-C capacitors.

Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (full-bandwidth), three PCI-E x1, and one PCI. Connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF connectors, USB 3.0 (one on the rear panel, one internal port), gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. With the SB850 southbridge the motherboard has six internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The pricing of this board is expected to be around the 170 EUR mark, which is about 45 EUR more than that of the 870A Fuzion.

Source: SemiAccurate

ASRock is known for innovations in the motherboard industry that are borderline-wacky and defy the norm. For example, the socket AM2 motherboard based on the six year old NVIDIA nForce 3 chipset that supports Phenom II series (read here), or a socket 939 motherboard based on the more recent AMD 780G chipset (originally meant for AM2+/AM3 platforms) called the 939A785GMH-128M, or the numerous examples of older Intel 900 series chipsets supporting Core 2 processors. Perhaps this is ASRock’s way of clearing new old-stock chipsets from manufacturers, by giving them a lease of life. The latest such creation is the M3A UCC.

This socket AM3 motherboard supports all AM3 processors including six-core ones, and DDR3 memory at speeds of up to 1800 MHz, is based on the AMD 480X, one of AMD’s first discrete graphics chipsets after it took over ATI. The 480X was meant to be a value discrete graphics chipset with dual x8 lane CrossFire support. It is paired with the SB600 southbridge that gives out four SATA 3 Gb/s ports. Expansion slots include PCI-Express 1.1 x16, two PCI-E x1, and three PCI. Six channel audio, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, serial and parallel ports, make the rest of it. The UCC chip lets you unlock disabled cores on X3 and Phenom II X2 processors. The idea behind this product could be to deliver an inexpensive motherboard that just works. This further validates the point that any AMD chipset since nForce 3 can support any AMD desktop processor with IMC made till date, if motherboard vendors fine-tune their business interests to think more like ASRock.

Source: TechConnect Magazine

With a small but sizable, and growing number of PC cases with front-panel USB 3.0 ports, it is making sense for motherboard vendors to reciprocate with motherboards that have USB 3.0 front-panel headers. Spearheading this is ASUS, with its new mainstream socket LGA1156 motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset, the P7P55/USB3. USB 3.0 has a different front-panel header layout from USB 2.0/1.1, and on ASUS’ motherboard, there are two NEC-made 2-port USB 3.0 controllers, one for the two rear USB 3.0 ports, and one for the 2-port USB 3.0 header. The header can connect to front-panel ports, or simply provide two rear ports using an expansion bracket.

Apart from that, the P7P55/USB3 is a fairly standard offering with 4+2 phase CPU VRM, one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot, a PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4) slot, and two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI. The P55 PCH provides six SATA 3 Gb/s ports, connectivity features include 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0. ASUS did not give out a price, though one can expect this model to be on the lower side, we expect under $150.

Source: OCWorkbench

Sunbeamtech let loose its Smart Fan Controller 6 and Smart Fan Controller 3. These internal fan-speed controllers fit into the 5.25″ and 3.5″ drive bays, and offer manual control over 6 and 3 channels, respectively. Both controllers take power input from a Molex connector, as well as have a connection with the motherboard to let you synchronize all fan speeds using PWM signals from the motherboard. While the Smart Fan Controller 6 offers up to 30W per channel, the Smart Fan Controller 3 gives 20W per channel. The units are enclosed in aluminum that’s open on top to help ventilate the heat-producing FETs. The front-bezel is made of perforated black metal, with aluminum rotary knobs.

Following Biostar’s display of its socket LGA-1155 motherboard, market-heavyweights ASUS and MSI were also seen exhibiting their LGA-1156 motherboards based on the Intel P67 chipset. The ASUS P8P67D EVO uses 12+2 phase CPU VRM, has four DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR3 memory, and expansion slots which include two PCI-Express x16 (electrical x8 when both are populated), two PCI, and three PCI-E x1. MSI’s P67A-GD65 uses an 8+1 phase VRM with High-C capacitors. Both models feature SATA 6 Gb/s, USB 3.0, and other features commonly found in today’s P55-based motherboards, with the difference of the LGA-1155 socket that will fit next-generation Sandy Bridge processors. LGA-1155 is not compatible with LGA-1156, probably except for the cooler mount hole spacing. LGA-1155 platform will likely be introduced in early 2011, looking at how major motherboard vendors are ready with their products in time for this year’s Computex event, which is the large major IT exposium before next year’s CES.

Source: TechConnect Magazine

EVGA is ready with a large full-tower case and power supply that’s tailor-fit for the Classified SR-2 dual-socket LGA1366 motherboard, both carrying the Classified SR-2 brand markers for easy identification. The SR-2 case is larger than XL-ATX and EATX. Its motherboard tray is as wide as EATX, while being as long as XL-ATX. It has 10 expansion slots, 7 internal 3.5″/2.5″ drive bay trays, 5 larger 5.25″ trays, and holes punched out in the motherboard tray at the right spots to help manage CPU coolers for both the sockets better, and help with cable-management.

On its front-panel (located on the top), apart from the usual power, reset, and basic LEDs, there is also a system diagnostic LED display which takes input directly from the motherboard’s system management module. A pop-up panel holds four USB, audio, FireWire, and eSATA ports.

Intel’s upcoming Sandy Bridge processor architecture which uses the new LGA-1155 socket seems to be closer than one would think, with motherboard vendors such as Biostar being ready with motherboards that run those processors. The motherboard vendor showed off two socket LGA-1155 motherboards that are based on the Intel P67 and H67 chipsets. The P67 is engineered to be the chipset for processors that need discrete graphics, the chipset lacks the Intel FDI technology needed to connect the processors’ embedded graphics controller to display outputs on the motherboard, whereas the H67 does, and is designed for processors with embedded graphics.

The first spot is the TP67XE, based on the P67. This ATX motherboard has all the features of a mid-range performance board. The processor is powered by a 4+2 phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. It is said that the Sandy Bridge processors will have higher reference DRAM speeds than present Nehalem/Westmere chips (which have DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333 depending on the model), expansion slots include one PCI-Express x16, one PCI-E x16 (electrical x4), two PCI-E x1, and two PCI. While the board has padding for a 2-port 3rd party USB 3.0 controller, it is indicated that Intel 6-series chipsets will finally introduce native SATA 6 Gb/s.

EVGA is readying a new high-end socket LGA1366 motherboard building on its FTW (for the win) moniker, the X58 FTW3, carrying the EVGA SKU code of 132-GT-E768-KR. The new motherboard was spotted on the North American online retailer NCIX.com, where it was listed for US $342.39 and CA $319.99, before EVGA even launched the product or gave it a product page on the company website.

The 132-GT-E768-KR is a standard ATX motherboard. The CPU is powered by an 8-phase standard VRM, it is wired to six DDR3 slots for triple-channel memory support. The X58 IOU is cooled by a larger than usual heatsink, which slants towards the socket to give clearance to large CPU coolers. The X58 and ICH10R stick to the specifications, with no additional bridge chip. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x16, x8, x8 when all three are populated, x16, x16, NC when the first two are), supporting 3-way SLI, 2-way SLI, and ATI CrossFireX. Connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s and six 3 Gb/s ports, two gigabit Ethernet controllers, 8 channel audio, two USB 3.0 and 8 USB 2.0 ports, and support for the EVBot OC module. EVGA should officially introduce this board soon.

ASUS has come up with a Frankenstein solution which enables 4-way SLI on the Rampage III Extreme motherboard with full PCI-Express 2.0 x16 bandwidth, called the ROG Xpander. The device is a daughterboard that sits on the motherboard with connections to its PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. While it might not fit into cases, it is intended to work on test-benches. The two PCI-E x16 connections from the motherboard are wired to two NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chips, which give out two x16 links each, driving the four x16 slots on the daughterboard. It takes input from one 6-pin PCI-E power input, and three 4-pin Molex inputs, though not all may be required.

The ROG Xpander ideally would draw 12W of power per nForce chip, and with its own power inputs, will not draw any power from the motherboard for the four PCI-E cards. The point of using this device is that ASUS did not give 4-way SLI capability to the Rampage III Extreme from the factory, even though it already has four PCI-E x16 slots (x8 each when all are populated). A fan seated on the Xpander ensures components on the motherboard under it aren’t suffocated of cool air. ASUS ran a 4-way SLI test of four GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards on 3DMark Vantage, where the Core i7 980X @ 6 GHz powered setup scored P52422 points.

Sapphire is back to its vocation of being a motherboard vendor, the popular ATI Radeon board partner designed a new socket AM3 motherboard based on the new AMD 890GX + SB850 chipset, dubbed the Sapphire Pure CrossfireX 890GX. The board is built on the ATX form-factor, though comes with only four expansion slots spaced out. The AM3 CPU is powered by a 10-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. The AMD 890GX northbridge is cooled by a large heatsink which shares its heat with one of the VRM heatsinks. The ATI Radeon HD 4290 IGP is assisted by 128 MB of SidePort memory apart from sharing the system memory.

Out of the four expansion slots, two are PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8 when both are populated) with some sort of manual PCI-E lane switching, and one each of PCI-E x1 and PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out six SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, while an additional controller provides an IDE connector (for two IDE devices). The eSATA port is driven by manually connecting it with one of the internal ports. Connectivity includes 8 channel audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF, USB 3.0, and display connectivity, which includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI with 7.1 channel audio. Available soon, Sapphire is yet to disclose its price.