Introduction
At the end of last year, Intel released its new generation high-end processors under the codename Sandy Bridge-E. The Core i7 3960X and 3930K feature six cores, up to 15 MB L3 cache, a quad channel DDR3 memory controller, and a PCI-Express 3.0 controller with 40 lanes. Our review showed that the new processors ensure Intel's comfortable lead on the CPU market. Since the architecture changed a lot compared to Intel's previous high-end processor, the manufacturer could not avoid creating a new socket and chipset for the Sandy Bridge-E CPUs. That new socket is called Socket 2011, and the chipset has been christened X79.
The new platform has now been around for more than half a year and in that period we have tested a total of 16 motherboards with Intel X79 chipsets. Time for a round up!
In this article we review the following motherboards:
- ASRock X79 Extreme4-M
- ASRock X79 Extreme9
- ASUS P9X79 Pro
- ASUS P9X79 Deluxe
- ASUS P9X79 WS
- ASUS Sabertooth X79
- ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
- ASUS Rampage IV Formula
- ASUS Rampage IV Gene
- Foxconn Quantumian 1
- Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3
- Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5
- Gigabyte G1.Assassin 2
- Intel DX79SI
- MSI X79A-GD65 (8D)
- MSI Big Bang XPower II
