X79 chipset
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Graphics galore
Here's an overview of the X79 and X58 chipsets. Going over bits we know from the look at the chip architecture, there's double the potential memory bandwidth coming into the second-generation Core i7 LGA2011 processor.
X79 has an additional four PCIe 2.0 lanes going to graphics, enabling two cards to run at full-bandwidth x16 and a third at x8, or a single at x16 and a trio at x8. We welcome the extra lanes for users who indulge in many-way CrossFireX and SLI - both supported here - and Intel says the expansion ports are fully compliant with the PCIe 3.0 spec.
Single-chip design
Intel's also taken the opportunity to amalgamate all the southbridge (ICH10R) functions on to the platform controller hub (PCH) on X79. This is made possible as the X58 IOH, used previously to dish out PCIe lanes, now resides within the chip itself. Speaking of which, the X79's peripheral PCIe lanes are boosted from six on ICH10R to eight here, and the 6-series boards' RST technology is also used. However, the handy Smart Response tech found on Z68 boards is conspicuous by its absence; it's been missed out here, and we can't work out why.
The silicon giant has thus far refused to integrate USB 3.0 into any chipsets and this situation continues with X79. Understanding the high-end nature of the board and associated CPUs infers that all shipping boards from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, et al, will be packed to the gills with manufacturer-added features, not least of which'll be USB 3.0.
Think of X79 as a logical update of X58, folks, but also remember that any genuinely high-end Intel mainboard isn't cheap. X58s first shipped as £200 boards; don't expect anything different this time around. Intel has the top-end ground covered and, unfortunately, it's all too aware of it. We've already heard word that ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte's mid-tier X79 offerings will cost an eye-watering £250-plus.
Super scaling
There's lots of memory bandwidth here, through four channels that deliver 12.8GB/s a-piece at official speeds. Most motherboards will offer much higher frequencies and scale memory nicely above DDR3-1,600. To this end, Intel has upgraded its plug-n-play XMP settings to v1.3 for X79, and doubtless you'll see v1.3-specification quad-channel kits available from the usual suspects.
Speaking to NVIDIA just before launch, the company reckons that, on average, three-way GeForce GTX 580 SLI scaling is improved by 29 per cent when compared to a 'similar' setup under X58. NVIDIA says it has spent considerable time optimising for the chipset and that Sandy Bridge Extreme's sheer speed helps out too. We'll look at multi-GPU scaling in a separate article.
