** OFFICIAL ** Intel DX38BT & DX48BT2 BoneTrail Thread

nVidia drivers v260.89 beta out.
Man, this is getting boring!!

djs, you got me curious with the X68 issue. Can't you tell how you know? I mean, if it's just that roadmap that only mentions P67, H67 and H61, those are only the first batch.
Was it cancelled then? Because I saw a roamap mentioning it, but it was so accurate that it was supposed to be out in Q2/2010, go figure. Still, ICH11 was paired with it and no PCIe 3.0 support. The same roadmap showed P65/H65/Q65 which we know will not be the naming scheme.

I have not seen any info that leads me to believe that you will see a x68, unless there is port of the Sandy Bridge server chipset. That would be a year away, I think. Found the RAID issue with Intel. They need to verify the extent of problem and fix the issue. Don't think I would update to 5456.

djs
Yes, if there is a X68 (and I believe there is), it's well under wraps. It should be out in a year, at least, I don't expect it sooner. Socket 1155 will come first in Q1 2011, by the end of the year the server and desktop counterpart of socket 2001 (socket G?) that should be X68. Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Good work with the RAID issue, maybe DX58SO page being unavailable right now has something to do with it?!
Page 97 now, almost 100 pages long thread, wow!!

working a bit on this oc
3.8 ghz (181x21)
IOH 1.1
Uncore v 1.2
cpu v 1.2625
ram 1.5v
ram multi 8
uncore multi 13
max temp prime 95 load 75c

I've done so much reading my head is swimming....I can't remember what the IOH is....SB?
EDIT
nevermind I figured it out

nVidia 260.89 finally got WHQL'ed, for those who care. About time too! I'll try the new installer.
Heard of the "new" GTX580 to counter the 6970 Cayman, or even Antilles 6990 (that's me already going over the top)?
Well, some say it's a new GF110 GPU with 512 CUDA cores, 128 TMUs and 512 bit GDDR5 interface, others that it's the same GF100 (or GF100b as they call it) with all 512 cores enabled. Same TDP as the GTX480 it seems.
They want to spoil the AMD HD6000 launch. ATI is definatelly gone, rest in peace. It will be missed.

I'm kinda waiting for SP1 to be final to go Win 7 x64, although I really don't like the UI, Vista looks much better. My question is, to those of you on 7, and since Intel (or IDT) haven't released drivers for it, how is audio on BT working for you? Using the MS drivers, if there are any? How's sound wit it?
I believe only the audio is missing proper 7 support now, right?
Anyone tried the nVidia 260.98 yet? Haven't had the time to install. nVidia will be releasing the GTX475 soon it seems, ether GT104 fully unlocked or (call it) GT114. Man, what a war going on...

Seems Win 7 SP1 went RC today, nothing relly new it seems, most was already available via Windows Update. For Server 2008 (same package) there are new features though.
There's also an MS update for sniffing Win 7 illegal copies (WGA) much like Vista's some time back.

Also, nVidia released 260.99 WHQL, not even a week after 260.89, wtf?! Some improvements.

Still, nothing new on Intel.
After SP1 I'm going 7 but we're still lacking audio drivers. How have you guys been doing? Native win 7 drivers or new sound card? Guess my old Audigy could be usefull after all, or maybe a new X-Fi HD, but I swore never to get Creative cards again, drivers suck big time. And now for Vista and 7 that awful Alchemy wrapper!! Guess not.

MS roadmap leaked, Windows 8 (might not be the final name) will be out in 2012. Same for server OS.

Manel

I cannot speak to the audio situation with W7, I just use native windows drivers and quite rarely use the sound on my system anyway.

as for the rest of the drivers, everything seems to work fine...you have to remember that windows 7 and vista are more similar than they are different, the leap was from xp to vista. to me, i consider w7 to be what microsoft wanted to release when vista dropped, but just coulndt get everything ready in time and also lacked a lot of feedback to tweak the system properly before launch.

just compare the number of updates for vista vs w7 as well as how easily almost every program designed for vista seamlessly installs on w7 (there are a select few exceptions, but for the most part everything plays together nicely), its almost as if vista should be named w7 alpha.

sean

PS. W7 is a ton faster than vista.

Hi Sean
I was just asking regarding the sound mostly out of curiousity really, just to know what the drivers were like. I guess a control panel for it is on-existent, right? Guess you loose Dolby as well. But, like you, I hardly use it. Still, would be nice to have all the features, although the GUI is still horrible.
Yes, 7 is what Vista was supposed to be, still some software will not run out of the box. My company had to redo all software for 7 so I guess there are some differences.
For that matter, 7 is not v7.0 but still v6.1 which says it all.
I have no problems with Vista, much on the contrary. I love the UI, and I hate 7's with that awful task bar and over shiny start button whe you hover over it. Still you can tweak the UI to resemble Vista's but never gets the same. That's the reason I haven't gone 7 yet but as soon as SP1 goes RTM I guess I will.

It really seems that UEFI will take off net year, finally!
Asus has 1155 boards with UEFI already. I don't really want to go back to Asus, hope Intel will follow suit.
Looks a lot better than the good old BIOS, about time we enter the new era. Right now we have very powerful machines that boot like old 286 (argh!) dinossaurs...

My neighbour just bought a DX58SO, he asked me to come over and build it for him. He got the newest version with the sata's facing the back of the board. He asked if the little fan should have the label facing out, I looked at it and saw the arrow indicating air flow direction and told him no it will not show with the fan blowing on the IOH.
Got home the next day, sat down at my rig and looked in the window and ......saw the label on my fan. I laughed, reached in and removed the fan and sure enough I had it blowing away from the chipset, not on it. So I flipped it around. The next day I was fooling around with my overclock, referred back to some screenshots I had and noticed the temp on my IOH had gone up! As it was only a few degrees I haven't bothered to put it back the other way, when I do I will report back if indeed the temps go back down.

Hi rogue
In fact, the fan should be sucking hot air out of the IOH, not blowing on it. I guess the sticker should be facing outwards.
Too bad our BoneTrails don't come with the fan, I've been trying to get one but can't find a 40mm fan anywhere.

The intel guide shows blowing on the heatsink. I actually never looked at it myself till tonight because I thought maybe my neighbour (who was looking at it) read it wrong. But indeed it shows blowing on the IOH. I'm gonna have to reach in there and flip it back around and see if the temps drop.
One of the complaints I've read about the smackover is that fan, I guess there must be some that have a whine to them, I have not noticed it at all with mine or the neighbours but there are sites out there with 40mm fans.

rogue
Haven't read the SmackOver's manual, will dl it now and have a look, but sounds strange to have the fan blowing inwards, it's supposed to suck hot air out of the IOH, although you could have it suck air in to go through the fins and out the sides. But that seems more prone to heat ups.
There are 40mm fans out there, not nearby though, but they are either too noisy or with colorful lights, meh!!

nVidia has it finally disclosed on their site, the all mighty 580, and with v262.99 drivers, WHQL'ed by the way. They had been working hard on it it seems. The new king of the hill. I just hate the 384b wide mem bus and the 1.5G mem, but still... mem controller seems much better, finally they can achieve GDDR5 speeds that are closer to the limit.

Anyone knows where we can find and download the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU)? And before you all jump at me saying it's a service rather than a tool, that's not entirelly correct. I know IDCC uses it but Intel also has it with a different interface (UI) for v2. It looks very cool and simple, I also like the way IDCC looks but this one version is a lot more complete. Asus provides it already for their mobos, why hasn't Intel (who developed it) released their own version for their mobos (ours)? At least I can't find it!
The UI is (somewhat) customizable, and it's available to OEMs that provide the necessary hooks on their BIOSes.
Well, maybe they'll eventually let us have it too.

Got it from Asus' site, seems Dell and some others will have it too.
Funny thing, Intel mentions it, even in their Extreme Gaming page, but no links and there's no info on it anywhere on their site, or anywhere else for that matter.
I guess they couldn't keep up with it, and maybe just ditched it. Still Asus has it available for dl and it looks sweet (in that version, cause I've seen it with another UI that looks like the older Intel apps and meh!!).
Intel is too quite for my liking, something's fishy.
Maybe it's just the preping of Sandy Bridge and newer BIOSes for the 6 series boards, takes up all the time. I still have a wish for X68...

I too looked for XTU and gave up. DX58SO2 is coming soon, hope a bios comes soon too.

Yeah, I know about DX58SO2, but do you have any details on it? What will change or what's new about it?
Maybe they'll finally use 6 mem slots - don't believe, a major design overhaul would be in order. Maybe they ditch the PCIe x4 physical for a full x16, even though it will remain x4 electrically.
It would make it almost perfect!!
Are you using the 40mm fan that came with your board? How does it look like? Does it make a difference, in temperatures, having it installed or not? Is it noisy?
Until you mentioned it I didn't even notice that there was a change in the SATA connectors (for 90º ones) in the SmackOver. Cool! They should have done it in the BoneTrail too.
As far as I can tell only the Quick Reference Guide and the Product Guide show it, but not the Tech Product Spec.

Ya the new board is a complete over haul, I found this...

Compared to the first generation of a new Board DX58SO, in many respects has been enhanced: changed to all-solid capacitor; adding heat pipe cooling systems, power supply and the north part of the memory slots from four to six, with support for two groups of dual-channel DDR3 memory expansion slot to reduce a PCI-E increase a x4 PCI-E x16, and adjust the layout, streamlined; the on-board Ethernet card to two, the back also has two RJ; on-board power on and restart shortcut button; through a third-party controller adds two SATA 6Gbps and two USB 3.0 interface.

I found pictures before but Im not sure where now, but it looked cool. Yes I'm using the fan, it has a blue led, not sure about temps not using it but I got better temps blowing away from IOH rather than blowing on. No i dont find it noisey at all, but there have been comments from others about it. Guess I got lucky and got a good one?

Found the link with pictures

http://www.waybeta.com/news/38336/sa...el-board-news/

Thanx rogue, it looks really sweet. All those hings I mentioned seem to have been adressed, and more. I could do without the heatpipes, but hey! Onboard LED poster, cool.
They seem to have placed the 8pin power connector in the right place now,thank you Intel, that was the worst place ever originally.
The full SS capacitors is a good welcome, although sometimes overhiped, still no spilling caps anymore. And it looks much better for that mater! Even the old chokes seem to be gone now. Great design overhaul Intel.
I'd say it's the best Intel board to date. If I wasn't looking forward for the X68 his would be my next board for sure.
Dual ethernet, onboard power and reset push buttons, don't like the Clear CMOS on the outside though - don't get me wrong, it's handy but with a lamp on it?!
3 full x16 PCIe slots, 6 mem slots, Intel went all the way on this one.
SAT 6G and USB 3 with external controllers is meh for me, that's why I'll wait for the X68, I much prefer Intel's inegrated implementation to 3rd party's controllers.
I guess this one will also use the Realtek audio codec.
Rogue, thanks for the find. Great pics.

On a side note, Intel's page has a new dl for us (sigh), a pdf file saying that MS Server OSes will not be supported. Thanks for the info Intel.

I'd only change a couple things though.
Power supply connectors (24pin and 8pin) shoul be black, not white, to go with the theme.
Front panel headers are still located too far in the bottom of the board, my 900 case does not have long enough cables to reach there - rogue, is your cable longer? I spoke with the guys at Antec at the time regarding this issueand they said they'd release the 900 with longe cables from then on.
The big heatsink is a little too flashy for me, are we going the Taiwan way here Intel? I prefer the simpler one in the old board, but good nonetheless.

Anyone knows how the PCIe slots will behave? Is there like x16 x8 x8 available? Or only x16 x16 x4.
This with a 990X and sole good ol' Dominators 12G would be awesome!!
Still Socket 2011 sould be out in a year or so.

I might just have changed my mind regarding DX58SO2. I had been too lazy to google or it but now it seems it has x16 x16 x8 electrical PCIe slots, DDR3 2400 (what?!) 24G 6 slots, dual Giga ethernet, 12 USB 30 ports, 10 SATA 6G ports - these seem to be native, since Intel does not refer an exsternal controller for both USB and SATA. Maybe we have a new IOH!! Hard to believe though, usually not all ports are full speed in a new chipset, and the required bandwidth would be huge, didn't calculate though.
Here's a link: http://www.sys-builder.com/wp-conten...X58SO2Spec.jpg

Sorry, linke only to image, here's the article: http://www.sys-builder.com/2010/09/p...ich10-refresh/

Hey Manel, good to see you holding the fort as always :)

If you didn't know already, you can get Intel's Smackover fan here: http://click.intel.com/Fan_Kit_for_I...8SO-P1982.aspx, you would also need this part to mount it: http://click.intel.com/MCH_Heat_Sink...ket-P1674.aspx

I got one about a year ago and boy does it make a difference to my MCH heatsink temp. I was in the same boat as you. I looked everywhere for a quality 40mm fan but couldn't find one anywhere, so i settled on Intel's one. When pluged into the dedicated MCH fan jumper on the board, it runs at full speed and can't be controlled, so as a result it isn't the quietest fan in the world, nothing to loud, but it does have a low hum to it. Also, it does have a blue led light in it, i didn't like that at the start, but i'm used to it now and actually don't mind the soft blue glow eminating from my case. (At least it doesn't flash, i don't think i could've gotten used to that)

And my, doesn't that DX58SO2 look like one Bad A** piece of hardware !

Hey crazy, good to see someone's still coming over.
Good find there, thanx a lot. I never thought of looking for it at Intel's. Cool!
It's for the SmackOver but I believe it's the same for the BoneTrail, the dimensions are the same.
The mounting kit is listed as discontinued but I believe this bracket comes with our board already.
I don't mind the blue LED, my case already has a couple anyway, so nothing new here, not that I appreciate it much, but hey! Got used to it.
I guess I''l have to order it from Intel, it's hard to find it locally I guess.
Can't remember now but I believe only the CPU fan header is a 4 pin one with PWM control. Anyway, the fan should only be a 3 pin one, right?
Guess I'll order one asap, if the temps are really going down.
Great find. I just need to confirm regarding the mounting kit. Did you get it as well?

Yes, the SmackOver2 looks sweet, great board if all this is true. It's Intel's best board ever, SmackOver done right!

my cables do reach, although next time I take my mobo out I'm gonna route them under it to hide them a little better. It's gonna be hard for me to not want to upgrade to that SO2.

rogue, maybe you got the newer model with the longer cables already. I guess they kept their promise.
At the time, the 900 came with a cable only long enough to reach the front panel, but only very stretched and it crosses my board all the way through and it's sitting on it, not even from the back of the board I could make it reach. Even now the connector is kinda shaky.
I can understand that, good for you that only the board needs to be swapped, I'm itching to finally see it and I guess maybe I'll have to buy new staff altogether. It will be hard to say no.

Hey Manel,
yeah i do pass through this room from time to time, so in future i will make sure that i say hello :)

I did get the mounting kit, and it was the one orignally shipped with the boxed board, but as my board was an oem, i didnt get one. If you did, then you won't need worry about it :) It is a 3 pin plug and there is a dedicated MCH fan header on the board near the MCH (which i have mine plugged into), but there is nothing stopping you plugging it into any fan header on the board or from your power supply if you want more control over it. I will say that as far as temps go, its nothing that i measured with software or themometers, the real difference i noticed was that before i started using that little fan the MCH heatsink was really hot to touch, but after it is only warm. My ambient temp may have droped by 1 - 2 degrees, but i can't really remember what it was before.

And as far as that DX58SO2 goes, man i want me one of them. I have always had a rule to never buy top end hardware, but it's going to be really hard to keep to that this time. Time to start doing some overtime i think .

I got the boxed version of the board, the kit comes with it already. Good thing cause Intel discontinued it as far as I can tell.
I was too lazy to check the manual for the fan header, usually only the CPU fan is PWM controlled (4 pin) and all others are 3 pin fixed voltage. One can always control it manually with a resistor or pot but that is not very pratical.
I do have an IR thermometer somewhere, I might just measure and compare temps before and after, just to see if it was worthy.

I also stay away from hi-end hw but this one is itching... not that I need it at the moment, but it sure makes you want it bad.
Let's see when it's released, and if those specs are correct!! I guess those guys at Intel are hard at work, maybe that's why they haven't released a thing in a long time, only those info docs latelly.

By the way, since you're on 7, how does audio work, since there are no official drivers for it?
I have a periodic soft noise in the background, looks like fan induced or something, must take the time to figure it out.

Manel,
The MCH fan with the DX58SO was so shrill and loud I replaced it with a Silenx Ixtrema40. I just saw the 58SO2 discussion. Been out of town. Did you get a DX58SO or SO2?

I didn't get the DX58SO, or the DX58SO2 which is not available yet.
I was referring to the DX38BT, which doesn't include the fan, only the bracket.
But I sure got my eye on the DX8SO2. It's almost perfect I'd say. I'll just wait for it to be released and see. Still, with socket 2011 a year away I'm not sure I'll wait for it.

I figured that out after rereading the slide. My data says 2 3.0USB (Using NEC I think) and 2 6Gb SATA ports (don't know whos controller it is). Everthing else seems right. I was wondering if the SO2 had released in Europe already. It definitely has not here. If you see solid data let me know.

The fix for the RAID Controller ROM and some other misc. fixs. This one seems OK to install v 5506.

djs
Rumour has it that it will feature a revised ICH with native USB 3.0 and SATA 6G support, not confirmed though.
The board is not ready yet, don't think it will be till the end of the year I guess.

BIOS 5506 solved the RAID problem for you? There's a new RAID option ROM version in fact, but Intel hasn't posted the drivers for it. They also mention IDCC v5.5.0.46 which I can't find. Good thing they're still working on IDCC, but I'd love to see the other XTU UI for our boards.

Will we also have an updated BIOS with this fix?

Is it just me or anyone else is experiencing long load times of Intel's page?

nVidia drivers v263.09 for 500 series only, no release notes.
Also, M$ released a DX update, about time now. Usually it would be in November and it was in the last day. Working hard! By the way, DX12 should be around the corner, next year I guess.

Holly s**t, DX58SO2 and DX58OG out!!

LAN drivers 15.7 for new boards only?
Intel XTU available in January 2011, they provide a link but it's just a pdf. Thanx Intel. Hope it will work with BT.

SATA 6G via Marvell, no USB3, OG seems to be a lesser version of the SO2.
POST code LEDs, onboard oc buttons on SO2. Cool!! Heatpipes on SO2 as expected.
BIOS 0603 first release.
No updated IOH after all, somewhat disappointing. Wait for X68.

Guys, join the Intel Extreme Team in their boards page. Cool. Haven't had the time to do it and read it carefully. Maybe on the weekend.
The newer boards are not in their page yet, just in the downloads section.

http://intelsignatureeditionboards.com/indexmain.html

Intel Extreme Team:
We're the radical element inside the Intel desktop
board division that play by our own rules.
We build the best - full stop.

We're the ultimate expression of what Intel is all about. We are the geniuses who run free to challenge
convention - not to mention rattling convention's cage to push everyone else around us. Our Intel Extreme Team has collectively left a lot of triple-E footprints in behinds on our way to the top of our respective fields.

Call us the elite of the elite if you wish but the thing we
most want you to take to heart is that we live to create
impossibly wicked stuff - motherboards beyond even
the imaginations of gamers. Because, like you, we
love to play. And win.

These guys are bold!! Too bad we are yet to see something really extreme, they can't even deal right with the "Extreme" stuff they have out yet.
Still, maybe things start getting extremer now.

As usual the game is for US only.

It looks like someone big will join Intel on this endeavour... please not Fa1ality!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Manel

It looks like someone big will join Intel on this endeavour... please not Fa1ality!

---

He's working with ASRock already, so I don't think that he'll cooperate with Intel at the same time, too.
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php...im-detail.html

Good read from Edwin Tracy, BIOS lead engineer at Intel:

http://intelsignatureeditionboards.com/Biosarticle.html

Easter eggs on BIOS? Wow, Intel has gone to the other "Extreme"...

Maybe finally Intel is catching up with the Taiwanese manufacturers, I would loose the lighted skulls and character drawings in BIOS though. It looks too silly IMHO. Just go for the good things, like better components (driver MOSFETs, all solid state caps - done!, chokes, ...). No need for military grade devices though!

Good find red. I'm glad, not that I don't like the man, it's just hype I guess.
If Intel can just spice up the BIOS enough I believe they'll get the attention of some of the crowd.
I just want to check out the new boards and see if Intel will implement UEFI on all boards and be done with legacy once and for all. Decrease boot times will be a major advantage of it. PCI is already gone, soem of their boards now have to use a bridge to support it. Maybe next year is the year of a major overhaul in the PC industry to leave old stuff behind for good. At least the Jobs Mob aren't affraid of going forward and leave the old behind.
I understand some people can't or won't just upgrade when something new is up, but for me I rather dump everything and not have to sacrifice performance or features to keep something old.
That's the PC history all along.

Something new is up on Intel's page for us, only the IIT v4.0.3.280, if you use it anyway.
I was hoping to see at least the LAN drivers v15.7 since they're out for hte SO2 and GO, I'm sure they'll work with the rest of the boards.
And the sound drivers, man!! I know Intel ditched the IDT codec but the least they could do for us all with older boards was update the drivers as they're available from IDT, and I'm pretty sure they've released newer versions, Win 7 at least?!

Man, is this slow or what?
What, nobody here anymore?
I know there aren't exactly any news latelly.

Finally the SO2 and OG up on Intel.
Anyone seen any SO2 reviews yet?

Funny how Intel now has ESET Internet Security Suite for download, trial version though, as usual.
Also, XTU is also up for download. Earlier than expected though, it was to be released in January. Only for the new boards though.
Guess we can always try with our boards, it should work. According to Intel XTU should work with Extreme boards from X38 onwards, guess we're included, right?!
Still they advise against it.

Anyone grabbed a P67 board and Sandy Bridge proc yet? They're aready out there, although Intel is releasing them only on January 5th.
Finally P67 makes the full PCIe 2.0 bandwidth available (5GT/s as opposed to 2.5GT/s on Intel chipsets this far).
Can't wait for X68 probably with PCIe 3.0, now that it was finalized. Still 8GT/s (double that of PCIe 2.0, considering the 128/130b encoding scheme now that reduces overhead) is overkill for any application today. Maybe when it's out it will make a difference, which I doubt.
Guess Intel will also include LightPeak (electrical, not optical) on it, instead of USB 3.0, or both.
Maybe that's why it's late, to accomodate all these newer techs. X58E is getting old!!

New BIOS 5529 for DX58SO, updated RAID and LAN ROMs. Were there still issues with RAID? Was it not fixed with the BIOS before?

I'll take a look. Seems to be some minor stuff and I think the RAID update is for 3TB and larger drives. It was supposed to be coming out soon.

Yes, maybe support for Advanced Format in larger than 2.2GB drives.
Why don't we get the same updates for our boards?! Sniff, come on Intel...

Manel,
Have you seen the specs on 2600K? Now you can see why I said there is not likely to be a x68. The performance of Sandy Bridge, even with 2 memory channels is more than my 975x/x58 with three. Sorry, but I couldn't say more until the product released. There will be a 4 channel server set, but it is related to the number of cores more than anything else.

djs
Yes, those are known for quite a while now. Been away for a while and haven't read any reviews/benchs yet but still I believe Intel has an X68 up their sleeve for the end of the year.
We're talking about an enthusiast platform of course, based as you say in the server chipset, of course. So is the X58, there are always both versions for every high end chipset from Intel (X58 actually has 3 versions, 1 desktop and 2 server for single and dual proc). X68, and believe me it will come, will feature 4 channel mem, PICe 3.0, probably Light Peak (maybe the reason Intel delayed, as well as let Sandy Bridge show it's full glory before the higher end part comes to light), SATA 6G (already present in the released 6 series parts), maybe USB 3 (although Inte (already final)l wants to push Light Peak) and UEFI support only. PCI is already gone in 6 series. Light Peak will come on copper not optical initially.
Sandy Bridge might be cool, but just wait to see the next platform for the high end/enthusiast market.
This is all cool but do we really need this much power? Most software today will not take advantage of it, I guess most of it it's just for our ePeen anyway.

X68 will be for i7-29xx (better guess anyone?!) and maybe i9?
If there wouldn't be an X68 how about the next version of the Extreme procs? Where will they run? Would we be stuck with X58 forever? It's over 2 years old now, don't think so!!

Beware that Ocing will be harder, although those K procs are unlocked, but the BCLK is now integrated on the chipset, which makes things harder to OC, since all internal clocks are now depending on this one.
When you mention better performance, well it's an improved proc (and a lot from what I see), slightly higher clocks, same core config, almost same clocks, slightly lower mem bandwidth.
But it will OC like hell with the unlocked multiplier, but not through BCLK like I said.
Anyway, looks good.
But I'll wait.

News: I headed at Anand for a quick spin while writing away here and 2600K and 2500K go as high as 4.4G on air, reaching 5G with better cooling. Wow!!
Seems I was right, and not. It will be released in Q4/11 in Socket LGA-2011 as we already new form the server side, and it's for procs known (at the moment) as Sandy Bridge-E (Enthusiast?) with 4 and 6 cores. Guess it might become X68 after all. No real specs still though. Procs will have all the goodies of SB.
Still, there will be in Q2 a Z68, similar to P67 but with graphics support, so the names will be too similar!

Intel are such morons some times. Their page continues to give out wrong and outdated info, will they ever learn?!
Imagine they state that their Extreme (?!), although not DX but DP67BG (but based on mid-range P67) supports Core i7-800 and Core i5-700 CPUs on LGA-1156. Go figure!!
Funny why Intel is so keen on not supporting USB 3.0 (after all they did including not releasing close to final specs so that others wouldn't be able to include it in their chipsets) and now they use a 3rd party controller (Renesas/NEC). Let's see if Light Peak will cut it.
This board looks cool. They even have a performance tuning guide for it, covering BIOS and XTU settings. Tey are indeed taking OCing seriously.

djs, I told you... really, can't see very well but I believe this is it!! Chinese source, if you trust them. Check it out at TechPowerUp. Unfortunatelly, images are blurred, board by MSI.

Intel LGA2011 Socket, X68 Express Chipset Pictured
Here are the first pictures of Intel's new high-end CPU socket, the 2011-pin land grid array (LGA2011). A selection of pictures of an unannounced motherboard by MSI made it to the internet. LGA2011, coupled with a new chipset, the Intel X68 Express, will drive the company's new high-end and enthusiast-grade processors that feature 6, 8, or 12 cores, and quad-channel DDR3 memory controllers. At first sight, the LGA2011 is huge! Its retention clip looks to be completely detachable by unhooking the retention bars on either sides. With all LGA sockets till date, you needed to unhook one retention bar, letting you open the retention clip along a hinge.

Since the processor has four DDR3 memory channels, there's room for only one DIMM per channel on a typically-sized ATX motherboard. On this particular motherboard, we can make out that there are two DIMM slots on either sides of the socket, accommodating two channels each. With this platform, Intel transferred the northbridge component completely to the CPU package, much like LGA1156/LGA1155. Therefore, the 32-lane PCI-Express controller is housed inside the CPU package. What remains of the chipset is a PCH (platform controller hub). Like P55/H55/P67/H67, the X68 is a PCH, a glorified southbridge. It will house a smaller PCI-E hub that handles various connectivity devices, a storage controller, a LPCIO controller, USB and HDA controllers, and the DMI link to the processor. We will get to know more about this platform as the year progresses.

Still don't see anything on the near term 12 month roadmap. Could be wrong, but don't think so. x58 'til the end of the year, maybe 18 months. LGA2011 for servers, maybe a SKULLTRAIL like board. Don't think it matters, unless you need 6-12 cores. 2600K is cheap, greased lightning. Sorry for the response lag, I stopped watching after a few no answer days. Procs are a different question. I would expect more, but for more money. AMD must be more than slightly concerned witht the 2600K and 2500K. In the states, 2500K plus M/b $320 after sale and rebates.

Hello guys,
I have for you small good new... New drivers for DX48BT2...
- From Intel it looks that the board is no longer supported, but I have done some searching and found new drivers for our lady. So here goes the links...

RAID - Intel Rapid Storage Technology 10.1.0.1008
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...orage&lang=eng
- Installed on my system and works 100%

RAID - Marvell eSATA Driver 1.2.0.7600
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...=3262&lang=eng
- Not installed on my system, but verified by comparing INF files. I guess it will work

LAN - Intel PRO Network 15.8.1 32bit and 64 bit version
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...=1637&lang=eng
- Installed on my system and works 100%

LAN - Intel PRO Network 15.8.1 16bit version (MS-DOS)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...=1637&lang=eng

Audio 6224.​7 v186
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...d=IDT&lang=eng
- Not installed. Checked from INI, should work

Audio Dolby Control Center 2.2.3
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...Dolby&lang=eng
- Not installed, not sure if it will work

Intel® Integrator Toolkit 4.0.3.280
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...olkit&lang=eng
- Should work based on the list of supported MBs

Intel® Integrator Assistant 1.1.6.869
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...stant&lang=eng
- Should work based on the list of supported MBs

(Remembet it's absolutely without waranty)

The only thing that I'm sad of is that DX58SO2 has updated SATA optional ROM to 10.1.0.1008.
- I would appreciate if Intel could release some new BIOS for DX48BT2 without any BIOS fixes, just update for SATA ROM.

djs
Yes, right now an i7-2600K and say a DP67BG Burrage mobo would be a great setup, although the Burrage doesn't seem to OC that well, like Intel would ever produce a champion board!! Still, it seems Asus makes these for Intel. And I thought only Foxconn would make boards for Intel. MSI and Gigabyte also from what I understand, depends on the board. Intel might just go Taiwan.
If I had to put up a system right now I guess this would be on one of the top places in my list, guess the SO2 would still come on top, not sure.

Guma
Great find. Yes, pitty Intel will not update BIOS with the newer RAID option ROM, guess they will not ever I'm affraid.
LAN drivers are for XP, but also available for others OSes.
Beware that the audio codec in our board might not be supported by these drivers, they're for P45 boards that use a different codec.
The Dolby Contrl Center is also for the Realtek codec in DX58SO and other boards based on 4 series and 5 series chipsets, not sure it will work.

Why on earth doesn't Intel update drivers regularly?!

I'm happy to see that, as expected, most P67 boards are now shipping with UEFI. As expected also, most (Taiwanese) manufacturers just stuff there all the colors and crappy graphics as they can.
It's cool to leave past the BIOS old text based interface but a simple lean interface is enough. The real deal should be to move away from the x86 16bit limitations (finally), faster boot, and being able to use a mouse of course.

This is getting boring, nothing new latelly.
Intel could at least update the RAID option ROM on our boards, and the drivers on their page.
Come on guys, if you're reding this, and I know you are, please!!!
New nVidia drivers out, 266.58, only BS stuff. Wish nV would drop the SLI block on their drivers for boards other than X58. Maybe now tat they (re) signed the deal with Intel they will. Funny how the driver is now smallr in size.
Also, pretty soon (25th) the new GTX560 Ti will be out. Why Ti again nVidia? They just blew my expectations of this card, looks sloppy designed, reference green PCB... well, maybe not my next card after all. I was hoping they would keep the vapor chamber cooler but seems not.

There is a newer INF v9.2.0.1021 chipset driver but it seems for P/H67 only. Haven't dl'ed it yet but I'd expect it to support older chipsets too.
Anyone moved to Sandy Bridge yet?

It seems Windows 7 SP1 just went RTM a couple of days ago, 18th to be more precise.
It seems RTW (release to web) will occur only in the week 14-18 February.

Dear Friends::(:(:(

AS Guma Said, we have updates looking by other ways than the drivers download ways.

This is a good MB DX48BT2, and i will replace it perhaps at the end of this year, cause it is very expensive and needs to found devices compatible for the system carefully.

Please try not to refuse this thread, instead to enrich with your knowledges as Manel and other people do, shame for Intel to banned all news for our Bonetrail MB, maybe a new bios could be good for the best Nanotechnology Company of the World=INTEL.:up::up::up:

Paty
Yes, too bad Intel doesn't care for us anymore.
So, SP1 working good for you? Now I might just upgrade to 7, although I like Vista's UI a lot more.
It seems DP67BG has UEFI instead of BIOS as well, finally. Although, contrary to other manufacturers, it's still text based UI instead of graphical like Asus' and MSI's, AsRock's and the likes.
Still, it should be faster to boot than BIOS. Funny, Intel still calls it BIOS on their page.
Just thinking that Intel was the promoter of UEFI and only now it comes to the consumer desktop boards!! Server has it for a long time, even Apple uses it for years.
Go figure.
I guess the next step for Intel is to have an UEFI implementation like their XTU, now that would look great.

nVidia GTX 560 Ti (sigh!) out today, with drivers 266.66 just out the oven...
Ugly cooler, wish they kept the GTX470/480 one, vapor chamber. This one is back to heat pipes. OK, I know it's enough but still...

Well, IIA seems have been updated in the last days, only for the DX48BT2 and upwards, since our beloved DX38BT is dead for support. Should work though, I'd think.
Still, no other driver updates.

It seems there is confirmation that in fact Sandy Bridge E socket 2011 processors, replacements for i7 980X and soon to be released i7-990X Extreme processors and now i7-2600K, will be out in Q4 2011.
No more details yet, up to 8 core design it is believed. Let's hope not just server parts but Extreme as well, which by the info seems to be the case. Let's wait for more on it.

Man, they're already talking about Ivy Bridge, the cussessor of Sandy Bridge. Q1 2012.
It packs a graphics core with 16 EUs, triple display output, DirectX 11. Socket 1155 still, 22nm process node, USB 3.0 (What?! What about LightPeak?!).
Only one year after SB.

What, 100 pages?!
Cool!!!

BIOS 0724 released for DX58SO2.

What if, instead of Sandy Bridge E (like what rumours suggest) there would be Ivy Bridge E in Q4 2011?! That would make more sense really since by that time SB will almost be history. That would make the server/extreme platform late again compared to performance/mainstream. This time the extreme series would come first.
Guess X68 would never see the light of day and X78 would take the extreme seat instead. That would be reasonable since P77 and H77 are already scheduled for Q1 2012 and there already is a Z68, which makes things confusing.
Well, we'll see.

Guys, if you're looking into a P67 board hold on. It seems Intel found a bug in the SATA 3G controller on the Cougar Point chipset, both P67 and H67 so far. Z68 seems unaffected, maybe because it wasn't released yet and they could be fixing it as we speak. The problem is in hardware and requires a silicon based fix at the metal layer, a chipset re-spin will be out in weeks. April seems to be a good estimate.
It only affects the SATA 3G ports, not the 6G, and relates to heavy workload on the controller. The link will degrade over time, with voltage and temperature being the factors here. Your data will no be affected though, only the drive attached to the port won't be recognized.
Intel estimates that 5% of the systems will be affected over the 3 year warranty period.
What about that, hem? It wasn't even Intel that found the problem, but some OEMs. Testing and validation will have to be reviewed at Intel I guess.

more info

Hi Sean
Yes, all the articles convey the same info regarding this issue.
But these guys stopped in time, they say that, and I quote: "Cougar Point chipsets, which let the central processor interact with the memory"! Come on, don't they know that every processor nowadays has an IMC? The memory does not hang from the north bridge/chipset/PCH anymore. Duh!
Anyway, bad news for Intel. I had them in high regard on testing and validation issues, not that I don't now but ooops.

Some new stuff out.
LAN drivers v16.0, for X58 and 6 series boards only though. Guess it should work on others too, not sure.
Also ME and Realtek audio for 6 series.
Nothing new for the rest of us though.

It seems Intel will have the Cougar Point re-spin (B3 stepping) ready for OEMs by Valentine's Day. A gift maybe?!
That was fast!!
Give it some time to reach retail and they're back on track.
Too bad they only work this good when their b@lls are under the blade.
They're also unveiling Ivy Bridge on Computex 2011, the SB 22nm optical shrink. Wow!! The cycles are getting shorter and shorter.

Up to 20% more performance than Sandy Bridge and socket compatible. Also PCIe 3.0 and USB 3.0 on the chipset, VERY NICE.

djs
Do you know about PCIe 3.0 for sure? Well, it's been out for a while now so I guess the 7 series (?!) will support it.
Ivy Bridge should be a killer.
Maybe Intel is waiting for it for the next Extreme (Xx8) platform, not Sandy Bridge-E, but Ivy Bridge-E.

BIOS (UEFI that is) 1900 out for DP67BG, B3 hardware should be on their way to OEMs right now.

It's as sure as I can be. Ain't been too wrong yet. Promises to be very nice.

I believe you're right.
The performance improvement is expected by the die shrink to 22nm, power consumption should be down too. That or they'll take the extra headroom to go higher in freq.
USB 3.0 was due already but I guess Intel was hoping that it was a flop, although they started the development, but they're putting the hopes on LightPeak.
I heard that both USB 3.0 and LightPeak would be present on the next silicon for IB, it seems at least half of it might be true.
Regarding PCIe 3.0, I guess it wasn't ractified and approved in time for the 6 series, maybe it was already too far out in the development to make it there. I'm glad at least Intel enebled PCIe 2.0 at full speed in 6 series at least, stupid move to cut it in half in our chipsets upto 5 series.
It's only kinda epeen I guess, these days that much bandwidth is still hardly used, but still it's there. And sure better than having something crippled!!
Do you know if they'll name the chipset 7 series or just call it P/H68 or something? 7 is more likelly since new tech is present.

I think that there will be a series of chips numbered 7x.

There was a guy in this thread who asked for an adding of SLIC table in far past (for an easy Windows 7 activation without SLIC emulators, loaders and so on). I don't know did anybody answer at his question, so i'll post what helped me. The tool by Intel called oa2intel which intented for system integrators has leaked on the Internet by the end of 2010. This official tool easily allows you to add/remove SLIC table to your Intel's BIOS (including BoneTrail boards) without hand modifications of BIOS image and full reflashing. Just download it from this thread (for example. Certificate is included). Open CMD and run "Run Me!.bat" to get verbose output and see if something will go wrong. If Intel's utility will give you "Your Windows marker file is out of date", just change file attributes of "marker.bin" file in the package with utility, change it's date to next year, that will work. Then use your favorite activator tool (like w7lxe for example) to activate certificate.

P.S.: Works for me on dx38bt.

djs, you're always so well informed, do you have access to priveleged inside info? :-)

duk, nice set of machines. Are they all working?
Do you think all that trouble is worth just for a copy of 7? Messing with BIOS and all!! That's gotta be hardly legal but hey, I'm not complaining. Kool!!

BIOS 0752 for DX58SO2/OG with some fixes.
New Renesas/NEC USB 3.0 driver.

More details on the upcoming Intel Desktop Boards, based on socket 2011. Out in 2H2011, no news here, codenames Siler and Thorsby, both ATX and DDR3 supporting. Nothing really new.

Quad-channel DDR3 that is, and PCIe 3.0 confirmed. Sandy Bridge-E processors.
Partner boards should be showing off at Computex 2011 on the 31st May, launch maybe IDF in September, depending on how well (or not) Bulldozer will fare.

Maybe ;-)

djs, what are you not saying?
You're always well informed, do you work for Intel? Or a partner maybe? Come on, let's us know some more details. I guess you can't, right? NDA?!

Today was supposed to be the RTW of Win 7 SP1. Anyone confirms it's available through Windows Update?
djs, I see you're on SP1 already, updated now or earlier via MSDN or TechNet maybe?

First thing, sorry can't answer the question. Second thing been running the RC of SP1 for about 2 months, no issues, but it is supposed to start pushing out today. May take awhile.

OK, I get it. No more questions like those from me.
SP1 is in fast available, I'm installing it as we apeak in my daughter's laptop. It takes forever though. Speaking of it, just finished!!
All went well it seems. I'll give it a try.