** OFFICIAL ** Intel DX38BT & DX48BT2 BoneTrail Thread

[Manel]

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.

[Manel]

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.

[Manel]

What, 100 pages?!
Cool!!!

[Manel]

BIOS 0724 released for DX58SO2.

[Manel]

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.

[Manel]

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.

[Sean-E-Boy]

more info

[Manel]

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.

[Manel]

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.

[Manel]

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.

[djs357]

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

[Manel]

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.

[djs357]

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

[Manel]

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.

[djs357]

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

[dukzcry]

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.

[Manel]

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!!

[Manel]

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

[Manel]

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.

[Manel]

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.

[djs357]

Maybe ;-)

[Manel]

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?!

[Manel]

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?

[djs357]

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.

[Manel]

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.