Intel to Start Shipping B3 Stepping Cougar Point Chipset from February 14

[btarunr]

Intel seems to have fast-tracked its Cougar Point chipset flaw rectification. The silicon giant claims that it will be in a position to start shipping B3 stepping of Cougar Point chipsets (Intel P67, H67, etc,) from 14 February, to OEM partners. According to the latest PCN (product change notification), number 110456-00 dated 2/9/2011, Cougar Point B3 will carry the following changes/features:

• Revision ID will change from 04h to 05h
• BIOS Update (Revision 1.1.4 of the BIOS Specification Update and Reference Code)
• B3 stepping package is pin compatible with B2 stepping package
• Minor metal layer change from B2 to B3 improving lifetime wear out with no changes to functionality or design specifications

Of the above, the last bullet point affirms that the SATA 3 Gb/s port defect issue, which caused physical parts of the chipset to wear out abnormally fast, degrading performance, is resolved.

Source: Intel

[pr0n Inspector]

well that's quick.

[hanzi]

quick indeed. awesome

[N.E.A]

very nice, but when will we see them on newegg ??

[Dave65]

This should work out perfect for me,I sent my CPU and board back so I can just reorder when the time comes..

[caleb]

Valentino chipseto!

[Hayder_Master]

ohh good news that's quick i will made my system soon

[bear jesus]

Good to see Intel is moving fast with this but as it says "start shipping B3 stepping of Cougar Point chipsets from 14 February, to OEM partners" does that mean to start with everything is going to OEM's for pre made systems and at some point later the boards alone will be available at retail stores both online and offline?

[Lipton]

"Minor metal layer change from B2 to B3 improving lifetime wear out with no changes to functionality or design specifications"

From the wording it seems there's still wear out, or is it just that there's always been this sort of thing and I've never thought/noticed before? Is it like SSDs, there's a wear out but even for the more extreme user it will 'never' present itself?

Any clarification would be appreciated!

[bear jesus]

Originally Posted by Lipton

"Minor metal layer change from B2 to B3 improving lifetime wear out with no changes to functionality or design specifications"

From the wording it seems there's still wear out, or is it just that there's always been this sort of thing and I've never thought/noticed before? Is it like SSDs, there's a wear out but even for the more extreme user it will 'never' present itself?

Any clarification would be appreciated!

I think in general all silicone chips wear over the years, I would assume something like 6, 8, 10 or more years but nand flash chips seam to be fast wearing unlike things like CPU's, GPU's, chip sets, ram and other chips.

I think most people here who heavily use their hardware don't keep anything long enough to notice any wear excluding maybe an overclock that becomes unstable after a year or mores use and the kind of people that would keep the same hardware for many years never really stress it and/or would not notice any performance decrease.

[Delta6326]

Awesome can't wait!

[truehighroller1]

I got this from an etailer earlier, check it out.


Hello Timothy,



The Asus Maximus IV Extreme motherboard I quoted you is actually $365.00 shipping included and no tax. It is scheduled to arrive 02/16/2011. The Intel 6 series boards are being updated daily I’ll keep you posted on any new developments. Thank you.



Sincerely,
xx

[N.E.A]

Originally Posted by truehighroller1

I got this from an etailer earlier, check it out.


Hello Timothy,



The Asus Maximus IV Extreme motherboard I quoted you is actually $365.00 shipping included and no tax. It is scheduled to arrive 02/16/2011. The Intel 6 series boards are being updated daily I’ll keep you posted on any new developments. Thank you.



Sincerely,
xx

what does he exactly mean by " it is scheduled to arrive .."..? is it going to arrive to you on 16/2/2011 or it will be available on 16/2/2011 ???

edit : guys, sorry for asking some thing off of topic but, can i overclock an i5 2400 ? i read some where that it does not support overclocking.

[truehighroller1]

Originally Posted by N.E.A

what does he exactly mean by " it is scheduled to arrive .."..? is it going to arrive to you on 16/2/2011 or it will be available on 16/2/2011 ???

edit : guys, sorry for asking some thing off of topic but, can i overclock an i5 2400 ? i read some where that it does not support overclocking.

That means that if I order now because I looked at his website and he updated it to say this. If I purchase right now he will have one shipped out to me by the end of the day on the sixteenth which is when he will get some replacements from Asus. This guy is based out of California.

Tell you what, since he was honest with me and helped me out so much I say this because, he had to have made some calls to get this info, here is the link to his site. Pre Purchase away and make him happy he looked in to it for me, part of the overclocking community for a long time now.



Hello Timothy,



The Asus Maximus IV Extreme motherboard I quoted you is actually $365.00 shipping included and no tax. It is scheduled to arrive 02/16/2011. Direct link: http://esolsticeinc.com/maximus-iv-e...ard-p-625.html The Intel 6 series boards are being updated daily I’ll keep you posted on any new developments. Thank you.



Sincerely,

Eliel Ortiz



Phone: 954.625.7422 | e-mail: info@esolsticeinc.com | Website: http://www.esolsticeinc.com


I already pulled he trigger on a GA-P67A-UD3P because that was all I could find left right now.

[newtekie1]

So this means we might start seeing boards back on the market by about the 1st of March then, I would think.

I've got my P8P67 Pro registered with Asus and they haven't emailed me any info yet. If that Feb 14th date is good, then they should be contacting people at the same time. I don't know how long the remanufacturing process will take, but I can't see it being less than a week. So best case, I'm hoping my replacement will ship by March 1st.

I figure Asus has to be at the top of Intel's vendor list. But I guess the real issue is what kind of volume will they see and where am I in the queue. I wonder when Asus started asking people to register their boards for replacement.

Either way though, I'm hoping I'm in line ahead of the people who decided to RMA to NewEgg or whatever retailer they dealt with. IDK. Sucks no matter how you slice it.

[Paulieg]

Here guys. This might be helpful. Basically explains what the big board partners are going to handle things:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2589

[N.E.A]

April i hate to say it but why did all of this happen ? i think intel is getting kinda lazy

Originally Posted by Paulieg

Here guys. This might be helpful. Basically explains what the big board partners are going to handle things:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2589

Thanks Paulie, but according to article

Corrected 'B3' stepping Intel P67 & H67 chipsets are expected in late February or early March 2011, so if you've been planning an upgrade to a Core i5-2500K based PC system you may need to wait until April 2011 while this mess gets sorted out or consider one of AMDs latest processors.

But the more recent info that BTA posted said the chipsets would start going out the door 2/14. If you registered early and are at the head of the line, I would think early March would be a realistic ETA. An April date sounds extremely pessimistic. Just my uninformed opinion though. Thanks for the info though. The article is a 'must bookmark' just for the list of manufacturer contacts and info.

[Easy Rhino]

Originally Posted by Paulieg

Here guys. This might be helpful. Basically explains what the big board partners are going to handle things:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2589

that is an old article. intel is clearly far ahead of any schedule they declared 2 weeks ago.

we should see 1155 chips and boards retailing by march 1st instead of april.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by N.E.A

April i hate to say it but why did all of this happen ? i think intel is getting kinda lazy

That is what happens with silicon. Some things won't show themselves as a problem until the parts have been in use for a long while. It has happened to pretty much every company that deals with silicon.

[Bundy]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

That is what happens with silicon. Some things won't show themselves as a problem until the parts have been in use for a long while. It has happened to pretty much every company that deals with silicon.

Correct!

I also wouldn't be too keen on getting any of these first rushed fixes either.

[chevy350]

yeah I'm thinkin I might just wait till my extended warranty is amost up then get mine replaced, it took a week or so for the first issue to show so 3 weeks on the "new" chips might show whether they got it fixed

[hv43082]

Is Asus still giving advance RMA so we will not have down time?

Originally Posted by hv43082

Is Asus still giving advance RMA so we will not have down time?

When I registered, the notice said they will pay for shipping both ways and I THINK they mean they will cross-ship. Here is the notice.