BIOSTAR Group, the world renowned manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and peripherals, announces the new generation of TA970XE series motherboards for AMD AM3+ CPUs. Their capabilities are very close to the top TA990FXE and offer overclockers and gamers considerable power and flexible settings for a reasonable price.

The TA970XE board sports the ATX form-factor (305 x 225 mm) on a powerful AMD 970 chipset with the SB950 Southbridge. It provides stable and high performance with any Socket AM3+ CPUs of the Phenom II X6, Phenom II X4, Phenom II X3, Phenom II X2, Athlon II X4, Athlon II X3, Athlon II X2 and Sempron Series including the most powerful 6-core and 8-core AMD FX, AMD Phenom II and AMD Athlon II CPUs with the TDP up to 140 W.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the world's leading motherboard, graphics card, barebone system, notebook and mobile device manufacturer announces a variety of options of Thin Mini-ITX for users to meet their different demands with AIO (All-In-One) and motherboards.

To target different segments, ECS Thin Mini-ITX motherboards are not only compatible with AIO but also with small form factor PCs, offering a wide range of solutions including H61H2-TI, H61H2-G11 and CDC-TI. With the growth in popularity of AIO, acceptance of the Thin Mini-ITX platform proves to be leading standard of this new trend, allowing for future-proof upgradeability.

World renowned computer manufacturer MSI announces today motherboard products based on Intel's Z77/H77/B75 series chipsets, with support for the new generation of 22 nm process CPUs featuring PCI Express Gen3 specification. The all-new Military Class III products utilizes high-specification components that meet MIL-STD-810G's seven rigorous testing standards, and have passed certification by credible third party laboratories, providing the best quality and stability.

The complete product line includes the high-end Z77 chipset: Z77A-GD80, Z77A-GD65, Z77A-GD55, Z77A-G45, Z77A-G43, the intermediate H77 chipset: ZH77-G43, H77MA-G43 and also the mainstream B75 chipset B75A-G43 and B75MA-P45. All products are equipped with MSI's exclusive one second overclocking tool, OC Genie II, and the UEFI / Windows-based dual-graphical interface ClickBIOS II, allowing enthusiasts to easily establish high performance and enjoy a hassle-free operating experience. Also found on the MSI 7-series motherboards is native USB 3.0 support, with better performance than external controllers. Additionally, the Z77A-GD80 is equipped with the all-new Thunderbolt interface from Intel, allowing multiple connections to monitors, storage devices, and even graphic cards, easily meeting the demands of various types of professional enthusiasts! The MSI 7-series motherboard's rich product line supports the newest specifications and components, making it the consumer's best choice!

While rival manufacturers flooded CeBIT with their Z77 motherboards, EVGA has been rather low key and only today decided to give us a look at what it's preparing for next's month's Ivy Bridge launch. Seen below is one high-end LGA 1155 board EVGA is currently working on. There's no name to go with the image (best guess is Z77 FTW) but plenty of specs can be identified like, well, the Ivy-ready LGA 1155 socket, four DDR3 memory slots, 10-phase power, two 8-pin power connectors to 'feed' the processor plus two 6-pin PCIe plugs catering to graphics cards, a PCIe bridge chip (likely made by PLX), and five PCI-Express x16 slots (at least two should be PCIe 3.0) providing SLI and CrossFireX capabilities.

EVGA's incoming motherboard also includes PCIe disable switches, a debug LED, an angled 24-pin ATX power connector, four SATA 6.0 Gbps and four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, Gigabit Ethernet, an undetermined number of USB 3.0 ports, Power, Reset and Clear CMOS buttons, 7.1 channel audio, and it seems even a Thunderbolt port. Now where's that 'Like' button?

Walton-Chaintech announced a partnership with Colorful that will see it make a comeback to the motherboard and graphics card businesses. The company quit both businesses in 2006. Company chairman Lu Li-Cheng commented that Chaintech has years of experience in the business, including R&D and marketing, has received OEM orders from Colorful, and is looking to bring back the Chaintech brand to the consumer market in 2013, with unveiling in 2012. Walton-Chaintech will market its products outside China, with the assistance of Colorful. Colorful has a solid market presence in mainland China, where its graphics cards account for 24-27% of the branded graphics card market.

GIGABYTE announces the launch of a new high end workstation motherboard based on Intel's brand new Xeon E5-1600 CPU family and the Intel C604 chipset. This single socket board aimed at the extreme performance desktop and enterprise segments offers the features below:

Intel Xeon E5-1600 CPU Series

With up to 6 cores / 12 threads per socket, TDP up to 130W, cache size increased up to 15 MB, increased QPI frequency, and doubled inter-socket QPI links, this new Xeon generation brings a significant increase in computing power for demanding workstation applications.

Digital Power Control

The GA-6PXSV1 is equipped with a brand new digital PWM controller allowing the user to get full control of the power delivery steadiness to the CPU and the memory, in any given loading. The system stability can therefore be fully fine-tuned and optimized in the BIOS controls by adjusting parameters like voltage, phase and frequency. Moreover, this controller, its associated chokes, and all the board's capacitors are selected ultra high quality components chosen to deliver the best durability and reliability.

At CeBIT, ECS unveiled the Z77H2-AX and Z77-H2-A2X, its top two motherboards based on the Intel Z77 chipset, supporting "Ivy Bridge" Core processors in the LGA1155 package. But what ECS didn't reveal on the CeBIT floor, was that the drab-looking gray+white on black PCB color-scheme wasn't going on to the retail version. The retail versions of these two motherboards, pictured below, will employ a new black and gold color scheme.

Basically, all metallic parts of the motherboards, be it the sheaths around the conductive polymer capacitors, the sheaths around the chokes, the PCH and VRM heatsinks, the CPU socket frame, and even the rear-panel port clusters, will have golden-colored finish that lends the motherboard a pimped out appearance. The contacts in the CPU socket have 15 μm-thick real-gold plating, to improve conductivity. The PCB is jet-black, and so are all the expansion and DRAM slots, the gray and white colored slots are replaced. Most other plastic parts, such as SATA ports, ATX/EPS power connectors, are colored black. The two motherboards were extensively detailed in the older article. Sam Sparro will be proud.

AMD's upcoming A10 and A8 "Trinity" APUs will be built in the new FM2 package for desktop PCs, requiring new motherboards. These APUs will be launched towards the end of Q2, and into Q3 (June-July). A ComputerBase.de report suggests that sources in the motherboard industry it spoke to, at CeBIT, say that socket FM2 motherboards will arrive in June. Further, these motherboards will be based on the new AMD A85 FCH chipset. Not much is known about the A85, except that with the USB-IF certification, it could incorporate native USB 3.0 controllers.

ASUS made its workstation-grade Z9PE-D8 WS motherboard official. The board is built for 2P Xeon E5-2600 series processors in the LGA2011 package, is based on the Intel C606 "Patsburg" chipset, and is built in the 30.5 x 33 cm EEB form-factor. Each of the two sockets is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting quad-channel memory, each. Up to 256 GB of registered DDR3 memory is supported.

Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (blue), two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical x8, top two black), and one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, bottommost black). 4-way SLI and CrossFireX are supported. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, four from two Marvell 9230 chips), and eight SATA 3 Gb/s (all from the PCH). An ASPEED ASMB6 provides basic display and iKVM functions. Realtek ALC898 provides 8-channel HD audio. There are two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, driven by Intel 82574L chips. The Z9PE-D8 WS from ASUS is priced around US $630.

At CeBIT, Gigabyte unveiled what many may have overlooked for bearing a strong resemblance to the GA-X79-UD5, the GA-X79S-UD5. This board is designed to be a 1P workstation-grade motherboard, probably with out of the box support for the latest Xeon processors in the LGA2011 package, apart from Core i7 ones. The upper-half of this board is nearly identical to that of the X79-UD5. The LGA2011 CPU is powered by a 14-phase VRM, wired to eight DDR3 DIMM slots (two on either sides), supporting quad-channel memory. There are minor differences (as far as the upper-half is concerned). Tantulum capacitors on the X79-UD5 are replaced with cylindrical solid-state ones on the X79S-UD5, the FrescoLogic-made USB 3.0 controller is replaced with a VLI-made one.

It's the lower half of the X79S-UD5, where all the action is. The expansion slot load-out consists of five long PCI-Express x16 slots. Among these, two are PCI-Express 3.0 x16 capable, one is PCI-Express 3.0 x8 capable (by taking 8 lanes from one of the two x16 links), and two appear to be PCI-Express 2.0 x4. Then there's a legacy PCI slot. The PCH heatsink is identical to the one on the X79-UD5, but what's under it is what counts. Although named "X79"S-UD5, the board is actually based on the Intel C606 "Patsburg", which is an enterprise-grade chipset for Intel's Sandy Bridge-EP platforms. Apart from six SATA ports (2x 6 Gb/s + 4x 3 Gb/s), the C606 PCH provides eight SAS (Serial-attached SCSI) ports, running at 3 Gb/s speeds. The rest of the connectivity is completely identical to that of the X79-UD5.

Apart from the two Black Extreme models based on the Z77 chipset, ECS also has a value ATX motherboard that will capture a key sub-$150 price point, the Z77H2-A3. It is designed for single graphics cards, and lends the platform with all the connectivity and overclocking capabilities of the Z77 chipset. The CPU is powered by a simple 6-phase VRM, although the PCB is narrow (305 x 210 mm), there's room for four DDR3 DIMM slots. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, four PCIe x1, and two PCI.

The Z77H2-A3 doesn't add much features beyond what the chipset does. There are two SATA 6 Gb/s, four SATA 3 Gb/s, 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, display connectivity that includes D-Sub, DVI/HDMI (variants), and four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear-panel, two via headers). UEFI with graphical setup program and ECS EZ-Charger come standard.

ECS had its top LGA1155 motherboard based on Intel Z77 chipset, the Z77H2-AX ready as early as in January, at CES. We're now getting to see it in its final form, complete with its wireless LAN connection that was absent on the CES exhibit. Apart from that, ECS also unveiled its next-best Z77 motherboard, the Z77H2-A2X. Both models feature wireless LAN, only implemented slightly differently. While most other motherboards are using PCIe-based Wireless LAN devices, the one on these boards appear to be USB based. One can notice a Bluetooth dongle sticking out from the rear-panel (towards the top), and a wire from the back of another port cluster. This wire is serving as an antenna.

The Z77H2-AX is designed for 3-way SLI/Crossfire setups. It uses a PLX PEX8747 bridge chip, which takes in the PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link from the processor, and gives out two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 links. The second x16 link is split into two x8 links, in case the third PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot is populated. Other notable features include mSATA slot, four internal SATA 6 Gb/s, two internal SATA 3 Gb/s, and two eSATA 6 Gb/s. The board also features Lucid VirtuMVP technology, which balances graphics processing loads between all available graphics hardware.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced their upcoming 7 series motherboards will boast GIGABYTE's industry leading Ultra Durable 4 technology, helping to safe-guard GIGABYTE motherboards from common everyday threats, including humidity and moisture, electro-static discharge, sudden power loss and high operating temperatures.

"With the launch of the first Ultra Durable motherboard in 2006, GIGABYTE revolutionized the motherboard industry by making quality the number one focus in our motherboard design," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "Five and a half years later, GIGABYTE maintains our leadership in quality design by equipping our upcoming 7 series motherboards with even more lifespan enhancing technologies in the form of Ultra Durable 4."

With its latest P8Z77, ROG Maximus V, and Sabertooth Z77 motherboard lines, ASUS became the first PC motherboard vendor to implement UASP - USB-attached SCSI Protocol. UASP changes the way the computer and connected USB devices talk to each other. It ensures more efficient utilization of bus bandwidth (5 Gb/s), resulting in higher bandwidth yield to connected devices. UASP allows connected devices to exchange multiple commands at once, reducing protocol overhead. UASP is implemented on ASUS motherboards using third-party controllers that support it. So far we know the likes of VLI to have such host controllers. In addition to these, ASUS motherboards also provide USB 3.0 ports wired to Intel PCH chipsets.

EVGA Corporation, the leading-edge 3D processor and motherboard manufacturer, announced the ultimate in high performance motherboards, the EVGA Classified SR-X. This motherboard sets a new standard for what is considered an enthusiast motherboard with dual CPU support, 4-way SLI support, SATA III 6 GB/s, SAS, USB 3.0 and more. Whether you are an extreme power user, workstation, server admin, folder/cruncher; this is the ultimate board for you. This board was designed from the ground up to support the latest and greatest in technology, and be able to complete any task you throw at it faster than you ever thought possible.

ASUS hasn't completely ditched the "Thermal Armour" concept it introduced with the TUF Sabertooth P67, which we thought it did away, with the Sabertooth X79. The newest member in the series, the Sabertooth Z77, still very much features it. Thermal Armour is ASUS' idea of blanketing most of the motherboard's component area with a perforated sheet that directs air-flow, and also lends it an aesthetic touch (depending on your taste, you may love it, or hate it).

We spy four DDR3-DIMM slots (with matching Corsair Vengeance modules, not included), and an all-PCIe expansion slot layout, with two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, one PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4), and three PCIe x1. There are two additional SATA 6 Gb/s ports augmented to the ones provided by the Z77 PCH. Display connectivity looks to include DVI and HDMI. 8-channel HD audio, GbE, about 6 USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports, complete the package. The board supports ASUS' BIOS Flashback feature. ASUS TUF Sabertooth motherboards are designed to be rock-stable and durable enough to be certified by stress-testing agencies for it.

On Feb. 14, Biostar stumped everyone by officially launching the T-Series TZ77XE4 Motherboards. At CeBIT, it unveiled the rest of the Z77 chipset-based lineup, including the T-Series TZ77XE3, TZ77MXE3, and TZ77A. The TZ77XE3 is a notch below the TZ77XE4, which will likely be Biostar's top offering based on the Z77 chipset. The TZ77XE3 does away with swankier VRM heatsinks that are interconnected by a heat-pipe, and quite surprisingly, even angled SATA ports. Its CPU VRM is just as strong as the one on the TZ77XE4, the expansion slot layout even adds on an extra PCI-Express 2.0 x1. All six SATA ports from the PCH are wired as internal ports. There are no eSATA ports. The display output loadout lacks DisplayPort. The audio uses a more cost-effective CODEC. Everything else remains the same.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards is delighted to showcase its forthcoming 7 series motherboard designs supporting 3rd generation Intel Core processors, showcasing a range of features including the new All Digital Engine, GIGABYTE 3D BIOS and GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 technology. Join GIGABYTE at CeBIT 2012 in Hall 15, D19 from March 6th through March 10th 2012.

Visitors to CeBIT 2012 can have an exclusive look at motherboards that feature the latest All Digital Engine design for the PWM. Our new All Digital power design allows users greater control over the power delivered to their 3rd generation Intel Core processors that use the LGA 1155 socket. Using entirely digital controllers for the CPU, processor graphics, VTT and system memory, users can enjoy more precise power delivery to the PC's energy sensitive components than previously possible.

MSI IPC unveiled the cutting-edge QM77 mini-ITX board, designed for the high performance Intel Ivy Bridge / Sandy Bridge Mobile CPU with integrated graphic processor for multiple displays and Intel QM77 Express chipset, featuring the optional PCIe 2.0 / 3.0 slot, Dual-channel DDR3 SO-DIMMs for up to 16 GB memory capacity and various I/O connectors for all kinds of peripherals. The fanless MSI QM77, power-saving, dust-free and noise-less, is durable under extreme environments and suitable to be applied in every industrial field, such as digital signage, kiosk, gaming, industrial control automation and POS.

A prominent retailer started quoting prices for bundles of next-generation "Ivy Bridge" Core processors and motherboards based on Intel 7-series chipset. The table below reveals prices in Singapore Dollars (SGD) of a large number of board+processor combinations. The table includes current-generation "Sandy Bridge" Core processors and 6-series chipset motherboards, too, as the platforms are inter-compatible (you can run Ivy Bridge processors on 6-series chipset motherboards, and Sandy Bridge processors on 7-series chipset motherboards).

How time flies. It's been just a little over an year since Gigabyte unveiled its G1.Killer series of gamer-overclocker oriented motherboards, including the G1.Sniper, and now it's already at G1.Sniper 3. While the original G1.Sniper was based on the X58 chipset supporting LGA1366 processors, the the Sniper 2 based on Z68 chipset, supporting LGA1155 processors, the Sniper 3 stays put on the LGA1155 platform, but makes use of the brand-new Z77 chipset. The motherboard is designed to drive up to four graphics cards in 4-way CrossFire/SLI configurations. It takes advantage of a PLX PEX8747 bridge chip, which takes in one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link, giving out two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 links, it even has a native multiplex that splits its second downstream x16 link to two x8 links. This way, the G1.Sniper 3 is ready for 4-way action with the latest PCIe Gen. 3.0 graphics cards.

Chinese online marketplace site Taobao has listings of two yet-to-launch motherboards based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, the Wibtek Z77 Hacker (we earlier covered news of that listing in early January) and now, the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe. This will be among ASUS' premium LGA1155 motherboards based on the new chipset. It is priced at 2,499 RMB (US $396), which seems overpriced. The seller is probably looking to make a quick Mao with pre-launch orders. The seller was kind enough to paste ASUS' marketing poster for the P8Z77-V Deluxe, which can typically also be found on the back side of product packaging.

The P8Z77-V Deluxe supports DDR3-2800 MHz with overclocking. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), wired to the CPU, supporting NVIDIA SLI, AMD CrossFire and Lucid VirtuMVP; one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH); and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots. Good riddance to legacy PCI. Display connectivity lacks archaic connectors such as DVI and D-Sub, includes HDMI and DisplayPort, instead. Storage connectivity consists of four SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, two from a third-party controller), four SATA 3 Gb/s, and two eSATA 6 Gb/s.

ASRock is working on not one, but two motherboard models based on the Intel Z77 chipset, under its Fatal1ty Professional series. The first of the lot is a standard-ATX Z77 Fatal1ty Professional, followed by the micro-ATX Z77 Fatal1ty Professional-M. The latter is ASRock's first micro-ATX Fatal1ty motherboard. The ATX Z77 Fatal1ty Professional could go on to be ASRock's flagship Z77 motherboard. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 20+ phase digital-PWM power circuitry, and memory by a 5-phase VRM, which make this board as much an overclockers' choice as gamers'.

Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both populated), PCIe 2.0 x1, and legacy PCI; and one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH). There are plenty of SATA ports, including six SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, four from additional controllers), four internal SATA 3 Gb/s, and eSATA. ASRock seems to have deployed a PCIe bridge chip to yield more PCIe lanes. USB 3.0 connectivity includes two ports via front-panel header, and possibly four ports (if not more) on the rear-panel. Since users of this board will almost certainly be using discrete graphics, display connectivity is reduced to smaller ports (such as HDMI or DisplayPort).

Lincredible phenomenon spreads around the world! Miracles did not only happen on the new basketball star Jeremy Lin, but also ASRock, the global top3 motherboard manufacturer! By updating the latest ME8 BIOS & Driver, ASRock today proudly announced their entire Intel H61 motherboard series now support Intel Rapid Start and Smart Connect Technologies! These new technologies are targeted to be supported with Intel next gen motherboard platforms, but ASRock offers an early chance to let users to experience new techniques on current H61 motherboard with 2nd Gen Intel Core Processor (Sandy Bridge).

"High-performance functions are not exclusive for high-end motherboards. ASRock's strength is to apply premium function on budget-level motherboards, making the function available by most of the users." commented James Lee, V.P. of Sales and Marketing at ASRock. "This time, miracles do happen at ASRock! Thanks to the excellent R&D team, ASRock is the first motherboard company to apply these two Intel new functions on H61 series motherboard in the world!"

ASUS' dual-LGA2011 workstation motherboard, the Z9PE-D8-WS, has been listed by Canadian retailer NCIX for pre-order. It is priced at CA $632.98 (US $634.56). The store page does not go on to mention availability, except that orders will be shipped whenever there are inventories. Given its pre-order listing, we expect the product-launch of the Z9PE-D8-WS not to be too far, considering Intel's launch of a large number of "Sandy Bridge-EP" Xeon processors is just around the corner (within Q1, 2012). The Z9PE-D8-WS is designed to support 2P configurations based on Xeon "Sandy Bridge-EP" processors. The motherboard is further detailed here. To PC enthusiasts, it presents a potential alternative to EVGA's SR-X.Image Courtesy: VR-Zone