by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/7/2011 3:24:00 PM
Posted in Motherboards , MSI , Intel , CPUs , X79 , Sandy Bridge E

Sandy Bridge E is right around the corner and the amount of Socket-2011 related emails we're getting is going up. The latest is from MSI - we got an email with pics of the company's X79 lineup including the ultra high-end Big Bang XPower II and the micro-ATX X79MA-GD45. Check out the gallery below for shots of all the boards.

GPUs by MySchizoBuddy on Monday, November 07, 2011
How many GPUs can it support?
are these still PCIe 2 or v3
MySchizoBuddy
RE: GPUs by piroroadkill on Monday, November 07, 2011
Sandy Bridge E has a PCIe 3.0 controller, I'm pretty sure.
piroroadkill
RE: GPUs by CharonPDX on Monday, November 07, 2011
If you zoom in on the picture, you can see "PCI-E 3.0" silk screened on at least the all-black-slot board and the first two blue-slot boards.
CharonPDX
Ugly/Clunky by Gunbuster on Monday, November 07, 2011
Ugly and out of date looking. MSI needs to hire a new designer for the heatsink and stuff.

They even look clunky compared to the MSI Z68 boards...
Gunbuster
Observations by DanNeely on Monday, November 07, 2011
Some of the boards have 2 different style retention clips on the PCIe 16x slots.

After seeing AMD Llano boards with quad back panel USB3, only 2 ports on these boards seems rather stingy.

Is dual Lan going out of fashion?
DanNeely
the big bang by softdrinkviking on Monday, November 07, 2011
bullet-shaped heatsink looks like a junior-high aged wet-dream.
softdrinkviking
Bullets? by sarth on Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Thought they were crayons ;)
sarth
RE: Bullets? by Operandi on Wednesday, November 09, 2011
I thought they were stupid, and they are.
Operandi
RE: Bullets? by Tormeh on Thursday, November 10, 2011
Seconded.
Tormeh
Sigh. by GokieKS on Monday, November 07, 2011
These component makers sure love their gun motifs.
GokieKS
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