Near final revision of Foxconn's Sandy Bridge-E awaiting Quantum Force X79 pixelated

Foxconn making the final touches in time for launch in Q4'11.

@cbrkelly

Published Sep 14, 2011 8:20 AM CDT
Updated Nov 3, 2020 12:31 PM CST

35 seconds read time

With one of the highest anticipated launches of this year closing in after recent word of a supposed October launch, the lads at VR-Zone have managed to get a peek at an almost finalized (engineering sample) version of the mighty Quantum Force X79 LGA2011 motherboard from Foxconn.

Near final revision of Foxconn's Sandy Bridge-E awaiting Quantum Force X79 pixelated 12

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Compared to an earlier revision of the board sighted at Computex earlier in the year, primarily speaking, this new one looks to have a different physical expansion slot arrangement, a more finalized looking heatsink onboard and some front panel header adjustments.

Near final revision of Foxconn's Sandy Bridge-E awaiting Quantum Force X79 pixelated 13

The board is given 14-phase VRM power for the CPU using DirectFET MOSFETs, known to give smooth voltage control when backed by a decent I2C-capable VRM controller. For overclocking support there is the inclusion of a redundant firmware (BIOS) feature as well as dedicated OC hard-tuning buttons and a consolidated region of voltage measurement points.