Intel Sandy Bridge Build

[40hz]

Maybe it has something to do with low grade cabin fever due to the record snowfall we've been getting where I live, but I feel a 'build' coming on!

From the looks of it, the new Intel Sandy Bridge architecture is THE way to go for most new Intel based PCs. Exceptionally good "bang for the buck" from what I've read.

Very nice rundown on this over at MaximumPC. Looked good enough that I checked over at AnandTech for a more info and reviews.

However, the new LGA1155 socket requires new mobo designs. Not a problem in itself, except it rules out all my previous favorite boards and brings me into virgin territory.

Has anybody done a PC with any of the new boards? I've generally heard good things about the ASRock socket 1155 mobos, but I don't know anybody who's actually used one.

Any insights or comments would be greatly appreciated.  
----

Addendum:  ArsTechnica and MaximumPC has just reported a fly in the ointment with Intel's new 6-series chipsets:

MaximumPC-

Santa Clara, we have a problem. That's the message Intel engineers had to deliver to company execs after discovering a "design issue" in the company's 6-Series chipsets. The issue is severe enough that Intel decided to halt shipments while it implements a fix.

"In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD drives," Intel said in a statement. "The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories."

Intel said it has already corrected the issue and has started making a new version of the support chip that doesn't have the design flaw. In addition, the Santa Clara chip maker says Sandy Bridge processors and other other related products are unaffected.

Looks like Intel has it under control, so I'm not going to worry about it.  

[JavaJones]

Yeah, just wait a couple months. Unfortunately I just bought a new Sandy Bridge laptop (which so far is great, but this sours me a bit). I'm still not clear if this issue affects the laptop chipsets/boards. Hopefully not.

- Oshyan

[40hz]

UPDATE - looks like I'm on hold till the end of February. Intel just issued a recall of all Series-6 chipsets due to the SATA degradation problem. Replacements won't be back out for a month or so.

So right now, the Sandy Bridge CPUs looks to be ok. They just don't have the required chipset ready as of yet.

The defect affects approximately 5% of all chipsets. Nice to see Intel is doing a 100% recall at an estimated cost of $1 billion just to make it right. Apparently they learned something after the public reaction to their initial mishandling of the Pentium FP division bug back in the 90s.

AnandTech has an excellent analysis of the story here.

[Deozaan]

Yeah, just wait a couple months. Unfortunately I just bought a new Sandy Bridge laptop (which so far is great, but this sours me a bit). I'm still not clear if this issue affects the laptop chipsets/boards. Hopefully not.

-JavaJones (January 31, 2011, 02:30 PM)

As I understand it, it only affects the new H67 and P67 motherboards, not the CPU.

Also, there are some SATA connectors that are not affected, even on defective mobos:

Interestingly enough the problem doesn’t affect ports 0 & 1 on the 6-series chipset. Remember that Intel has two 6Gbps ports and four 3Gbps ports on P67/H67, only the latter four are impacted by this problem.

[SKA]

Any Alternative Intel or AMD chipset/boards  - which do the HW Gurus here recommend ?

SKA