Intel today announced immediate availability of systems and motherboards based the Z68 Express chipset, the latest in the second-generation Core (aka "Sandy Bridge") family.
Whereas previous Sandy Bridge chipsets, such as the H67 Express and P67 Express, have required the user to make certain compromises in terms of functionality, the Z68 Express chipset offers more flexibility. This is evident primarily in its support for switchable graphics: The use of LucidLogix Virtu GPU virtualization lets the user decide on the fly whether to use integrated Intel HD Graphics (and thus Quick Sync for extra-speedy video transcoding) or an installed video card. This makes for a reduction in power usage, works with all video cards, and the use of dynamic virtualization eliminates the need for restarting or swapping cables.
Another major change involves performance tuning. Other chipsets required CPUs with unlocked multipliers, particularly the Core i7-2600K and Core i5-2500K, for overclocking. Z68 Express unlocks power, memory, and graphics on all chips, and partially unlocks the core on non-K processors.
There's also implementation of Intel Smart Response Technology, which caches in real time frequently used applications to solid-state drives (SSDs) to improve system performance. Intel claims a 60 percent speed increase when running cached programs, and that the technology scales across hard drives of all capacities, from any vendor, and works with all SSDs without special connectors, firmware required. A user interface embedded in the Rapid Storage driver lets the user enable or disable the feature.
Z68 Express provides support as well for Intel Identity Protection Technology (IPT), which uses a two-factor authentication system to verify you are who you say you are. (Valve Software announced in March that its popular game purchase and distribution application, Steam, would use IPT as part of its new Steam Guard security function.)
Like other Sandy Bridge chipsets, Z68 Express can power one PCI Express (PCIe) x16 expansion slot or two PCIe x8 slots, up to 14 USB 2.0 ports, six SATA-based hard drives or SSDs (two of which can use 6-Gbps SATA), four DIMMs (using dual-channel memory technology), and eight PCI Express 2.0 lanes running at 5 GTps.
For a deeper look at Sandy Bridge, read the ExtremeTech story, "Sandy Bridge: Intel's Next-Generation Microarchitecture Revealed."