Asus and MSI have introduced two Thunderbolt motherboards, sharing the position of the first Thunderbolt certified motherboard maker. Both Asus P8Z77-V and MSI’s Z77A-GD80 motherboards are based on Intel’s Z77 Express chipset. Both the motherboards support Ivy Bridge platform and uses Apple’s Mini Display Port implementation of Thunderbolt. Both the motherboards are expected to make their debuts at the Taipei Computex show in two weeks.
As mentioned above, Asus P8Z77-V is based on Intel’s Z77 Express chipset. The motherboard has four PCI-e 3.0 sockets for four ways SLI or Crossfire setups, as well as LucidLogix Virtu MVP. It also includes built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 network interfaces, a 32GB on-board SSD which can automatically cache used files for maximum speed.
MSI has also used Intel’s Z77 Express chipset for Ivy Bridge compatibility. MSI is using Military Class III components that have overcome MIL-STD-810G testing. That means, this motherboard can endure stressful temperature fluctuations, vibration, and humidity disclosure. It also supports three ways SLI and Crossfire GPU setups. MSI Z77A-GD80 supports not only the latest PCI Express Gen 3 standard because it can deliver a staggering 32GB/s of bandwidth. As opposed to, the new generation 22nm processors can deliver double that of the previous generation.
Pricing and availability of the two motherboards have not been revealed yet. Hope we will be enlightened within two weeks about these at the Taipei Computex show.
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