Intel has, unlike competitor AMD almost too many platforms alive at the same time. It today has three incompatible platforms alive, while AMD only one, which instead is backward compatible. We’ve covered Intel’s next generation enthusiast platform earlier on, and the chipset is expected to be dubbed X68. Last we heard everything pointed to a launch in Q2 2010, which looked very doubtful when the rumor appeared. New rumors suggest Q3 2011, with a new socket to accompany it.
If this is correct the LGA1366 platform will be put out for pasture and and even though it may be a bit sad the platform has been around for a very long time and the X58 chipset has been the top contender since 2008, way too long.
According to sources to Bit-tech the platform will have no less than four DDR3 memory channels. Worrying for some perhaps, but the number of memory slots is said to be limited to four, to optimize the bandwidth. A lot can still happen though.
The LGA1366 platform may be replaced in Q3 2011
The first processors for Intel’s new platform is expected to be octo-core and based on Sandy Bridge, which does match Intel’s plans for the future.
