I am going to have to put some significant time into writing a blob post (what blogs really are!), on Rampantspeculation.com/blog that is complete and covers all of the significant issues. I continue to respond new, every time I read threads or reviews, and in the end I am simply rewriting over and over the same responses, with a slightly different twist based on the thread's purpose.
 
 
 
Every time I come to a new thread on a forum I have continued to hope that I was going be reading comments of the greatest importance when it comes to any X79, Z87, or Z77 motherboard discussions.
 
 
 
When I saw that EVGA was working on the "Dark", I can tell you right now that my immediate response was that three issues would be addressed, and after that, who cares!
 
 
 
Those three criteria that had to be found to make any new X79 motherboard worth anything at this point were and still are: #1 There would be support for the Xeon E5-1600 and 2600 series CPU's, #2 there would be 6 to 8 "Native" Intel Chipset/CPU supported USB 3.0 ports, and #3 there would be 8 to 10 "Native" Intel Chipset/CPU supported SATA 6GB/Sec HD ports.
 
 
 
I have run tests, bought boards, bought CPU's, sold, bought returned, researched, contacted manufacturers and read so many forum posts, supposed credible reviews, advertisements, suggestions, promises, patches, and hacks, that I am absolutely dumbfounded as to the direction that all of these discussions continue to take.
 
 
 
We need to face the facts.
 
 
Regarding the X79 LGA 2011 Motherboards, Intel NEVER has provided the "hoped for" and "wished for" CPU that would make the X79 motherboard perform as advertised. It failed to provide a Rev. 3.0, with a full 40 lane CPU. There was a complete failure between Chipset/CPU, to provide ONE lousy NATIVE USB 3.0 port. And this big monster "future proof" (that term really upsets me when I hear it used to justify the purchase of the X79 Motherboards), high end, most powerful and therefore most expensive beast of a motherboard also was only able to come up with a whopping TWO NATIVE SATA 6GB/sec ports!
 
 
No “Native” PCIe 3.0 support in any of the i7 Sandy Bridge E processors. No “Native” USB 3.0 support. Only “Native” support for a mere TWO SATA III ports. That is the BIG NEWS that the X79 motherboards have to offer, if you go with the traditional i7 SB E CPU.  The Xeon is like the “life-saving “FORCE” of “STARWARS”, but for only those few X79 motherboards that support it and the good news; there are a couple. The bad news is the majority of the X79 Motherboard users should consider that it is time to quit trying to get something that isn’t hardwired into your product, and cease discussions pointed in that direction and maybe “ask for a refund”.
 
 
 
Everything else on the X79 are what I call “FAKE add-ons”. Peter is constantly being robbed to pay Paul on all of these boards. There are more *asterisks in the specs of these boards than one can keep track off.
 
 
 
In July of 2012 NVidia made its last attempt to "act like it cared" before it threw in the PCIe 3.0 towel, by providing a "patch" and there was the infamous "registry hack", but when all is said and done there has been more wasted discussion on whether or not users are getting PCIe 3.0 X 16 for his/her $600 GTX 680 or throw in two and now the questions and discussions are even more absurd because if you are spending $1,200 to $2,400 in graphics cards you better be 100% certain that that money is going into a motherboard that isn't full of off-the wall-discussions; where many of the claims are unsubstantiated or simply “hoped for” but not true.
 
 
 
The only CPU that I have found that provides PCIe 3.0 X 16 (40 lanes) is the XEON and Asus makes 2 motherboards that support it-both WS boards and Gigabyte has managed to build all of its X79 motherboard with Xeon compatibility; but the bottom line is that it is slim picking and it isn't going to change until Intel produces the CPU that "NEVER HAPPENED" almost two years ago, when they "pulled" this-and-that feature, due to this-and-that problem, right when the X79 motherboards were being released with all of this advertised and anticipated awesome power to be unleashed.
 
 
 
But you have to ask, how did the X79 motherboard  makers already know to strip the boards of Intel USB 3.0 ports and put in the "off brands", and how did they know to contract with other SATA III providers to add 4 ports so the boards weren't a total embarrassment?
 
 
 
I know from my time “inside” corporate walls that based on the quality of silicon alone, decisions are settled upon 3-5 years ahead of time and competitors have to sit down at the same table and come to agreements, otherwise Intel would be building new CPU's for looks only! Before Intel "changed" its mind about what the Sandy Bridge E could and couldn't do, it was already disclosed to the makers of X79 motherboards.
 
 
 
They made the things anyway, knowing that there would not be any PCIe 3.0 support to run one graphic card, let alone 4! WHY? I WANT TO KNOW WHY? I WANT TO KNOW WHO LET DOWN WHOM? I ALREADY KNOW THAT REGARDLESS THE CUSTOMER HAS PAID THE FINAL PRICE, but WHO REALLY BOTCHED UP AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF MOTHERBOARDS?
 
 
 
Fact: When Intel decides ( they already have), to make AREA X79 disappear, it will do it by releasing such a wonderful CPU that has everything that all the enthusiasts have wanted, that we will all forget about how long we went with a generation of motherboards that had no business being released.
 
 
 
The New Intel Wonder will have 40 lanes of PCIe 3.0 and it will support 8 Native USB 3.0 Ports, and it will support 10 Native SATA 6 GB/sec and you know what that means!
 
 
 
FACT: All of the "FUTURE PROOF" X79 motherboards are going to look "FUTURE SICK" compared to the new motherboards that have LGA 2011 sockets alright, but they are also sitting on the shelves right now with 8 of those little blue USB 3.0 ports, and 10 SATA 6GB/Sec ports- BOTH NATIVE- so gone is the foolish discussion of how can you have RAID 6 on a board that offers Raid 6, when there are only TWO SATA III NATIVE INTEL PORTS!
 
 
 
FACT: people will be so excited about these two releases that the money will flow like the INTEL Roadmap winds, and although it has indeed been, "The Long And Winding Road", that the Beatles sang about, right after hearing about "Moore's Law", nobody will be as mad as they should be because "We Need To Move On", for that is “Politically Correct”.
 
 
 
This is not a slam on EVGA. I am a loyal EVGA supporter. I have a list so long of video cards that it is embarrassing! Maybe this post will get “Stuck”, and EVGA will lead the charge to “make things right”. I have already tried working with one big Corporation for the past 4 months and after getting to the US Director of Marketing; the correspondence ceased.
 
 
Maybe Intel isn't going to offer anything new except PCIe 3.0 and 40 lanes of it, like are already found in the Xeon (I throw that jab in just to point out that it can be done, but it was chosen not to be done for the SBE i7’s) but this Dark motherboard will get the best out of what Intel gives, which might make this the best there is.
 
 
 
But still, why aren't we discussing the issues that matter?
 
 
 
And as for the AREA Z77 and now AREA Z78- yes, Intel finally provided the right number of SATA ports and USB 3.0 ports, which the Z77 came up pathetically short on.
 
 
 
FACT: neither one of these motherboards is able to support any more than a grand TOTAL NATIVE 16 LANES of PCIe 3.0. I don't care how you slice it. YOU GET TO PUT ONE and only ONE PCIe 3.0 X 16 video card in your Z87. If you so much as put an X1 bug in the next slot your first slot just dropped to PCIe 3.0 X 8.
 
 
 
FACT: PCIe 3.0 X 8 is equal to PCIe 2.0 X 16!
 
 
FACT: If you want SLI with X16 and X16 at PCIe 3.0 then you will have to kick in an extra $200 for a motherboard that is "FAKING" it again with add-ons; you know PLX chips and Peter is being robbed to pay Paul. It isn't Native and the question is why can't Intel put at least 32 lanes into the almighty IVY BRIDGE E Master PIECE? BECAUSE IT WASN'T MADE FOR US! IT was made to push the world to touch screens, tablets, Windows 8......
 
 
 
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS and remember there is the ROADMAP we get to see and there is another ROADMAP that goes to places like AREA X79 and AREA Z77, and the question is who shows up at those meetings?