Does a motherboard exist by any manufacturer that has the Intel Sandy Bridge (SB) chipset (any of H67, P67, Z68) and an IDE / PATA connector (only need one, don't care 100 or 133 standard) and two PCIe x16 width card slots that run in 8x/8x when in SLI or CrossFireX (since we're talking SB, they'll be either PCIe standard version 2 or 3, don't care which)?
I am aware of the AsusTek SB motherboards (P8P67 and P8H67 series), but they only come in 16x/4x with the IDE / PATA connector. When you move to the models with 8x/8x support (like the PRO line in the series) they lose the IDE / PATA connector. Anyone know why? The space where the connector was is empty and I hardly think it's PCB trace real estate. SB should support 16x or 8x/8x PCIe 2.0 direct to the CPU die, while any IDE / PATA support would have to come over the DMI via the chipset (South Bridge). Support for one shouldn't effect the other. Those boards usually have more USB support, so maybe that's the trade-off AsusTek made. Too bad for me.
Much thanks in advance!
PS Please don't post just to say IDE / PATA is a dying or dead interface and any peripheral I have on that standard I should just buy a SATA equivalent.
I am aware of the AsusTek SB motherboards (P8P67 and P8H67 series), but they only come in 16x/4x with the IDE / PATA connector. When you move to the models with 8x/8x support (like the PRO line in the series) they lose the IDE / PATA connector. Anyone know why? The space where the connector was is empty and I hardly think it's PCB trace real estate. SB should support 16x or 8x/8x PCIe 2.0 direct to the CPU die, while any IDE / PATA support would have to come over the DMI via the chipset (South Bridge). Support for one shouldn't effect the other. Those boards usually have more USB support, so maybe that's the trade-off AsusTek made. Too bad for me.
Much thanks in advance!
PS Please don't post just to say IDE / PATA is a dying or dead interface and any peripheral I have on that standard I should just buy a SATA equivalent.