Looking at the AnandTech article on Asus’s Danshui Bay Concept motherboard, I’m impressed with the idea, but not sure that it’s going to work in the execution.
The idea is that you can prevent the expense of a motherboard upgrade during the socket switch over process so beloved of Intel Intel Corporation 31,06 +1,20 +4,02% and AMD when technology changes, by using a motherboard that supports both sockets. A nice idea in theory..
In practice I reckon that it would be a bit more difficult to achieve in a cost effective manner. The main reason is that one of the most expensive parts of a motherboard is the chipset itself. (Assuming that the CPU is a separate item, and that you’re going to have to outlay for both of these eventually, whichever motherboard is chosen) So having a motherboard that supports (as in the concept) both LGA-1366 and LGA-2011 sockets, and both X58 and X79 chipsets, with the supporting memory and interfaces is going to be substantially more expensive than a motherboard that is designed only for a single chipset, and just the elements that you need.
So this concept works on the idea that you’ve already got the old platform, and know you’re going to be changing to the new in the future. You therefore buy the dual-chipset motherboard, and migrate to this, with the option in the future of upgrading CPU and memory to make the full transition. Yes, it allows you to stage the transition of a big outlay, but I’m not sure that this is the best way of achieving it. Plus you’re limited to the capabilities of the motherboard at the time, rather than the capabilities of the motherboard in the future, when you will change sockets, and we all know how fast the motherboard industry changes.
Let’s see if it ever gets put into production, shall we?
