VR-Zone

GIGABYTE has announced on Friday that they have begun shipping motherboards with the new B3-stepping Intel P67 and H67 Express chipsets. The products are expected to be available as early as this week, when shipments start to clear customs in markets around the world.

All new motherboard, retail packaging and product name

The new 'B3' motherboards from GIGABYTE have been redesigned and renamed so that they can easily be distinguished from the older B2 versions through the signature ‘B3’ at the end of the model name. For example, the GA-P67A-UD7 has been replaced by the GA-P67A-UD7-B3 and the GA-H67A-UD3H by GA-H67A-UD3H-B3. The new model name is highly visible on the retail box, PCB, in the BIOS at start up and on applications such as the GIGABYTE 6 Series SATA Check utility and CPU-Z.

Also, the new B3 version 6 Series motherboard packaging features a large B3 Stepping logo that users will easily be able to identify.

GIGABYTE 6 Series SATA Check Utility

Before chipset replacements were ready, GIGABYTE rolled out a 6 Series SATA Check utility to help optimize SATA performance by identifying the problem-free white SATA 6Gbps ports on B2-stepping chipsets, while advising users not to use the affected SATA 3Gbps ports. As the new 'B3' motherboards start to ship, GIGABYTE has released an updated 6 Series SATA Check utility that also identifies the chipset and its stepping (either B2 or B3).

Motherboard model name as PC boots

Another way to identify a B3 stepping chipset motherboard is to look for the motherboard model name as the PC boots.

Source: GIGABYTE Press Release