Intel Identifies Cougar Point Chipset Error, Halts Shipments
Early Monday, Intel identified a problem with its Cougar Point chipset family affecting SATA 3 Gb/s ports, specifically. Though it's only expected to affect 5% of systems over three years, enthusiasts pushing lots of data should wait for a fixed platform.
If you were as excited about Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors as we were earlier this month when they soft-launched, then today’s news will come as a shock (especially if you already bought one of the second-gen Core i5 or Core i7 desktop processors available online; Core i3 still isn’t selling).
In essence, Intel identified a problem with the SATA 3 Gb/s on its Cougar Point chipsets last week. SATA 6 Gb/s ports are unaffected. The issue is hardware-related and requires a silicon-based fix at the metal layer, which of course means that all of the currently-shipping P67- and H67 –based motherboards are affected. It’s severe enough, especially for the enthusiast community most likely to be populating multiple SATA ports and pushing heavier I/O workloads that we’d want to recommend holding off on Sandy Bridge-based builds until boards with a fixed version of the chipset ships out. This will happen within “weeks,” according to Intel, as motherboard vendors will start getting updated core logic in late February for a full volume recovery in April.
Intel’s Steve Smith, vice president and director of PC client operations and enabling at Intel, says that the specific problem occurs over time, and is affected by temperature and voltage. It’s more likely to manifest in configurations with lots of data being moved across the SATA 3 Gb/s ports—that’s why OEMs are encountering a problem now. The company says it would have expected roughly 5% of systems to be affected over a three-year period. That's a serious enough figure to compel Intel to halt shipments and incur a total cost to replace/repair existing systems of $700 million.
If you’re already a P67/H67 owner, the problem relates to connectivity between the SATA ports and hard drives. That link can degrade over time and, in a worst-case scenario, you’ll boot your machine to find attached storage simply isn’t identified at all. None of your data is at risk—anything on the drive already can’t be affected by the link degrading and ultimately failing, after all.
Why wasn’t the issue identified during validation, before Sandy Bridge launched? Intel says Cougar Point did in fact satisfy its validation procedure, and was only caught after more strenuous OEM testing. Should OEMs be the ones to catch problems like this? No. But that’s what happened here. That'll likely have ramifications for the way Intel tests its products in the future.
Unfortunately, motherboard vendors, first, and early adopters, second, are the ones to be most seriously affected here. The motherboard manufacturers are going to have to stop production and wait a month for updated Cougar Point. They’re only getting the news today. Enthusiasts won’t be as immediately affected. Boards that shipped out already, in most cases, carry a three-year warranty, offering some form of protection. Sandy Bridge notebooks haven’t shipped out in volume. And Z68 won’t be delayed, Intel says. Everyone else: you’ll want to wait until “fixed” boards start shipping in March/April.

that said, at least they aren't just going to ship it anyway. good for them for repairing the error as best they can at this point.
Just for clarification - this is with the MB Chipset - NOT with SB CPU's themselves.
Worse, how will we know if a board we buy in the future has the fixed chipset? The board manufacturers aren't going to eat the losses, so I expect the defective parts already in the pipeline to continue being used until they run out. That could take the better part of a year.
Looks like I'll have to wait until 2012 to upgrade to the i5-2500K.
Will they start calling the updated silicon P67A so there's a way to know which Cougar Point generation is part of the boards? Depending on how the manufacturers do it... they may or may not bump the PCB revision... since the replacement CP chip will be pin compatible... so probably no new layout. This could turn into a minor nightmare... unless they're very good about recalling bad stock, and paying cross-shipping fees, etc...
Those with SB parts will probably have to live with the bug for a month or so before the fixes come down.
But again, I wouldn't have been eager to buy the gimped chipset in the first place. LGA1366 and it's replacement for the win.
Also, while I really wish Intel would have caught this sooner, I have a hard time believing anyone that already purchased an x67 mobo will still be using it in 3 years. At least Intel didn't do the J&J thing like they did with the stealth recall of Tylenol.
I would be pretty sure that part of Intel's $700M losses are eating the chips already in the OEMs hands... so there will be no 'old stock' (chipsets) making it to 'new' boards. It sounds like the 'old' mobos already in end user hands should be RMA'd. I'm hoping they eat the delivery costs too... or make it so I can get an immediate exchange at Micro Center... For anyone around at retail stores... have they cleared the shelves of LGA1155 boards?
Bulldozer may or may not be more competitive with Intel chips - that argument will only happend when they Finally launch their new cpu.
Considering this was only found after probably "longer term" testing - especially when it was related to heat issues - doesn't mean it's going to "kill" Intel.
(I'm guessing the heating up and cooling off expansion/contraction after many, many repeated on/off cycles is what caused this flaw to finally "show up". One that probably most users that aren't hard core gamers, photo/video editors and engineers running CAD programs would really even run into. IMO)
But is looks like Intel, by reports I've read on other sites too, is taking FULL responsibility and will cover the replacements. Now there's hoping the MB makers will not try to take "advantage" of that too...
intel, a company who's well ahead of the game with significant capital, feels no pressure so release a product with a half @ssed chipset....... what so they can just sc#w their patrons over for the fun of it
never said bulldozer would be competitive, just said that it rattled intel enough for them to release a flawed chipset, intel is so far ahead of the game they could probably easily lose a year or two and still beat AMD to the punch right, why rush the implementation of sandy bridge (cost them a nice $700mil)
My jaw is dropped!!!
lets hope bulldozer whoops sandy bridge's buttt.....this will spark competition and will give users better products..... pleaseee beat intel AMD so then Intel can turn Around and beat you and the cycle repeats....
lets hope it isn't sub par AMD though i fear the worst
I am so mad right now...