OK, Asus has announced a new BIOS revision for the Ivy Bridge-E CPU which will make it compatible with RIVE.
My question is not whether the revision will work with the chip and the RIVE but will the result be the same as if the board had been expressly designed for it. Will the BIOS revision be a work-around which would allow full functionality.
For example, I understand that there's a "glue" chip to allow PCI 3e functionality with X79. Would that chip--and delays due to additional processing time--be necessary for a designed-from-scratch approach that would take full advantage of the Ivy Bridge-E's PCI 3e compatibility?
Would there be any other work-arounds necessary to get Ivy Bridge-E to work with current RIVE's that might not be necessary in a newly designed board? What are likely hits to performance with new BIOS running on current board?
