Intel's secret motherboard feature seen on GIGABYTE P67-UD7 board

IDF: With the upcoming and imminent launch of Sandy Bridge come two new motherboard designs from GIGABYTE; and they're finally ditching the blue.

Sandy Bridge is coming, and rumours pin it as being only a few months away. While the rumour mill also rages around whether or not USB3.0 will be included in the chipset, it seems that GIGABYTE is launching their boards very soon too.

Our correspondant at this year's IDF spotted their high-end GA-P67-UD7 and mid-range GA-P67-UD5 boards, which are primarily designed for the upcoming LGA1155 socket chips, but these came with the extra addition of feature-censoring tape.

Speculation as to what this extra feature may be remains just that; GIGABYTE representatives refused to comment on what lay underneath, nor hint at what it would be. It does appear to be located near the front panel connectors at the bottom of both boards, so perhaps this is the rumoured USB3.0 after all? Perhaps the USB3.0 front panel header standard is close to being ratified?

Both boards have this secret-hiding tape applied to them.

This theory appears backed up by the rear I/O panel, which boasts four USB3.0 ports - and only a single NEC chip. Two of those ports must be powered by that chip, but what provides USB for the other two?

It's either that or another feature we can't even guess at. There are some basic hints there, like the "HAESD3" and "HAU6", but these could just as easily be pointing to the SMD devices.

Another big reveal here is that traditional GIGABYTE blue, infamous for its immediate proclamation of branding, and somewhat absent in both these motherboard designs. While these are engineering samples it seems that the high-end P67 motherboard ranges will be designed with a black PCB, not blue. Have they finally run out of that characteristic blue dye?

Head into our gallery of photos to see the motherboards in a lot more detail, as we continue to dream up what that tape could be hiding...