The Intel X79 is an Intel

Intel Corporation

Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...

 Platform Controller Hub

Platform Controller Hub

The Platform Controller Hub is a family of Intel microchips. I/O Functions have been reassigned between the PCH, a new central hub, and the CPU. Some northbridge functions, the memory controller and PCI-e lanes, were integrated into the CPU while the PCH took over the remaining functions in...

 (PCH) It is designed to connect an Intel processor through a DMI 2.0

Direct Media Interface

The Direct Media Interface is the link between an Intel northbridge and an Intel southbridge on a computer motherboard. It was first used between the 9xx chipsets and the ICH6, released in 2004. Previous chipsets had used the Hub Interface to perform the same function. Server chipsets use a...

 interface to peripheral devices. Supported are the high-end Core i7 processors.

Features

The first product was announced on November 14, 2011, for "Extreme" CPUs using the LGA 2011

LGA 2011

LGA 2011, also called Socket R, is a CPU socket by Intel. It replaces Intel's LGA 1366 and LGA 1567 in the performance and high-end desktop and server platforms. The socket has 2,011 protruding pins which touch contact points on the underside of the processor.Socket R uses QPI to connect the CPU...

 socket.

Features include:

• 2× Serial ATA
  Serial ATA
  Serial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...
  
   (SATA) 3.0 (6 Gbit/s) ports
• 4× SATA 2.0 (3 Gbit/s) ports
• PCI Express
  PCI Express
  PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
  
   2.0 ×8 lanes
• 14 Universal Serial Bus
  Universal Serial Bus
  USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
  
   (USB) 2.0 ports
• Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
  Gigabit Ethernet
  Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...
  
   MAC (Lewisville PHY)
• Optional Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise 3.0
  • SATA RAID support (0/1/10/5)
  • Write journaling
• 100 MHz BCLK
• Supports processor, memory and chipset overclocking
• Supports Intel Extreme Tuning Utility 3.0 (XTU)
• 8-layer printed circuit board
  Printed circuit board
  A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
  
   (PCB), 2 oz copper recommended

The X79 chipset is made to work with the Intel LGA 2011

LGA 2011

LGA 2011, also called Socket R, is a CPU socket by Intel. It replaces Intel's LGA 1366 and LGA 1567 in the performance and high-end desktop and server platforms. The socket has 2,011 protruding pins which touch contact points on the underside of the processor.Socket R uses QPI to connect the CPU...

 (Socket R) which features 2011 copper pins. The added pins allow for more PCI Express

PCI Express

PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...

lanes and interconnects for server class processors.