ASUS to sue competitors over X99 OC Socket?

Rumors are swirling the web that ASUS plans to sue competitors that have launched motherboards that infringe on the company's OC Socket design. DigiTimes writes ASUS conducted an initial investigation that found evidence that suggests that supply chain makers have leaked confidential designs to competitors.

The ASUS OC Socket features extra pins versus Intel's reference LGA2011-3 socket but it's still unclear what the functionality of these pins is. ASUS claims these pins allow better overclocking and voltage tweaking but there are also other sources that claim this is marketing bullshit and that these pins were solely used for debugging on pre-production Intel Haswell-E parts.

Since Asustek has become the main target of its competitors and is facing fierce competition from ASRock, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology in every product segment, the company is considering legal action to maintain its leadership. Intel released its Haswell-E processors and X99-series chipsets at the end of August and motherboard players have been adding their latest in-house developed technologies to their motherboards. For the gaming market, MSI is now offering its X99S Gaming 9 AC, while Gigabyte is pushing its G1, SOC and Ultra Durable product lines.