We are getting closer to the launch of Sandy Bridge E and Intel's motherboard partners are eager to get out some early press about their motherboards. We saw a lot of what to expect from SNB-E motherboards at IDF, but most of the manufacturers have been holding back a bit of information on how they plan to differentiate in this ultra-competitive industry.

With Sandy Bridge we saw some of the first boards to sport UEFI instead of a traditional BIOS interface. With Sandy Bridge E, expect to see many motherboard manufacturers use their UEFI implementations as one avenue to stand out from the crowd.

Gigabyte is trying something a bit new with its X79 UEFI: a simplified "3D" UI. Instead of navigating through lists and sublists of options, Gigabyte's new 3D BIOS interface gives you a picture of your motherboard with a few predefined, highlightable sections. You can hover over and click on the SATA ports for example to bring up a list of SATA related configuration options. The same applies for rear IO, memory, PCIe, voltage regulators and naturally the CPU socket.

The advanced mode will still remain, Gigabyte is simply using 3D BIOS to make configuring your motherboard easier for those users who are less comfortable with the process. Check out the gallery below for more screenshots and the video above to see Gigabyte's 3D BIOS in action.

We'll have our full review of Sandy Bridge E and the X79 platform later this month.