So Intel is going to continue to sell defective products.  The new fixed parts won’t be out until Apr-June timeframe.  Yes you can work around the defect by not using the sata-2 ports…why should we have to do this?  If anyone buys a sandy bridge part before the new chipsets come out you are rewarding Intel for selling you defective parts.

In other words, Intel will keep shipping these faulty chip sets, but only to motherboard manufacturers that promise to put them in systems that don’t use the SATA 2 ports. Note that SATA 3 ports aren’t affected by the bug. It isn’t clear — at least, I couldn’t tell by reading the press release — whether Intel is insisting that the mother board not have any functioning SATA 2 ports or if those ports must be electronically disconnected or even physically removed. The statement is vague enough that Intel may be shipping faulty chip sets to PC vendors who promise to put their hard drives on the SATA 3 connection, not the SATA 2 connection.Unless Intel modifies or clarifies its position, here’s where you stand. If you buy an i5- or i7- based PC in the next few months, the motherboard may have this basic defect. Chances are good you won’t bump into the SATA 2 problem — depending on how Intel defines “not impacted” — but if you install a SATA 2 device in the future, that device may some day start misbehaving. If you do anything else that requires a SATA 2 connection, maybe you’ll get lucky — or maybe you won’t. The description we have at this point isn’t detailed enough to tell what kind of restrictions will be put in place and how Intel will monitor those 8 million chip sets to make sure they’re treated properly.

via Intel pulls a fast one in Sandy Bridge fiasco | Processors – InfoWorld.