Intel Dual Quad-Core D5400XS Skulltrail Motherboard is Avail

[Parrot]

[GDC 2008] Intel just announced the availability of the D5400XS motherboard based on the Skulltrail platform (now called Dual Socket Extreme Desktop) – a motherboard that can accept two quad-core processors for a total of eight computing cores.

Having more cores is great for applications that have a parallel nature such as video compression or physics. However, it doesn’t boost application like e-mail or word processing proportionally to the number of cores – if at all.

The motherboard should be available immediately. Retail price: $650 for the motherboard, $1500 per CPU (Core 2 Extreme QX9775).

CPU support Dual LGA771-based Core 2 Extreme and Xeon processors
North bridge Intel 5400 MCH
South bridge Intel 6321ESB ICH
Interconnect PCIe x4 + DMI x4
Expansion slots 4 PCI Express x16 (PCIe 1.1) via dual Nvidia nForce 100 switches
2 32-bit PCI
Memory 4 240-pin FB-DIMM sockets
Maximum of 16GB of DDR2-667/800 FB-DIMM memory
Storage I/O 1 ATA/100 port
6 Serial ATA 3Gbps ports with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
Audio 8-channel HD audio via 6321ESB and SigmaTel STAC9274D5 codec
Ports and Headers 2 eSATA with RAID 0,1 support via Marvell 88SE6121
6 USB 2.0 with headers for 4 more
1 RJ45 Ethernet 10/100/1000 via Intel 82573L
1 IEEE1394 (FireWire) with header for 1 more via TI TSB43AB22A

1 analog front out
1 analog center/LFE out
1 analog rear out
1 analog surround out/line in
1 analog mic in
1 TOS-Link digital S/PDIF out
1 HD Audio front-panel header for analog headphone out and mic in
1 HD Audio Link header
1 3-pin S/PDIF out header

1 Consumer Infrared front-panel receiver header
1 Consumer Infrared transmitter header

Form factor EATX (13" x 12") with LGA775-style mounting holes for cooling