Date:
Sunday , February 03, 2008
Author:
Daniel Dobrowolski
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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Intel Skulltrail Preview

What is it? Is it like Cloverfield? Why is it here? Will it destroy the city? And what will it do for me? These are just some of the questions we seek answers to as we evaluate this enthusiast class behemoth packing two Core 2 Quads.

Introduction

Intel’s Skulltrail platform was announced some time ago. While it is highly anticipated by some of you, please understand that today is not a product launch but rather a “preview.” According to Intel, Skulltrail is on track to launch this quarter. Today Intel is lifting the embargo on the Skulltrail platform and information concerning it and allowing us to put it through its paces and of course share that with you.

For those of you who are not familiar with Skulltrail here is what Intel said about it in April of 2007.

Building on last week's launch of the Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor QX6800, a new dual processor-based platform for later this year will arrive, codenamed "Skulltrail." It will feature two sockets for quad core processors and four PCI express slots for advanced graphics and allow enthusiasts to take advantage of the Intel Core microarchitecture's headroom and scaling.

Skulltrail basically follows in the same vein as AMD’s 4x4 platform. By Intel’s definition Skulltrail includes the D5400XS motherboard and two QX9775 LGA771 processors. The rest is up to the buyer. In reality it is essentially a dual processor quad core system targeted toward the ultra high end PC enthusiast. This includes gamers and professionals needing 8 cores for either multi-tasking or higher end applications that can leverage the performance offered by the platform. It is expensive, it is huge, and the requirements for the overall platform are staggering. Make no mistake about it, Skulltrail isn’t a system you’ll find too many people running in the desktop market or even in the high end gaming box segment due to the extreme cost. Skulltrail does have something that no other system has though, which is exciting in itself, but hardly requires a two processor platform to make it happen. Skulltrail is the first and currently the only platform to support BOTH NVIDIA’s SLI technology, and ATI’s Crossfire technology. Sounds interesting? You bet it is.

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Who does Intel Expect to Buy the Skulltrail?

Well according to Intel's PR slides they have billed Skulltrail as the ultimate platform for content creation, hardware, and gaming enthusiasts. The specifications and some of the platforms features are obviously aimed at the ultra high end gaming segment while the core technology certainly has its’ roots in the Server/Workstation market space. The performance and features are obviously targeted at professionals and enthusiasts, as well as being beneficial for both segments. While it sounds somewhat schizophrenic, Skulltrail has something for “everyone” and then some. One thing is clear and that is it is only for people with VERY deep pockets. Outside of the product photos, most of our readers aren’t likely to ever see a retail Skulltrail in person.

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Why?

There isn’t much to be said about this other than AMD already did it. They did it and essentially failed. Only the people at Intel know why it has created this monster. Once AMD’s 4x4 Quad FX platform literally died off it left many to question whether Skulltrail would ever see the light of day. Obviously since it is seeing the light of day, Intel saw some value in releasing this thing to market. I suspect Intel releasing Skulltrail is done in the same vein as GM’s 2009 Corvette ZR1. Continuing that analogy the average car enthusiast and average consumer will not purchase a ZR1 because they simply can’t afford to do so. However every company needs a flagship product to set the tone for their marketing. At a glance the Skulltrail is impractical for most people and will never be more than “geek pr0n” in many ways. Still we should see at least a few thousand of them out in the marketplace, and that is a hell of a lot more than AMD ever sold of their 4x4.

SLI and Crossfire Support

If nothing else comes of the D5400XS it will make for an interesting footnote in computer technology and gaming history as the first motherboard to officially support Crossfire and SLI technology. I didn’t have any cards on hand to verify ATI’s Crossfire technology support but I did use some NVIDIA 8800GTX’s to verify SLI compatibility and quite frankly we were not worried about ATI locking us out of its driver the way NVIDIA does. Traditional SLI did work but 3-Way SLI would not. Just prior to publishing this article NVIDIA informed us that the Skulltrail motherboard used two NVIDIA nForce 100 MCP’s and that these MCPs enable 2-Way SLI support allowing for quad-SLI between two dual-GPU cards. According to NVIDIA it is impossible for the D5400XS motherboard to ever support 3-Way SLI via a driver update or BIOS update. The good news is that Crossfire-X should work just as well on this board as it would on any other Intel chipset based board.