![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Sunday , February 03, 2008
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
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.
QX9775: Xeon or Core 2 Extreme?
The Skulltrail motherboard is capable of supporting any LGA771 Xeon processors but the processors we are looking at today are called “Core 2 Extreme Edition QX9775.” Which means that they aren’t marketed as Xeon’s though they share a number of similarities. All Core 2 Architecture based processors are naturally very similar. These processors are really a crossbreed between the QX9770 and the Xeon 5400 series. They both are built on Intel’s 45nm manufacturing process and are derived from the Penryn core. These CPUs are sporting a 1600MHz front side bus like the yet-to-be-released QX9770 LGA775 processor. These processors are codenamed “Yorkfield XE.” The QX9775’s are clocked at 3.2GHz and feature a total of 12MB of cache per processor. Aside from the socket change the real difference between the QX9770 and the QX9775 is that the later supports SMP (Symmetric Multi Processing) while the former does not. Each CPU has a TDP of 150watts which means they’ll generate a lot of heat and draw a lot of power. So cooling these monsters off will not be an easy task and so this platform won’t be an ideal candidate for silent computing.
You can see all the processors technical information in this CPU-Z screen capture. As you can see, as I stated above these processors are 45nm, have 1600MHz FSB, unlocked multiplier, 4 cores each, and SSE4. What’s not to like about these things? Well there is the cost, which is estimated to be higher than the cost of the QX9650 processors available today.
Intel’s D5400XS “Skulltrail” Motherboard
The processors are one thing but Intel’s Skulltrail motherboard is actually what really makes this platform unique and what makes it shine. The Intel D5400XS “Skulltrail” Motherboard uses Intel’s workstation Seaburg chipset as well as a pair of NVIDIA MCPs for SLI support. It supports 1066/1333/1600MHz FSB speeds. This also marks the first time Intel has released an overclockable enthusiast class LGA771 motherboard. It supports Intel’s latest Xeon™ and Core 2 Extreme™ QX9775 processors. As with most motherboards built for the enthusiast market it requires very few components to create a functional system. It requires processors, FB-DIMM memory modules, hard drives, video card(s), and a beefy power supply. Intel integrated the following into the D5400XS “Skulltrail” motherboard: 1 Intel 82537L Gigabit Ethernet Adapter, 2 IEEE1394 ports, 10 USB ports (6 backplane, 4 via USB headers), 2 eSATA ports, 1 ATA-133 port, ( both provided by JMicron JM368 Controller), 6 SATA ports (6321ESB I/O Controller Hub), 5 mini-headphone jacks (IDT Stac9274D audio codec), and 1 optical out port. There are no legacy ports on this motherboard. No serial, no parallel, and finally (although we saw ABIT do this years ago albeit too early) no PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports.
FB-DIMMs - Huh?
You have to admit, most of what Skulltrail has going for it on a technical level is good or even outstanding. Why on earth did they cripple the platform by requiring the use of FB-DIMMs? Well no one other than Intel could answer that question buy I suspect that it has more to do with Intel “reusing” the motherboard chipset and little else. This allowed Intel to use their 5400 “Seaburg” chipset as is without requiring the development of an offshoot of the chipset that could use regular memory modules. However the requirement of FB-DIMMs is hard to swallow. They are expensive, slow, and they aren’t the most available memory modules out there. When AMD did this almost a year ago with their Quad-FX platform they at least allowed the use of regular un-buffered memory modules with it. This cuts down on cost and makes it more appealing to the overclocker or the gamer. FB-DIMMs aren’t likely to overclock very well and of course most enthusiasts are likely to want memory modules capable of speeds greater than 800MHz. So while the motherboards’ FSB can be adjusted independently of the memory clock speed, there is still a loss of memory performance compared to more traditional motherboard designs.
Board Layout
The layout of the Skulltrail motherboard is very good especially considering the large amount of integrated components. There are some problem areas. First and foremost is that the auxiliary power connector is VERY poorly placed. I had to actually shave a power cable extension down just clear the third video card when I attempted to setup 3-Way SLI with this board. The second problem is that the fourth PCIe x16 slot is nearly useless where it is placed. Since the auxiliary power connector is required according to Intel, even clearance with single slot video cards will be an issue here. Additionally many of the boards’ headers are located down there as are the onboard power and reset switches. Also with the bottom PCIe x16 slot at the board’s edge it is likely that you will never be able to use a dual slot video card in that slot because most ATX cases I’ve seen do not provide another position to screw in items below the bottom edge of the motherboard. Due to the ever increasing reliance on multiple GPU setups the ATX specification no longer seems to be adequate in my opinion. A new form factor clearly seems needed to allow for the installation of multiple video cards without issues like the one I mentioned above being a necessity of design.
The surrounding CPU areas are very clear compared to many single processor boards out there. Often dual processor boards are very crowded due to the amount of hardware being integrated onto the board and due to the ever increasing size of CPU cooling solutions, but that is not the case with Skulltrail.
The D5400XS has four 240-pin DDR2-FB DIMM slots. They are not color coded but silk screen numbering on the board makes figuring out memory placement very easy. The board should support up to 16GB of memory with this configuration.
The north bridge is located smack in the middle of the CPU areas. The north bridge is passively cooled by an extremely large aluminum heat sink. The heat sink did stay relatively cool during my testing but I admit that since this was on the open test bench I had great air flow to the board. So obviously inside a case things might be a bit different.
The D5400XS has an integrated 6321ESB IO controller hub. This is similar to the ICHx series south bridges. The south bridge is cooled by a single large flat heat sink and fan unit that not only cools it, but also two chips that provide SLI compatibility and additional PCIe lanes.
The D5400X2 has four PCIe 2.0 compatible x16 slots all of which operate with 16 lanes of bandwidth. There are also two legacy PCI v2.2 slots.
The D5400XS has 6 USB ports on the back (which seems sort of light), 1 IEEE1394 port, 1 S/PDIF port, 5 mini-headphone jacks, one optical output, and two eSATA ports provided by the JMicron JMB368 controller.