Gizmodo: skulltrail

Armari eXtreme Concept Prototype is Liquid Nitrogen Cooled PC Beast

Haroon Malik — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:59:59 EDT

Armari's eXtreme Concept Prototype (XCP) super computer is made of some 100 uniquely designed parts, is either cooled by liquid nitrogen, liquid flurocarbon immersion or thermoelectric cooling and phase change, depending on the model's configuration and has the ability to run 24/7 without needing to shutdown. The XCP will happily function through a temperature range of -110°C to 90°C and being built on Intel's Skulltrail platform, the XCP happily packs quite some power under its Lost in Space-esque hood.

Currently, the XCP is at concept stage, but the final production model is expected to house two quad-core CPUs (3.2GHz) on a motherboard that supports four graphics cards. Nice. We understand that the uber geeks among us are probably sweating profusely in eager anticipation of the XCP. Well, you can stop now, as an expected price tag of $20,000 says this will remain a thing of geek utopia. Yes, elf sex remains therein, too. Sorry. [HEXUS]

Eight-Core Intel Skulltrail Motherboard Gets Official, Is the Biggest, Baddest, Gaming Motherboard Around

Adrian Covert — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:08:44 EST

Speaking of crazy motherboards, Intel's absolutely insane Skulltrail motherboard officially launched at the Game Developers Conference today, renamed the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform (blah). The Dual Extreme supports dual quad-core processors, and both ATI (Crossfire) and NVIDIA (SLI) graphics cards. In addition, the motherboard has a 400 MHz front-side bus and a hefty $649 pricetag, double the price of a high-end Core 2 Duo motherboard. A handful of PC makers are said to be offering configurations around the Dual Extreme beginning today, including Voodoo, Falcon and Digital Storm, among others. [Intel via PC World]

Intel Reveals New Mobile SSD, UMPC Concepts, the Skulltrail Gaming Platform and Penryn and Santa Rosa Updates

Benny Goldman — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:52:00 EST

At Intel's Pre-CES briefing today, execs discussed a new super-small solid state drive, WiMax-capable devices, and 45nm Penryn chips in everything from UMPCs to television sets to slender desktop all-in-ones from your favorite computer makers. Here's the rundown:

• In January, Intel will introduce what they claim is the smallest SSD in the industry. Officially named the Z-P140 PATA SSD, the drive holds 2GB or 4GB and is 12x18x8mm (about the size of a penny if you couldn't tell from the pic), and 0.6 grams. The Z-P140 can act as a controller for compatible NAND memory, which means these drives are expandable to 16GB. Intel says that this new style of SSD should be showing up soon in several UMPCs and other mobile internet devices from companies such as Asus, BenQ, Clarion, Lenovo and more.

• Intel will also bring WiMax and other wireless connectivity options to these devices. A WiMax/Wi-Fi combo chip, code-named Echo Peak, will also come to market in 2008. Of the 25 devices in the mobile computing category planned for next year, Intel says that 20% will have WiMax, 60% will have 3G and 40% will have GPS. 100% will of course support both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

• For desktop users, processor capacity and hi-def performance will see major enhancements in 2008. "Skulltrail", a new dual-processor based platform, will enable high-end and professional computer users to run dual quad-core Core 2 Extreme processors for a massive 8-core performance, for gamers and other hardcore users. In addition, a new feature called HD Boost is an instruction set that will provide faster video encoding/decoding, 3D rendering and photo editing.

• Consumer electronics such as set-top boxes and digital televisions will also get a boost from "Canmore", a "system-on-a-chip" that combines 1GHz processing core with A/V processing and graphics and I/O components onto a single chip. Intel sees increased internet connectivity in these types of devices, and cited examples such as playing video games over your cable box as possible implementations.

• Santa Rosa Refresh, an updated version of the Centrino processor, is a 45nm Penryn chip with better graphics capabilities. The Refresh will be offered in notebooks and desktops and is geared to improving the quality of HD DVD and Blu-ray, among other graphic intensive applications.

• Finally, Intel says that the Gateway One and Dell XPS All-In-One will get the Penryn boost next year, and I was also told that they are "talking to Apple."[Intel]