Questions about the Intel Skulltrail motherboards.

[The_Absolute]

Questions about the Intel "Skulltrail" motherboards.

The Intel "Skulltrail" motherboards, which have two physical CPU sockets, do they make versions of this motherboard which support the Core i7 processors? Will they eventually release skulltrail motherboards which support the future Core i9 "gulftown" processors?

What kind of computer case would have mounts for this type of motherboard? In the future, I was hoping to build a skulltrail computer with two Core i7 or Core i9 extreme editions, with quad crossfire Radeon HD 5870 X2, or the NVidia GeForce GTX 300 series equivalent.

I see a skulltrail Core i7/i9 platform as being necessary for properly handling the humongous throughput of the DX11 graphics cards, especially in Xfire/SLI. Will I probably be spending more than $10,000 on building such a computer?

If I have a lot of money, and willing to spend it, should I go for it?

 

[B. Elliott]

I'd advise against it. Adding more and more cores doesn't increase the amount of information that can be fed for graphics unless the program (or game) can actually make use of the additional cores in the first place. Processor speed/power currently isn't as big of a factor as graphics. An overclocked dual core processor is still more than enough for 90% of the games out there. I haven't seen any information that mentions it supporting i7's or i9's, unless something has come out in the past few months. The FB-DIMM memory is also a big negative for the Skulltrail. Being a holdover from workstation platforms, it generally suffers from high latency and low read speeds. That, and it's DDR2 only. If they were going to make a model that actually supports i7s, they would have to change the motherboard layout it's self due to the integrated memory controller on the i7s. Ie; an entirely new board from the ground up.

It would make a good computer for movie making or 3D rendering. Other than that, save your money and build a system with similar gaming performance for much less money.

 

[quicknote]

I cannot make a recommendation on whether or not you should spend a large amount of money on a computer build. However, I can provide information about the Intel "Skulltrail" motherboards and their compatibility with different processors and graphics cards.

To answer your first question, yes, there are versions of the Intel "Skulltrail" motherboard that support the Core i7 processors. These motherboards were released in 2008 and are no longer being manufactured. However, there are other dual-socket motherboards on the market that support the newer Core i7 processors.

As for future support for the Core i9 "gulftown" processors, Intel has not announced any plans for releasing a Skulltrail motherboard that supports these processors. It is possible that they may release a new version of the Skulltrail motherboard in the future, but this is speculation at this point.

In terms of computer cases that can accommodate the Skulltrail motherboard, any case that supports Extended ATX (E-ATX) motherboards should work. These cases typically have extra mounting holes to accommodate the larger size of the Skulltrail motherboard.

Regarding your planned build with two Core i7 or Core i9 processors and quad Crossfire or SLI graphics cards, it is difficult to estimate the cost without knowing the specific components you plan to use. However, it is likely that you will spend more than $10,000 on such a build, especially if you include top-of-the-line components.

In conclusion, while the Intel "Skulltrail" motherboards were once cutting-edge technology, they are now outdated and may not be the best choice for a high-end computer build. It is important to research and compare different motherboard options to find the best fit for your specific needs and budget.