Intel Bloomfield Motherboard Up Close and Personal

[malware]

Intel Smackover Motherboard Up Close and Personal

As Intel's next-gen 45nm Hi-k Nehalem CPU architecture codenamed Bloomfield is being planned for the fourth quarter of this year, it's time to see some pictures of the motherboard that will become home for these new processors. The board pictured below is an early reference sample codenamed "Smackover" (see picture 1). Smackover will be released in Q4 together with the Nehalem server parts and it will be a triple-channel DDR3 high-end workstation/gaming platform. The motherboard has single 1366-pin CPU socket, four DDR3-1333 slots, three of which being colored blue to signal the triple-channel support and two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, likely bringing CrossFire to Intel's platform. The only heatsink installed is the one covering the ICH10 southbridge while the Tylersburg NB is left "naked". The board has no IDE or floppy connectors, but only six SATA 3.0 Gbps ports.



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[InnocentCriminal]

All we need now is motherboard manufacturers to release one with a black PCB and red slots.

^^

 

[jocksteeluk]

well this has put back my upgrading schedule several months.

 

[Deleted member 3]

Interesting, the PCI-e to the right has an open back so any card fits in it. Always wondered why they didn't have that by default.

 

[btarunr]

Needs quite some power. 24 pin ATX + 8 pin + molex. And Intel placed that skull logo

 

[lemonadesoda]

Bloomfield/Nahelem = Quad core + hyperthreading = 8 threads.

I wonder if the Northbridge can be passively cooled? I guess not, or it would have been installed just like the southbridge.

So will Nahelam come in TWO versions. One, like this one, with integrated memory controller, and another that is socket compatible with xeon XP?

Intel has DUMPED PATA. Oh dear, what about all those lovely second HDDs and DVD R/W drives we want to transfer over :-(

No COM port. No Parallel port. Shame. So many "enthusiasts" devices run off COM/Parallel, like EPROM/BIOS programmers, control systems, etc. Means a COM add-in board is the first upgrade this machine will need. Personally, I find a COM port more useful that TWO external SATA ports.

So much wasted space... a nice COM could fit in there!

What happens when you stick in 4 memory sticks? I wonder why they capped at three channels and didnt do the full 4 channel memory like skulltrail. Odd really, because a platform designed for VS and 8 threads is going to have a memory bottleneck. It really needs the full 4 channel.

This is even more obvious with Silverthorne. Add a few atoms to the Nahelam core and it will really demand higher memory bandwidth. Own goal not to build that in reght now. Because adding it later (with inbuilt memory controller) is probably going to need ANOTHER socket specification.

 

[Deleted member 3]

The fact that this particular motherboard doesn't have PATA and serial/parallel ports doesn't mean other boards won't have them.

 

[Grings]

I imagine the northbridge could be passively cooled, its got no memory controller, so theoretically should run cooler

 

[Morgoth]

Bloomfield/Nahelem = Quad core + hyperthreading = 8 threads.

I wonder if the Northbridge can be passively cooled? I guess not, or it would have been installed just like the southbridge.

So will Nahelam come in TWO versions. One, like this one, with integrated memory controller, and another that is socket compatible with xeon XP?

What happens when you stick in 4 memory sticks? I wonder why they capped at three channels and didnt do the full 4 channel memory like skulltrail. Odd really, because a platform designed for VS and 8 threads is going to have a memory bottleneck. It really needs the full 4 channel.

The one with intergrated memory controller is bloomfield + server versions
and it doest need quad channel
no its gona have no bottleneck in memmory
trichannel is new quadchannel is atm only for Server ram
and skull trail is a server board not a desktop board!
plz do some more research

 

[Deleted member 3]

and skull trail is a server board not a desktop board!
plz do some more research

Do your research as well, Skulltrail is quite clearly a workstation board.

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

Bloomfield/Nahelem = Quad core + hyperthreading = 8 threads.

I wonder if the Northbridge can be passively cooled? I guess not, or it would have been installed just like the southbridge.

So will Nahelam come in TWO versions. One, like this one, with integrated memory controller, and another that is socket compatible with xeon XP?

Intel has DUMPED PATA. Oh dear, what about all those lovely second HDDs and DVD R/W drives we want to transfer over :-(

No COM port. No Parallel port. Shame. So many "enthusiasts" devices run off COM/Parallel, like EPROM/BIOS programmers, control systems, etc. Means a COM add-in board is the first upgrade this machine will need. Personally, I find a COM port more useful that TWO external SATA ports.

So much wasted space... a nice COM could fit in there!

What happens when you stick in 4 memory sticks? I wonder why they capped at three channels and didnt do the full 4 channel memory like skulltrail. Odd really, because a platform designed for VS and 8 threads is going to have a memory bottleneck. It really needs the full 4 channel.

This is even more obvious with Silverthorne. Add a few atoms to the Nahelam core and it will really demand higher memory bandwidth. Own goal not to build that in reght now. Because adding it later (with inbuilt memory controller) is probably going to need ANOTHER socket specification.

it looks so naked ...

 

[btarunr]

Bloomfield/Nahelem = Quad core + hyperthreading = 8 threads.

Nehalem is the base design / architecture, Beckton and Gainestown are the server/WS implementations; Bloomfield, Lynnfield, Clarksfield are its desktop implementations.

I wonder if the Northbridge can be passively cooled? I guess not, or it would have been installed just like the southbridge.

If you're saying that after looking at the pics where the NB is exposed, look again, there are mount-holes and an outline of the NB cooler's base drawn on the PCB. There's a 3-pin fan header close to it so dunno if its for an active cooler or just another fan-header. Intel has had a tradition of not using active-chipset cooling even with its highest offerings. Even back in the i875P days when active chipset cooling was the 'in-thing', Intel used a large aluminum heatsink in the D875PBZ.

So will Nahelam come in TWO versions. One, like this one, with integrated memory controller, and another that is socket compatible with xeon XP?

You can see in the pics of the board, the wiring between the CPU socket and the memory slots. Maybe those without the IMC comes on a different socket. Nehalem brings with it three new sockets: LGA 1160, LGA 1366 and LGA 1567.

Intel has DUMPED PATA. Oh dear, what about all those lovely second HDDs and DVD R/W drives we want to transfer over :-(

That it has done way back since ICH8 / ICH8R southbridge. The P35 based boards you see around, none of them have their PATA handled by the southbridge.

No COM port. No Parallel port. Shame. So many "enthusiasts" devices run off COM/Parallel, like EPROM/BIOS programmers, control systems, etc. Means a COM add-in board is the first upgrade this machine will need. Personally, I find a COM port more useful that TWO external SATA ports.

So much wasted space... a nice COM could fit in there!

See, the legacy ports are not something decided by an architecure. Motherboard vendors can choose to add legacy ports as these ports are not controlled by the chipset but the SuperIO chip (that also has the FDC).

What happens when you stick in 4 memory sticks? I wonder why they capped at three channels and didnt do the full 4 channel memory like skulltrail. Odd really, because a platform designed for VS and 8 threads is going to have a memory bottleneck. It really needs the full 4 channel.

Beckton is the only core that will feature a Quad-Channel memory controller since it's a 8 core (multi socket) processor with HT (16 threads in all). Rest all are either tri-channel or dual-channel. Beckton in fact has a totally different socket, the LGA-1567 so the board in the pics above is not that socket.

 

[spud107]

wtf? @ under the bottom pciex1 slot. . . .lol

 

[Deleted member 24505]

The sata ports are the wrong way round,they should at least be parallel to the edge.Otherwise it looks fine to me.

 

[Kursah]

I haven't looked into this new stuff much...just a few articles like this here and there...but from looking at the pics...unless I'm blind as hell, I see the 24-pin and a 4-pin near the VGA slots...but where's the CPU 4/8-pin power connection? Will these setups not require it? Surely Intel will implement that feature...as this is just a reference sample.

EDIT: Found the 8-pin connector..n/m I was blind!

Can't wait to see what this new tech is capable of!

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Under the botom pci-e x1 slot,it says-

"????? joes-order the smackover special"

Wtf is that all about?

 

[btarunr]

Under the botom pci-e x1 slot,it says-

"????? joes-order the smackover special"

Wtf is that all about?

It's an Easter-egg. Obviously that board is an engineering-sample fresh out of Intel's belt.

I bet it says "Eat at Joe's, order the smackover special".....some American could explain what that is.

 

[WarEagleAU]

Triple channel?

 

[Random Murderer]

wtf? is that on-board ram under the cpu socket??

 

[btarunr]

wtf? is that on-board ram under the cpu socket??

If you're hinting at those rectangular things with "Pulse" printed on them, no, they're chokes. Part of the CPU's power circuitry.

 

[Random Murderer]

If you're hinting at those rectangular things with "Pulse" printed on them, no, they're chokes. Part of the CPU's power circuitry.

ah, didn't see that they had "pulse" printed on them.

 

[malware]

I changed the original story a little, since there was a mistake with all codenames. Now you can understand what the "Smackover" stands for.

I'd like to give my thanks to Tamas for his mail!

 

[Morgoth]

i love it
are there anny pics of the cpu it self?

 

[eidairaman1]

Looks like LGA 775 or SKT-T also gotta love the Crossbone Silk Screen

 

[btarunr]

...while the Tylersburg NB is left "naked". The board has no IDE or floppy connectors, but only six SATA 3.0 Gbps ports.

That's an ES, Malware. The NB won't be naked. You can see the mount-holes for a NB cooler, an outline of the NB cooler's base drawn on the PCB and a 3-pin 12V fan point. You can also see traces of thermal interface material on the NB. It's naked in those pics only for illustrative purposes.....just a hint that the NB cooler in could be an active one