Acromag's XCOM-6400 COM Express Module provides a high-performance processor in a package that is small, light, and very power-efficient. The XCOM-6400 is a Type 6 Basic COM Express module that is available with a choice of Intel's 4th-generation Core i7 or i5 Haswell CPU and Intel's 8-Series QM87 PCH chipset, formerly known as Lynx Point. The XCOM-6400 provides heat sink capabilities not available on traditional COM Express designs.

Conduction-cooled rails establish a new design opportunity for carrier cards. An innovative SODIMM hold-down method ensures secure connections while still allowing users to remove or upgrade the memory. Additional heat management technologies include heat spreader plates plus options such as cooling fins and a fan. Ruggedly designed for use in defense, aerospace, and industrial applications; this COM Express module features an extra-thick circuit board, advanced thermal management, and extended operating temperature ranges.

Intel may be a couple of months away from launching its Core "Haswell" processor family, and the 8-series "Lynx Point" family of chipset to back it, but is already talking to partners about the platform's successor, slated for the second quarter of 2014. Core "Haswell" introduces the industry to socket LGA1150 motherboards, and Core "Broadwell" could, in all likelihood, provide continuity to it, much in the same way "Ivy Bridge" did to "Sandy Bridge." Intel could introduce a new chipset to tag along with "Broadwell."

According to a roadmap slide seen by VR-Zone, Intel's 9-series chipset will include at least two models, the Z97 targeting enthusiasts, and the H97 targeting mainstream consumers. These chipset could drive socket LGA1150 motherboards going into the second half of 2014, and could support both "Haswell" and "Broadwell," in the same way today's 7-series chipset support "Sandy Bridge" and "Ivy Bridge." Intel could introduce a major feature with 9-series, SATA Express.

Intel issued a product-change notification (PCN) to partners in the motherboard industry, informing them of a new C2 stepping of the 8-series "Lynx Point" chipset. The stepping introduces a metal layers change that fixes the USB 3.0 remuneration erratum, which causes devices plugged in to USB 3.0 ports to fail to reinitialize after waking up from sleep states such as S3, requiring uses to unplug and replug them, which could get particularly irritating for people with external RAID devices that rely on USB 3.0 for host connectivity.

According to the PCN, the first socket LGA1150 motherboards in the market may not feature C2-stepping chipset. It predicts samples to be available to motherboard manufacturers by April 19, 2013; availability of qualification data (when Intel has finalized design after taking feedback from partners), by July 1 2013; customers should be ready to receive C2-stepping chips by July 31. These dates indicate that the very first batches of socket LGA1150 motherboards will still feature C1-stepping chipset that are affected by the erratum, and if you can't live with it, you should ideally wait until late-August or mid-September for the first motherboards with C2-stepping chipset to make it to the markets. Intel expects to launch its 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors and compatible LGA1150 motherboards by mid-June.

The issue with USB 3.0 controllers integrated into Intel's upcoming "Lynx Point" 8-series core logic can be addressed only with new hardware (modifying the silicon), according to a new Hardware.info report. Intel decided against delaying launch of the 4th generation Core "Haswell" family to address the issue, and instead opted to address it in a future revision of the chipset.

A design flaw causes devices connected to Lynx Point's integrated USB 3.0 controller to be disconnected when the system wakes up from S3 (suspend-to-RAM), forcing users to reconnect them. This could mean you'd have to mount your USB 3.0 hard-drives/flash-drives again, although no data is lost. If you're editing files stores on such a storage device, you might have to save your work before the system is put to S3 sleep.

FinalWire Ltd. today announced the immediate availability of AIDA64 Extreme Edition 2.80 software, a streamlined diagnostic and benchmarking tool for home users; and the immediate availability of AIDA64 Business Edition 2.80 software, an essential network management solution for small and medium scale enterprises.

The new AIDA64 update offers optimized benchmarks for Intel Atom Z2760, implements support for OpenCL 1.2 Update and OpenGL ES 3.0, and provides GPU details for the latest AMD Radeon and nVIDIA GeForce graphics accelerators.DOWNLOAD: FinalWire AIDA64 v2.80 Installer (EXE), ZIP package

ECS has less than stable RSS and media channels (to our advantage). It may have accidentally blurted out model names of at least three upcoming Intel 8-series chipset based motherboards, for socket LGA1150 Core "Haswell" processors. Among the three are Z87H3-AX Extreme, Z87H3-AX Golden, and H87H3-M4. The two Z87H3-AX motherboards, going by the company's current 7-series chipset motherboard lineup, appear to be identical, with the Z87H3-AX Golden pimping out with gold-colored components and heatsinks. The boards will likely max out the feature-set of Intel's "Lynx Point" chipset family. The Z87 PCH succeeds the current Z77, in supporting overclocking, in addition to all features of the platform, including Small Business Advantage. The H87H3-M4 sounds like the name typically given by ECS to a micro-ATX motherboard based on the H87 chipset. H87 supports nearly every feature the Z87 does, except CPU overclocking.

Going into 2013, Intel's tough balancing act between keeping a low power/thermal envelope, and advancing performance, all while staying on the 22 nm silicon fab process, will be care of its Core "Haswell-ULT" processor. The chip will feature some radical changes to traditional Intel processor design, which will help it achieve its design goals. According to a deck of leaked slides scored by Expreview, Intel plans to use additional C-states that drop the processor's base clock, and redesign the processor package to accommodate the PCH silicon, reducing the board footprint.

To begin with, Haswell-ULT will be designed to support 24 MHz base clock speed, which running in "deep" energy-saving idle states. Modern processors with FSB replacement interconnect technologies such as QuickPath Interconnect and HyperTransport need a base clock to time other components on the processor, and for low-level communications, while a bulk of the data is transported by the primary interconnect. Intel found a way to turn off the 100 MHz base clock signal (which is also used to time the PCI-Express root complex and integrated graphics core), and replace it with a 24 MHz clock, when the processor is idling. As the processor returns to lower (more active) C-states, the 100 MHz base clock is reapplied. The 24 MHz base clock is activated by three new power states, C8, C9, and C10, introduced by Haswell-ULT. The third slide below details what happens to the various components in the new C-states.

With its 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" CPU and 7-series "Panther Point" platform turning into a reality, Intel is moving on to development of the new 22 nm "Haswell" architecture. Entry-thru-performance segment Core "Haswell" processors will be built on the new LGA1150 package, and will be driven by a new series of platform controller hubs, codenamed "Lynx Point". We already know a tiny bit about the way Haswell+Lynx Point platform is structured, and the features that could come standard with it. A new VR-Zone report lists out all the chipset models Intel will carve out using the silicon.

The lineup is quite predictable. At the top of the pile is the feature-rich Z87, which has all the features of the platform, plus overclocking features. This is followed by Z85, which apart from features such as Rapid Storage Technology, could lack RAID for its SATA ports (could only feature AHCI and IDE modes). Then there's H87, which has all the features of Z87, except platform overclocking features. Q87 and Q85 are for large business desktops, and feature various client management features. Then there's B85, for small businesses. Lynx Point could feature as many as six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Rapid Storage Technology will be updated to present users with a level of customization. Then there's Fast Boot, which speeds up system startup, provided an Intel SSD is used for caching.

FinalWire today released the latest version of AIDA64, version 2.30. This release is set around enhancing the desktop gadget, improving the UPS and smart-battery monitoring capabilities, and adding support for newly-released hardware, such as the latest GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA; and the latest Intel SSDs. AIDA64 is proprietary software, and is available through FinalWire's online store.DOWNLOAD: FinalWire AIDA64 2.30 EXE (installer), ZIP Package

The condensed change-log follows.

Even as its 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" Core processors and compatible 7-series "Panther Point" chipset are only taking shape, with chains of product-launches starting late-March, extending through June; there's little denying that Intel has the successor to this platform ready, and a DigiTimes report pins its launch as early as March 2013. These upcoming product lines include a new processor architecture "Haswell", and compatible "Lynx Point" chipset. We knew Haswell's March-June 2013 launch schedule from a slightly older report that cited a leaked road-map slide. This latest DigiTimes report cites sources from upstream component suppliers. Haswell processor platform will introduce a new socket, LGA1150, which is not compatible with current LGA1155 platforms.

Intel "Lynx Point" 8-series chipset, which will form the foundation of 4th Generation Core processors in the LGA1150 package, codenamed "Haswell", was detailed in a leaked company slide. A slightly older report this week focused on Haswell chips having DirectX 11.1 graphics, and a reorganized display output logic that sees digital display outputs being wired to the processor package, while analog display outputs being routed to the chipset. This chipset talks to the processor's embedded graphics controller over a slightly less functional Flexible Display Interface (FDI).

Lynx Point chipset is a platform controller hub (PCH), much like all the Intel client-platform chipsets released since P55. A crude way to define its function would be to call it a "glorified southbridge", which handles all the connectivity of the system, while lacking the main PCI-Express root complex of the system to which graphics cards are ideally connected, as that's relocated to the CPU package. The PCH does have a narrower 8-lane PCIe hub, but to wire out x1 and x4 expansion slots, and onboard controllers. The Lynx Point chipset connects to the processor primarily over DMI, although the slide doesn't detail the DMI bandwidth. Most likely, it's similar to Cougar Point's 4 GB/s. Lynx Point also lacks a supplementary 4 GB/s PCIe link from the processor that's found on X79 chipset.