Intel has unveiled its latest gaming and high-end computing platform, which includes two quad-core processors and graphic cards.

The new platform, which had been code-named Skulltrail, not only holds a total of eight processors; it also gives users a choice of two multicard graphics solutions -- one from ATI and one from nVidia Corp, the company said in a statement.

“When it comes to delivering innovation to the ultimate enthusiast, our new 8-core desktop platform is a winner,” said Dr Khaled Elamrawi, Intel general manager in Egypt, Levant and North Africa. “The ground-breaking Intel Desktop Board D5400XS enables the flexibility to pair a variety of quad graphics solutions with two of our fastest desktop processors. The result is stunning PC performance.”

The Intel Desktop Board D5400XS, when paired with two Intel Core™ 2 Extreme QX9775 processors, forms the foundation of the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform.

Hardcore gamers will welcome the opportunity to enjoy multiple simultaneous graphics card solutions featuring either NVIDIA SLI or ATI Crossfire for today’s latest graphics-intensive titles. And the performance of eight processing cores is especially welcomed by the 3D animators, digital audio artists, and high-definition video editors behind the coolest games here at the Game Developers Conference, the company said. 

As high-definition video becomes more prevalent than ever, encoding and editing is a task that more power users are looking to their PC to do for them. Such workloads are handled with ease by this new platform, and video developers such as DivX* are excited about the possibilities.

Each Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX9775 offers 12MB of L2 cache, a fast 1600 MHz system bus and four cores running at a brisk 3.2 GHz.

When paired on the dual-socket Intel Desktop Board D5400XS, this platform breezes through modern benchmarks and advanced workloads. For experienced enthusiasts who desire more capability, the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor bus ratio locks (overspeed protection) have been removed**.

This offers added technical flexibility in customizing the system so OEMs can unleash even more performance.

“This dual processor platform is the fastest desktop PC we’ve ever tested in our labs, reaching a score of 6481 on 3DMark06 CPU and 20,160 on Cinebench 10 even while running at the standard 3.20 GHz frequency,” said Al Schamma. – TradeArabia News Service