| Mini-ITX sports T9400 |
Aug. 13, 2008
 Portwell has announced a mini-ITX board employing Intel's recently announced, device-oriented Core 2 Duo T9400 processor. The "WADE-8067" has four SATA ports, two serial ports, plus two gigabit Ethernet ports, supports up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, and includes a PCI Express expansion slot, says Portwell.
(Click here for a larger view of Portwell's WADE-8067)
The WADE-8067 appears to be the first mini-ITX board sporting Intel's device-oriented Core 2 Duo T9400, announced last month, though CompactPCI and COM Express devices based on the CPU have been announced by Concurrent Technologies and Congatec, respectively. The T9400, manufactured using a 45nm process, clocks at 2.53GHz and includes 6MB of second-level cache.
The new GM45 Express chipset -- designed to go with the T9400, and employed by Portwell on the WADE-8067 -- consists of the GM45 GMCH (graphics memory controller hub) and ICH (I/O controller hub) 9M. Offered with a seven-year lifecycle, the processor/chipset combination is touted by Intel as:- Supporting both DDR2 and DDR3 memory running at up to 1066MHz
- Including Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, with graphics core speeds up to 533MHz, and support for high-definition video playback on VGA, LVDS, DVI, HDMI, or DisplayPort outputs
- Offering four SATA ports, six PCI Express root ports, a four-port serial ATA controller, up to twelve USB 2.0 ports, and an Intel high-definition audio interface
The Mini-ITX sized WADE-8067 doesn't find room for all of these capabilities, but it offers the vast majority of them. For example, it supports up to 4GB of 667/800/1066Mhz DDR3 memory via two 204-pin DIMM slots. Four STA ports are also present, as is a x4 PCI Express slot.
Touting the board's suitability for signage, kiosk, gaming, and DVR applications, Portwell appears particularly proud of its video output. The WADE-8067 includes VGA, DVI, LVDS, and HDMI video outputs, and is said to support dual displays connected to any two of these ports. If a third display is desired, it may be added via the PCI Express expansion slot, the company adds.
The rear I/O of Portwell's WADE-8067
The other real-world connectors on the edge of the board (above) include an RS232 port, an RS232/44/485 port, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and four USB ports. There are also 3.5mm audio jacks for microphone input, line input, and audio output.
Additional interfaces can be found on top of the board. These consist of a 24-bit LVDS connector, a TV-out pin header, an 8-bit GPIO pin header, and a pin header for front-panel I/O.
With an Award BIOS, the RoHS-compliant WADE-8067 includes a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). It also has a programmable watchdog timer, according to Portwell.
Features and specifications listed by Portwell for the WADE-8067 include:- Processor -- Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 clocked at 2.53GHz
- Memory -- up to 4GB of 667/800/1066MHz DDR2 memory
- Display -- supports dual displays via any two of its HDMI, VGA, LVDS, and DVI ports; maximum resolution not stated
- Networking -- dual gigabit Ethernet ports with RJ45 connectors
- Other I/O:
- 6 x USB (4 on rear, 2 via pin headers)
- 4 x SATA (on top of board)
- 1 x VGA (on rear)
- 1 x HDMI (on rear)
- 1 x DVI (on rear)
- 1 x LVDS (via pin header)
- 1 x TV out (pin header)
- 1 x RS232, 1 x RS232/422/485 (on rear)
- 1 8-bit GPIO (pin header)
- Expansion -- 1 x PCI Express x4 slot
- Operating temperature -- 0 to 60 deg. C
- Dimensions -- 6.7 x 6.7 inches
Portwell provided no information about operating system support, but other boards from this vendor typically run Windows XP, Windows XP Embedded, Windows CE, and Linux. Pricing and availability was not cited. More information may be available from the company's website, here.
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