Intel Corporation today launched three new motherboards: the Desktop Board DX48BT2 Extreme Series (formerly codenamed Bone Trail 2); Desktop Board DG35EC Classic Series (formerly codenamed Eva Cove); and Desktop Board D945GCLF Essential Series (formerly codenamed Little Falls). The boards are individually aimed at the extreme gamer, mainstream multi-media user, and entry-level PC user respectively.

Tom Rampone, vice president (Sales and Marketing Group) and general manager (Channel Platforms Group) of Intel, said, "From ultimate gaming bliss, to crisp high definition, to the most-affordable Internet-centric desktop, Intel continues to push the boundaries of world-class desktop offerings. As the demand for desktops across the board moves from strength to strength, we are also quickly moving towards more feature differentiation and innovation down our product roadmap."The Desktop Board DX48BT2 targeted at extreme gamers, Intel claims, unleashes the fastest native 1600 MHz front-side bus and memory support providing powerful performance and extreme overclockability. It supports Intel Core 2 Extreme processors featuring quad or dual-core processing and a faster 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz FSB and is built with the Intel X48 Express Chipset with ICH9R that is validated for chipset-level overclocking. There are two DIMM sockets designed to support up to 4GB of DDR3 1600 MHz memory or four DIMM sockets designed to support up to 8GB of DDR3 1333/1066/800 MHz memory. The board has 2 IEEE 1394a ports and 12 USB 2.0 ports, dual full-speed PCIe 2.0 slots + x4/x16 PCIe slot and 2 PCI expansion slots, and 6 SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports. The DX48BT2 board incorporates Intel Matrix Storage Technology, and Dolby Home Theater.

The Desktop Board DG35EC Classic Series board, targeted at mainstream multimedia users, Intel claims, is built with sharpest performing integrated graphics supported on Intel architecture. The board is based on GMA X3500 integrated graphics, and supports a range of processors including Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The integrated graphics and connectors meet a variety of digital needs, including 1080p video playback for movie clips, media streams, and the latest generation HD video cameras, without the need for an add-in video card. The board is eligible for Microsoft Windows Vista Premium logo, and according to Intel, is the first to have integrated Microsoft DirectX 10 capability and support for OpenGL 2.0. Another first, Intel claims, is the availability of the Intel HD Video logo chassis sticker on boxed retail versions of the board.

Meanwhile, the Desktop Board D945GCLF, belonging to a new category of computers called 'Nettops', is an affordable and unique motherboard that integrates a single unit of compute with a microprocessor, chipset, motherboard, and heat sink. The board is claimed to be ideal for traditional channels to build and package into a full PC system for under $300. It uses Intel's new Atom processor, and will ship towards the second half of the year.