Intel launches motherboard targeted at gamers

Dubai: In a move catered to gaming and video enthusiasts, Intel last week released a motherboard that will allow consumers to put two of the company's fastest chips into one computer.

The motherboard, called a Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform, will allow consumers to have two quad-core chips and plug in as many as four video cards. The board is being marketed towards computing enthusiasts, such as the "hard-core" video game players and video enthusiast who want to process HD video on their home computers, according to Carl Lewin, Intel's innovation centre manager for the GCC.

Lewis acknowledged that isn't such commercial software that is capable of using that type of processing power, but he says it is only a matter of time before there is.

"Why might suggest: why create such a high performance machine that you'll never make use of? But if you look at the way user expectations are increasing, then it's probably not that long before user expectation catches up with that technology, and probably outstrips it," he said.

Asked why Intel didn't make a eight-core chip available instead of using two four-core chips, Nawras Sawsou, public relations manager for Intel, said it had no immediate plans to release a eight-core chip commercially.

The new motherboard will allow consumers to "overclock" the chips, but "within reason", Lewin said. Allowing users to overclock chips, which increases their performance by allowing them to run at higher speeds, has been something that Intel has traditional avoided. If a chip is overclocked too much, it could result in a damaged chip.

Lewin also said this technology allows home users to have the type of power normally associated with professional workstations, but also includes features for home users, such as 7.0 surround sound.

How soon the chips will be available in the UAE is uncertain.