Intel developed the D5400XS motherboard specifically for the Skulltrail system, and it seems like it is still a work in progress. It looks as though this will also remain the sole board for Intel’s new platform. None of the large motherboard makers such as Asus, MSI and Gigabyte currently has plans to produce a Skulltrail board, due to the prohibitive cost.

The most important features of the D5400XS motherboard are its 2 CPU sockets, a quad-channel memory interface and four PCI-Express slots. Each of the PEG slots has a full 16 lanes at its disposal.

Intel’s board has the dimensions of a large workstation motherboard. Measuring 33 x 30.5 cm, it won’t fit into every case, either. Buyers should make sure they have a case large enough to accommodate this bulky board.

The I/O shield offers only rather limited connectivity options. It lacks serial, parallel and PS/2 ports. There are, however, four USB jack, a Firewire connector and an eSATA port.

Taking a closer look at the board, we find it equipped with a northbridge, a southbridge and two PCI-Express port switchers. The southbridge and the PCI-Express port switchers are covered by a large flat heatsink which sports a very loud fan. Even when the board is installed in a case, the whistling and hissing of the fan is impossible to tune out.

For network connectivity, the board sports Intel’s own 82573L Gigabit LAN chip which is connected to the chipset via PCI-Express.