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Motherboard supports Intel processors

A Portwell Technology product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Jan 29, 2008

The RUBY-9717VGAR motherboard is designed for applications that need more onboard integration and fewer costly add-on devices

American Portwell Technology has developed an industrial and embedded Intel Q965-based motherboard in a uATX form factor that supports all Intel mainstream desktop processors including Core2 Duo (C2D), Core 2 Quad (C2Q), Pentium D, Pentium 4 and Celeron D in the LGA-775 package.

The RUBY-9717VGAR features an onboard dual VGA and DVI independent display; an ADD2 graphics card slot; one PCI-E x4 slot for nongraphical devices; two 32bit PCI expansion slots for legacy devices; six 32bit PCI expansion slots to accommodate most industrial I/O cards; six SATA-300 ports to support Intel Matrix storage technology with RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10; and RS-232/422/485 connectivity.

The industrial uATX motherboard is suitable for applications in the medical ultrasound equipment, data communications, multimedia, point-of-sale (POS) and gaming markets.

"The RUBY-9717VGAR's ability to support Intel's C2D and C2Q multicore processor architecture means it can provide developers with greater computing performance while retaining lower power consumption", says Jack Lam, American Portwell Technology's Senior Product Marketing Manager.

"However, unlike commercial motherboards, the RUBY-9717VGAR is designed specifically for applications that need more onboard integration and fewer costly add-on devices", Lam adds.

According to Lam, expansion on a typical commercial motherboard is usually restricted to one PCI-E x16 and a small amount of PCI-E x1 and PCU slots.

"While this will serve the home user and casual gamer, it is a less than satisfactory choice for the applications developed by OEMs and service providers".

"They have completely different needs", Lam confirms.

"Portwell's RUBY-9717VGAR uATX industrial motherboard targets these needs by providing multiple onboard I/O slots".

Frank Shen, American Portwell Technology's Product Marketing Director, believes that the new RUBY-9717VGAR is the perfect solution for applications that need small footprint and great connectivity.

"While users of commercial motherboards can add a few extra PCI-E x1 cards to accommodate the add-on Ethernet card, a true performance-oriented board such as the 4Gbyte fibre-channel or four-Port LAN card needs a minimum PCI-E x4 slot to function efficiently".

"Medical applications are good example", he adds.

"Compared to the expensive high-end graphics card with 2x DVI output found in commercial PC, the ADD2 graphics card slot built into the new RUBY-9717VGAR enables developers to add two DVI-independent displays at a very low cost".

"Add in up to 10 USB ports, four serial ports and an HD two-channel audio interface and the RUBY-9717VGAR becomes a powerful, cost-efficient solution for the integration-hungry applications developed by today's OEMs and service providers".