Axiomtek announced a PICMG 1.3 single board computer (SBC) that supports Intel's quad-core Xeon E3-1200 family of processors, as well as Core i3/15/i7 CPUs. Employing the Intel C206 PCH chipset, the SHB108 offers up to 16GB of DDR3 memory, PCI Express and PCI expansion, six RAID-enabled SATA connectors, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, plus 14 USB 2.0 ports.

The "server-grade" SHB108 is almost identical to the SHB106 SBC that Axiomtek announced in June. However, instead of supporting Intel's latest "Sandy Bridge" line of Core i3/i5/i7 processors, it instead works with the previous generation of Core CPUs.

With its LGA1155 socket and Intel C206 PCH I/O controller, however, the board is primarily intended to run one of Intel's low-power, quad-core Xeon E3-1200 processors.

Axiomtek SHB108

Xeon E3-1200 processors include the Xeon E3-1220L, which features dual cores, a 2.2GHz basic clock speed and 3.3GHz TurboBoost speed, and a 20-Watt TDP. The Xeon E3-1260L is similar, but moves to four cores and has a 45-Watt TDP. These relatively low TDPs position the chips as alternatives to upcoming, low-power ARM server processors.

With either the Xeon E3 or the Core processors, the SHB108 features Intel technology including turbo boost and hyper-threading, as well as Intel VT, TPM 1.2, and AMT 7.0 technology. With the Xeon E3 in place, the board supports PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0, enabling flexible PCIe options including x16, x4, or x1 lanes, says Axiomtek. PCI and LPC buses are also provided (see spec list farther below).

Like the SHB106 (and very similar SHB105), the SHB108 supports the 13.3 x 4.96-inch PICMG 1.3 SBC format. (Another PICMG 1.3 board that offers the Intel C206 PCH chipset and supports the Xeon E3-1200 is the Trenton Technology TSB7053 announced in April.)

In addition to the Xeon support, the main difference between the SHB108 and SHB106 is that the SHB108 supports up to 16GB of DDR3 1066/1333MHz memory instead of 8GB. As with the SHB106, Axiomtek upgraded two of the six SATA ports to 6Gbps speeds. The SHB108's six SATA ports, all of which are available via internal headers, are said to offer RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 functionality.

SHB108 port detail
(Click to enlarge)

A VGA port is standard, but customers can swap that out for a DisplayPort, says Axiomtek. The board offers dual gigabit Ethernet ports with wake-on-LAN and PXE boot ROM, and two of the 14 available USB 2.0 ports are external real-world ports. Other internal I/O is said to include dual COM ports, audio I/O, PS/2 ports, an LPT port, and a floppy disk drive (FDD) port.

Features and specifications listed for the SHB108 include:

• Processor — LGA1155 socket for Intel Xeon E3-1200 and Core i3/i5/i7
• Chipset — Intel C206 PCH
• Memory — up to 16GB DDR3 1066/1333MHz RAM via 2 x DIMMs
• Expansion:
  • PCIe x16 graphics port with SVDO support or PCIe x1 device port
  • 4 x PCIe lanes for PCIe x4 or 4x PCIe x1
  • PCI with 4 x 32-bit bus masters
  • LPC port
• Storage — 6 x SATA (2 x 6Gbps; 4 x 3Gbps) with RAID 0/1/10/5
• Display — VGA port; optional DisplayPort
• Networking — 2 x gigabit Ethernet ports with wake-on-LAN, PXE boot ROM; one port supports iAMT 7.0
• Other I/O:
  • 14 x USB 2.0 ports (2 x real-world external)
  • 1 x FDD
  • 1 x PS/2 keyboard
  • 1 x PS/2 mouse
  • 1 x LPT with SPP/EPP/ECP support
  • 1 x RS-232/422/485 (COM 1)
  • 1 x RS-232 (COM 2)
• Audio — HD codec audio (Realtek ALC662) with mic, line-in, line-out, and speaker-out
• Other features — TPM; iAMT 7.0; hardware monitoring; SMBus; watchdog timer; smart fan
• Power — TBD
• Temperature — 32 to 140 deg. F (0 to 60 deg. C)
• Dimensions — 13.3 x 4.96 inches (338 x 126mm); PICMG 1.3

Availability

The SHB108 will be available around the end of December, says Axiomtek, which did not list pricing or operating system support. More information may be found on its SHB108 product page.

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