Axiomtek announced a PICMG 1.3 single board computer (SBC) supporting Intel's latest “Sandy Bridge” line of Core i3/i5/i7 processors. The SHB106 offers up to 8GB of unbuffered ECC DDR3 memory, PCI Express and PCI expansion, six RAID-enabled SATA connectors, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, and 14 USB 2.0 ports, says the company.

The SHB106 is very similar to the Intel Core-based SHB105 announced in December, and supports the same, 13.3 x 4.96-inch PICMG 1.3 SBC format. However, it moves up to Intel's latest "2nd Generation" line of Core processors, also known as its 2011 line or "Sandy Bridge" processors.

Axiomtek SHB106

The Sandy Bridge CPUs are touted by Intel as being more power efficient, in large part because they bring graphics processing on-chip. Together with the QM67 chipset, the Core processors are said to bring the SHB106 features including Intel turbo boost, hyper-threading, and QuickPath technologies. The SHB106 also offers PCI Express (PCIe) Gen2 running at 5GT/s ("gigatransfers per second", a raw data rate, explained here).

In addition, the QM67 also features the latest Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) 7.0 technology, letting administrators remotely monitor, boot, maintain, and update systems, says Axiomtek.

Other than adding support for the new Core processors, the SHB106 is almost identical to the SHB105 except for the appearance of two more USB connectors and some minor differences in PCIe expansion options. In addition, Axiomtek upgraded two of the six SATA ports to 6Gbps speeds.

Like the earlier model, the SHB106 has room for two unbuffered ECC DDR3 1066/1333MHz DIMMs, offering up to 8GB of memory. The SBC offers PCI Express (PCIe) x16, PCIe x4, and PCI expansion, says Axiomtek.

The SHB106's six SATA ports, all of which are available via internal headers, are said to offer RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 functionality. A VGA port is standard, but customers can opt to move up to a DisplayPort option, says Axiomtek. The board offers dual gigabit Ethernet ports with wake-on-LAN and PXE boot ROM.

Only two of the 14 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.

SHB106 port detail
(Click to enlarge)

As usual, operating support is not listed, although the company goes out of its way to note that the SHB106 "meets all current requirements" for Windows 7, something we do not recall hearing about the SHB105.

Features and specifications listed for the SHB106 include:

• Processor — LGA1156 socket for 2nd-Gen Intel Core i3/i5/i7
• Chipset — Intel Q67 Express
• Memory — up to 8GB unbuffered ECC DDR3 1066/1333MHz RAM via 2 x DIMMs
• Expansion:
  • PCIe x16 graphics port with SVDO support or PCIe x1 device port
  • PCIe x4 (or 4 x PCIe x1)
  • PCI with 4 x 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 1.2; 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 SHB106 will be available "around early August," says Axiomtek. More information may be found at its SHB106 page.

In April, the company also announced an Intel Atom-based PICMG 1.3 board called the SHB212.

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