14 DAY TRIAL // In September of this year, Intel will launch a new series of Atom processors based on the Cedar Trail architecture and, according to the latest reports to hit the Web, these will be accompanied by no less than seven mini-ITX motherboards that integrated these CPUs.
All the motherboards that will be launched by Intel are based on the venerable NM10 chipset and sport similar features and connectivity options.
According to information provided by Fudzilla, the boards will be split into two distinct ranges depending on the processors they feature and at least three of them will include the high-end D2700 Atom CPU, while the latter get the D2500.
Apart from the mini-ITX form factor, common features will include Gigabit LAN connectivity and a VGA video output, while select models get DVI and HDMI ports.
Judging by the specifications that are available at this time, the most advanced board in Intel's arsenal goes by the code name of Dry Creek and it includes both DVI-D and HDMI connectivity.
Intel's Atom Cedar Trail processors are built using the 32nm fabrication process and feature a unified architecture that packs both the processing cores and the GPU on the same die together with 1MB of Level 2 cache, a DDR3 integrated memory controller and have a TDP of 10W.
The D2500 has an operating frequency of 1.86GHz, while the D2700 is clocked at 2.13GHz and also features Hyper-Threading support.
The most worthwhile addition brought to these processors will be the inclusion of a new IGP that is fully compatible with DirectX 10.1 and features HD decoding (MPEG2, VC1, AVC, and H.264) with Blu-Ray 2.0 support.
Right now, Intel hasn't made any information regarding the release date or the price of these motherboards public, but they should arrive in September together with the Atom Cedar Trail processors.