14 DAY TRIAL // Intel will soon add the X48 chipset to its highest-end DX38BT motherboard, also known as the "BoneTrail". Intel has already hinted at an early release, slated for the second quarter of the year, but it is highly unlikely that it will arrive on the market earlier than April.
The DX48BT2 motherboard will become available at the same time with other X48-based solutions. It will come with Intel's ICH9R southbridge, and not the newer ICH10R, as it has not been announced yet. Moreover, the upcoming southbridge will only be available for specially-designed motherboards, such as the DFI LanParty UT X48-T3R.
The X48 unit is just an evolutionary update to the older X38 and the chips preserved their pin-to-pin compatibility. This feature made it easier for the motherboard manufacturers, given the fact that the printed circuit board (PCB) did not need redesigning.
The updated version of the BoneTrail platform will come with full support for dual x16 PCI-Express 2.0 slots, but it will also allow the user to split the x16 slots in two, in order to provide 8 lanes to a third PCI-Express card, that would account for a 16-8-8 lane configuration. Currently, the feature is only a technical supposition, given the fact that Intel did not comment upon it. The ICH9R southbridge will offer support for 8 SATA ports, a FSB 1600MHz, as well as official support for DDR3-1600.
Intel has been extremely concerned with its enthusiasts and high-end customers, and released some interesting motherboards lately. The chip manufacturer has recently released its Skulltrail platform, a dual-CPU motherboard initially targeted at the server market. However, Intel's own motherboard offerings are less appealing than other companies' designs, such as Asustek and DFI, but things may change with the adoption of Intel's new strategy of focusing on the enthusiasts' needs.