motherboard

Intel will get out of the traditional desktop motherboard business, as it focuses its resources on mobile products.

"We disclosed internally today that Intel's Desktop Motherboard Business will begin slowly ramping down over the course of the next three years," Intel said in a note to journalists today.

What does that mean exactly? Think of the PC tower systems that used to populate the Best Buys of the world. That's what Intel is winding down as it devotes more resources to ultrabooks, tablets, and phones.

"The internal talent and experience of twenty years in the … Read more

Hippie love is coming to a motherboard near you thanks to a new common slot architecture developed by Facebook.

Frank Frankovsky, Facebook's vice president of hardware design and supply chain, today announced that the company has contributed its newest motherboard specification, cutely nicknamed "Group Hug," to the Open Compute Program. Engineers at the social network founded the project 18 months ago to kick-start development around a more efficient computing infrastructure. The program has previously given birth to Open Rack and Open Vault specifications.

Facebook's Group Hug specification makes possible entirely vendor-neutral motherboards. The specification uses a … Read more

The end of the desktop is near, according to reports trickling out over the last few days.

Changes in the way Intel connects its processors to the circuit board may signal broad changes to the desktop PC as we know it today.

Desktop processors are attached to the PC's main circuit board (aka motherboard) via a socket. Intel processors compatible with that socket are then inserted by the end user, be it an enthusiast or PC supplier.

This is the design that is in danger of disappearing, reports claim.

Mobile processors, on the other hand, are soldered directly to … Read more

For some people, old circuit boards and computer components needlessly fill up space, awaiting a proper sendoff to the electronics recycling facility. Italian artist Franco Recchia sees opportunity in those old parts, though, and instead creates fascinating miniature city skylines with the pieces of forgotten technology.

The artist covers an array of major cities, including New York, Chicago, Detroit, and more. In an interview with the Agora art gallery, Recchia reveals that he often finds parts in "trash heaps" and that it takes four different styles of welding to make the techno cities. … Read more

Photos of what is purportedly the motherboard/logicboard for the next-generation iPhone have materialized on the WeiPhone user forum.

The photos appear to be front and rear shots of the board that holds the processor and other chips for the device. While the processor does not seem to appear in the images, a SIM card slot that seems to be smaller than the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S does, iDeviceGuys told 9to5Mac. This may be the first real-world appearance of nano-SIM, the new SIM card technology that Apple has been pushing as the standard.

The iPhone repair firm also noted … Read more

More than a year after it was first launched exclusively for Macs, the Thunderbolt standard is now officially available for PCs, too. And by "officially," I mean you can literally buy a motherboard and build a system on your own that supports Thunderbolt.

There's been a lot of talk about Thunderbolt getting to PCs since the standard was first launched. Rumor had it Intel would show off PC motherboards that supported Thunderbolt at CES 2012 (which it didn't). On Monday, however, Intel quietly launched the standard for the PC platform, and today I have in my hand the Intel Desktop Board DZ77RE-75K, the first Thunderbolt-certified motherboard that comes with a built-in Thunderbolt port. The wait is finally over.… Read more

We've seen motherboards repurposed as art in a motherboard menorah, a motherboard Mona Lisa, and some funky Nike-inspired junk art, among other feats of motherboard magic. But we're pretty sure these stained-glassed windows from Down Under qualify as (forgive us), the mother of all motherboard artistry.

An Australian stonemason named Dan used a bunch of the used computer components to create a stained-glass effect in a sandstone tracery window. The pics, spotted on an Australian overclockers forum, pretty much tell the whole stunning story.

(Via CNET Australia)

This week, we received comments from a reader regarding an iPhone sync glitch with certain Hewlett-Packard-branded PCs.

Mark Lennon said his new HP DV7-3085DX PC running Windows 7 64-bit with the Intel i7 Q720 processor will not sync properly with the iPhone. He explained in an e-mail that there are "tons of messages on HP's discussion boards from other users who still have this iPhone sync problem." All these machines seem to use a new Intel i5 or i7 microprocessor while running Windows 7 64-bit.

We checked the forums at HP and found a fairly lively discussion about the problem. … Read more

Intel on Monday said it is investigating a glitch that prevents an Apple iPhone from synching with certain PCs that use a new Intel chipset.

"Our leading theory is a BIOS or system configuration issue, but we are still investigating," Intel said Monday. The BIOS, or basic input/output system, is the initial code that runs when a PC is powered on. The BIOS identifies and initializes system devices such as the chipset, graphics card, and hard disk drive. Makers of PC circuit boards, aka motherboards, typically offer their own BIOS.

The problem is thought to be tied … Read more