Intel’s first commercially available Atom powered motherboard is popping up all over Internet ready for pre-orders. Most note the motherboard will begin to ship within two to three weeks.

The Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF, targeted at a new category that Intel deems as “Nettops”, was launched in late April and is now currently available at Tranquil PC for preorder at £52.90 ($103.24 USD). Earlier reports indicated the street price would be hovering around the £78 ($121.85) mark.

The D945GClF motherboard has a soldered Intel Atom 230 1.60 GHz processor, Intel 82945G + ICH7, and is all packaged inside a mini-ITX form factor. The board also utilizes the Intel GMA950, features a single PCI slot, 2x USB, 2 SATA connectors, 1 IDE, typical PS/2 ports, VGA output, one 10/100 jack, and a RS232 port.

According to the Tranquil PC website the motherboard is “capable of powering Vista Home Media Center” with ease and takes a stab at VIA saying the Atom processor is three times as fast as the VIA C7 1.5 GHz processor. No benchmarks were available from the website. The company says shipments will begin the fist week of June on a first come first served basis.

Nettops described by Intel as an “affordable desktop computing devices purpose-built for Internet-centric usage.” The concept appears to be ideal for system builders looking for sub $300 systems, entry-level computer users, car PCs, and various vertical markets.

The Atom processor, originally targeted towards ultra-mobile applications, was recently made available for mini-ITX devices with a hope towards gathering steam in the nettops segment. The D945GCLF is Intel’s second attempt in recent years towards the mini-ITX market. Last year Intel launched the D201 motherboard, which packaged a soldered Celeron processor clocked at 1.2 GHz paired with the SiS662/SiS964 chipset.

Source : Tom's Hardware