Key Points
- A new ADLINK motherboard has revealed details about Intel’s upcoming W890 workstation platform.
- The platform is built for the new Granite Rapids-WS Xeon processors, which will have up to 86 cores.
- The motherboard supports a massive one terabyte of DDR5 memory and has extensive PCIe expansion.
- This new hardware uses a larger, newer processor socket (Socket E2) to handle the chips’ high power requirements.
A new motherboard from ADLINK has given us the best look yet at Intel’s powerful W890 platform, built for the next generation of Granite Rapids-WS Xeon processors. The board, named the ISB-W890, signals that Intel is getting close to launching its new high-end workstation hardware.
This motherboard is a beast. It features Intel’s new Socket E2, designed for the upcoming Granite Rapids-WS chips. It also has eight slots for DDR5 RAM, allowing up to 1 terabyte of error-correcting code (ECC) memory. This kind of capacity is reserved for demanding professional workstations used for tasks such as scientific computing, AI, and high-end video editing.
The board also features extensive connectivity. It includes seven PCIe slots for expansion cards, with up to 128 PCIe lanes for maximum performance. For storage, it offers eight standard SATA ports and two super-fast M.2 slots for NVMe drives.
At the heart of this new platform are the Granite Rapids-WS Xeon processors. These chips are expected to scale up to an incredible 86 cores and draw up to 350 watts of power. Recently, a 64-core Xeon 696X model was spotted in a benchmark database, adding more evidence that the launch is near.
This new W890 platform is designed to replace Intel’s older Xeon W-3400 series. It’s squarely aimed at the professional and enterprise market, not for everyday consumers.
ADLINK has already confirmed it will use this specific motherboard in a new server designed for GPU-heavy workloads, reinforcing its role in high-performance computing.
