HKEPC has dug up some additional information about Intel's Atom platform and what we can expect on the desktop side of things. We already told you about some of the restrictions Intel has put in place on the platform here, but from what we can tell from the HKEPC article, there are more issues at hand.
The key thing to understand here is that Intel doesn't want the Atom to compete with current product lines, hence the severe limitations of what Intel will allow the platform to be used for and what features can be incorporated. The code name for the motherboards are Little Falls, with Little Falls 2 following on in Q3. The main difference is that Little Falls 2 will add dual core support.
The chipset in question is at least intially looking like it will be the 945GC combined with the ageing ICH7. The chipset is limited to 533/800MHz bus and although it supports features such as 7.1-channel HD audio and PCIe x16, these features are unlikely to ever appear on any Little Falls boards.
We expected Intel to use a slightly more up-to-date chipset with better integrated graphcis, but alas, the GMA950 IGP seems to be as good as it'll get. Intel's Little Falls boards will feature two PS/2 ports, a serial and parallel port, a D-sub connector for video output, four USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port and three audio jacks.
The processors will use a 533MHz FSB, but the motherboards can use DDR2 800MHz memory if need be, albeit only in single channel; and they're limited to 2GB modules and a single memory slot. The single core Diamondville-based single core Atom processor is expected to clock in at 1.87GHz and it has a TDP of 7.5W with the dual core version having the same clock speed, but a higher TDP at 12W. It's important to notice that the TDP is for the CPU alone and that the 945GC chipset will add additional heat.
Both Little Falls boards will be using the mini ITX form factor and as such are limited to a single PCI slot for expansion. The picture below is of a Gigabyte version of the Little Falls 2 platform according to HKEPC and as you can see, it only has a pair of SATA connectors and a single IDE connector for drives. It also appears to have a couple of extra USB 2.0 headers and a front audio connector. Due to the fairly high TDP, the CPU is activley cooled, which is far from ideal in certain circumstances and we hope that future versions of this platform will use passive CPU cooling.
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