So after a lot of leaked information, Intel's Skulltrail platform is finally here. And as one can expect from an eight-core platform, its a complete power house for nothing less than extreme use. Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform is one of the first enthusiast desktop platforms to support two Intel quad core processors for a total of eight processing engines and a choice of multi-card graphics solutions from either ATI or NVIDIA. The Intel Desktop Board D5400XS, when paired with two Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processors (each with 12MB of L2 cache, a fast 1600 MHz system bus and four cores running at a brisk 3.2 GHz), forms the foundation of the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform.

"When it comes to delivering innovation to the ultimate enthusiast, our new 8-core desktop platform is a winner," said Jeff McCrea, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Home Group. "The ground-breaking Intel Desktop Board D5400XS enables the flexibility to pair a variety of quad graphics solutions with two of our fastest desktop processors. The result is stunning PC performance."

The Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX9775 is available now for $1,499 each and the Intel Desktop Board D5400XS sells for $649.