RETURN OF SKULLTRAIL - After 10 years it's time to let Skulltrail shine again

[Overl0rd]

 

 

The Intel Skulltrail, the only time Intel gave enthusiasts a dual CPU platform with processors specifically designed to be overclocked. It was truly a different Intel back than as we know it now, as just over a 10 years later, we've yet to see a product like this again. And that's why now I would really like to give this aging beast some attention again after all those years. To remind people what the hardware industry was like a decade ago, when Intel didn't seem like an opponent to the consumer and gave it all they got.

 

Initially Intel launched the 'V8' media creation platform in mid 2007, in reaction to AMDs QuadFX dual CPU platform. Intel however went a step further and used two quad core CPUs instead of dual core, for a total of eight physical cores. The V8 was far from a consumer product though, sporting a motherboard taken straight out of their workstation/server division with very little changes and utilized Xeon CPUs.

 

In a move few were expecting, Intel then set out and and modified this platform in what would be every enthusiasts dream; dual CPU overclocking. They took the same 771 dual socket server platform and added all the things computer enthusiasts want; nVidia SLI/ AMD (back then still ATi) CrossFireX support, LGA 775 mounting hardware, four PCIe slots and of course all the BIOS features overclockers want to push silicon to its limit. 

 

Then they of course needed a CPU for it. After all, Xeons have a locked multiplier. So they cherry picket some 45nm Yorksfield chips, removed all the restrictions and created the Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9775. They named it the Yorksfield XE and it sat at the top of the Core 2 lineup with a TDP of no less than 150 Watt.

 

It was no easy feat gathering the necessary components to make this happen, with a retail price of $600 for the D5400XS motherboard and around $1200 for each of the Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9775 CPUs, it is no wonder the are extremely hard to come by nowadays. Luckily I have managed to do, so come along for the ride as I attempt to put together one of Intel's greatest products.

 

What's I also found interesting is that one of the first builds of @LinusTech‍ on the old Linustechtips.com website was a Skulltrail, dating back to april 28th 2008. Have a look for yourself. https://web.archive.org/web/20080505214254/http://www.linustechtips.com:80/build-logs/working-on-a-skulltrail-system

 

Specifications so far:
- Intel D5400XS motherboard
- 2x Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9775
- 4x 4GB Samsung FB DDR2 5300 667MHz

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those who'd rather like a video of the process, I've also made a small video series on YouTube. 

 

 

 

[DildorTheDecent]

What an interesting time 2008 was.

 

What GPUs you looking to use OP? Old as dinosaur ATi X2 cards?

[Sauron]

That's *sniff* beautiful.

 

[Overl0rd]

5 hours ago, DildorTheDecent said:

What an interesting time 2008 was.

 

What GPUs you looking to use OP? Old as dinosaur ATi X2 cards?

It sure was a great time. I'm not sure yet on the graphics cards. Some older dual GPU cards would be nice, but I'll have to see what I can get my hands on, unfortunately not many of them have stood the test of time, so I'm not ruling out new cards either.

 

[ccRicers]

I remember drooling over this board but never having the money to afford it (much less two of the CPUs). Well, at least I had my Bad Axe...

[Crass Spektakel]

Sorry for the necro but Skull Trail is just such an iconic item of the 2nd era of pc gaming I just have to step in.

 

If you were short on money you could ditch the expensive 5400 board and the ludicrous expensive QX9775 cpus in favor of a 5000XVN board and Xeon 5420 cpus. Also this board was able to use cheaper memory as FBRAM@400Mhz was nearly twice as expensive as FBRAM@333Mhz and that one was also twice as expensive than normal memory back then. In 2008 I bought several of these machines for work and ended up using one of these at home after their retirement.

 

A complete barebone (Case Enermax Bigchakra, PSU 600W Enermax, Board 5000XVN, 2xXeon 5420, 16GB memory, optical drive but without GFX and without drive as this was up to the users choice then) was only about €1500 back in 2008.

 

Tyan featured a decently configurable board back then which you could use to overclock the FSB to 400Mhz and upping cpu clock to 3000Mhz. Never got one of these personally but people spoke well of it.

 

[Cyclone7402]

Hi I am new on here, after 4 years of debating about joining, this thread has helped me bite the bullet and join, as I kind of need help.

 

 

First a bit of background;

 

I have an Intel Skulltrail D5400XS motherboard, I managed to find it at ewaste almost 3 years ago, and it have a destroyed capacitor on it (it appeared to have been flattened completely). I managed to replace the capacitor with another one of the same values, and I was able to get I turning on most of the time, I ajad also found a ton of FBDIMMs and was even lucky enough to find 4 sticks of 4gb as well as the rest of the sticks, and use the mixed out 16gb motherboard. I was running it with 2 Xeons (they are both E5430 Xeons clocked at 2.66GHZ, one seems to have just had a component break off in front of me as I am writing this, not sure how easy it is going to be to repair it, but I will give it a crack), and if I recall correctly 1 of the pins were slightly bent in only one socket, but that never seemed to be an issue before and I even checked the socket pinout and that also seems to confirm that the bent pins are not an issue at all, I did however bend them back after an hour each to a point where they are in a usable state.

 

 

Now for the reason why I need help;

 

I recently pulled it out again after not being able to use it for a good long while, due to it not working right, and decided to take another look at it and see what is wrong with it.

I ended up closely looking at the mother board on both sides and found that some of the components were either damaged (badly) or missing. I suspect that this happened while at ewaste but it could have happened after I had brought it home, I can't be certain.

I have looked everywhere for any details regarding the values of these components or even just a high enough resolution picture of the back side of the board that will allow me to clearly see what the colours are of each of the components, leading me to then have a better chance at finding compatible replacements. As a heads up the component in the circle that is in the CPU area, is just the closest I had at the time, and I suspect that it is incorrect. It it thank to my earlier attempts at saving it, but I need help now.

 

The help that I am asking for is that if anyone has an intel skulltrail D5400XS motherboard, could they please either send me the values of the components that are meant to be located inside of the circles. Or at the very least could you please take some high resolution pictures of the areas that the missing components are in, making sure that the colours can clearly be seen in it. Thank you I have been trying to sort this out for almost 3 years now. Thank you so much in advance.

 

P.s: If someone knows where I can source a replacent compatible fan for the south bridge, that would be great, the one I have currently is a replacement from an old broken AGP GPU, but it doesn't work quite right that is all. Thank you all again.