Intel officially announced the performance PC platform dubbed Skulltrail today with the new moniker Intel Dual socket Extreme Desktop Platform. This new mainboard supports dual quad core processors and a choice of multiple graphics setups from NVIDIA or ATI.

“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."

Intel says that the platform with a pair of QX9775 processors scored 6481 on 3DMark06 and 20,160 on Cinebench 10 at stock 3.2 GHz frequencies. Each processor retails for $1499 and the mainboard retails for $649.

Via Intel