Many (most?) of our readers have more than one computer at home and it’s not uncommon to complete these with an external NAS solution or test server for other applications. Housing several computers around the home isn’t always optimal and DFI has taken advantage of this with its Hybrid P45-ION-T2A2 motherboard. DFI has taken two separate chipsets, Intel P45 and NVIDIA Ion, used them on the same motherboard and created two PC systems in one, through an integrated Atom processor and Intel’s LGA775 socket.
DFI has divided the motherboard into two segments, the left is an Atom-based PC that can be used for simpler tasks, like file server or such while consuming only 30-40W. The right side is a lot more powerful with Intel’s P45 chipset and Core 2 processors that can be used for more demanding tasks like games or other heavier applications.
DFI has integrated a KVM switch to enable users to control both systems with one mouse and one keyboard, while you can easily switch between the primary and the secondary system, which also switches the audio outputs.
The motherboard comes with an integrated network connections and this gives the user some pretty neat possibilities with just regular ATX cases. The price is expected to be around $400, but then you get two motherboards and one Atom processor in one package.
