Chipzilla has unveiled a new motherboard for desktop-based clients at the Intel Developer Forum.

The new motherboard aimed at so-called net-tops sports an Intel Atom processor. According to Auntie Beeb, the processor is like the brain of a computer. The term nettop is the modern-day euphemism for low-powered thin clients used to access content and applications over the internet or a company network. They'll work well with Google Apps, Open Office or flash games, but just don't even dream of trying to install Crysis or something similar on one.

The Intel board sports the newest mini-ITX factor and is backwards compatible with ATX/ MicroATX. PC makers can maker small, energy-efficient thin clients, sorry, net-tops with the new mobo. A single DIMM socket will allow up to 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM.

D945GCLF2, as is the official name for the motherboard, also features an PCI expansion slot, an IDE connector for two ATA 100/66 devices and a 10/100/1000 Mb/s LAN-socket. It'd be very daft if it wouldn't have a LAN socket, because then it'd be useless as a thin client. Sorry, net-top. The board also can have a spanking eight USB 2.0 ports, four on the rear and four up front.

Intel envisions the board being used in entry-level PCs for emerging markets, in gadgets nice to have at home in the over-saturated West, and in internet kiosks or point-of-sale systems. “Small on size and big on potential, the best of 45nm technology is used to deliver a rich and full experience in a tiny, power-packed package,” enthused Intel's Tom Rampone. “Nettops represent a fundamental shift in system design and PC consumption. Over the next 20 years we will see nettops emerge as a powerful and significant force in computing.”

If anyone feels like sifting through the PR-speak, the press release can be found here. X