First Look at the Intel W890 Motherboard: Granite Rapids-WS Workstation Platform Unveiled
An early glimpse of the Intel W890 motherboard has emerged, offering the most detailed view yet of the upcoming Granite Rapids-WS workstation platform. The featured board, the ADLINK ISB-W890, is a CEB-form factor server and workstation motherboard designed around Intel’s new Socket E2 and the 6th-generation Granite Rapids-WS Xeon processors. This release closely aligns with recent W890 platform leaks, confirming many of the anticipated high-level specifications.
Key Features of the ADLINK ISB-W890 Motherboard
The ISB-W890 supports a single Granite Rapids-WS CPU, complete with overclocking and Intel VROC (Virtual RAID on CPU) capabilities. Intel’s latest platform introduces a quad-channel DDR5 memory controller, featuring eight RDIMM slots. This configuration supports up to 1 TB of ECC DDR5 memory at speeds reaching 6400 MT/s (1DPC), representing a significant leap in memory bandwidth and capacity compared to the previous W680 workstation platform.
PCIe connectivity on the W890 mirrors Intel’s dual-tiered approach, offering both "Expert" and "Mainstream" lane configurations. The Expert-tier provides up to 128 PCIe lanes, combining PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 4.0, while the Mainstream configuration offers 80 lanes. The ADLINK ISB-W890 is equipped with seven PCIe slots, including three x16 slots, and features MCIO connectors for additional high-speed expansion options.
Comprehensive Storage and Networking Options
Storage support on the ISB-W890 is robust, with two M.2 NVMe slots (supporting up to 110 mm and 110/151 mm drives), two SlimSAS ports directly connected to the W890 chipset, and eight SATA III ports. Networking capabilities include both 1 GbE and 2.5 GbE Intel controllers, alongside full IPMI management via an AST2600 BMC. The rear I/O panel is well-equipped, offering multiple USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a COM port, VGA and DisplayPort outputs from the BMC, and dual Ethernet connections.
Granite Rapids-WS: Power and Performance
The W890 platform is set to power high-end workstations built around the Granite Rapids-WS Xeon, which is expected to feature up to 86 cores, boost clocks up to 4.8 GHz, and 336 MB of L3 cache. The new Socket E2, with its 4,710 pins, supports CPUs with TDPs up to 350 W, underlining the platform’s focus on performance and scalability.
ADLINK’s ISB-W890 will serve as the foundation for the company’s upcoming AXE-7420GWA 4U short-depth AI GPU server, marking one of the first finalized implementations of Intel’s next-generation workstation ecosystem. As W890 details continue to align across both leaks and early hardware, the industry can expect more board vendors to introduce their own solutions as Intel approaches the official launch of the Granite Rapids-WS platform.
