A Look Inside Intel's R&D Lab

We all know that Intel has a reputation for making stable motherboards. We also know that the company is two years into a long-range effort to make itself a top player in the enthusiast board space. Balancing stability with breakneck speed is no small task, and hardly anyone knows the lengths to which Intel goes in designing and redesigning components. Here at the Hawthorn Farms campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, a fleet of Intel teams and engineers pore over practically every aspect of motherboard design. When you check out a shiny new Smackover board, the number of man-hours devoted to making that board’s engineering as close to perfection as possible is staggering.

Intel invited Tom’s Hardware to take a rare look within the Hawthorn Farms facilites and show the world just what work goes into an Intel motherboard. Only a few months ago, we and every other press outlet were forbidden from setting foot past the lobby metal detector with a camera. So walk with us a bit and get a glimpse of the R&D fueling an Intel-based PC.