Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6: An early look at X38
by Gary Key on September 4, 2007 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Memory Testing
The Sandra unbuffered scores on the Gigabyte board are around 4% better at stock speeds and 7% better in our overclocked scenario. In our SuperPI 1.5 benchmark that relies on low latencies for improved scores, we see where this advantage is apparent. We consider these results to be excellent as the X38 chipset, BIOS, and board are engineering samples and we fully expect to see further improvements in the retail boards.
Q6600 9x266 Memory Tests
We were able to set our timings to 4-4-4-12 at DDR2-1066 by increasing the memory voltage to 2.250V on the Gigabyte board and 2.275V on the abit board. In this particular test, our two boards are basically equal with write, latency, and copy tests favoring the X38 and read throughput going to the P35.
Q6600 9x400 Memory Tests
Like our stock scores, the two boards are basically equal with write, latency, and copy tests favoring the X38 and read throughput going to the P35. We set our memory timings to 5-5-5-18, bumped the memory voltages up to 2.275V and 2.350V, and equalized the memory sub-timings where applicable.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The Sandra unbuffered scores on the Gigabyte board are around 4% better at stock speeds and 7% better in our overclocked scenario. In our SuperPI 1.5 benchmark that relies on low latencies for improved scores, we see where this advantage is apparent. We consider these results to be excellent as the X38 chipset, BIOS, and board are engineering samples and we fully expect to see further improvements in the retail boards.
Q6600 9x266 Memory Tests
 |
| Click to enlarge |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
We were able to set our timings to 4-4-4-12 at DDR2-1066 by increasing the memory voltage to 2.250V on the Gigabyte board and 2.275V on the abit board. In this particular test, our two boards are basically equal with write, latency, and copy tests favoring the X38 and read throughput going to the P35.
Q6600 9x400 Memory Tests
 |
| Click to enlarge |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Like our stock scores, the two boards are basically equal with write, latency, and copy tests favoring the X38 and read throughput going to the P35. We set our memory timings to 5-5-5-18, bumped the memory voltages up to 2.275V and 2.350V, and equalized the memory sub-timings where applicable.
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BLHealthy4life - Thursday, September 13, 2007 - link
According to the INQ, this mobo will be available on the 14th, tommorrow.I've only found retailers for this board in the UK.
Anyone been able to find a USA retailer(s) that have this board for preorder?
Thanks
TokyoFerret - Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - link
Are such powerful PSUs utilised in overclocking articles? I am thinking of buying this board and running it with an E6850, 4Gb RAM and a 8800GTX, 2 SATA drives and 3D Galaxy2 water cooling but my PSU is only rated at 500W (Enermax Liberty).Should I be buying a new PSU as well? Or try out my current one and upgrade if its voltage seems too unstable...
TokyoFerret - Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - link
Correction...Are such -> Why are such...
bigphil1974 - Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - link
Hi thanks for a great previewWould this motherboard pose any problems installing a large heatsink with backplate such as a thermalright ultra 120 extreme as I have seen similar gigabyte products where you cannot install bolt through coolers due to copper blocks on the back of the motherboard.
Thanks
Bigphil
larciel - Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - link
so not neglectible difference between P35 and X38, just like P965 and x975 weren't that much different.Upgrade bug is so addictive but I've learned to avoid it after spending $$$$$$$ just to satisfy my desire that dies the first day I get a new toy, or CPU, or motherboard in this case.
457R4LDR34DKN07 - Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - link
What I want to see is the ASUS ROG Maximus Formula SE.Lord Evermore - Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - link
Does having more PCIe lanes automatically mean higher power consumption? If they're unused, if you just have the same hardware installed, does power consumption go up significantly just because the lanes are available? I'd assume a small amount but not so much that you'd really notice it unless you actually were taking advantage of the increase.Dawgneck - Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - link
Gary, can you confirm if the X38 chipset will only support Crossfire, or will it also support SLI?JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - link
This is an NVIDIA issue. NVIDIA needs to allow it in their drivers, or the only way to make it work will be hacking drivers. There have been various custom driver releases in the past to get SLI working on certain chipsets - i.e. the Alienware m9750 laptop and other SLI laptops are 945GM chipsets but still support SLI. The real issue here is whether or not Intel will pay NVIDIA... and how much NVIDIA wants to be paid, I would assume.Gary and I have had conversations about this, and while the NVIDIA GPU guys would love to get Intel chipset SLI support, the NVIDIA chipset guys are understandably not as gung-ho. Personally, I'd say their chipset business on the high-end doesn't do enough to compensate for the number of 8800 cards they could sell if they were to license SLI support to Intel. Besides, profit margins on 8800 chips (and even 8600) are *much* higher than chipset profit margins. For every 8800 card they sell, they probably make as much as they would off of four SLI chipset sales.
Will we ever see SLI support on Intel chipsets? That's going to depend on the two companies and pretty much nothing else. It could work right now... heck, it could work on 975X, P965, P35, and pretty much any dual-x16 slot motherboard+chipset.
PeteRoy - Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - link
Anandtech is a great site to show Battlefield 2 benchmarks, this is the game I play the most and I find it odd that sites like THG and others tend to ignore this game and show benchmarks of doom3 which nobody plays anymore, and if they do they won't after they finish the single player.