Conclusions and Final Thoughts
Intel X38 FeaturesThe Intel X38 chipset is big shift in the Intel platform chipset world. As the first product to support PCI Express 2.0, motherboards using the X38 will have support for the next generation of graphics cards as they are released from NVIDIA and AMD. That doesn’t mean those of you with PCIe 1.0 motherboards are going to be out of luck for G90+ or R700+, don’t worry; those GPUs are going to be compatible with PCI Express 1.0 motherboards as well and since we all know that PCIe 1.0 bandwidth isn’t getting saturated yet, the NEED for PCIe 2.0 isn’t there.
DDR3 is another new feature on the X38 chipset (though the P35 chipset has it as well) but not all motherboards are going to support it yet, just as the Gigabyte X38-DQ6 we reviewed here does not. There is no doubt that DDR3 will eventually be the performance leader for memory subsystems but right now, without overclocking, DDR3 isn’t significantly faster now. DDR2 memory is also quite a bit LESS expensive making it a more likely candidate for end-users to purchase. As the prices begin to equalize, we’ll see more and more DDR3 motherboards hit the market and then the X38 will have yet another advantage.
We can’t forget the dual PCI Express x16 slots that Intel has made sure to include with the X38 chipset. No doubt for use with multi-GPU systems, the X38 will only currently support CrossFire technology from AMD for the time being as NVIDIA still refuses to license use of SLI to anyone else’s chipset. It really is a shame, but from a business stand point, you have to see the advantages for NVIDIA.
Finally, we have the two other features X38 brings to the table: Intel Extreme Memory and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. These are both good features for the beginning hardware enthusiast as it allows users to overclock their systems in a much safer way than just hitting switches and seeing what happens. I’ve already mentioned that both of these items are very similar to NVIDIA’s own offerings of SLI Memory and nTune, but Intel has enough push to make their versions even more impressive. What memory manufacturer isn’t going to want to support Intel’s own specific memory timings features? And what vendors are going to deny Intel’s software from working on their motherboard?
Performance
As you would expect, the Intel X38 chipset does indeed perform better than the P35 chipset; but not by much. The differences lie mainly in the memory controller and are really not as dramatic as Intel might have hoped or expected. It is about in line with what I expected though, as Intel wouldn’t leave too much of their memory controller development to only a single product SKU.
The real advantages that we are seeing on the X38 chipset is in the overclocking realm, an area that Intel finally started paying attention to with the later development of the 975X motherboard known as the BadAxe2. Intel has opened up the buses on the chipset to allow the motherboard vendors’ BIOS to adjust it as necessary, though not as independently as NVIDIA’s 680i series allows. Even so, I was VERY impressed with the performance of the Gigabyte X38-DQ6 in our overclocking tests. It exceeded any current Intel-platform motherboard in terms of raw front-side bus speeds.
Gigabyte’s X38-DQ6 Motherboard
Though it might get lost in the hustle that is the Intel X38 chipset launch, the Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherboard turned out to be a GREAT motherboard in my testing. The features were superb with the inclusion of multi-GPU PCIe x16 slots, eight total SATA ports and an external connection configuration that is unique and actually very useful. The performance of the motherboard was faster than its competing P35-chipset boards and the overclocking potential that the board showed exceeded my expectations and set a new record as well.
The only drawbacks I see are the failure of Gigabyte to offer the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and potential price. With the current estimate at $299, this would be one of the most expensive Intel-based enthusiast motherboards on the market, competing against the likes of the Asus Striker Extreme and the DFI LanParty UT P35. Hopefully that estimate will be high and we’ll see this and other X38 motherboards closer to the $200 level soon.
Final Thoughts
Both Intel’s new X38 chipset and the Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherboard based on it show a lot of promise and were very impressive in our testing here today. The X38 chipset is the first to offer support for PCI Express 2.0 technology as well as brings Intel’s own Extreme Memory feature and System Utility software to market for enthusiasts to embrace. The Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherboard takes the best parts of the new chipset and combines them to make one hell of an enthusiast motherboard that uses DDR2 memory and has overclocking guts like we haven’t seen in some time.
Intel’s first foray into the world of enthusiast chipsets in nearly two years is going to be hit and Gigabyte should have no trouble being one of the communities favorite picks for some time.
If you have any questions or comments on this article or our testing, please drop into a thread I started in our forums to discuss!
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