asus x38/48 or gigabyte x38/x48

[moullas]

hey everyone,


i have decided to upgrade my pc after 5 year of been with the abit ic7 max3 and a radeon 9800 pro

so i started reading around on whats the latest trends all i got was a doctor prescription for headaches.

so i am need of some help on what to buy
after some research i narrow it down to 5-6 motherboard's and would like to ask your opinion on which one to choose

GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DQ6
GIGABYTE GA-EX38T-DQ6
GIGABYTE GA-EX48T-DQ6
ASUS P5E3 Deluxe
ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA EXTREME
ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA

what im really confused is tho.

is there big difference in x38 and x48 besides the ddr3 support?
some x38 motherboards say they support ddr3 should i prefer them?

i read a review that the p5e3 deluxe had better ram support if all the dimms where used?

i have been constantly reading about ram support on all this chipsets for example if you buy pc2-8500 that maybe the motherboard wont recognize it and the bus will be lowered down, can this be fixed easily?

another issue i read is regarding upgrade the motherboard bios for newer cpus you will need an older one, is this true?

one final question and sorry for the long post is this motherboard's worth investing money in for a long run ? for example for a 2-3 year lifespan? or is shouldn't spent so much money on it and wait for new technologies?

thank you for your understanding

 

[Sylvanas]

Lots of info good stuff . Okay first up what do you intend to use the computer for? (Gaming, office, DVD's etc) secondly what is your budget?

The reason I ask this is because you could go a number of ways with your next upgrade- there are so many options on the market right now- but lets focus on Intel chipsets for now. The 'budget' option would be a P35 board, but thats a discussion for another time, I take it you are interested in the new X38's and X48's- who wouldn't be! .

As for X38 I absolutely wouldn't be bothering with one anymore....especially the more expensive versions, I would suggest instead you look into an X48. Firstly X48's run cooler and are more power efficient due to being built on 65nm opposed to 90nm of the X38, secondly, if you intend to overclock there are some VERY nice features with the X48's. You can see a selection of X48's here in particular I would draw your attention to the DFI board and the Asus Rampage Formula (which AT did a VERY informative review of here). Amazingly, the DFI is still one of the cheaper options despite being the ultimate manufacturer for quality enthusiast boards, and the Rampage formula appears to have a great BIOS with the inclusion of the TRD timing.

As for DDR3....if money is no object then why not, but if not, then DDR2 is still the memory of choice- especially being so cheap at the moment, you can get 4GB for peanuts these days compared to what it used to be.

As for BIOS and the newer CPU's- Some X38's require a BIOS flash before they work with newer Wolfdales/Yorkfields but all X48's to my knowledge come stock support for 45nm CPU's.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: AT have looked at quite a few X38/48's recently see all here

 

[moullas]

sylvanas thank you for your reply and your comments

i have read through the articles regarding the dq6 and the asus rampage formula


i think now i have narrowed it down between the rampage and the GIGABYTE GA-EX48T-DQ6
the asus seems to be a more stable motherboard with better bios support and update while on the other hand the gigabyte although is a loaded motherboard lacks bios updates if i understood correctly from reading the article.

what is still confusing me tho after reading those articles is the following.
is a so detailed tweaking neccesary in order to make the system run smoothly and as its supposed to? or is it just for enthusiasts and overclockers? what i mean an out of the box setup and install will not work?

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: moullas
sylvanas thank you for your reply and your comments

i have read through the articles regarding the dq6 and the asus rampage formula


i think now i have narrowed it down between the rampage and the GIGABYTE GA-EX48T-DQ6
the asus seems to be a more stable motherboard with better bios support and update while on the other hand the gigabyte although is a loaded motherboard lacks bios updates if i understood correctly from reading the article.

what is still confusing me tho after reading those articles is the following.
is a so detailed tweaking neccesary in order to make the system run smoothly and as its supposed to? or is it just for enthusiasts and overclockers? what i mean an out of the box setup and install will not work?

No tweaking is required to get the thing up and running. Most BIOS's these days have 'auto' values that come default in every BIOS, in other words the BIOS will sort itself out for you so you don't need to worry about that- its just the extra tweaking options are there and available should you see the need to overclock. I would be partial to the Asus Rampage over the Giga mainly due to the fact I have more faith in Asus BIOS updates than Gigabyte in regard to support after a products released, especially on the high end.

 

[moullas]

ok cheers mate and thank you for your time

 

[Sylvanas]

No prob glad to help.

 

[moullas]

one last question


do you think the lack of ddr3 on the rampage is a minus? especially after 6-8 months when ddr3 becomes cheaper?

 

[lopri]

I don't think the lack of DDR3 is a minus at this time. Intel is pushing DDR3 hard but it's more to do with Nehalem. Nehalem will have native DDR3 controllers built into the CPU and there is no going back to DDR2, so it's very important for Nehalem's success that DDR3 is widely available and affordable by the time it launches. X48 is NOT 65nm product but 90nm. It does, however, show visible improvement over X38 (or any other chipset for that matter) when it comes to power requirements. It's apparently a different stepping X38 and an analogous example would be Q6600 B3 to Q6600 G0. (B3=X38, G0=X48)

Among the two boards you're considering, I'd pick the Rampage Formula. And like Sylvanas mentioned, it's very likely that you won't have to touch anything when overclocking to a certain extent. ASUS is very good at 'Auto' settings and general compatibility. (Although this can be a turn-off to a purist tweaker)

 

[eklock2000]

ASUS 1000%...just look at the service Gigabyte is giving it's customers on other threads.

Good luck,

EK2K

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: lopri
X48 is NOT 65nm product but 90nm.

A quick google search found this this and this

 

[UpstartXT]

Hey I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this but you seem to know your stuff...

Anyway, I'm a huge gamer and am looking to build a new system. I am trying to not bother anyone and just do my research to find components that will work for my needs, but after being out of the loop with technology (I stopped paying attention just after the FX-55 processors came out) I can't for the life of me understand what most of these reviews are talking about. Combine that with the fact that most of the review sites for components are reviewing from the point of a view of an avid overclocker (which I've never really done) and I don't have a clue as to where to start. I figure saying to a bunch of strangers "hey I've got x dollars to spend what should I get?" probably isn't the best idea, or is it?

In terms of what I can't figure out:

For example, If I want to spend under $600 on a processor, do I go with Core 2 Extreme or Core 2 Duo, and why the hell did they choose such similar names?

Especially troubling is what motherboard to go with, considering there's X38, X48, 780i, 790i, 750i, and like 8 different companies with 3 different versions of each chipset. Then combine that with people talking about northbridge cooling (wtf?) and power conservation and front side bus speed and whether certain RAM is compatible I am totally lost. Not to mention the whole RAM timing things? How do I determine once I hypothetically pick a motherboard what kind of RAM to get? I get that there's no point to getting more than 4GB on Vista 32, but what is bad RAM vs. good RAM vs. all these different PC-XXXX RAMs? This is so outrageously confusing, can someone point me in the right direction? If this is too vague or obnoxious my fault LOL

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: UpstartXT
Hey I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this but you seem to know your stuff...

Anyway, I'm a huge gamer and am looking to build a new system. I am trying to not bother anyone and just do my research to find components that will work for my needs, but after being out of the loop with technology (I stopped paying attention just after the FX-55 processors came out) I can't for the life of me understand what most of these reviews are talking about. Combine that with the fact that most of the review sites for components are reviewing from the point of a view of an avid overclocker (which I've never really done) and I don't have a clue as to where to start. I figure saying to a bunch of strangers "hey I've got x dollars to spend what should I get?" probably isn't the best idea, or is it?

In terms of what I can't figure out:

For example, If I want to spend under $600 on a processor, do I go with Core 2 Extreme or Core 2 Duo, and why the hell did they choose such similar names?

Especially troubling is what motherboard to go with, considering there's X38, X48, 780i, 790i, 750i, and like 8 different companies with 3 different versions of each chipset. Then combine that with people talking about northbridge cooling (wtf?) and power conservation and front side bus speed and whether certain RAM is compatible I am totally lost. Not to mention the whole RAM timing things? How do I determine once I hypothetically pick a motherboard what kind of RAM to get? I get that there's no point to getting more than 4GB on Vista 32, but what is bad RAM vs. good RAM vs. all these different PC-XXXX RAMs? This is so outrageously confusing, can someone point me in the right direction? If this is too vague or obnoxious my fault LOL

Lots of questions there, if you intend to be building a new rig soon I would come up with a budget+ your intended uses and head over to the 'General' forums and they will come up with a list of components ranging from ram, CPU, motherboards etc. When you have finalized your components selection, spend a little time on the individual component forums for those components to determine if they are the best you can get for your money.

In short, if you intend not to OC- You'll want to head in the direction of a Core2Duo, DDR2 and a P35 motherboard (if you do not intend running Crossfire/SLI).

EDIT: Oh and Welcome to AT .

 

[UpstartXT]

Sylvanas thank you very much sir that was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for

 

[lopri]

Apparently there was misinformation that X48 was built on 65nm.

Originally posted by: Gary Key
I will correct that article today, X48 is still on 90nm. The reason for lower voltages is additional tuning that Intel did for the chipset. Yes, it is basically an X38 on steroids, but in the last spin of the X48, Intel did a lot fine tuning with the memory controller and cache algorithms. It shows up when pushing the board at its limits (especially with the Wolfdales/Yorkfields) but otherwise the vast majority of users will get by fine with the X38.

From this thread -> http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2169693&enterthread=y

 

[Sylvanas]

Ah thats for the link Lopri, so it is simply a respin of the X38- perhaps a different stepping? Sigh... kind of hoping that Intel and Nv would move to at least 65nm for the chipsets, the RD790 is manufactured on 65nm at consumes less than 4 watts idle 10watts load (780G on 55nm!)- sure an Intel/Nv chipset would consume more with having the Northbridge on the board- but I can only imagine that it would help things along.