Intel DX38BT

Lavrenti Beria

Junior Member
Aug 14, 2007
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Browsing the Intel site today, anticipating the X38 motherboard reviews soon coming, I came upon Intel's new DX38BT:

http://www.intel.com/products/...board/DX38BT/index.htm

Try as I may (I've looked at the .pdf document at http://download.intel.com/prod...rboard/dx38bt/tps.pdf) I can't tell if native connectivity is provided in this case for a PS/2 mouse and standard keyboard. I know Asus has given up on the PS/2 in favor of USB but not everybody wants to use a USB mouse. Abit, from what I can tell, continues on with the more standard configuration, happily. Am I missing something here?

Lavrenti Beria
 

NoelS

Senior member
Oct 5, 2007
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Lavrenti,

I searched for some reviews and/or pics which would show the back plane on the board, but without any luck. So I came away empty handed also. Not sure why Intel doesn't want to show all the board's aspects, but maybe they're still undergoing some re-design...

At ant rate, you can buy adapters to go from USB to PS/2 if you want to use a PS/2 mouse with a USB port... See here: http://www.emtcompany.com/cata...yo3p2I8CFTaoGgod61Xu7w

Noel
 

Lavrenti Beria

Junior Member
Aug 14, 2007
18
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Noels,

Thanks for the reply and your effort at researching this question. Frankly, I'm beginning to suspect that any further Intel boards will be manufactured without PS/2 mouse and possibly standard keyboard support. Asus has made such a decision regarding mice and it will definitely color my attitude toward their X38, DDR3 supporting boards when they arrive. With a new system - network in this instance, actually - I'd like to be able to make maximum use of as much of the peripheral hardware I've already deployed as possible, monitors, keyboards, mice. New money, in my view, ought to be directed to aspects that more materially effect performance, boards, processors, memory, higher transfer rates, etc. Like many, I truly resent being forced into new and, frequently, unnecessary purchases because some engineer decides arbitrarily that he wants to be trend-setter. At this point I'd believe you if you told me that MSI - or someone else - would be producing boards that supported only flat screen monitors! What ever happened to the old principle "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

I've pretty well decided that the time's come to build anew, what with DDR3, SAS and the X38 chipset available. But the more I'm exposed to this newer environment the more it seems likely that I'll be electing to go with an abit or Gigabyte board. Its always been Intel in the past but perhaps not this time.

Again, thanks

Lavrenti Beria

 

Lavrenti Beria

Junior Member
Aug 14, 2007
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NXIL,

Yes, I couldn't find them there either. Clearly, a new era is dawning. I really don't want to have to go out and buy adopters for a new board. Better to locate a quality board that exhibits respect for user habits. I can't imagine what might be gained by casting out native PS/2 connectivity. Truth be known its the system forcing itself on consumers. I didn't play ball when they tried to shove Windows XP down our throats a few years back and I won't this time either. I understand that abit plans to support PS/2 on their new X38, DDR3 boards. With the good review their P35 board got at Anandtech, maybe they're the way to go with X38, DDR3.

Lavrenti Beria
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
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All the legacy ports such as PS/2, parallel, serial, floppy drive are controlled by a super I/O chip (Winbond, Fintek etc.) which is in turn connected to the southbridge via LPC (Low Pin Count) interface. ICH9 was rumored to not support LPC interface, but came with it. ICH10 (June 2008) will not support it.
 

NoelS

Senior member
Oct 5, 2007
566
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Lavrenti,

You're welcome. Just for your consideration... I know you don't want to buy adapters, but think about going to a cordless mouse and cordless keyboard. They are really nice to have, lots of flexibility for moving around, holding a keyboard on your lap, not having your mouse tied to the computer. Anyway, they are mostly USB. I bought a Logitech S510 mouse/keyboard set and like it quite a bit, although there are nicer, more expensive ones available. The mouse already has a PS/2 adapter on it that you can remove if you need to use USB. The keyboard is USB. So you can hook them up to any USB ports on your rig...

Buy them once and you can have any motherboard you want - don't be constrained by that PS/2 connection!

Just a thought, Noel
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
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It seems obvious to me that some of the USB inputs must be available via hardware without an OS if they dont need PS2 any longer. It looked like the P35 motherboard did not have PS2 ports either.

If you can take a PS2 keyboard or mouse and put an adapter on it, then a motherboard can add a PS2 connector and do the conversion to PS2 on the motherboard with integration just as easily.

Or an answer could be that it does not really matter.

Intel P35

Maybe you should let Intel Know they should put an adapter in the box for PS2 to USB for Keyboard and Mouse. Obviously they are saving money by not putting it on the motherboard.
 

NoelS

Senior member
Oct 5, 2007
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Originally posted by: piasabird
It seems obvious to me that some of the USB inputs must be available via hardware without an OS if they dont need PS2 any longer. It looked like the P35 motherboard did not have PS2 ports either.

If you can take a PS2 keyboard or mouse and put an adapter on it, then a motherboard can add a PS2 connector and do the conversion to PS2 on the motherboard with integration just as easily.

Or an answer could be that it does not really matter.

Intel P35

Maybe you should let Intel Know they should put an adapter in the box for PS2 to USB for Keyboard and Mouse. Obviously they are saving money by not putting it on the motherboard.

piasabird,

You're right, they're saving money. From the looks of that backplane, they don't even want to spend money to put on the latest eSATA technology that most board makers are now including. What's that all about?

Unfortunately, by including an adapter in the box, they'd lose the money they saved by not building it into the board :)

Looks like the customer isn't always right :|

Noel
 

Lavrenti Beria

Junior Member
Aug 14, 2007
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Noels, NXIL, renethx, piasabird,

Well a couple of phone calls and a little more research and I can report the following:

1. I was wrong about abit's plans. They won't be bringing an X38, DDR3 supporting board any time soon. Their plans are to release an X48, DDR3 board and, no, it will not natively support PS/2 hardware.

2. Gigabyte's GA-X38T-DQ6 supports DDR3 and will, in fact natively support PS/2 mice and keyboards!

Work on something long enough and, frequently, solutions are found.

Now a question: With no earlier experience with Gigabyte boards, what kind of stability might I expect to get from the GA-X38T-DQ6 at conservative FSB 1333 with a dual core 1333 capable processor and DDR3 1333? Not terribly likely to challenge the board, simply to arrange things for, hopefully, reliable long term use at close to state of the art speeds. I will be employing an Adaptec SAS adapter and a 15,000 RPM SCSI drive plus some as yet to be determined approach to gigabit ethernet. I've been told in the past here that you're better off with an Intel NIC for these speeds than using on board circuitry.

Too bad about abit, they're making a comeback and might have been a player in this set-up otherwise. I just don't want to use adapters or throw out four sets of keyboards and mice.

Lavrenti Beria