which is faster, P4 2.8C, or A64 3800+?

[Keysplayr]

On topic guys. Did the OP get an answer to his original question?

 

[myocardia]

VirtualLarry's the OP, and he made his decision quite awhile back, as far as I know.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
No, they are not. That's exactly what Gigabyte is doing in this case. If you did some research and checked out the pictures of the EX38-DS4 and EX48-DS4 boards, and compared them with the P35 varients, you would see what I'm talking about.

Actually, I did. I even read every post and clicked on every link in the post you linked from the motherboard forum. I understand your concern, honestly I do. My point wasn't that you should buy an P45-DS4 or X48-DS4. You shouldn't, they doesn't fit your needs. My point was only that you shouldn't refuse to buy a motherboard from any company, just because one of their boards doesn't fit your needs.

For instance, if built-in eSATA capability was of utmost importance to you while shopping for a P35 board, guess who should be your #1 manufacturer to consider? That's right, Gigabyte. Abit, for instance, has zero eSATA on any of their P35 boards, except for their most expensive, and they only have 4 SATA ports. Shouldn't you refuse to ever even consider any Abit board again, because of that?

All motherboard manufacturers have product segmentation, from the best to the worst, they all have it.

Why are they not including features that the chipset supports? Just to force you to purchase a higher-end model. If the chipset supports 8 USB ports, would you prefer it if Gigabyte only included 4 on their base mobo model, and only included 8 USB ports on their higher-end models?

Now that you mention it, that would suit me just fine. I don't like having 7 or 8 hard drives. I just retire the older, smaller ones, when I need more space. I even have an SATA optical drive in all three of my systems, and both of the ones with ATX mobos still have spare SATA ports, even though both are using two of them for the eSATA ports.

Traditionally, mobo mfgs include support for everything that is supported by the chipset.

Gigabyte is going against that tradition, and is starting to intentionally cripple their boards.

You're right, that's what they used to do, to some extent. But guess what else they did. They crippled the less than top of the line's boards capabilities to overclock. Are you sure that's what you want? Lower your overclocks to 2.0-2.4 Ghz, where they would be if the manufacturers still segmented their boards the way they used to segment them, and get back to me in a few days.

edit: Okay, I finally thought of a short way to summarize my thoughts. Have you ever heard the phrase "don't cut off your nose to spite your face"? I think it fits here.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Alright, I respect your opinion.

I guess I just feel that I'm being cheated, should I purchase an EX38-DS4 board, because I'm paying for the Gigabyte SATA2 chip (Jmicron IDE+SATA controller) onboard, but I'm not getting the functionality. Sure, the spot is silk-screened right on the board where the ports should be, but Gigabyte left them out, because I didn't pay them their premium for the DS5 or DQ6. I'm a firm believer that if the chipset supports it, the mobo should include it. Anything less is not enough.

I thought it was humorous that the fellow from Gigabyte made claims that the DS5 board cost the same as the DS4, and then opened his mouth and said that the X48 chipset would come in at the same price as the X38 chipset, hence I should, theoretically, be able to find an EX48-DS5 board for the same price that I found that EX38-DS4 board for. I told him if I could find that, then I would drop the boycott. I'm still looking.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Alright, I respect your opinion.

I guess I just feel that I'm being cheated, should I purchase an EX38-DS4 board, because I'm paying for the Gigabyte SATA2 chip (Jmicron IDE+SATA controller) onboard, but I'm not getting the functionality. Sure, the spot is silk-screened right on the board where the ports should be, but Gigabyte left them out, because I didn't pay them their premium for the DS5 or DQ6.

Hey, like I've already said, I don't think you should buy an X38-DS4 or X48-DS4, but only because in this particular instance, they don't fit your needs. I just don't think you should limit your possibilities for future purchases, just because Gigabyte doesn't fit your needs for this purchase. They're just as likely to be the best choice for your next purchase (after this one) as they would have been if the the X38-DS4 had been the perfect board for you this time. These manufacturers make changes like this continually. Good luck, man.