Upcoming X38 Motherboards

Azza said:
Asus Maximus Extreme

MaximusExtreme.jpg


MaximusExtreme2.jpg



:eek:

RAM slots not in line with the top PCI-E slot.
PCI slot above the top PCI-E slot


Whats going on? No motherboard manufacturer would even consider making a semi decent layed out motherboard.
Click to expand...
In contrast to what you've said I think that looks like a great layout.

- PCI slot above the top PCI-E slot means you could stick your soundcard in it and not have to reduce the cooling effectiveness of the graphics card(s) as you would if it was underneath.
- BIOS battery well out of the way of the cards - should be easy to remove and replace when you want to do a "clean" BIOS upgrade.

I'm loving the SATA ports aligned horizontal as opposed to "coming out of the board" too... I can't use two of my 4 ones on my P5W64-WS because they're obstructed by the graphics card & Southbridge cooling.

Shame it will be DDR3 though, the Maximus Formula is the DDR2 one and it looks totally different & has a worse layout to this.
 
Last edited:
Azza said:
Asus Maximus Extreme

:eek:

RAM slots not in line with the top PCI-E slot.
PCI slot above the top PCI-E slot


Whats going on? No motherboard manufacturer would even consider making a semi decent layed out motherboard.
Click to expand...

Looks like a lot of the good X38 boards are going to be DDR3. Really need to see some proper reviews of these boards before I think about which one to get.
 
flibby said:
Suspecting it could be wireless connectivity.
Click to expand...

Sure is.

Dont know why it doesnt seem to be built in on the Maximus Extreme like on the P5E3.

This P5E3 board is looking at costing over £190. May retails at £200 from what ive seen of some pre-orders for it. :eek:
 
Hmm ... combine all of them and there might be something decent ;)
Gigabyte has the benefit of more than dual slot cooler space between the graphics cards, therfore better airflow to cool the top one, but possible CPU cooler backplate issues and looks like an explosion in a fisher price factory. (cool blue PCB though).
Foxcon looks like an explosion in 2 fisher price factories !
Abit has 60mm fans ... not good.
Asus, hmm well if it doesn't work well out of the box, they will never admit it so could be a nightmare...
Intel reference looks nice and understated, but close PCI-E slots.
DFI, probably looks about the best (apart from the trademark dayglo orange and yellow). judgement reserved until I see a newer pic of a complete board, and see what the cooling system is like.
Its the one I might be leaning toward so far, if I go this route.
 
There's probably still more Asus boards to come, they seem to be crapping motherboard at the moment. I do definetly like the Intel reference board however at the moment based on looks, but unfortunately it's DDR3 only and none of the X38 reference boards will be DDR2.
 
Vogon said:
Abit has 60mm fans ... not good.
Click to expand...
Now you see others see active cooling/ non-heatpipe cooling as an advantage & if you want that you can get a QuadGT instead of a MAX.


I've also been reading on XS that apparently X38 has PCI-E problems with the x16 slots & RAID cards etc. (gfx works fine) but that Intel are unlikely to fix them.
 
Active cooling would be an advantage, if it wasnt for the often noisy and/or unreliable fans most manufacturers use.
It seems odd that they often use good quality components on the board, then stick a cheap and nasty fan on.

As long as the active cooling is decent enough to allow good overclocks, and doesn't interfere with a decent cpu cooler, I much prefer that option :)
 
Full GA-X38-DQ6 review!

TweakTown - Final Thoughts said:
Well, it’s clear that the X38 with DDR2 memory is simply not the platform to build on. DDR2 has reached its limits at 1200MHz and with the bus clock speeds expected to be quite high on this board due to Intel removing its artificial overclocking restraints, we need something with more kick to keep things in check.

While DDR3 may have higher latencies, we have already seen it break 2000MHz in our Corsair vs. Super Talent article; this is where we want to see the X38 go, DDR3 all the way. If you can clock bus speeds to the max with this board, you’re going to need some good RAM.

While our RAM may have contributed to the problem of low clock speeds, we have seen this RAM go above 1200MHz before, and we haven’t even got there today with this board which leads us to conclude that this baby while having a good enough BIOS for retail use still needs some tweaking, and Gigabyte are known for their BIOS releases to improve their already impressive boards.

The things we really liked here was the clean layout of the board along with the new Dual PCI Express x16 slots running at full speed. Finally Crossfire gets a good platform to work on.
Click to expand...

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1185/
 
Last edited:
ademcg said:
so, DDR3 is the way forward.
Click to expand...
I'd say so yes, but at the minimal performance increase on DDR3 at the moment and due to it's high cost it's not worth it for that little bit extra performance. Maybe when DDR3 comes out with much better timings, then it's probably worth it. X38 still beats the P35 DDR2 and sometimes the DDR3 version however (at stock) so something to take from that :) It's just a shame this board never came with DDR2 and DDR3, kinda like the P35C-DS3R as then it would have been great.
 
Last edited:
I will put my comment in context, I meant if you are thinking of building a system over the coming weeks, [like I am] then DDR3 is the way to go;)

I am thinking of the longer term, dare I say.... furture proof type strategy....along with the PCI-e 2.0 I think its best to wait for the launch of X38 before I start my build.:)
 
ASUS P5E3 Deluxe: X38 and DDR3 arrives... almost


First Thoughts

We have thoroughly enjoyed our test sessions with the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe board. Although we still do not have final silicon boards yet, we have to say that ASUS has done an excellent job with their design implementation on this board. While the new or revised features such as Express Gate, 802.11n, and the BlackHawk audio technology might mean little to some users, we think the additions complete the overall package that ASUS is after with their Deluxe series of boards. The early package we received just showed a certain level of polish that our other X38 boards do not have at this time. Sometimes that means little, but it certainly left an impression on us in early testing. This is an impression that we hope continues with the retail package as this board is certainly worth a second look.

Overall performance has been very good at stock speeds even with the slight memory throughput penalties that running DDR3 at 1066 brings to the table compared to DDR2 at 1066. However, unlike what we witnessed with the P35 DDR3 boards at launch, the ability to have DDR3 1066 performance match or better DDR2 1066 is impressive considering the potential clocking headroom DDR3 enjoys. Unfortunately, the performance potential of DDR3 sounds great until you realize the current entry price for the high performance modules. As a buyer, looking at the prospect of spending up to four times more for DDR3 is daunting considering the minimal advantages it offers.

We are only a few days away from the official X38 launch and the ability to show a full test suite, provided the retail boards show up in time. We had actually planned on providing a lot more detail today, but last minute updates from the involved parties limited our reporting. With the launch article, we will have additional details including some impressive power consumption numbers that are now lower than the P35 chipset
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom