Who said X48 would be no better than X38 Read on!!

[TheBiznes]

I have just read an interesting article about the new Asus Rampage Formula which i think a lot of you will find interesting to say the least.

Its a very in depth article on how different X48 might be compared to X38 and other chipsets.

the review is found here

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208&p=1

Now I used to use memtest which I think does the same sorta thing but it had to load at windows startup, but this is in the bios so works with any OS.

Anyways enjoy the read I did and comment.

 

[TheBiznes]

so i take it, this new Asus Rampage Formula, is looking to be a better Intel X48 Motherboard, than Asus P5E3 Premium/Wifi@N Intel X48?

I dont think so maybe the Asus P5E3 has the same options IDK look at Custompc this month they have a review.

I'd guess the Rampage is going to be the most expensive desktop motherboard we've ever seen.

No Its likely to be very good value same as Asus formula was. They will offer two versions same as X38 a formula DDR2 and an Extreme DDR3

 

[TheBiznes]

So will there be a more expensive DDR3 version?

Yea basically they are trying to smooth the transition from DDR2 to DDR3 with all the expense that inccurs, but before long say 6 months they probably drop DDR2 all together on new boards.

IMO DDR3 isnt worth it at the min, £370 + for 2gb of Corsair 1800 DDR3 as
apposed to £70 of good old Crucial Ballistic P8500, but having read the review if you can afford the extreme processors then hey buy DDR3 if buying new system. It's the future LOL

 

[TheBiznes]

I`ll be buying my new system in about 4 months time, and will need the very best of motherboard that money can buy.

Dose anyone know if there will be a version of the X48 motherboards, that will do/support SLI Technology? because this is the only down side about these motherboards right now, as I kinda like NVIDIA better right now.

Nvidea will not release license to allow it to be used on intel boards, only on there own boards. These boards have dual PCI-e 16x slots which means in the case of the Formula version you can run Crossfire. 2 ATI graphics cards. With the Extreme in theory you can run tri CF, but i'm not sure It has 3 x 16 PCI-E lanes

The trouble is ATI dont produce comparable cards performance wise to the 8800 GTX/Ultras and with 9000 series coming soon they probably won't for a while.
Who needs SLI? I bought a P5n32-SLI and 2 GTX 8800 found I couldn't clock quads easily on the board so sold it and bought X38 using 1 card, really good decision which i'm glad in retrospect i made. I run 2560 x 1600 and with best settings for Dx9 in Crysis np at all using autoexec file in Crysis directory.

 

[TheBiznes]

so basically, SLI isn`t really worth it, and one high end NVIDIA card on these motherboards should do just fine for power gaming?

Yep thats is at the min, but if you wait four months I still think the nvidia boards will under perform the Intel ones processor wise. I find I can play any game I want at this resolution which is on a 30" lcd Dell np at all with 1 8800 GTX at the minute. The 9000 cards look promising, but in four months time would be good time to buy a q6600 for about £70 and put it on a decent X48 board clock it to 3.6Ghz costing £155 with 2gb DDR2 Crucial ram about £70 and buy either a 8800GTX or Ultra or a 8800GT.

Or if you want the Ultimate buy the X48 extreme over the P5e premium (see CustomPC this months issue they dont really rate the P5e ) probably about same sort of price by then and if your lucky Corsair 1800 DDD3 memory might have come down in price or cellshock DDR3 at the minute about £325

If money was not the issue I would go down the Extreme path, I still might and sell my DDR2 board with 4GB PC8500 and buy into DDR3.

It some ways better to spend on the display more, it lasts a bit longer and you get your moneys worth.

 

[TheBiznes]

I take it, when you say: if you want the Ultimate buy the X48 extreme, you mean the Asus Rampage Formula Extreme Edition?

The Rampage Extreme DDR3 is the "ultimate" over the P5e

The Rampage Formula is its DDR2 sibling

 

[TheBiznes]

I hope im not looking like a spammer with all these questions, but, I take it, to benefit from DDR3 performance wise over DDR2 is to get DDR3 rated at PC14400-1800MHz speeds, something like this one?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-095-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=923

Yea thats the ticket, you could go for 1600 DDR3 if price was at a premium but I wouldnt , check this out for more info on DDR3

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3121&p=1

Who said X48 would be no better than X38 Read on!!

I did and it would look like I'm right.
Even the link you provided starts with "X38 owners will see no compelling reason to upgrade"

Nobody said X48 wouldn't be a good chipset, however as an "evolution" to X38 it isn't.
If your buying now then the logical choices would be X48 if money is no object, X38 if you want similar performance (but probably lower prices as retailers get rid of stock ready for X48) or P35 for budget.
If you're running X38 or P35 now, you may as well wait for P45.

I agree I'm not advocating a switch from X38 soley to X48, but if your looking to buy a new board then X48 will probably fit the bill. Trouble is the SE went ELI quickly I think the Air cooled will as some suppliers have no stock.

 

[TheBiznes]

The next Intel architecture due out at the end of this year will most likely be DDR3 only.

As I said progress as usual well time to make more money out of us, but in 6 months to a year there will be no more new DDR2 boards. They are just cushioning the blow at the minute like they have done in the past.

 

[TheBiznes]

For the OP, and anyone else pulled in by the hype:

Basically they are saying that a BIOS option is making this board the board to have. Which means, the X38 could quite easily have this feature implemented. This does not all of a sudden make the X48 the wonder board that everyone and his dog has been waiting for, but makes it an extra tweak that currently doesn't seem to be on X38 Bios's.

Basically, next time, please read what the article says rather than posting a misleading thread.

(and yes, I read the article the day before the thread was posted).

For the record, I don't think anyone could say the X48 boards are "no better than X38's" since they X48 chipsets are effectively cherry picked/better quality X38 chipsets. So yes they are better, but only in the sense that they will prob run cooler (need less voltage) and be able to be pushed a bit further. But then, everyone pretty much knew that already....

Matthew

You can do the same sorta tweak in windows xp32 which I have been doing for a while now. Its called memset and it allows tweaking the Performance Level (which I think you will find is Trd as quoted in the review).

If you lower the performance by usually 1 level it reduces the latency and enables a bit more write and read speeds as viewed through Everest.

The trouble is these settings are intialised at startup and at present do not work on a 64 bit os. So having this feature in the bios is a welcome addition.

My hope is that with the fsb offically supported by intel for their next gen processors, unlike x38 which in the packaging etc hints at being 1600 ready. Which it can do mine was at 1800 all time. Hopefully the new NB will allow for higher fsb with quads 475 to at least 500. The current x38 with quads seems to reach a barrier at the min.

For the OP, and anyone else pulled in by the hype:
Basically, next time, please read what the article says rather than posting a misleading thread.
Matthew

Bringing up a thread like this brings out discussion, and raises interesting points who are you to vet what is or isnt raised here BTW.