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Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Intel X38 Express Motherboard Review
Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Intel X38 Express Motherboard Review  - PCSTATS
The GA-X38-DQ6 board supports 800/1066/1333/1600 MHz Intel Celeron D, Pentium 4/D/XE and Core 2 Duo/Quad processors. This platform comes equipped with DDR2 memory slots, and can be installed with a maximum of 8GB of DDR2-1066 MHz memory.
 87% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Gigabyte Jan 25 2008   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6

Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard Highlights


There are two PCI Express x16 slots for videocards and the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 supports AMD CrossFire technology so you can use two AMD videocards together. The videocard slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard. The three PCI Express x1 slots will allow you to attach high bandwidth devices to the motherboard and the two 32 bit PCI slots are good for old legacy hardware you may have. Next to the CMOS battery are the two BIOS chips so you never have to worry about bad flashes with this motherboard. Notice the exclusive use of Low ESR solid aluminum capacitors.


The bottom right hand corner of the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard is very busy indeed. There are eight Serial ATA II slots, a Parallel IDE channel, two USB headers and the front panel I/O connector. We see that the small Intel ICH9R Southbridge heatsink is connected by a heatpipe to the Intel X38.


Rumors had it that the Intel X38 Express was a DDR3 only chipset but that's obviously not the case. The GA-X38-DQ6 comes equipped with four DDR2 slots. The memory slots are colour coordinated, install memory in the same coloured slots to enable dual channel. There's a fan header next to the memory if you're running Corsair's fancy DOMINATOR memory which uses a fan. Next to the main 24 pin ATX power connector is a molex auxiliary power connector, remember to connect that when using dual videocards.


There is a lot of space around the LGA775 CPU socket and it supports Intel's current generation of Core 2 Duo/Quad processors along with its upcoming 45nm models. If you install a passive style CPU cooler (like a waterblock) make sure you have a fan pointed in the processor's direction, the Northbridge and MOSFET heatsinks are designed to be cooled by forced air.


As you can see there's plenty of space everywhere on the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard. That makes installation a breeze, team that up with the well labelled PCB and the well written documentation and even novice computer enthusiasts will not have a problem. The passive chipset cooling system is shown here.

More highlights of the X38-DQ6 right after the jump, and then it's on to overclocking!

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Contents of Article: Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6
 Pg 1.  Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Intel X38 Express Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  Introducing the new king, the X38 Express
 Pg 3.  — Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard Highlights
 Pg 4.  Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Highlights Continued
 Pg 5.  Overclocking the Intel's best
 Pg 6.  Motherboard Benchmarks: Sysmark 2004
 Pg 7.  Motherboard Benchmarks: Sysmark 2004 Con't
 Pg 8.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PC Worldbench (Graphics)
 Pg 9.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PC Worldbench (Office)
 Pg 10.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PC Worldbench (Data Crunching)
 Pg 11.  Motherboard Benchmarks: SiSoft Sandra, Super Pi
 Pg 12.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PCMark05
 Pg 13.  Motherboard Benchmarks: 3DMark05, 3DMark06
 Pg 14.  Motherboard Benchmarks: FarCry, Doom 3., Quake 4
 Pg 15.  PCSTATS Maximum Motherboard Overclocking Chart & Conclusions

 
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