Hi guys,
I was all set to go for a GA-EX38-DS4 board upon further investigation I'm not sure if its worth the extra 50Euro over a GA-EP35-DS3R.

All I can see is that it was higher FSB (1600 over 1333), 2 LANs and DTS for audio. In terms of processing I don't think the X38 will over me much over the P35. I won't be using Crossfire or ATX. Have a 8800GT

Any thoughts. I still want a future proof board as possible.

Cheers
Shav

Id save some money as the p35 boards are very good

I had the same question a few weeks ago. I narrowed my choice down to these two boards. Both are great choices. For the extra $40, I chose the EX38-DS4 and I am happy with my choice.
My reason: PCIE 2.0 and 1600 FSB - a year or two from now, when this system is my secondary computer, I can use the latest PCIE 2.0 video cards and future 1600 FSB CPUs. With P35 I would be stuck with the slower PCIE and a 1333 FSB. If you don't care about future expansion and possible single digit percentage performance gains, go P35 and save a few bucks.

Thanks guys. I'll think I'll go with the EX38-DS4 as well. Purely for future proofing reasons

My thoughts also.

I received my two GA-x38-DS4s last night to discover that instead of the expected mix of red and blue solid caps it had all red solid caps as per the dq6. I also found that under the sticker that said x38 - ds4 actually printed on the board was x48 - dq6 ,

Its missing the sata ports, network port and power phase thingies of the dq6 so it IS a DS-4 but it has the uprated red caps all over. I believe the red caps are supposed to have a 3x longer life span than the standard blue solid caps.

Even better!

Quick question. Do you guys use passive cooling on the northbridge or is there a supplied fan? I would prefer passive as trying to keep things as quiet as possible

My boards came with a passive cooling heat pipe solution and im leaving it that way. No fans supplied, no mountings for fans.

Ditto.

DS4 here also. Excellent motherboard with some cool power saving tools. Passive cooling on the MCH. And chose for future proofing reasons

Thanks for this thread. I'm going to choose a DS4 for a new build also, for the reasons you've given.