Ok, my turn.

[chuckm]

Just got an email from a friend that wants me to do a build around a X38 board. These are his choices and I haven't done anything with the X38 so I really don't have a clue.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280%20107172333&bop=And&CompareItemList=N82E16813128089%2CN82E16813127033%2CN82E16813131219

 

[Shadow703793]

Budget and needs?

 

[rockbyter]

What he said ^. Would likely be a gaming system, what cards are going with it? let the number of x16 slots be your match to that.

 

[jevon]

Yeah if he wants to with ATI cards then I'd just get the cheapest one with two PCI-E x16 lanes so Crossfire is an option at some point. If he wants to use a single nVidia card, then I'd just get a P35 like the DS3L for $100 because the pain difference between X38 and P35 boards are that the X38's generally have two PCI-E lanes at full 16x speeds where P35's just have one (the second one on 'Crossfire' boards is gimped at x4 speeds).

 

[chuckm]

I haven't really gotten any details yet, just an email about doing a build with one of these boards. I know and agree that this is a little vague. I'll talk with him Thus or Fri, but my guess is, he will be giving a P4 build I did for him to his almost teenage son, then do another build in about a year and give this to the boy for more serious gaming. I know he's an Intel/ATI fanman. He didn't mention anything about a budget, knowing him, it's not really an issue but he won't be going nuts either.

 

[aevm]

All 3 have two PCI-E x16 slots running at x16 (the newegg specs for the aBit are wrong, they make it look like a P35).

I think I'd get the Gigabyte, mostly because I have a Gigabyte P35 these days and it works nicely. I just don't like the limit of 6 SATA ports. There's also the GA-EX38-DQ6 (compared to the DS4, it has better cooling, 8 SATA ports, eSATA adapters, it costs $70 more)

 

[badge]

Just got an email from a friend that wants me to do a build around a X38 board. These are his choices and I haven't done anything with the X38 so I really don't have a clue.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280%20107172333&bop=And&CompareItemList=N82E16813128089%2CN82E16813127033%2CN82E16813131219

Gigabyte and ABIT use Award BIOS I believe, while ASUS uses American Megatrends which I prefer. ASUS has revamped their BIOS with the X38 chipset. The new BIOS layout adds more specific voltage control throughout the system as well as a detailed seconday tier of RAM timing selection. Each BIOS revision has added to and improved the overall overclocking layout of the system. The new look BIOS is tricked out and has a plethra of overclocking bells and whistles if that's your bag. The 'newer' ASUS Republic of Gamers Rampage Formula X48 looks great! ASUS X48 is essentially a higher binned X38 built for the most extreme tweakers. Just wanted to mention it, it's a thought if your looking at an X38. Check it out.


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

Like other recent offerings from ASUS, the Rampage Formula is part of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) line of motherboards, aimed squarely at the enthusiast looking to tune all levels of system control in order to extract every ounce of possible performance. We were a little surprised to see that ASUS seems to have needed very little engineering work in order to make use of Intel's higher-binned X48 chipset - the Rampage Formula and the currently available Maximus Formula (which uses the X38) share almost everything in common with the exception of the Northbridge. On one hand this makes sense, as the X48 is little more than an X38 binned for ultimate performance; on the other hand we would have liked to see a few additional improvements in component choices and layout.

Here's a look at an ASUS X38 BIOS.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=160945

 

[antas]

True, the ABiT IX38 is using AWARD BIOS. I'm using one without any problems, perhaps because I'm still running it at default settings. I don't bother to OC yet, have no time for it, and still satisfied with current stock speed

If you're really enthusiasts user then I think X48 is worth to be considered. They're offering higher speed possibilities. X48 has native support for FSB1600 while X38 at FSB1333. Sure that X38 can run 1600 too, but since it's native is 1333, then IMO X48 can also run out of it's native >>1600