We brought back the Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R motherboard to compare today's X38 Express performance to that of its P35 Express predecessor. Compared to high-end boards of its generation, the P35C-DS3R combines typical performance and overclocking capabilities with dual-memory compatibility. Support for both DDR2 and DDR3 modules will allow the board to be used in both today's DDR2 motherboard comparison and an upcoming X38-DDR3 comparison, and other dual-memory motherboards simply couldn't compete in the overclocking arena.

The GA-P35C-DS3R was updated to BIOS version F5 (10/24/2007).

And why would overclocking be such an important feature for motherboard comparative tests?

Because today we're going to provide test results at each system's highest stable overclocked speed as well as its default CPU speed!

Getting up to full speed with an FSB1333 processor would require some good RAM, so we used Corsair's XMS2-8888C4DF. It allowed us to test two of the X38 boards (and the P35 comparison board) at the previously selected DDR2-1066 setting and its rated CAS 4. The Foxconn X38A didn't support the same 8:5 DRAM:FSB clock ratio as the other boards and was instead set to DDR2-1000.

After default CPU speed benchmarks were complete, each system was set to a synchronous CPU:DRAM ratio for overclocked configurations while maintaining Corsair's good CAS 4 rated timings.

Heat could put a damper on any overclocking efforts, but Swiftech was able to provide a solution. Previously used in our E6750 Overclocking Shootout, components include its Apogee GTX CPU block, MCP-655b pump and a triple 120 mm cooling fan radiator.

Earlier E6750 overclocking attempts pointed out the performance issues certain boards have when overclocked, but thanks to a good combination of parts, we no longer worry about leaving out this critical information!