Synthetic
PC Mark's overall system performance test shows the Maximus Extreme as the best performer, followed by the P35 Express comparison board.
The Gigabyte GA-X38T-DQ6 wins PC Mark's CPU test due to its higher-than-standard default clock and top overclocked speed.
The Maximus Extreme was the only X38 Express motherboard to support the tight DDR3 timings previously seen in our P35 tests, so it easily wins at default speed in PC Mark 2005's memory test. The Gigabyte GA-X38T-DQ6 passes it slightly when overclocked, since memory speed increases with CPU FSB.
The MSI X38 Diamond finally wins a benchmark in Sandra's Dhrystone ALU test, but the GA-X38T-DQ6 comes back with a vengeance when overclocked.
Things get back to normal in Sandra Whetstone FPU, with Gigabyte's slight default-speed clock advantage and better overclocking capability yielding these unsurprising results.
