X38 must read...

wow talk about a page hit whore. 21 pages of crap that could have been done in 3 pages if that. its no wonder i never visit that site.
 
Sean said:
If its on Tom's I'll pass.
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Agreed... However, even for a site heavily biaised toward Intel, it say that the X38 doesn't give any advantage versus the p35 boards. This gave me some doubt about the usefulness of buying a X38 board for a inflated price.

 
And when the next Highend card from Nvidia and perhaps ATI is released next year they will almost sure be limited by the PCIe 1.1 bandwith and there is still no reson to go DDR3for at least 6 month because of price/performace when DDR2 is dirtcheap and OC well on lower timings.
Also P35 has tweked BIOS but will not have PCIe 2.0 enabled or even will have it at all, X38 does not have tweaked BIOS yet but have PCIe 2.0 enabled and give highend GFX the bandwith it needs in the future.
Easy pick for somewhat "futureprof" build.
I payed more for my Abit IN9-crap that does not OC Quad well or even at all depending on stepping and will just as P35 be limited by next highend GFX.
 
Xilikon said:
Agreed... However, even for a site heavily biaised toward Intel, it say that the X38 doesn't give any advantage versus the p35 boards. This gave me some doubt about the usefulness of buying a X38 board for a inflated price.

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Yep, yep, I agree. Dont need Toms page fest to tell me that. The initial reviews and the chipset specs from Intel tell the tale. Nothing really new here, move along.


heh, someone point out the big advantage of a P35 over a P965 other than overpriced DDR3, I looked hard and failed to see it. Same deal with P35 -> P38 or even P965 -> P38. Of course if you have a huge pile of steaming money sitting in the back yard getting wet in the rain, thats another thing altogether.

Until we see boards with Quickpath (aka Common System Interconnect) and the Nehalem CPUs upgrading is, IMO, a lot of money for 2-5% performance increases your video card will probally mask anyway. This assumes you are a gamer. There are of course applications, not many, nor many users of them, where the upgrade might make sense if costs/benifits were not the primary concern. Better off upgrading your video card or buying the wall sized monitor you been eyeing.

/suckers. :p

"futureprof" lol thats a good one.
 
Must agree. I haven't seen the point to moving to the P35 from the 965 just yet. Sure penryn processors, but they are still a way's off and even then will be expensive. 965 is a solid intel chipset and well proven (aka developed).

Still, we cannot forget the bleeding edge.:D
 
Didn't mean to agitate some of you....just havn't seen a whole lot of info on the x38, this seemed like a good information page to noob's that are thinkin about building a computer soon and don't have a lot of info...........*cough...cough*....me:confused:
 
Penryn is just a Conroe die shrink with big cache, might OC a little better maybe not. Seem to recall a few SSE instructions thrown in too. We will see them in January so not so long but dont expect it to do miracles for performance. The Nehalem is the next new cpu with new internals, we can only hope its a leap like the P4 -> C2D. Fingers crossed. What will be intereresting to see what the replacement for the FSB and PCI which is Quickconnect will do for system speed and if we have to throw away all the PCi-e video cards.


hmm come to think of it we do need some sucke.. ah, er, [H]ard Bleeding Edge Warly Adopters", yea thats the ticket, to find all the bios bugs in the X38s, hell buy two.

Beware the hype.

(I served my time on the edge with the P965's)

LOL I just get a kick out of all the "reviews" and hype with a new chipset that basically does nothing for us. And I worry a lot of people that do not know better will be disappointed after spending a lot of money on an un-needed upgrade. Heck if you are going to buy might as well go for the newest as long as the prices are not too out of line. I went from an OC Barton to the C2D and dropped a ton of money, paid through the nose for the motherboard, and ram was sky high at the time, but the performance increase was staggering, dont regret it a bit. Plus they are upgrading my game and the servers are down so I have nothing better (well, painting the back bedroom, but nahhhh) to do but make smartass comments here. Good post and it needed to be brought to peoples attention.
 
Quality said:
Didn't mean to agitate some of you....just havn't seen a whole lot of info on the x38, this seemed like a good information page to noob's that are thinkin about building a computer soon and don't have a lot of info...........*cough...cough*....me:confused:
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Tom's is a source that can be skipped when ever possible. There is almost nothing useful that comes from that site, IMO. If you are looking for a new system what are you looking for exactly? Overclocking, fast FPS, small and light, quiet, sexy?
 
I think the article nails what the X38 truly is, Tom's or not. Unless you're looking to set up a Crossfire configuration, there is little reason to invest in this board. Sure, it's a very nice board. I, myself, wouldn't mind owning one, but I certainly wouldn't invest the money in purchasing one when it offers practically zero advantage over the vastly cheaper P35 chipset.

I think if it was any other site, you guys would be roaring about how great a review it was.
 
Ranari said:
I think the article nails what the X38 truly is, Tom's or not. Unless you're looking to set up a Crossfire configuration, there is little reason to invest in this board. Sure, it's a very nice board. I, myself, wouldn't mind owning one, but I certainly wouldn't invest the money in purchasing one when it offers practically zero advantage over the vastly cheaper P35 chipset.

I think if it was any other site, you guys would be roaring about how great a review it was.
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Perhaps, but its Tom's Hardware and I'd rather get my information from some where reputable no matter what. Anyone that has been following the X38 should already be quite aware of the fact that its no big jump from the P35. So if we already knew that why did it take the "20+" pages to explain that.
 
Yeah, but those of us with a pair of 2900s certainly would like to step up from the 975 boards we're currently using. Looks like a solid offering and it will mature. Why base the entire chipset eval off of one board review on a site like Toms...
 
Excuse me, but what is this, the Inquirer? WoW forums? High school? I don't mean to insult, but are you not implying that we should make bold claims without backing them up with at least some form of evidence? Seriously, re-read your statement:

So if we already knew that why did it take the "20+" pages to explain that.
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Late to the game or not, if Tom's review had been just a few pages with few benchmarks, and had the same conclusion, you all would be blasting him for inadequacy or band wagoning. And yet, here he provides "20+ pages" and you blast him for thoroughness.

I'm not buying your argument.
 
More information is better than less. I prefer clarity over abbreviation.
 
Can't you guys just read for informations sake instead of being biased about a site? If you don't like it move on to the next site....so childish.
 
Ranari used the words, "vastly cheaper P35 chipset." That pretty much sums up the X38 for me. I might look at the Abit X38-QuadGT, but it comes down to cost. There's no way I'm spending $300 for a board that only does 1-2% better than a $150 P35 board (the caveat being that I'm only running a single video card...if you're into the highend Crossfire thing I can see the X38 being worth it).
 
ScourggeFX said:
Can't you guys just read for informations sake instead of being biased about a site? If you don't like it move on to the next site....so childish.
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How about this. This is honestly not an attempt to show any bias. IMO, they took 20 or more pages to say what most sites could say in 5. They also didn't say too much more then what has already been said by a couple other sites via things like benchmarks.

As an aside, the reason many have a bias is based on the reputation Tom's has gained. People HAVE read their articles, then came to a conclusion. I'll admit I haven't read too many articles from there recently, but the reputation is earned. Your post implies that the bias is unfounded. Isn't it kind of childish to assume people are being biased because it's cool to bash Tom's..this seems like what you're implying.
 
Methadras said:
More information is better than less. I prefer clarity over abbreviation.
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I entirely agree. Some resent that more information requires some analysis on the reader's part. For example, I seem to be only the second in this thread to hint that this is a Gigabyte X38 which, if you've been keeping up with the X38 saga you'll already know, in their eagerness to get to market first is sporting X38 Rev. 1. Now, we've all heard that X38 will be Rev. 2 at time of release. So, why is everyone finalizing their opinions based on the wrong Revision of the Chipset? That's like looking at a 6-month fetus and declaring it'll be a brown-baggingly ugly girl at 18. Let's just speculate and stop short of forming a posse to string up Tom and his Intel gang.

Tom's Hardware Guide:
"We were only able to measure minor performance differences between the P35 and the X38 chipsets. As a result, we can state confidently that the X38 offers no performance advantage compared to the P35, or even the 975X."

Statements like this are why THG is distrusted here. It's just entirely too early to say something with such... 'confidence'.
 
Sean said:
Tom's is a source that can be skipped when ever possible. There is almost nothing useful that comes from that site, IMO. If you are looking for a new system what are you looking for exactly? Overclocking, fast FPS, small and light, quiet, sexy?
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Well to be honest, I have been waiting to build my system for some time now. I just keep changing my mind about what I want. Here is a list of parts I am definitly getting after countless hours of research.

CASE: Antec 900
PSU: Corsair 620
MOBO: ABIT IP35 Pro
CPU: Q6600
CPU Cooler: Zalman 9700
Hard Drive: (2) 150gb Raptors in RAID 0, (1) 320gb Seagate barracuda

These parts are a definite. I just bought a HP w2408 monitor, so I don't need one. I have a Dell Inspirion 1520 notebook with an 8600m gt video card in it hooked up to this monitor at the moment. I havnt decided on a video card or memory yet. I know for me to game at cranked settings on my 24" monitors native resolution, I hsould probably get at least the 8800GTS 640mb. The problem is, once I build this computer, it will probably be another 3-4 years before I do it again. With that in mind, I am considering buying the "souped" up version of the EVGA 8800ultra, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130093. I know, I know, everyone will say its a waste of money compared to the standerd 8800GTX, but if I am not going to be upgrading anytime soon after this, why not go all out? Next is the memory issue. I have vista business on the laptop I have and I happy enough with it. So with that in mind, my new build will either have Vista Ultimate 32 or 64 bit. So my fight is that I dont know what I want. 4 gigs of DDR2 800, or 2 gigs of a little faster ram(say PC-8500)? I dont know.....then I have started reading about x38, and I just slamed the breaks on to see what I could find out about it.

The memory and video issues are my biggest pains in my ass. I am leaning towards the 8800 ultra, just for the fact that it will be awile beofre I upgrade, and basically, why the hell not :p:D...........for memory I don't know, vista likes memory, but I have 2 gigs in that laptop i mentioned and it runs plenty quick, but maybe getting 4 gigs and 64-bit is the smarter move. You see the frustration I'm having so any input would be great. While gaming on that laptop is fun, the 8600m gt video card with its vga connection, just does no justice to what I know gaming could look like on my 24" glossy, sexy-ass bitch, HP monitor;) with even just a DVI connection. Thanks in advance all............
 
There is another review in http://www.ocworkbench.com/2007/gigabyte/GA-X38-DQ6/g1.htm and this one show a more clearer picture compared to Tom's :

It seems the X38 will really shine only in a Crossfire setup due to the 2x 16x slots compared to the P35. In a single card configuration, there is zero advantage to get a X38.

This is another nail in my X38 coffin... I'm now just waiting to see how the IX38 QuadGT is priced before I take a decision (if it is just 20-30$ more expensive, I wouldn't mind but if it is more than this, there is no point wasting money on something I cannot take advantage 100%).

 
Currently, only AMD/ATI can take advantage of dual-card operation on X38-based boards. Support for Nvidia's SLI technology will only be included in the upcoming dual-socket "Skulltrail" platform, Intel's answer to AMD's QuadFX (4x4). Just to be clear: there will be no support for Nvidia's SLI on the X38 platform ... for now
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well... damn. Im still stuck with my crap board.

EDIT
Xilikon said:
There is another review in http://www.ocworkbench.com/2007/gigabyte/GA-X38-DQ6/g1.htm and this one show a more clearer picture compared to Tom's :

It seems the X38 will really shine only in a Crossfire setup due to the 2x 16x slots compared to the P35. In a single card configuration, there is zero advantage to get a X38.

This is another nail in my X38 coffin... I'm now just waiting to see how the IX38 QuadGT is priced before I take a decision (if it is just 20-30$ more expensive, I wouldn't mind but if it is more than this, there is no point wasting money on something I cannot take advantage 100%).

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beat to it :(
 
kirbyrj said:
Ranari used the words, "vastly cheaper P35 chipset." That pretty much sums up the X38 for me. I might look at the Abit X38-QuadGT, but it comes down to cost. There's no way I'm spending $300 for a board that only does 1-2% better than a $150 P35 board (the caveat being that I'm only running a single video card...if you're into the highend Crossfire thing I can see the X38 being worth it).
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Best post so far. :)
 
SNIP3R said:
Best post so far. :)
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Agreed. I finally took a decision last night and ordered a P5K-E/Wifi-AP (Had to jump on a NCIX deal for 159$ and wanted to take advantage of cheap shipping since my friend wanted to share the order with me for his 8600GTS card as well) since I don't care about sli/crossfire and I want to still use DDR2. I will wait for Nehalem before looking at a new motherboard since P35 can work with Yorkfield/Wolfdale anyway. I'm also afraid to be a guinea pig when I buy a new X38 board while the P35 boards has been burning for close to 6 months already and the quirks known or ironed out already.

 
If it had SLI support it might be worth it. Without it, it is just another 1 card Intel chipset.

WTF ever happened to the days when you loaded the hardware you wanted on a motherboard, and didn't have to worry about SLI or Crossfire support? Remember SLI originally worked on PCI slots, you could grab any 2 voodoo cards and run in SLI to your hearts content. It didn't matter if it was Intel, AMD, VIA or whatever chipset you bought. It just worked. The problem came when certain video card vendors and chip vendors crossed into each others markets, and started aiming for angles to make people go to their particular platform. I believe most end users really want one thing: Pick out the components they want, and have them work properly.
 
hasoos said:
If it had SLI support it might be worth it. Without it, it is just another 1 card Intel chipset.

WTF ever happened to the days when you loaded the hardware you wanted on a motherboard, and didn't have to worry about SLI or Crossfire support? Remember SLI originally worked on PCI slots, you could grab any 2 voodoo cards and run in SLI to your hearts content. It didn't matter if it was Intel, AMD, VIA or whatever chipset you bought. It just worked. The problem came when certain video card vendors and chip vendors crossed into each others markets, and started aiming for angles to make people go to their particular platform. I believe most end users really want one thing: Pick out the components they want, and have them work properly.
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I 100% agree with you.
 
abcdelight said:
The X48 is due out soon after X38 and that's rumored to be the "true" performance board :

http://www.tcmagazine.info/comments.php?shownews=16141&catid=2

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,6759.html
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X48 is not an assured reality as of yet. Intel has not made up its mind whether or not to bring it to market. The X48 is heavily speedbinned X38. DDR3 only would be a big mistake IMO.

Some X38s are getting to 560MHz FSB so far, but they have been hand picked TMK. The only real X38 advantage I am seeing right now is if you are wanting to run high end CrossFire in the future. All indications are that PCIe Gen 2 does have some positive performance impacts here.

I have not been overly impressed with any of the X38 boards we have in-house at the moment. This is not something you want to be an early adopter on to put it in succint terms.
 
Toms has a bad rep because they earned it, and it's damn hard to get out of that situation.

As per the platform, to hell with x38.

Facts are facts, intel makes the best platforms for intel chips. High end crossfire still sucks compared to high end SLI.

I'm aware of the chipset hanky panky and platform pushing but the x38 is really a slap in the face. I'm fed up with 680i but with dual 8800's I'm stuck with it.

In all complete honesty it ran better with hacked items over i975x abit then it does on 680i. the first company to pump out an x38 with SLI will own the market.
 
sd11 said:
Toms has a bad rep because they earned it, and it's damn hard to get out of that situation.

As per the platform, to hell with x38.

Facts are facts, intel makes the best platforms for intel chips. High end crossfire still sucks compared to high end SLI.

I'm aware of the chipset hanky panky and platform pushing but the x38 is really a slap in the face. I'm fed up with 680i but with dual 8800's I'm stuck with it.

In all complete honesty it ran better with hacked items over i975x abit then it does on 680i. the first company to pump out an x38 with SLI will own the market.
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whats the pint with SLI anyway? games dont take advantage of it so what realy is the point? im surprised SLI still exists
 
jonneymendoza said:
whats the pint with SLI anyway? games dont take advantage of it so what realy is the point? im surprised SLI still exists
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Wow. You might ought to read some of the articles out there about it from sites that ponied up to actually use monitors that can take advantage of them.
 
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