Category Archives: Gigabyte

Gigabyte X38T-DQ6

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The Gigabyte X38T-DQ6 features the Intel X38 chipset along with the ICH9R south bridge chip. This means like all X38 motherboards, the X38T-DQ6 supports all 90nm/65nm LGA775 processors along with the Wolfdale and Yorkfield 45nm processors. This motherboard is also quad-core ready and can support a maximum of 8GB DDR3-1600 memory in dual-channel mode with Intel XMP support. One of the key features of the ICH9R south bridge is the Intel Matrix Storage Technology, which offers RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 support on all six SATA (3.0Gbps) ports.

Other key chipset features include dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 ports, six PCI Express x1 ports, Gigabit LAN, twelve USB 2.0 ports and HD Audio. The X38T-DQ6 features four DDR3 memory DIMM slots with official support for 800/1066/1333/1600 memory and even 1800MHz memory via overclocking. The board features two PCIe x16 slots along with three of the possible six PCIe x1 slots. The other PCIe x1 lanes are dedicated to the onboard network controllers and an additional storage controller. Continue reading →

Gigabyte X48-DQ6

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The X48 chipset is one of the most feature packed chipsets Intel has on offer and this is primarily due to the inclusion of the ICH9R south bridge. The X48 actually supports a wide range of memory; although it was originally said to be a DDR3 only chipset, we now know this is not true as the Gigabyte X48-DQ6 supports DDR2 memory instead. Processor support remains much the same as the X38 chipset, though the new X48 chipset does bring official 1600MHz FSB support. The second generation Intel Matrix Storage Technology2 is also found on this new chipset, supporting a total of six SATAII ports.

So the Intel X48 certainly delivers when it comes to features despite lacking anything really new. The only other question that needs to be addressed regards performance, how well does the X48 perform when compared to Intel’s previous X38 flagship chipset and what is the overclocking performance like? This review will certainly answer both these questions, but before we get that far, let’s take a moment to examine the test subject. Continue reading →