bit-tech.net | First Look: Gigabyte GA-X38T-DQ6

Kipman725 11th September 2007, 21:34

"im just asking why has Gigabyte used so little cooling compared to Asus or Biostar (the external MOSFET cooler) for X38." mosfet cooling is not needed in low power switching aplications as they can run upto 150c with no problems and if over tempreturing they current limit lowering there tempreture and ensuring they don't go into thermal runaway. The boards with mosfet cooling are etheir poorly designed or using it as a gimmick.

the way this is going on i'm going to have to design my own motherboard with blackjack and hookers!...

Drandith 11th September 2007, 21:58

Ok so....

After reading a healthy chunk of reviews, I have came to one major conclusion about my research for building a new gaming PC. And that is, I am way more confused than I was when I started. My goal was to build a gaming PC that I could stick with for hopefully 3-4 years without spending more than $500-600. I realize it will be more like 2-3 years with the budget that I have. Currently I'm still running an ASUS A7n8x deluxe Motherboard w/ AMD 2400+ followed by an ATI 9800 Pro Video card and 1.5gb ram. So basically, I'm currently way behind the curve. I figured my first step is to locate a video card that supports DX10. I was eying up a nVidia Geforce 8600 GTS. I have been a huge ATI fan in the past but so far the FPS on DX10 show that nVidia has the edge. Then I was checking out processors. AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ is what I came up with. Motherboards kind of confuse me. Hence with this review... wasn't sure what it all meant. ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe or ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe since I was looking at going AMD since the price is alot better than Intel Core 2. For RAM I was thinking G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800. This would be my first attempt at building a computer but I guess it would probably look like this. I believe its all compatible but I wouldn't be shocked if I was way off. Please give me some feed back.

Q 1. Does it make that much of a difference with 512mb as oppose to the 256mb Geforce 8600 GTS? I would think it would be noticeable.

Q 2. If I'm using those specs, what case is going to give me the best cooling for my buck with enough space for the G 8600 GTS cooling system thats build on?

Q 3. Help me please... =P I'm a little lost. Obviously....

Thanks so much,
Drandith

Juggernaut 11th September 2007, 22:30

That copper plate on the back really is a shame!

Does anyone know which decent coolers actually fit the board?
Zalman CNPS 9500/9700 dont but what about Tuniq Tower and Scythe Infinity?

cosmic 11th September 2007, 23:25

The Scythe Ninja does not use a back plate so should fit nicely

Sprogz 11th September 2007, 23:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuyanxu
exact same position. i've already bought a pretty Zalman 9500 cooler, but it needs back-plate :( should have bought a Arctic Cooler pro 7

My thoughts exactly, re: the Artic Cooler Pro 7.

It's a shame as this Silentator really looks the business and the Coolink fan is whisper quiet apparently; I haven't got it in my system yet as I'm a motherboard and CPU away from finishing my PC build :( and I have all these demos I can't play on my existing 3GHz P4 w/ ATI X800XT PE calling me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmic
The Scythe Ninja does not use a back plate so should fit nicely

I guess we'll need to actually see how/if the boards heat pipes interfere with any non-back-plate coolers that fit. I understand from the previews that the heatpipes are less bulky than existing Gigabyte Mobos which is a good start.

HourBeforeDawn 12th September 2007, 05:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mankz.
That looks like one hell of a sweet board..

couldnt say it better, this is a kickass mobo.

Jodiuh 12th September 2007, 05:45

Drand...stretch yourself for the 8800GTS 640 if possible. Buy a cheap ass board, cpu, and memory. Then learn how to overclock. You'll thank me in the end, I promise you.

Woodstock 12th September 2007, 06:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrowhawk
Quick question for Tim... Perhaps it is because I have a headcold, but my spacial thinking just isn't up to snuff today. I can't tell from the pics why a cooler backplate can't fit. (Can one be modded to fit? )

Well, you could always do what this guy did... http://www.ultramobilegeek.com/2007/08/adding-internal-usb-and-internal.html

im good, 4 will do me

Tim S 12th September 2007, 12:11

Sorry for the delayed responses to some of the questions - Rich is out in Shanghai at the moment and has limited access to the net. Hopefully my answers will be sufficient but if not, Rich will have to answer further questions when he returns. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nature
Is pciE backwards compatible?

And I've yet to see a board with a built in steamer for milky latte's...

yes it's backwards compatible - this board supports PCIe 2.0 and we used a PCIe 1.0 graphics card.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmic
Very nice article and a good board although I am surprised that it is only the 2 X 16 slots that are PCIe 2 Is this a limitation of the Intel ICH9R Southbridge ?

ICH9R only supports PCIe 1.1a (afaik), while X38 is PCIe 2.0

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrowhawk
Quick question for Tim... Perhaps it is because I have a headcold, but my spacial thinking just isn't up to snuff today. I can't tell from the pics why a cooler backplate can't fit. (Can one be modded to fit? )

The CrazyCool 2 backplate on the rear of the board needs to be fitted (or you need to replace the screws holding the northbridge cooler down) at all times and that unfortunately covers the back of the CPU cooler too. I guess you could mod the CrazyCool 2 plate so that there's nothing behind the CPU socket.

Tim S 12th September 2007, 12:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juggernaut
That copper plate on the back really is a shame!

Does anyone know which decent coolers actually fit the board?
Zalman CNPS 9500/9700 dont but what about Tuniq Tower and Scythe Infinity?

Anything that has enough clearance to fit on the GA-965P-DQ6 / Blitz Extreme and doesn't require a backplate will fit on this board from just quickly looking at it and comparing to what else is sitting on the bench at the moment. The PWM heatsinks aren't as tall as a Striker Extreme's.

Bindibadgi 13th September 2007, 05:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drandith
Ok so....

After reading a healthy chunk of reviews, I have came to one major conclusion about my research for building a new gaming PC. And that is, I am way more confused than I was when I started. My goal was to build a gaming PC that I could stick with for hopefully 3-4 years without spending more than $500-600. I realize it will be more like 2-3 years with the budget that I have. Currently I'm still running an ASUS A7n8x deluxe Motherboard w/ AMD 2400+ followed by an ATI 9800 Pro Video card and 1.5gb ram. So basically, I'm currently way behind the curve. I figured my first step is to locate a video card that supports DX10. I was eying up a nVidia Geforce 8600 GTS. I have been a huge ATI fan in the past but so far the FPS on DX10 show that nVidia has the edge. Then I was checking out processors. AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ is what I came up with. Motherboards kind of confuse me. Hence with this review... wasn't sure what it all meant. ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe or ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe since I was looking at going AMD since the price is alot better than Intel Core 2. For RAM I was thinking G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800. This would be my first attempt at building a computer but I guess it would probably look like this. I believe its all compatible but I wouldn't be shocked if I was way off. Please give me some feed back.

Q 1. Does it make that much of a difference with 512mb as oppose to the 256mb Geforce 8600 GTS? I would think it would be noticeable.

Q 2. If I'm using those specs, what case is going to give me the best cooling for my buck with enough space for the G 8600 GTS cooling system thats build on?

Q 3. Help me please... =P I'm a little lost. Obviously....

Thanks so much,
Drandith

You want an 8800 if you want it to last a few years.

A 6000+ and M2N32 with 2GB of DDR2 800 memory should get you by, but most people would recommend a P35 and Core 2 Quad.

lotario 14th September 2007, 01:45

NO! NO! NO! I was very close to put my money in that board, but they just ruined it with the Crazy Cool heatsink in the back.

Now I won't be able to fit any decent CPU cooler in the back. And to answer the opinion about the Scythe Ninja cooler, the former revision use to have a backplate. The new revision B of the Ninja has a new mounting system, which consists on plastic bolts.

Yes, you won't need a backplate, but the problem is that there have been many complaints about the new revision of the Ninja not making enough contact with the CPU because of this new lousy system. Thus, the new revision of the Ninja has far worse cooling than the former and old revision with differences as much of 20C!!!

I'm saying this because I've owned 3 of them on many systems. Being the last one the infamous B revision.

In other words, you need a backplate period to make your cooler have good contact with the CPU.

I think my money will go to the Asus P5E3 Deluxe or the Maximus. Dissapointed with Gigabyte, what a bad decision!!

You need to diminish the size of that heatsink in the back!!

NO way in hell I'm going to buy this mobo to force to get lousy CPU coolers without backplate!

MilkMan5 14th September 2007, 14:37

The CrazyCool can be removed, but if you do decide to remove it, the entire CrazyCool Silentpipe will have to go because its all linked.
You could somehow just remove the backplate, with a bit of modification.

The CrazyCool is mostly held by screws, including the backplate.

Renoir 14th September 2007, 15:42

Bindi any comments on my post (#19)?

Tim S 14th September 2007, 16:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renoir
Bindi any comments on my post (#19)?

he's on a flight back from Shanghai at the moment - I'll drop it in his email.

Tim

naokaji 14th September 2007, 16:29

i guess fully loaded with x38 boards for a roundup? *sneaks up behind him....*

Renoir 14th September 2007, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S
he's on a flight back from Shanghai at the moment - I'll drop it in his email.

Tim

Cheers Tim. I'm sure Bindi will enjoy another one of my difficult questions ;)

Tim S 14th September 2007, 16:41

I'd tell him on Monday, but I'm flying the other way tomorrow morning

Bindibadgi 15th September 2007, 16:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renoir
Interesting. According to this thread on avsforum http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=892863 powerdvd downsamples any audio above 16/48 so whether the realtek codec supports hd audio or nor is irrelevant. Besides what has HDCP got to do with the transfer of audio from the app (powerdvd) to the sound card driver/DACs? HDCP is for use over HDMI/DVI. AIUI realtek having hdcp crypto rom would only be useful if they supported digital audio out via hdmi and even then the hdmi specs require that video be present if audio is to be used over hdmi. Suffice it to say I don't understand this part of the article and would be interested to know more.

FFS why do you ALWAYS bring up HDCP discussions!! ARGH!! I had another last week with Nvidia's "pre versus post" 8600 HDCPing and whether its DVI can be HDMI'd etc which took several journalists a good half hour to hammer out an answer.

Well he'll need Power DVD 7 Ultra for a start, plus he should try it with the actual movies from disk. It might be that PowerDVD are limited by the content creators and HDCP to NOT allow any HD audio over anything but from disk playback itself. It could also be the fact that the disk has been ripped exactly - so the 48/16bit is still present in a stream so Cyberlink switches to it rather than actively downsamples, however, it's probably part of AACS spec to have the function of downsampling since Cyberlink are so protective of it.

Here's the problem:

Quote:

Since there's no secure protection between AP and audio driver yet, PowerDVD has to downsample High-def Audio to 48 kHz before sending to driver.

If there's no internal security as Cyberlink claim - then it's not fault it has to conform to the AACS protocol. It's an OS issue - he doesn't specify if he's using Vista or XP or whatever. So whether the Gigabyte chipset is capable or not, given a HDCP signal it will continue to output a HDCP signal. But if they are applying or maintaining HDCP at the chip - something Creative can't do, then it might be beneficial. I'll have to investigate it to be sure, but I don't have a capable 8 channel decoder in the office :(

The lass I usually chat to at Cyberlink is off on her Honeymoon for 2 weeks, but when she gets back I'll have a word to find out. I suspect it isn't unique to Cyberlink though - any BD/HD official player will be subject to the same restrictions because of AACS.

From page 6:

Quote:

According to Amirm (Microsoft VP) trusted path can be used for analog outputs it is just a matter of the software using that interface (at least in Vista).

So he REQUIES Vista.

Quote:

And the hardware supporting it. According to Realtek (who obviously has a vested interest, so a grain of salt is necessary), only a few of their chips-- and no one else currently in the market-- support PAVP.

and the hardware - of which the Creative isn't capable of.

fluxity 16th September 2007, 22:03

hmmm, this seems very promising. I'm on the verge of building a new pc and still contemplating whether to wait and get a x38 board or just to get a p35. Will the x38's be super expensive when they're released? Will the p35's drop in price even more when the x38's are released? Would be looking to get a DDR2 version anyway as ram is super cheap atm. Cheers to anyone that can help me on this.

ComputerKing 17th September 2007, 11:21

Gigabyte is the best! Can't wait to see the X38 Asus, in this GB the SLI is great! the best thing they did not it is the dual X16! The DDR3 IS great.. But Expansive right now.. I think waiting is better ;) The x38 Chip is So Sexy and hot! I love it too much!

Thanks BT for this review ;)

kenco_uk 17th September 2007, 12:05

Well goddamn... 8 sata ports.

wewt :)

cosmic 17th September 2007, 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenco_uk
Well goddamn... 8 sata ports.

wewt :)

Yes same as the P35 variants of the board

kenco_uk 17th September 2007, 15:58

It's about the only other one that does :)

Others feature 6 sata and 2 esata.

Go Go Gigabyte!

BUFF 18th September 2007, 10:10

tweaktown has a full review of a retail DDR2 DQ6 mobo http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1185/.
It's not particularly exciting from a performance/oc pov.

Log in

First Look: Gigabyte GA-X38T-DQ6

Comments 26 to 51 of 75