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Tags : DDR2   GA X48 DQ6   Gigabyte   ich9   intel X48 chipset   Motherboards   Reviews  

Introduction Features and Specifications Photos and Pictures The Package and Installation Test Setup, Procedures and BIOS CPU-Z and Everest Information Benchmarks: Sandra Pro XII Benchmarks: FutureMark Suite Benchmarks: DX9 and DX10 Gaming Benchmarks: Science Mark 2 Overclocking

Gigabyte takes Intel's X48 Chipset and makes a high-end motherboard that screams performance.

 

INTRODUCTION

{mosmodule advert3}

Gigabyte never fail to surprise me. Having already establish themselves as leaders in new innovations such Ultra Durable 2 and D.E.S. they now look to challenge Asus and Foxconn for top spot in the motherboard market. This market as you know is very competitive, so much so, even Asus have fallen behind in their marketing strategy for their motherboards, favouring other products instead ... such as the Asus Eee PC. They believe that they are untouchable in this area and so, don't need any further product marketing. This would later turn out to be a mistake for Asus, and it seems they will have address this matter quite urgently. For Foxconn, it's even worse, and you can only feel for their marketing people. With limited samples and limited budget ... there's hardly any Foxconn motherboard reviews on the net. No wonder their brand isn't getting known among mainstream users.

At the Cebit 2008 exhibition, I attended a press conference hosted by Gigabyte. During this conference, Gigabyte explained that they will continue to strengthen their partnership with Intel. Gigabyte is now one of Intel's biggest customers, pruchasing tens of thousands of chipsets for their motherboards. So it was only polite that Intel was present to give a speech of thanks to Gigabyte. In this speech Intel also made assurances that they would work even more closely with Gigabyte, to ensure that their partnership would become one of the most successful . Watch out world ;)

 

 

The Intel X48 Express chipset replaces its precedessor the X38, as Intel's latest performance chipset for desktop PCs. There's been rumours that the X48 is nothing but a X38 that's been "cherry picked"  for better performance and higher overclocking. So, is this true? Well, as far as I can see ... the only difference is the support for higher FSB of 1600Mhz and DDR3 ram. We reviewed a pre-production sample of MSI's X48 Platinum motherboard late last year ... the results proved to be very prositive. Originally, thought that the X48 chipset would only support DDR3 ram. I later realise that this wasn't the case. It seems that manufacturers were eager to support users who are still using DDR2 ram. This would make sense in terms of attracting a wider audience. 

Now, let me take you back to this review. In this review we take a look at the Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 motherboard. It utilises Intel's X48 Express chipset and offers support for 45nm processors, 1600FSB and DDR2-1200 ram. What's more, it includes all of Gigabyte's innovative features such as Ultra Durable 2, D.E.S. (Dynamic Energy Saver) and their 6-Quad design ... see below.

 - Quad BIOS
 - Quad Cooling
 - Quad eSATA2
 - Quad Triple Phase
 - Quad Core Optimise
 - Quad DDR2 slots

To recap ... the Ultra Durable 2, includes the following features ... Lower RDS(on) Mosfets, Ferrite Core chokes and Lower ESR solid capacitors. While the Dynamic Energy Saver (D.E.S.) can provide upto 70% less power comsumption and upto 20% more power efficient. All of this gives the Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 greater energy efficiency, cooler operation and better longevity. There is a saying from Gigabyte, which I have to agree ... "Quality Components make Quality Motherboard". It's the truth and there's no denying it.

 

           

 

Although Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 is a feature-rich motherboard, it does lack some of the things that enthusiasts would be looking for. Things like diagnostic LEDs, external/internal clear CMOS and reset switches. These features are not that important when comes to real performance, but it does add that extra appeal for the enthusiasts. Looking at the layout of the board, it's virtually identical its predecessor, but this time it features the new Intel X48 chipset instead. We're expecting pretty good performance from this motherboard and we've hoping to get some good overclocking results too.

We will be testing this Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor which runs at default speed of 2.4Ghz, as well as 2Gb of Adata DDR2-800 ram, Radeon HD3870, 120Gb HDD 7,200rpm, and a PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 860W PSU. Windows Vista with native DX10 was used as our OS.

OK, let's not waste any more time and see how well the Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 can compete against other motherboards in its class.

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Introduction Features and Specifications Photos and Pictures The Package and Installation Test Setup, Procedures and BIOS CPU-Z and Everest Information Benchmarks: Sandra Pro XII Benchmarks: FutureMark Suite Benchmarks: DX9 and DX10 Gaming Benchmarks: Science Mark 2 Overclocking