The Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 - Redefining the High End?
by Rajinder Gill on January 2, 2008 3:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
| Gigabyte GA-X48T-
DQ6 Standard/Overclocking/Benchmark Testbed |
|
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme
QX6800 (Quad-core 2.93GHz 1066FSB 2x4MB Shared Cache) Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9650 (Quad-core 3GHz 1333FSB 2x6MB Shared Cache) |
| CPU Voltage | 1.200V ~ 1.450V |
| Cooling | Water cooling: Swiftech Apogee GTX PA120.3 Rad 3 X Laing DDC Ultra Petra Top pumps in series 3x Panaflo 120mm Fans 7-10V |
| Power Supply | OCZ 1000W |
| Memory | OCZ DDR3 PC3-14400 (DDR-1800) Platinum
Edition 2x1GB XP, 4x1GB Vista 64-bit |
| Memory Settings | 5-5-5-12 1N (266 and 333FSB) 6-6-6-18 1N (400 FSB) 8-8-8-20 1N (450FSB) |
| Video Cards | MSI 8800 Ultra |
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA 169.09 (XP), 169.25 (Vista 64) |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 7200RPM 250GB SATA 3/Gbps 16MB Buffer |
| Optical Drives | Plextor PX-B900A, Toshiba SD-H802A |
| Case | Lian Li -75 |
| BIOS | F3D |
| Operating System | Windows XP 32-bit SP2 |
| . | |
We decided to use our base QX6800 CPU with our standard tests run on the 9x multiplier to simulate the attractively priced Q6600 CPU and to compare against some of our previous benchmarking results. The QX9650 was used to cross-compare performance at relevant overclocks using our compact benchmark test suite. In this section of testing, we aim to remain within realistic cooling capacity temperatures and current CPU stepping capabilities. This better shows an overall picture of motherboard performance potential using widely available parts.
With such a vast array of overclocking BIOS functions at our disposal, we decided to stick with a single operating system environment for the overclocking tests. We selected Microsoft Windows XP SP2 due to its maturity, taking away some of the time burden looking for possible software level conflicts that may exist on a newer OS (though we ventured to run a compact Vista test suite for the non-overclocking benchmarks). The Vista tests were all run at board defaults, using an FSB multiplier combination of 9x333 and 4GB of memory with both processors.
We ran 1280x1024 resolution game benchmark tests in order to cross-compare CPU MHz related gains in our board specific tests. We utilize new drive images on each board in order to minimize any potential driver conflicts. Our 3DMark results utilize the standard benchmark resolution for each program. We run each benchmark five times, throw out the two low and high scores, and report the remaining score to reflect a repeatable average.
Since the Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 is for the overclocker and gamer as opposed to typical internet browsing activities, we decided to take a different look at this board and focus on overclocking for this particular article. Please note the memory timings used at various overclocks are in the above table.
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RamarC - Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - link
this isn't a typical mobo and it's not being reviewed as such. this article is testing the limits of highest-end board with the highest-end cpus. comparing it to 965 or p35 based mobos makes no sense since a) it's twice as expensive when ram is conisdered and b) the buyer for this type of hardware wants the absolute best performance possible and not the best bang for the buck.Rob94hawk - Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - link
Been running my Corsair CDFN @ DDR3 1800/7-7-7-20 on the X38T board for a couple of days now. E6750 450x8 @ 3.6Ghz finally Orthos stable (With BIOS F2!)http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...">http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...
Great review though. A few BIOS tweaks in here that I did not know about that might help me on my quest for 4Ghz on air.
Was thinking about pulling the mobo heatpipes and re-seating them with some MX-2.
thorgal73 - Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - link
I have to agree, but not only that : The X38 DDR2 board from Gigabyte seems to respond in much the same way, and displays the same quirky behaviour the X48 sometimes does.I do hope things get better as time passes, as the "reboot to a messed up bios" problem is really bugging me.
UnclePauly - Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - link
My 965p-ds3 rev.2.0 does the same thing. HA!....... I'm starting to sense a pattern here.....Rob94hawk - Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - link
Been running my Corsair CDFN @ DDR3 1800/7-7-7-20 on the X38T board for a couple of days now. E6750 450x8 @ 3.6Ghz finally Orthos stable (With BIOS F2!)http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...">http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...
Great review though. A few BIOS tweaks in here that I did not know about that might help me on my quest for 4Ghz on air.
Was thinking about pulling the mobo heatpipes and re-seating them with some MX-2.
Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - link
Hi Rob,Looks like you're running the X38T and not the X48T?
regards
Raja
Rob94hawk - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link
Yes I've got the X38T and it's a great mobo.