Gigabyte's X38 boards look promising

With P35 already out, the next new kid on the block from Intel is its X38, and Computex has it in droves.

We've already reported that Intel used an IHS to cover its silicon, and whether this is aesthetic or simply down to the new, larger 40mm² die size, who knows.

Gigabyte is due to release two varieties of DQ6 boards on both DDR2 and DDR3, both supporting ATI CrossFire technology with full x16 bandwidth.

The GA-X38-DQ6 is DDR2-based and includes a blue PCB, six SATA 3Gbps and twelve USB 2.0 ports on ICH9R as well as the newest Realtek ALC889a with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray support, which we found out has been specifically designed for Gigabyte's use only.

The GA-X38T-DQ6 has essentially the same board layout and comes with the same set of features. The only difference is support for DDR3 memory.

Naturally there are heatpipes on both boards, but they seem somewhat tame compared to Gigabyte’s existing P35-DQ6 board which has copper fins sprouting off like trees. Don't expect any sort of cheaper DS3/4 version though (well, at least at first), since the chipset is aimed at those who are after a powerful PC.

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