Anyone know when Asus plans to release X38 MObo?

[Wigwam]

System Build is pencilled in for end-Augo so wondered if anyone knew when Asus were planning to release the X38 mobo and what the model name will be?
I think the GB one is DQ6 to replace the P35 version?

 

[BenchZowner]

Asus will be releasing their X38 with DDR-2 mobos in mid to late August, and you'll find the names in-line with the previous 975X mobos.
The first to come out will probably be the P5X Deluxe, with the P5X, P5X WS Pro following.

DFI also stated ( in their internal roadmaps ) that they'll have their DDR2 version of X38 released in August ( late, mid, not defined )

 

[jkresh]

lets see asus get its ROG p35 boards out first (and dfi still hasn't released there high end p35 board (or any p35 board?)). I am about to get a new board and if x38 will be out in august (by the 15th or so) I will be happy to wait but at this point I wouldn't bet on anything realy being available much before September and possibly not until mid September.

 

[Heidfirst]

last I heard was that Intel wasn't shipping the chipsets until the end of August which would put mobos into September at the earliest.

 

[BenchZowner]

Pre-production ( final stage ) boards are in some third party hands right now.
X38 mobos with DDR2 are coming soon, before September

 

[mcloud777]

That is nice to hear I was thinking of buying a new mb around Sep 7th, so it looks like I might hold out for an x38 instead of a p35.

 

[LightningRider]

I hope they are out before the end of August, I want to build a new system as soon as possible.

Will the same boards support both DDR2 and DDR3 in the same slots? Or will you have to buy a specific board for a specific RAM-type?

And if you do, what do you think I should get... DDR2 or DDR3, to go with a Q6600 or E6750? I know DDR3 is so darn expensive but it's still tempting for future upgrading.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Does X38 support SLI or only Crossfire?

 

[BenchZowner]

@gersson:

Sorry can't tell you anything official about that now.

@LightningRider:

At first there'll only be DDR-2 boards, then the DDR-3 boards will appear in September, and probably some days after the DDR-3 ones, some combo mobo's might appear ( first combo ones to reach the market will most likely be Gigabyte & MSI )

DDR-3 is not worth the extra bucks atm, because there's no real-life gain, except in a small difference in File Archiving, everything else stands the same as with DDR2.

You can see some comparisons between DDR2 & DDR3 in my review of the Asus P5K3 Deluxe ( P35, DDR-3 Motherboard )

 

[LightningRider]

Yeah, I thought you'd say that, I'm leaning more towards the DDR2 anyways.

Any idea when DDR3 prices might start to come down though? I'd hate to buy DDR2 only to have DDR3 drop a month or so later.

 

[BenchZowner]

The situation with DDR-3 now is like a huge monopoly.
Micron has the best chips around ( the Z9 ) and sells them like lil' diamonds to the manufacturers.
Apart from the PCB + SPD + Work Done, Super Talent grabs ~130$ from a 2GB Micron Z9 kit...the Z9 are 128MB chips, so estimate the ICs cost if the price of the kit is 650$.
Those chips can do crazy frequencies along with good timings.
The competition is way behind them at the moment.
As long as there's no real competition ( in the ICs sector ) and there's not a lot audience out there, the prices will remain high.
We need more players in the field ( Qimonda is slowly progressing...Samsung is like sleeping...Elpida is...always trying ) and AMD...erm....who ? what ?

DDR-3 is maturing way faster than DDR-2 did, but it's not going to get adopted faster than DDR-2, unless the manufacturers ( all of 'em, 1st the chip manufacturers, then the chipset + mobo manufacturers ) start pushing us towards DDR-3 whether we like it or not.

 

[quadraphonic]

Any guesses as to what the premium will be on the x38 boards over say roughly similarly equipped p35s?

 

[Colt4545]

I was also planning on waiting for X38. However, I spoke to Gigabyte's marketing manager Tomas Lee earlier in the week. I asked when Gigabyte DDR2 X38 boards will be available for consumer purchase. Mid to late September was the answer he gave me.

I therefore bought a Gigabyte DS3R as I am without a desktop and cannot wait 6+ weeks for X38. I hope he is wrong and I can purchase sooner, but I'm pretty confident the marketing manager would have accurate information regarding the release date of a flagship product.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Originally posted by: BenchZowner
@gersson:

Sorry can't tell you anything official about that now.

@LightningRider:

At first there'll only be DDR-2 boards, then the DDR-3 boards will appear in September, and probably some days after the DDR-3 ones, some combo mobo's might appear ( first combo ones to reach the market will most likely be Gigabyte & MSI )

DDR-3 is not worth the extra bucks atm, because there's no real-life gain, except in a small difference in File Archiving, everything else stands the same as with DDR2.

You can see some comparisons between DDR2 & DDR3 in my review of the Asus P5K3 Deluxe ( P35, DDR-3 Motherboard )

Well thats just not correct. Read this page. If you have the $$$. 8% to 10% is very good boost. Sooner or latter all will have to use DDR3 . IF you can afford DDR3 high freq/low latency this is definitly worth having.

http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=3053&p=8

 

[BenchZowner]

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1

Originally posted by: BenchZowner
@gersson:

Sorry can't tell you anything official about that now.

@LightningRider:

At first there'll only be DDR-2 boards, then the DDR-3 boards will appear in September, and probably some days after the DDR-3 ones, some combo mobo's might appear ( first combo ones to reach the market will most likely be Gigabyte & MSI )

DDR-3 is not worth the extra bucks atm, because there's no real-life gain, except in a small difference in File Archiving, everything else stands the same as with DDR2.

You can see some comparisons between DDR2 & DDR3 in my review of the Asus P5K3 Deluxe ( P35, DDR-3 Motherboard )

Well thats just not correct. Read this page. If you have the $$$. 8% to 10% is very good boost. Sooner or latter all will have to use DDR3 . IF you can afford DDR3 high freq/low latency this is definitly worth having.

http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=3053&p=8

First of all, there's no real-life difference at the moment, not even in synthetic benchmarks like SuperPi, 3D Mark2001SE, etc
And there's also no real-life gaming or any other task that benefits from faster RAM.
Been there, done that.
Check my review of the P5K3 Deluxe and you'll see.

I'll also have some nice DDR3-2000+ tests on my site real soon

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: gersson
Does X38 support SLI or only Crossfire?

SLI drivers have been working on X38 for several weeks. The only question is if Intel and NVIDIA come to an agreement on releasing them. The answer is unknown at this time and changes day to day.

As far as the X38 delivery goes, Intel is planning on one more silicon spin at this time. All of the manufacturers have told us to expect boards in the channel in the later part of September with some versions not hitting until October. We should see production level review samples in the next two or three weeks, unfortunately the current A0 chips are not worth posting a preview on at this time.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Originally posted by: BenchZowner

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1

Originally posted by: BenchZowner
@gersson:

Sorry can't tell you anything official about that now.

@LightningRider:

At first there'll only be DDR-2 boards, then the DDR-3 boards will appear in September, and probably some days after the DDR-3 ones, some combo mobo's might appear ( first combo ones to reach the market will most likely be Gigabyte & MSI )

DDR-3 is not worth the extra bucks atm, because there's no real-life gain, except in a small difference in File Archiving, everything else stands the same as with DDR2.

You can see some comparisons between DDR2 & DDR3 in my review of the Asus P5K3 Deluxe ( P35, DDR-3 Motherboard )

Well thats just not correct. Read this page. If you have the $$$. 8% to 10% is very good boost. Sooner or latter all will have to use DDR3 . IF you can afford DDR3 high freq/low latency this is definitly worth having.

http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=3053&p=8

First of all, there's no real-life difference at the moment, not even in synthetic benchmarks like SuperPi, 3D Mark2001SE, etc
And there's also no real-life gaming or any other task that benefits from faster RAM.
Been there, done that.
Check my review of the P5K3 Deluxe and you'll see.

I'll also have some nice DDR3-2000+ tests on my site real soon

OK. So real life I aM ASSUMING YOU MEAN . In games at res. that people use.

I personnally want X38 chipset or Skull trail depending on the memory used. I also want the next generation NV high end GPU. I think well see theConroe /penryn push this card to the limits and the higher bandwidth of DDR3 will shine threw.

If I was building for right now today I would go DDR2. But anyone who buys X38 chipset and next generation GPU . Will see the benefits of DDR3.
Now IF Skull trail doesn't use FBdimms as has been reported . The higher bandwidth will clearly show threw.

This future were talking about is only a couple of months. Their is a lot of good DDR3 available right now.
I believe AT's review of DDR3 was accurate and it does show DDR3 is faster right now than DDR2. Why would AT lie?

By the time Nehalem arrives 2H 08 DDR3 will be running at who knows what latency and speeds.

I have DDR2 right now but no way would I urge people to buy it now if performance is what their goal is.

I just recently got my first Conroe CPU and M/B and DDR2 . It was cheap cheap cheap. But this is not a high performance system by Intel standards. But compared to AMD its a killer setup. SO what it all comes down to is perspective now doesn't it?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1

Originally posted by: BenchZowner

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1

Originally posted by: BenchZowner
@gersson:

Sorry can't tell you anything official about that now.

@LightningRider:

At first there'll only be DDR-2 boards, then the DDR-3 boards will appear in September, and probably some days after the DDR-3 ones, some combo mobo's might appear ( first combo ones to reach the market will most likely be Gigabyte & MSI )

DDR-3 is not worth the extra bucks atm, because there's no real-life gain, except in a small difference in File Archiving, everything else stands the same as with DDR2.

You can see some comparisons between DDR2 & DDR3 in my review of the Asus P5K3 Deluxe ( P35, DDR-3 Motherboard )

Well thats just not correct. Read this page. If you have the $$$. 8% to 10% is very good boost. Sooner or latter all will have to use DDR3 . IF you can afford DDR3 high freq/low latency this is definitly worth having.

http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=3053&p=8

First of all, there's no real-life difference at the moment, not even in synthetic benchmarks like SuperPi, 3D Mark2001SE, etc
And there's also no real-life gaming or any other task that benefits from faster RAM.
Been there, done that.
Check my review of the P5K3 Deluxe and you'll see.

I'll also have some nice DDR3-2000+ tests on my site real soon

OK. So real life I aM ASSUMING YOU MEAN . In games at res. that people use.

I personnally want X38 chipset or Skull trail depending on the memory used. I also want the next generation NV high end GPU. I think well see theConroe /penryn push this card to the limits and the higher bandwidth of DDR3 will shine threw.

If I was building for right now today I would go DDR2. But anyone who buys X38 chipset and next generation GPU . Will see the benefits of DDR3.
Now IF Skull trail doesn't use FBdimms as has been reported . The higher bandwidth will clearly show threw.

This future were talking about is only a couple of months. Their is a lot of good DDR3 available right now.
I believe AT's review of DDR3 was accurate and it does show DDR3 is faster right now than DDR2. Why would AT lie?

By the time Nehalem arrives 2H 08 DDR3 will be running at who knows what latency and speeds.

I have DDR2 right now but no way would I urge people to buy it now if performance is what their goal is.

I just recently got my first Conroe CPU and M/B and DDR2 . It was cheap cheap cheap. But this is not a high performance system by Intel standards. But compared to AMD its a killer setup. SO what it all comes down to is perspective now doesn't it?

For the performance gained by buying DDR3 vs DDR2 it's definately not worth it. 2x as much money for 1/2 as much memory. When prices start comming down and DDR3 is used mainstream or is forced (new mobos without DDR2 at all) then do it. Right now it's not showing anything that is significant to me to warrant the price.

It could change with Intel's new CPU though which may make use of high bandwidth.

 

[BenchZowner]

I give you this:

C2D + DDR2-1200 5-5-5-15
C2D + DDR3-2500 8-7-7-18

Wonder what the performance will be in gaming & audio/video editing/encoding ? The same.

Just wait

 

[Machinus]

You said the P5X-Deluxe will be coming out mid-August...what about P5X-Premium?

Are these boards going to OC cooler than P35?

 

[jkresh]

Machinus, Gary said that intel hasn't finalized the silicon yet. Assuming that is the case (and he wasn't misinformed or intel doesn't change its mind) then there is no way boards could be out mid August (which is next week). Once the final silcon is done the manufacter's need time to tune their bios and start production. So unless BenchZowner knows something that Garry doesn't I doubt any x38 boards will be out in August.

Now Gary also suggested that he has early boards but that their performance/overclocking ... are not up to par which is why there hasnt been a preview at this time.

 

[BenchZowner]

My info is considered old, and originated from DFI for their release time of their board, but did DFI ever release a board right on time ? Nope!
Newer info states late September release in fact

 

[RFV]

*** skip this***

 

[T2k]

SO what's the schedule? Late Sept - early OCt? If so then *** it, I won't wait for that long, sorry - typical Intel ass-dragging.

 

[jkresh]

T2k, nobody knows exactly but at this point it cant be much before mid September (as the board makes don't even have the final revision of the chipset).