Intel X38 Express Chipset Debuts

The Gigabyte X38-DQ6 has a wide array of integrated peripherals, so the board is packed with a number of additional controllers and connectors.  Despite the relative complexity of the board, however, Gigabyte did a nice job with its layout and overall design.

As you can see, the X38-DQ6 is built upon Gigabyte's signature blue PCB and all of its slots, headers, and connectors are color-coded for easy installation.  The board's slot configuration consists of two physical PCI Express x16 slots (x16 / x16), three PCI Express x1 slots, and a pair of PCI slot.  This is a very good slot configuration that'll allow users to run two, double-wide video cards in SLI mode, while still giving them access to two additional PCI Express slots and a PCI slot.

All of the X38 Express chipset's inherent features are exploited on this board, so there is a wealth of USB and SATA connectors available (which support various RAID modes), but not all of the SATA ports are linked via a single controller.  The 6 main ports are powered by the ICH9R chipset and support multiple RAID modes, but the purple ports along the bottom edge come by way of a pair of individual controllers.  We should not that arrays can't be built across them; individually they do support RAID, however.

In general, all of the X38-DQ6's various connectors are situated around the edge of the PCB, which helps with internal cable management.  Like a few of Gigabyte's previous high-end offerings, the X38-DQ6 has an intricate cooling apparatus affixed to this board.  The chipset and voltage regulators are all adorned with high-quality copper heatsinks, linked together via a heat-pipe system.  Additionally, on the underside of the board, you'll find two more heatsinks situated underneath the CPU socket / Northbridge area and Southbridge. This is an excellent cooling scheme in our opinion, and it did a great job throughout testing.  We should also note that this board features a 12-phase power array, which results in more stable power and lower operating temps.  The 12-phase array is actually touted as a quad-triple phase array, which make it fit in with Gigabyte's DQ6, 6-Quad theme (Quad Core Ready, Quad Cooling, Quad Triple Phase Power, Quad eSATA, Quad BIOS, and Quad DDR2 slots).

As we continue our tour around the X38-DQ6, you may notice that this board is equipped with nothing but solid capacitors; no electrolytic caps are to be found.  This should help with the board's longevity as there no chance of a leaky cap.