Is X38 look to disappoint anyone else but me?

[korsen]

I was looking into all the X38 previews that computex showed off, and I can't say i'm impressed at all with the design at all.

With the dual/triple/quad GFX setups and most of them having only 2 pci slots (some 3 at most) how is anyone supposed to use watercooling without eliminating every single pci slot?? All the GPU's face toward the pci slots in some fashion, and you'll be lucky if you can find a single slot solution that wont have the waterblock intrude into the pci space...

If you're lucky you'll still be able to use your wifi card... and luckier still to use X-Fi on top of that.

 

[Maziar]

Some Facts :

1_Both support 1333mhz cpu

2_Both support next gen 45nm CPU

3_Both support PCI-E 2

4_Best P35 board supports CrossFire in 8x8x mode but the X38 will support full 16x

5_According to many sites , X38 like P35 is only Crossfire

P35 is still very good if u dont want CrossFire , also other sites arent very happy with X38 too :

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3077

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/09/11/preview_gigabyte_ga-x38t-dq6_and_intel_x38/1

 

[techgeek]

Well there's only so much realestate on an ATX motherboard from top slot to bottom. Every motherboard will have the same limitations. If you plan on using a dual GFX setup that have 2 slot cooling solutions it's gonna be tough to get much in the way of PCI cards in there. You might fit the sound card in. If you need wifi, get a motherboard with built in wifi, or a USB wifi adapter (junk IMO). The other option I guess would be look into low profile (read single slot) water cooling blocks for the GFX cards. Of course you'll have to do some fancy tube routing to make use of all the PCI slots.

Honestly I don't think you need to be disappointed with the X38 chipset. It's really got nothing to do with it. The technical merits of the chipset are quite impressive. The limitation is one of pure space.

 

[korsen]

yeah but you think they could've at the very least rearranged the slot configs to make the best use of that real-estate. You can't tell me these "engineers" are geometry retards, and if they are, i'm not suprised.

something like putting the gfx slots on the bottom because they all face down, and putting the pci slots on top... Have you seen some of those boards? They've got this massive CPU slot type real estate in between pci slots that is being taken up by a cmos battery... it's like what the hell were they thinking on that one...

And i'm not arguing about the featureset, it's great, but pure specs don't make up for the simple stupidity of the engineering placement... (You don't put expensive vase's or antiques on a table right where the front door opens...)

 

[byrddogg77]

I am not sure I understand you complaint, as it seems like there is plenty of room on the motherboard which Intel is releasing. Each manufacture can release their own board. I am sure two water cooled Dual slot PCI board would fit easily on this motherboard, worse case one of your standard PCI slots might not be usuable, but I don't understand why you will need it anyways.

Here is a picture of the Intel board.
http://forums.legitreviews.com/about10254.html