Abit IX38 Quad GT - Living Review II

[supershanks]

Came across something interesting re Mamset the other day.
Whilst doing a memset to bios translation for the Gigabyte DQ6
Memset to Bios translation
I was running with my Abit board at the time. The left hand memset is a pic of a gigabyte memset, the right hand memset shows the Abit results.


Now the gigabyte dq6 main issue has often been too tight a value of TRD = Performance level when on Auto.
Whilst not directly addressable from the bios in the Abit bios, it can be seen that the value is very slack showing at 9~10 in the Abit Memset.

Anyway for comparison:-
Before - non memset tweak



After Memset Tweaked - Performance Level reduced to 7 = safe Gigabyte level. TWTr also reduced.


Results
........................B4...............After
Super Pi 32m..13m 48.672s...13m 46.078s
Super Pi 1M..........13.156s.........13.047s
WPrime 32m..........11.515s.........11.453s
Wprime 1024m......363.828........363.780s
Everest Read.......,,,,,9637............9630
Everest Write...........8824............8833

Only Everest shows no real improvement.

If Abit ever catch on to this we might get a decent bios, at least it appears there's room for improvement.

[D.M]

cool, nice find SS

[supershanks]

Well it helps your benches a bit but not sure where it puts the p35 v x38. It probably supports the claim that that a mature bios might help the x38.

If you get the P35 don't forget to post some benches

luck

Edit:Mind you do the same if you get an undamaged X38

[D.M]

Will do! I'm still on the fence, been looking all day but nothing is hitting me right now.

Peace

Edit.......Shanks, what you reckon on more IX38 bioses being released especially as the IX48 is due soon? You reckon they'll forget about this board?

[supershanks]

I'm still on the fence

Aye be careful that's the way you end up with plies

what you reckon on more IX38 bioses being released especially as the IX48 is due soon? You reckon they'll forget about this board?

it's always a danger but bear in mind that Abit & dfi are at backj of the queue for x48 chips, it may be 4~6 weeks away so I reckon there's time for a couple more at least

There's also this DFI Lanparty LT X38-T2R just under the radar, afew about in reviews but i've not seen them in stock anywhere this side of the pond. You might try one of them ?? If you didn't like it I might take it off your hands... at a bit of a discount of course

take care

[D.M]

Originally Posted by supershanks

Aye be careful that's the way you end up with plies

Or splinters up yer bum!

Originally Posted by supershanks

There's also this DFI Lanparty LT X38-T2R just under the radar, afew about in reviews but i've not seen them in stock anywhere this side of the pond. You might try one of them ?? If you didn't like it I might take it off your hands... at a bit of a discount of course

Yeah I was looking at that and initial feedback from our American cousins seems positive, although it seems almost impossible to get a DFI mobo in the UK!

I know things are cheaper up north but i thought that only applied to the goods

Peace

[supershanks]

I know things are cheaper up north but i thought that only applied to the goods

Hehe I'm a yorkshireman living in Scotland. Wife & wains went without so i could have 2 mobos to test just joking m8

DfI does look nice & all those bios features Muhahaah
But the same applies the DFI X48 will be out as you suggested with the abit.
The only key product differentiation will be ddr3. That might mean that a lot of people stick to the x38 boards to take advantage of great ddr2 £

Luck

[D.M]

Originally Posted by supershanks

Hehe I'm a yorkshireman living in Scotland. Wife & wains went without so i could have 2 mobos to test just joking m8

DfI does look nice & all those bios features Muhahaah
But the same applies the DFI X48 will be out as you suggested with the abit.
The only key product differentiation will be ddr3. That might mean that a lot of people stick to the x38 boards to take advantage of great ddr2 £

Luck

Well at least you can save on heating bills with the temps the IX38 was giving out

Hadnt thought about the whole X48 DDR3 thing, most people seem more than happy to stick with DDR2 at the moment and for good reason, so DDR2 X38's should still be good for a bit?

Peace

[supershanks]

Well at least you can save on heating bills with the temps the IX38 was giving out

That's what i told the wife, but she didn't seem impressed

Hadnt thought about the whole X48 DDR3 thing, most people seem more than happy to stick with DDR2 at the moment and for good reason,

Asus will be bringing out an X48 DDR2 , which really tends to support that theory Their nothing if not shrewd when launching new boards. That's why i could never understand Abit's attempts to cheapen down this board , in comparison with the IX38 Max they'd intended to launch. As asus had seen, there is a market for both. It can be virtually the same package. THe fact that you need to budget an extra £100 or so to go DDR3, is enough product differentiation

[D.M]

I can see Asus seem to understand the market better, but the quality control of their products and the fact that they release about 15 versions of the same chipset is what puts me off them.

The fact that abit release boards behind the other big players (Asus/Gigabyte etc) means that they need to be doing things bigger and better, they managed to gain alot of respect back with the IP35 Pro but have dropped the ball on the IX38.

I'm still with abit at the moment but only just. Hopefully they've learnt from this?


Side question, hows this board respond to 4x1gb mem sticks? Remember I'm only aiming for 334FSBx9 24/7 (will try and bench higher for fun )

Peace