Conclusion.
The astute among you may have noticed that I’m not easily impressed with computer hardware
, however, I have really enjoyed the last few weeks writing this latest living review, and here’s why....
Since the first X38 DDR2 boards were launched, we have been giving them a run, and we have a good idea of what each of the different manufacturers have to offer, and, to say it has been a bit of a rocky road is somewhat of an understatement!
The DFI LT X38-T2R has been consistently good across all the tests that I have conducted, and I honestly couldn’t find any major annoyances whatsoever. There were a few smaller niggles, but when put into perspective seemed pretty much irrelevant.
Attention to detail is something that DFI do well, and that is evident with their on board cooling solution. My only slight problem with the NorthBridge heatsink, is that larger CPU heatsinks such as the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 will only fit in the horizontal position (fan blowing downward) because the heatpipes catch on the main body of the NorthBridge heatsink. Of course, this is fixable with a bit of heatpipe bending, or filing of the NorthBridge heatsink, but I thought it was worth a mention.
Overclocking on the DFI LT X38-T2R is an enjoyable experience. If you do push things too far, the “bad overclock” recovery will allow you to restart and get back into the
BIOS 99% of the time. Yes, there are times when the overclock recovery doesn’t work, but this only appears to happen when you are right on the very edge of your CPU or RAMs capabilities, so no worries there at all.
The
BIOS is well set out and has some of the most comprehensive settings of any Intel board that I have seen so far, but the real triumph of this
BIOS is that you don’t
have to be a nerdy tweaker to use it (although a degree of nerdyness does help, especially if you want to do some
RAM overclocking
). In fact, I was able to hit 3760Mhz on my Q6600 G0 (OCCT stable) with only a slight bump in Vcore (1.35v), which is higher than I have been able to go on any other X38 board at that voltage – That is great news for the people who want to grow with their board, rather than being thrown in at the deep end.
The layout is near perfect, and only let down slightly by the bottom of the
RAM slots being covered by any larger graphics card in
PCI-E1. As I mentioned in the P35 review, this isn’t a massive problem because DFI chose to use
PCI-E slots that don’t have the locking lever/catch, so the graphics card can be easily lifted out to fit the
RAM in place.
While I’m mentioning the layout, I should also point out that the clutter free CPU socket area is excellent for sub zero cooling. A definite nod to the enthusiasts there.
The bundle of accessories is well thought out, right down to the little tube of Shin-Etsu thermal paste for the NorthBridge heatsink, and even a spreader to spread it with (Heat Minataur – don’t get me started on the name
)
It’s not all good news though. The supply of these boards for the UK is none existent at the time of writing this. Apparently, there is stock on the way to at least one UK retailer, and the sooner the better and hopefully the supply problem will be fixed in time for the
DFI LT X48-T3R.
To sum up, I found the DFI LT X38-T2R to be a fantastic motherboard and it will be taking pride of place in my own main rig for 24/7 use. I would urge anyone that is in the market for a new X38 based motherboard to put this one on their shortlist - it's a gem!
Pros.- Excellent Overclocking & Tweaking Capabilities.
- Great BIOS.
- Worked flawlessly with my E8400 Wolfdale processor (BIOS 0111).
- On board cooling is more than adequate and can be run passively.
- On board cooling isn’t joined together by heat pipes, so you can water cool the NorthBridge and keep the PWM & SouthBridge heatsinks in place if required.
- On board power/reset switches are very handy indeed.
- Incredibly user friendly for an enthusiast board.
- Sub zero friendly.
- Looks stunning.
Cons.- RAM slots can be obscured by a graphics card in PCI-E1 slot.
- NorthBridge heatsink design can be incompatible with some large CPU coolers.
- No USB2/Firewire PCI bracket.
- Availability - Hard to find in the UK at the moment.
Wolfdale E8400 First Tests & Overclocks.
