I am searching for some specifications on X48 Mainboard, when reviewing the specifications of Gigabyte's X48 mainboard I was confused by 2 X48 mainboard from Gigabyte, they are

GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 X48 M/B

GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5 X48 M/B

Their layout are same and I only found some differences on the Solid Capacitors; their price of GA-X48-DQ6 is around USD$ 50 higher than DS5. I am not sure if USD$ 50 higher is valuable for only few pieces solid capacitors different. Is there any Gigabyte profession can tell me the actual difference between these 2 models. Thanks for your help.

They are identical boards with just a few variations in features. Performance wise, you won't see a difference. What is the DS5 pricing BTW? It looks like Gigabyte is trying to offer an X48 board priced similar to the EX38-DQ6 version.

That is interesting though. In the past the cooling system was different between the X38-DS4 and X38-DQ6 (no heat pipe connecting the north and south bridge) but for these versions it looks like they used the same one this time.

I can't find any pictures of the DS5 backside but does it have the heatsink on the back of the CPU? That was the other difference, the DS4 versions didn't have the CrazyCool design with the heatsinks on the back side of the board. The DS5 specs don't list the CrazyCool so I am guessing that it doesn't have it.
So there wouldn't be heatsinks on the back of the south bridge and CPU.

Check out the side by side specs http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Product [...] =2763,2766

-1 eSATAII adapter (there are 2 SATA ports on each adapter card so it looks like the DS5 comes with only 1 adapter opposed to 2 that comes with the DQ6)

Quad BIOS (what the Q stands for) vs Dual BIOS is what stands out the most. It is just a backup feature.

Why would you need quad bios? Normal people don't flash the second bios after they've realized they corrupted the first one. And if you're a real idiot it doesn't matter how many bioses there are you'll mess them all up.

It's not worth the extra $50.

^ hahaha, agree. I wish that I knew that the X48-DS5 was going to be so close to the EX38-DQ6... I would have gotten the DS5 instead.

Well, I got the DS4, and it seems similar enough too. I got it instead of DQ6 because it doesn't have that plate. My cpu cooler has a back plate, and wouldn't fit if there's anything already there.

How much does the DS5 cost? If it's $50 less than DQ6 then it should cost the same as a DS4.

Yeah if you aren't going to use that back plate there is no use paying that extra cash for it. I think that is the only thing that jacks up the price. I would imagine that extra copper costs quite a bit.

I got DQ6 because of the NB to SB heatpipe connection. I will run this board until the quad cores are as outdated as the P4s today so the extra cooling should hopefully make it last longer when I OC.

How do you like your DS4? Man I can't wait to set mine up!!!! I am like Gollem when I bring it out to look at it. Since I don't have a PCIe GPU, I need to wait for the RV770 to come out so I can fire her up.





Edit: Just noticed a white sticker for the EX38-DQ6 label. I peeled it off and the PCB is actually stamped X48-DQ6. Gigabyte really didn't change squat for the X48 layout.

It's fine, works as it should. The BIOS has more options than I expected from Gigabyte. Things like Loadline Calibration is there. Running Q6600 at 3.6ghz right now. Tested 4.0ghz stable on prime95 for one hour, but tuned it back for day to day operation. Not gonna go for crossfire. Gpu moves too fast for sli or crossfire to have good price/performance ratio.

How about you?

I don't have mine running yet. I am ordering my PC piece by piece as components become available. The only thing I need now is a GPU. I don't want to get a temporary one so I am just going to hold out for the next ATI release. It looks pretty cool in the box though

Your OC results are promising. Did you run into any RAM issues with 4 modules? So I take it the voltage increase makes it stable since you have some tight timings. It sounds like these boards are solid.

Do you mean the main difference btn X48 DQ6 and X48 DS5 is "Support Quard BIOS" and "Support Dual BIOS plus" for extra USD$ 50? If this is the case the approach of Gigabyte is terrible.

Thanks for all. If I finally select Gigabyte for my X48 mainboard I would go with X48 DS5 but most likely I won't use Gigabyte for my X48 mainboard.

All that for nothing huh? What one are you looking at then?

Ah, made a mistake. I had the X38 board, not X48. Still, specs seems pretty much identical. So what board are you getting, and how much do X48 boards cost?

It is not rush coz I will have my new Mainboard with Q9450. I will overclock my Q9450 with FSB to at least 1666MHZ so X48 would be preferred over X38 because X38 is not 100% gurantee work in FSB 1666.

When it is available I am going to buy MSI X48C Platinum for both DDR-2 and DDR-3 available so I have chance to upgrade the memory to DDR-3 by early next year or whenever the DDR-3 price drop.

GA-x48-DS5 is still an alternative choice because of 12 Phase Power regulation while the MSI is just 8 phase power regulation. Both these 2 mainboards are around USD$ 290.