Can someone please tell me if it is worth the difference between x38 or x48 for minor gaming and general use?
Thanks in advance,
Dale

If you're trying to save a couple of $$, then NO.  You can get almost as good performance for less $$ with the X38...which is still great, especially on the Asus Maximus Formula and Gigabyte GA-EX38-DQ6.  If you want the best of the best higest-binned mainstream Intel Chipsets, then YES go with the X48.
 

Both of them are a very good chipset, but they cost so much. If you can't spend a lot of money the motherboard asus P5E X38 can be the perfect solution. If you find a mb for overclocking, gaming and your budget is high, you need the asus rampage formula X48.

 
 
No.  With that usage I'd say save the ~$30 US and get the X38.

Consider the X48. The X38 had some issues with RAM and Q9XXX cpu's. The X48 is at the tock cycle of this particular technology and the X48T in particular has official support for faster RAM. If theres one component every overclocker spends money on, it's the motherboard. F5 BIOS is almost beta tested and will see the advances in powersavings, RAM dividers and advance power phase controlled overclocking.