Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6
Featuring the same circuit board as the highly-praised GA-X38T-DQ6, Gigabyte’s X48T-DQ6 could take overclocking capability one step farther through the X48 Express northbridge’s higher-validated FSB stability.
Another thing everyone will notice is that the X48T-DQ6 uses a layout identical in nearly every way to the X48-DQ6, save for its use of DDR3 rather than DDR2 memory.
We could go on about its good slot layout that supports graphics cards coolers up to "triple thick" size, and even mention that the good overall layout is partly due to the fact that the GA-X48T-DQ6 supports only two PCI Express x16 graphics cards (with PCIe 2.0 mode available). Instead of repeating everything, though, we’ll just point back to our description of GA-X48-DQ6.
The layout might be the same for the DDR2 and DDR3 models, but the X48T-DQ6 does have a slightly larger northbridge sink. Only Gigabyte knows why the larger sink wasn’t used on the DDR2 model, as there appears to be enough space on both versions. The mounting pin locations are further apart on the wider sink, but Gigabyte updated the X48T-DQ6’s mounting holes to support it, while leaving the X48-DQ6 with the same mounting pattern as its X38 Express equipped predecessor.
| Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 (Revision 1.1) | |
|---|---|
| Northbridge | Intel X48 Express MCH |
| Southbridge | Intel ICH9R |
| Voltage Regulator | Twelve Phases |
| BIOS | F4d (1/21/2008) |
| 333.3 MHz (FSB1333) | 335.0 MHz (+0.5%) |
| Clock Generator | ICS 9LPRS914EKL |
| Connectors and Interfaces | |
| Onboard | 2x PCIe x16
3x PCIe x1 2x PCI 2x USB 2.0 (2 ports per connector) 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire 1x Parallel Port header 1x Serial Port header 1x Floppy 1x Ultra ATA (2 drives) 8x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s 1x Front Panel Audio 1x CD-Audio In 1x S/P-DIF In 1x S/P-DIF Out 2x Fan 4 pins (CPU/System) 3x Fan 3 pins (System/Power) |
| IO panel | 2x PS2 (keyboard + mouse)
2x RJ-45 Network 8x USB 2.0 2x IEEE-1394 FireWire 2x Digital Audio Out (S/P-DIF optical + coaxial) 6x Analogue Audio (7.1 Channel + Mic-In + Line-In) |
| Mass Storage Controllers | |
| Intel ICH9R | 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0,1,5,10) |
| GigaByte SATA2 PCI-E (JMicron) | 1x Ultra ATA-100 (2-drives)
2x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0,1, JBOD) |
| Network | |
| 2x Realtek RTL8111B PCI-E | 2x Gigabit LAN Connection |
| Audio | |
| HDA (Azalia) Controller Interface | Realtek ALC889A 8 + 2 Channel Codec |
| FireWire | |
| Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 | 3x IEEE-1394a (400 Mbit/s) |
All the interfaces and third-party controllers are shared between the X48T-DQ6 and its DDR2 counterpart, and even the back panel ports are identical. Only the BIOS differs from the X48-DQ6 on the chart above, due to the different memory settings. Once again, we refer you back to the GA-X48-DQ6 for descriptions of each component.
- x48 ,
- motherboard ,
- comparison
Latest Motherboards News
Latest Motherboards reviews
- 12/01 – Seven $260-$320 X79 Express Motherboards, Reviewed
- 07/12 – Ultimate X79? Five £230+ LGA 2011 Motherboards, Reviewed
- 07/11 – Five £130 To £195 990FX-Based Socket AM3+...
- 13/10 – Man Vs. Machine: Four Automatic Overclocking Techs, Compared
- 19/09 – Round-Up: Four Z68 Motherboards From £190 To £260
On the first page on the Gigabyte 'board, the DIMM slots are different colours in the 2 pictures...
Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate? (P16)
Its no suprise that the manufacturers didn't really bother with a major redesign because this is the last of the current Intel architectures before we move to the CSI memory link in the upcoming CPUs. I say embrace the X48 and enjoy the greatest performance that Socket 775 will ever be able to deliver. Besides since when can you disagree with releasing a validated chipset in favour of overclocking? Some people just want a bloody good board that runs perfectly stable - we are not all overclockers you know (plus there is the issue of possibly invalidating warranties when overclocking is done)