Intel X38 High End Chipset Launch and Benchmarks

MojoKid writes "Though many leaks of the product have been circulating for some time, Intel officially took the wraps off and launched their new X38 Express chipset for the high-end desktop motherboard market. With this launch, the Intel desktop chipset line-up gets a new flagship. Intel's new X38 chipset encompasses all of the technology advances that have made the P35 a success and adds a slew of new features designed to increase memory and graphics subsystem performance, like PCI Express 2.0 SerDes and Intel Extreme Memory technology in the new X38 MCH. The Asus motherboard tested by HotHardware even features an embedded Linux-based OS that boots in a matter a seconds."

Apple next?

[Anonymous Coward]

This may mean we'll soon see a Mac hardware announcement from Apple that uses X38.

Re:Apple next?

[Joe The Dragon]

we more likely to see a g33 / g35 system from apple to replace the mini with on board video and x16 and x4 pci-e slots.

And apple will making a dumb move by going with over priced DDR3 that is not much faster then much cheaper DDR2 ram.

Re:DDR3 ECC supported!

[morgan_greywolf]

Mod parent up, informative! My cheapass motherboard supports ECC DIMMs, but does not make use of the ECC features. There's no way to know whether it'll use the ECC feature unless you either A) try it and see (hard to do), or B) Intel tells you it does (in which case you have to accept their word for it.)

It seems to me that a high-end motherboard chipset should support ECC features, but that doesn't mean that it does.

Re:I thought high end meant Xeon?

[tjstork]

It's a high end Desktop chip, Xeon are server chips.

You can have a Xeon desktop. Hell, I have a dual Opteron desktop. It would be called a "workstation".

Express Gate appz

[Kensai7]

If you launch the Express Gate applications, which are comprised of a web browser and Skype at this time, the embedded Linux-based OS is launched from a ROM and seconds later it's available for use. We found the Express Gate technology easy to use and quite handy. Say, for example, you need to download a driver or BIOS file and the hard drive-based OS isn't functioning properly. With Express Gate you can now access the web and integrated peripherals even if the system's full blown OS has a problem.

This might me be quite handy when the shit hits the fan. I hope more manufacturers implement mini-OSes like this one.

Re:Apple next?

[p0tat03]

The same Apple that has stuck with DD2-667 even on their high-end workstations, despite there being faster DDR2 clocks? Apple doesn't look like they're the type to cash in on the newest buzzword-tech, which is sometimes good, and sometimes bad (I do wish the Mac Pros would ship with something a tad faster than DDR2-667...)