Chipset

The Intel X38 and X48 derivative did not bring what people expected, it was tuned for high-end quad core overclocking and not for Wolfdale; therefore the outcome can be predicted quite easily: stay clear if you want high FSB.

Now, we may exaggerate a little bit. The Quantum Force team of Foxconn worked really hard to produce a high-end X48 motherboard that could deliver high FSB speeds. At first, I was a little bit skeptical, because no one could even hit anywhere close to 570MHz rock stable, however, recently they have released a new bios which seemed to have solved a lot of problems.



Motherboard layout


(c) SF3D


(c) SF3D

Results

With the help of that last bios (G25, if I'm not mistaken) and these voltage guidelines at XS, a group of Italian overclockers managed to hit very high speeds.


(c) Shark OC-Team

As we have not yet been able to lay our hands on this board, conclusions cannot be made on well-based arguments; however, taking into account the price of $400 and the low availability, it’s definitely not a product for the casual overclocker. If we're able to get a board on our testbench, we'll be more than happy to give you our opinion and let you know whether it is a must-have or not.