X-bit labs

abit IX38 QuadGT Mainboard Review (page 3)

Category: Mainboards

by Doors4ever

[ 02/13/2008 | 09:10 AM ]

According to the manufacturer, five-phase processor voltage regulator features the whole bunch of advantages. It boasts longer component life span compared with the traditional solutions, higher setting precision, increased stability… Only one statement is really hard to agree to: that this solution boasts lower heat dissipation. On the contrary, the digital processor voltage regulators we have come across before have always heated up a lot. And the circuitry on abit IX38 QuadGT is no exception. Although the L-shaped heatsink features larger heat dissipating area, it still heats up significantly.

abit IX38 QuadGT mainboard allows controlling the temperatures of each of the five phases, and we performed a small experiment to check it out. First of all, we set the Zalman CNPS9700 LED cooler fan at its maximum rotation speed, because at lower RPM the PWM heatsink would heat up too much. By the way, unlike contemporary ASUS mainboards as well as solutions from some other manufacturers, abit IX38 QuadGT mainboard copes excellently with fan rotation speed management despite a three-pin fan connector. After that we overclocked the quad-core Kentsfield based processor to 3.4GHz and loaded it to the full extent using Prime95 utility. Four minutes have hardly passed when PWM temperature exceeded 100ºC.

We performed this test in an open testbed with the fan rotating at its maximum speed of 2500RPM, which is far from the comfortable noise level. Of course, no doubt we will be able to hit the same barrier much faster inside a closed system case with the lower fan rotation speed. Once you reach 110ºC you will get a safety warning, and what should you do after that? Power the system off?

The heatsink has a few holes in its upper part, where you can fasten an additional 40mm fan with special brackets. The only problem is that these brackets have mysteriously disappeared from the mainboard’s accessories bundle. Besides, the small fan is highly unlikely to significantly improve the temperature, when the large processor fan directed right at the heatsink failed.

Now we understand that if this super-hot PWM heatsink was connected with the chipset North Bridge heatsink via a heatpipe, it would only warm it up more instead of cooling it down. That is why they had to place an additional heatsink in a non-traditional and not the most convenient spot: between the processor socket and the memory DIMM slots. Of course, dual-core processor heats up considerably less than a quad-core one, but what shall the owners of Core 2 Quad on Kentsfield core do? Overall, the design and cooling efficiency of this solution are pretty doubtful and may somewhat spoil your impression about abit IX38 QuadGT, however other than that, we cannot point out any other serious issues or concerns regarding the mainboard design.

The expansion slots are located in the lower part of the PCB. There is a PCI Express x1 slot, two blue PCI Express x16 slots supporting PCI 2.0 standard and one more black slot between them that operates at PCI Express x4 speed. There are also two PCI slots available.

We could probably express our discontent about the low location of the FDD connector, however, it is not a serious issue, as floppy disks have practically got out of business by now. However, among the advantages we should certainly point out that IDE and Serial ATA connectors are positioned horizontally, there is abit’s traditional POST code indicator, the front panel connectors are all color-coded. Of course, the Power On and Reset buttons are highlighted, which is also a very convenient feature. The integrated network is implemented via Realtek RTL8110 controller. Besides, there is also an additional IEEE1394 controller from Texas Instruments.

The mainboard rear panel carries PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse, Clear CMOS button, S/PDIF In and Out, two eSATA connectors (JMicron JMB363 chip), six audio-jacks (Realtek ALC888 codec), four USB ports, one IEEE1394 port and one RJ45 connector. Four USB ports may be not enough for a contemporary PC, so it is really a pity that there is no bracket with additional USB and IEEE1394 ports in the accessories bundle, like the one abit IP35 Pro had.