Intel X48 chipset put back - report

How am I not surprised...

This current transitional gen is starting to make less and less sense from Intel's part.

Sure, Penryn will kick arse but but...

..the x38 release alltogether has left many feeling disenchanted. DDR3 prices in contrast with benefits, are nowhere near of what even the average enthusiast is willing to shell out, and most will opt with x38+DDR2 combo. 

People still enjoy their C2D's and >3GHz Q6600's, and many feel there's not much point moving to x38, especially when the more affordable Penryn's aren't even out in the wild yet. So why should we go out and update into x38?

Before G100/R700 is released and the first comparative results between PCIE 1 & 2 are published, next gen pcie isn't enough of a boon.

Those three ppl who've gotten themselves the 45nm QX iterations, probably wonder why Intel didn't release the x48 first, and push the "mainstream" part for 08 to compliment mainstream Penryns...

Oh that's right, coz Intel realised that by fixing some errata, and re-binning the top-end chips to a new price category, they can milk the saps the rest of their tax refunds. The release order however was poorly chosen one.

The disenchantment will even grow further when punters realise, that shelling out for Q9450 won't yield them much additional performance in contrast with Q6600 G0, and they may even take beating clockwise due to lower multi, thus not being able to push their chips to the max...

I'd guess Asus, as they've made loads of different versions of the Maximus.

Other guess would be Gigabyte, but they havent gone for the X38 quiet as much as Asus seem to have.

Here! Here! Sebu! I totally agree! But consumers should be wary about Intel chipset girations by now. I guess Win Media Edition forced many (myself included) to sit up and take notice in just what I WAS getting in that Southbridge and Northbridge iteration. Funny how the 975 chipset could actually do the stuff that the 925 was sold to do. Extreme versions aside, why do the X38 and X48 carry south bridge ICH9, when all upcoming (Nahalem included) 4 series will use ICH10? Even if you can't wait yet another year, it always pays to wait six months, IMHO.


Eaglelake will be out by the time anyone gets a sniff of x48. Everyone who wants to buy a new intel board then would wait for Eaglelake and ignore x48. The Eaglelake board runs cooler with a die shrink, so hopefully less/no crazy copper heatsinks like the x38/x48.

Also, I sure hope DDR3 is 1) more mainstream 2) gets price cuts 3) has lower latency around Q2 2008. It makes no sense to stick with DDR2 with Penryn, Eaglelake and perhaps the next high end video card, red or green. You won't want a bottleneck on your system's speed.

Sorry.

First off, Intel made a huge mistake in not supporting DDR2 in an Intel branded board.

Second, not having ECC on DDR3 is a total sham/fraud. Why? Who even knows if this stuff works? Well, lets not find out - no ECC.

Now the X38 has ECC support, but no one makes it (yet?)

Also, ever notice for every increase in memory clock there is a larger and larger latency number? Solve the problem, lets lower latencies please, stop adding bandwidth - wait, Intel is starving the CPUs by not having an on-die memory controller, so they need it, but the latencies aren't going down, but putting an on die controller cuts them in half... Interesting, not solving problems . 

But hey, Intel makes big money. And the Conroe/Woodcrest and newer are very fast CPUs. 

Also, be warned. Intel is on an anti-customer warpath. Calling support on even very expensive gear like the SSR212MC2 is a horrorshow. They are liars, claim that "your memory isnt supported" even if its on the memory list, act unprofessional and refuse to escalate. Intel support = death. Just a warning.

Intel: lets get an on die controller, lets get some real support for your products, and lets not ditch DDR2 just yet. DDR3 is a rip off and has no ECC available.