Onboard Audio Isn’t That Sucky
IN FOCUSHardware afi cionados and audio snobs will naturally look
down their noses at “free” onboard audio, but it’s really not
that bad—at least, not when compared with the onboard au-
dio of fi ve years ago. Today, onboard audio is very sophisti-
cated and capable of offering real-time Dolby Digital encod-
ing, SPDIF and optical I/O, and surround-sound capabilities.
In other words, it’s good enough for most people. Of course,
not all onboard audio is the same. The particular audio chipon the motherboard, where it’s mounted, and the software
that runs it are all critical to a mobo’s sound quality. Some
board vendors also use risers to get sensitive audio parts
away from the electrically noisy surface of the motherboard.
The most popular chip is Realtek, which until very recently
had questionable EAX support. Chips by Sigmatel Audio and
Analog Devices are also popular. We generally prefer Analog
Devices, followed by Sigmatel and Realtek.Intel
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Fast and overclocker friendly, with the safety net of an Intel chipset
Gigabyte Gigabyte X48T-DQ6X48T-DQ6
Gigabyte must have read our minds when we were thinking of
our dream motherboard because the X48T-DQ6 has a feature
we’ve been longing for: eight frigging USB ports! That’s just
one of the things Gigabyte does right with this mother-
board. Based on Intel’s DDR3, 1,600MHz FSB chipset, the
X48T-DQ6 is a far better example of what a performance
X48-based board should be than, well, Intel’s own
implementation.
In addition, the SATA ports are conveniently
arranged and the BIOS is far friendlier than Intel’s
board when it comes to tweaking and overclock-
ing. We successfully took the X48T-DQ6 and our
2.5GHz CPU into the 3.5GHz range. Gigabyte
also includes an interesting tool for reduc-
ing power consumption. The applet tells
you how much power the CPU is consum-
ing and lets you run a mode that adjusts
power on the fly—we’re a tad skeptical,
however, because it seems to underreport the
CPU’s power consumption.
The board performed quite well in our benchmark tests. The
X48T-DQ6 gave EVGA’s nForce board a good run in the gaming
tests, and its memory performance was respectable, although not
quite as good as the nForce contenders.
The X48T-DQ6 is certainly a better pick than Intel’s Bonetrail
board; it’s more tweak friendly, but it still offers the warm, fuzzy
reliability of the Intel name. If you’re looking for an all-out
gamer board and performance is paramount, the nForce chipset
is the better bet.Even though the X48T-DQ6’s
SATA ports point up, their loca-
tion makes them usable.46 | MAXIMUMPC | JUL 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
VERDICT$330, http://www.gigabyte.com.tw^8
GIGABYTE X48T-DQ6We dare you to fi ll all the USB ports that the Gigabyte board offers—that’s a level of excess we can get behind!