Page 1: DX38BT
Warning:
This is an editorial about my experiences with the Intel DX38BT motherboard. It is not a review, so please do not take it as such. There are no benchmarks and no testing. There was just annoyance. If you are looking for a review of the DX38BT, search on the web. ASE Labs will not be reviewing this board.
Editorial:
Way back when I heard that Intel was going to be making a bunch of new platform boards, I was skeptical. I knew how successful the Centrino brand on the mobile front was for Intel and it makes sense that they want to capitalize on having platforms. That was the time that Intel started releasing new series of motherboards such as the Essentials and the Extreme series.
This type of product placement made sense as now consumers can really see where a product fits just by looking at what series the motherboard is in. The Essentials series contains the base needs and hardly anything more. You get a good motherboard for a cheap price. The Extreme series goes hand in hand with Intel's Extreme Edition processors. These motherboards actually have overclocking features and have performance enhancements to get the most out of your build... or so I thought.
I've had a few Extreme series boards. I started with the 925XCV which was a great board for the 925X days. I paired it with a Hyperthreaded CPU and it was great to tweak the things just right (as much as it could for an Intel board at least). Even though it was an Extreme board, you know that Intel boards are stable.
My next build with an Extreme board was a 955XBK with a Pentium D. It was exciting due to the fact that it was the first dual core CPU I've ever used (I have used dual CPUs in the past... the Abit BP6 was an awesome board). Again, Intel started putting more and more options in their Extreme series of motherboards and the stability was still there.
Let's fast forward to the DX38BT. This board is the latest from Intel using the X38 chipset. I really didn't need a new motherboard, but my review schedule called upon doing DDR3 memory reviews. I didn't have a DDR3 motherboard available so my colleague let me borrow his DX38BT which was brand new and still sealed in the box. This way I would be able to do my reviews in a timely matter and really get a feel for the board I wanted for my next build (which will be an Asus P5E3 Deluxe).
Then the trouble started happening. The memory that I received was pretty fast stuff. The spec on the first modules were 1600MHz. I proceeded to set the correct voltage and timings up on the motherboard and then... no POST. I thought that it was no big deal. I double checked all the settings and such. I mean, why would Intel list 1600MHz in the BIOS for the memory if the board couldn't handle it?
After about a day of fiddling, I gave up and asked the manufacturer of the memory and they said it should work fine when using the new XMP settings built into the module. The new X38 chipset boards can use something called XMP (Extended Memory Profile) which is basically the SPD overloaded with much more information. I proceeded to set the motherboard to use the profile of the memory.
No go! There was no option even present in the BIOS. Another day of fiddling, searching the internet, and pulling my hair out went by. I decided to try a BIOS update that should fix a bunch of these problems. I wasn't running Windows, so using the Windows tool for updating the BIOS was out of the picture. Luckily (if you look at it that way), Intel makes a pre-built ISO for people that run Linux. It is a self contained bootable CD of FreeDOS and all it does is boot and flash the BIOS. Very nifty... if it works.
Intel's DX38BT seems to be using a brand new chipset to provide IDE support on the motherboard. The version of FreeDOS that they packaged in the ISO didn't know how to read this new IDE chipset and proceeded to say that there was no CD drive hooked into the system and the flash failed to load. Well, that's pretty strange since I used a CD to boot FreeDOS. The CD was using floppy mode emulation and it needs CD support in FreeDOS. I guess that never crossed Intel's mind when they released tools that don't work. Another day wasted.
Now I had to find a way to update the BIOS. I refused to installed Windows just to update the BIOS. Intel is a huge open source proponent and I didn't have any copies of Windows around anyway. I downloaded Intel's Iflash utility and the BIOS file. The instructions say to make a bootable USB flash drive and it'll work off of that. Okay, how do I even do that? No word on Intel's site.
A day of research and I finally figured out how to make a DOS USB boot flash drive (»which you can read here). I flashed the BIOS and then double checked that everything was working. Yes, the BIOS updated fine. I can now tell the motherboard to use the XMP settings from the memory. I set it to Profile 1 and then reboot... no POST. I became frustrated again. This is an X38 board, Intel lists that the X38 works with these exact modules! Another day wasted!
The next morning I complained to my friend that he had a bad motherboard and I proceeded to tell my story. He stopped right in the middle and told me that the board will not support 1600MHz memory at all. This didn't make any sense considering the motherboard lists the speed and was happily trying to accept the XMP of the memory.
My friend is a member of the Intel retailer program and goes to ICC every few months. It turns out that the DX38BT was purposely crippled to not be able to run memory at 1600MHz... ever. My friend said their should be markings on the box and an insert in the box about this... there weren't any.
Why purposely cripple an Extreme board? Why do this to customers that expect a product that shouldn't be limited. The answer; The X48. Intel is releasing a new chipset very soon that will include 1600MHz support. They don't want people buying an X38 board to run 1600MHz parts. That should be for the new chipset only.
And now I sit with the DX38BT. It is useless to me and shouldn't be considered an Extreme board at all. The fact that Intel can't get its own BIOS updating software to work is another problem that needs to be resolved quickly. If something isn't support, don't list the option in the BIOS! It really is that simple.
This nightmare will be over tomorrow when I receive my Asus P5E3 Deluxe. Hopefully that $350 board should be the ticket for my next system and the DDR3 memory reviews I need to complete.
Ending:
I hope you get some enjoyment after reading this article. It wasn't fun for me to go through, but maybe you will get some laughs upon reading this. Feel free to send me an email or post in the forums.
This is an editorial about my experiences with the Intel DX38BT motherboard. It is not a review, so please do not take it as such. There are no benchmarks and no testing. There was just annoyance. If you are looking for a review of the DX38BT, search on the web. ASE Labs will not be reviewing this board.
Editorial:
Way back when I heard that Intel was going to be making a bunch of new platform boards, I was skeptical. I knew how successful the Centrino brand on the mobile front was for Intel and it makes sense that they want to capitalize on having platforms. That was the time that Intel started releasing new series of motherboards such as the Essentials and the Extreme series.
This type of product placement made sense as now consumers can really see where a product fits just by looking at what series the motherboard is in. The Essentials series contains the base needs and hardly anything more. You get a good motherboard for a cheap price. The Extreme series goes hand in hand with Intel's Extreme Edition processors. These motherboards actually have overclocking features and have performance enhancements to get the most out of your build... or so I thought.
I've had a few Extreme series boards. I started with the 925XCV which was a great board for the 925X days. I paired it with a Hyperthreaded CPU and it was great to tweak the things just right (as much as it could for an Intel board at least). Even though it was an Extreme board, you know that Intel boards are stable.
My next build with an Extreme board was a 955XBK with a Pentium D. It was exciting due to the fact that it was the first dual core CPU I've ever used (I have used dual CPUs in the past... the Abit BP6 was an awesome board). Again, Intel started putting more and more options in their Extreme series of motherboards and the stability was still there.
Let's fast forward to the DX38BT. This board is the latest from Intel using the X38 chipset. I really didn't need a new motherboard, but my review schedule called upon doing DDR3 memory reviews. I didn't have a DDR3 motherboard available so my colleague let me borrow his DX38BT which was brand new and still sealed in the box. This way I would be able to do my reviews in a timely matter and really get a feel for the board I wanted for my next build (which will be an Asus P5E3 Deluxe).
Then the trouble started happening. The memory that I received was pretty fast stuff. The spec on the first modules were 1600MHz. I proceeded to set the correct voltage and timings up on the motherboard and then... no POST. I thought that it was no big deal. I double checked all the settings and such. I mean, why would Intel list 1600MHz in the BIOS for the memory if the board couldn't handle it?
After about a day of fiddling, I gave up and asked the manufacturer of the memory and they said it should work fine when using the new XMP settings built into the module. The new X38 chipset boards can use something called XMP (Extended Memory Profile) which is basically the SPD overloaded with much more information. I proceeded to set the motherboard to use the profile of the memory.
No go! There was no option even present in the BIOS. Another day of fiddling, searching the internet, and pulling my hair out went by. I decided to try a BIOS update that should fix a bunch of these problems. I wasn't running Windows, so using the Windows tool for updating the BIOS was out of the picture. Luckily (if you look at it that way), Intel makes a pre-built ISO for people that run Linux. It is a self contained bootable CD of FreeDOS and all it does is boot and flash the BIOS. Very nifty... if it works.
Intel's DX38BT seems to be using a brand new chipset to provide IDE support on the motherboard. The version of FreeDOS that they packaged in the ISO didn't know how to read this new IDE chipset and proceeded to say that there was no CD drive hooked into the system and the flash failed to load. Well, that's pretty strange since I used a CD to boot FreeDOS. The CD was using floppy mode emulation and it needs CD support in FreeDOS. I guess that never crossed Intel's mind when they released tools that don't work. Another day wasted.
Now I had to find a way to update the BIOS. I refused to installed Windows just to update the BIOS. Intel is a huge open source proponent and I didn't have any copies of Windows around anyway. I downloaded Intel's Iflash utility and the BIOS file. The instructions say to make a bootable USB flash drive and it'll work off of that. Okay, how do I even do that? No word on Intel's site.
A day of research and I finally figured out how to make a DOS USB boot flash drive (»which you can read here). I flashed the BIOS and then double checked that everything was working. Yes, the BIOS updated fine. I can now tell the motherboard to use the XMP settings from the memory. I set it to Profile 1 and then reboot... no POST. I became frustrated again. This is an X38 board, Intel lists that the X38 works with these exact modules! Another day wasted!
The next morning I complained to my friend that he had a bad motherboard and I proceeded to tell my story. He stopped right in the middle and told me that the board will not support 1600MHz memory at all. This didn't make any sense considering the motherboard lists the speed and was happily trying to accept the XMP of the memory.
My friend is a member of the Intel retailer program and goes to ICC every few months. It turns out that the DX38BT was purposely crippled to not be able to run memory at 1600MHz... ever. My friend said their should be markings on the box and an insert in the box about this... there weren't any.
Why purposely cripple an Extreme board? Why do this to customers that expect a product that shouldn't be limited. The answer; The X48. Intel is releasing a new chipset very soon that will include 1600MHz support. They don't want people buying an X38 board to run 1600MHz parts. That should be for the new chipset only.
And now I sit with the DX38BT. It is useless to me and shouldn't be considered an Extreme board at all. The fact that Intel can't get its own BIOS updating software to work is another problem that needs to be resolved quickly. If something isn't support, don't list the option in the BIOS! It really is that simple.
This nightmare will be over tomorrow when I receive my Asus P5E3 Deluxe. Hopefully that $350 board should be the ticket for my next system and the DDR3 memory reviews I need to complete.
Ending:
I hope you get some enjoyment after reading this article. It wasn't fun for me to go through, but maybe you will get some laughs upon reading this. Feel free to send me an email or post in the forums.