GIGABYTE GA-X38-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: This board works great. Put it together and worked on first boot. Running Vista 64bit, Core2 6300 @ 3.1GHZ, FSB 1720 w 4*1GB @ 860MHZ 4-4-4-12. Running F2 BIOS. Will upgrade to a Core2 E8400 upon release. I am also running Raid 0 and I did not need to use a boot floppy for Vista; Vista detected and auto loaded the raid drivers for the onboard Intel ICH9R.

Cons: Only con was the product support web link on NewEgg site directed me to a support page that doesn't have the latest BIOS on it (old BIOS F1) - You can find a newer BIOS here (new BIOS F2) - http://www.giga-byte.be/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2736

Pros: PCI Express 2.0. Has a whole bag of features. Everything I could want and more. Comes with a lot of nice extras. Works nice with Linux. Don't need Windows to upgrade BIOS. Support for the upcoming Yorkfield processors. 1600 MHz frontside bus. 6 SATA ports. Nice heatsink on Northbridge.

Cons: No kitchen sink. Pricy.

Overall Review: According to the Gentoo wiki, the RAID is not a real full hardware RAID, and may not be worth bothering with.

Pros: Wow. The board is very stable, and even though the overclocking options are somewhat watered down (though I'm comparing to my previous board, which was a nightmare of voltages I was unfamiliar with [DFI ICFX-3200 T2/R]) it's like a fly by wire aircraft: you tell it what you want it to do, and it figures out how to make it happen. Set the voltages on auto, ask for 411 FSB- bam, 2.88ghz from my paltry e6300. I used to have to guess and check with voltages, but this thing is rock solid. I also get better GPU overclocks on my HD 3870, most likely due to the PCI-e 2.0 interface. The REALTEK audio codec supports realtime 5.1 DTS wrapping, something most boards and add in audio cards wont do (digital optical/coax connections usually come out 2 channel, as does my ATI HDMI audio)

Cons: Lack of a northbridge fan is kind of sketchy, however it seems to be running cool enough. Bundled EasyTune5 is a joke for anything other than fan speeds (which IS nice...) Clear CMOS is a jumper instead of a button like usual these days, and you have to find your own. Didnt detect my previous RAID group, but didnt really expect it to. Hard to tell where voltages are without a windows program, in BIOS it only says +.05; +.10 instead of 1.85; 1.90, forgiveable as "auto" works well.

Overall Review: Much more intelligent CPU fan control than I'm used to (translation: used to full blast all the time), all SATA ports go to the same controller, long video cards make DDR2 installation tricky, so do the CPU, CPUFAN, RAM, then GPU, outside of the case if you can. Mine shipped from California to Utah in two days, whereas I'm waiting on a hard drive from Tennessee, going on day seven... (UPS claims weather, but 3-day guarantee should mean 3-day, esp when things sit in shipping centers over the weekend) The stories are that the only difference between this board and its big brother the DQ6 are features and fine-tuneability. They are both x38 based boards, so stock you can expect very similar performance. As mentioned below, Gigabyte includes a very thorough installation guide that teaches anyone that can read how to build your own PC.

Pros: This board is the one to get. I bought this as I saw that I did not use all the other items on the high end boards that I have been buying. Most are not ever needed at all! This board is easy to install and the manual is great. If you are new to the PC building then this will be a great board for you. As to overclocking , well if you want to do this then this board will do it. The bios are easy to understand and with the manual you can do this even if you are new at it. And it is one fast board. I put a #8400 Processor on this board and wow. I am gaming big time and loving it. It is fast! And I say again, if you are new at this , then get this board. You will be glad you did. You will have braging rights that is for sure. And that makes you feel better about your buy, and when it is up to a standard like this you can not go wrong. Gigibyte Rocks with there MotherBoards. And So does NewEgg

Cons: None so far

Overall Review: It is easy to put large heat sinks on this board and it does not run hot. It has great cooling as it is. But with an after market Heat sink you will not have any issues with cooling. And as always NewEgg was great getting the parts I ordered to me quick. All was packed very well and nothing was damaged. I have had other sites send me things that where half smashed when they got here because they where skimpy on the packing. Or used news paper to try to pack with. All was packed in Popcorn Foam and it was packed tight. All I can say is that buying from NewEgg will save you money, and you will get what you ordered and it will get to you in great shape. That says alot.

Pros: Easy to setup. has enough features in to overclock if needed. running Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2GB 1066 Corsair Dominator, EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB

Cons: The first board I received was bad. Kept switching on and off every few seconds. If it booted it would lock up. Got an RMA and sent it back. The second board I got was just fine. Works perfect.

Overall Review: if you buy this board and it keeps powering off and on, it's BAD. Dont throw away the original packaging before you make sure everything works.

Pros: I usually avoid new products but this one had everything I was looking for. Let me tell you I was not disappointed. Lots of settings in BIOS. First boot worked great. Keeps that Q6700 cool.

Cons: Yes you must read the book!

Overall Review: Gigabyte GA-x38-DS4, Intel core 2 quad core Q6700, GIGABYTE GV-NX88T256H GeForce 8800GT and Antec 900 case G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM. Did I say read the book?

Pros: Awesome board with ample features. Much better value than the GA-X38-DQ6, which is kind of the big brother to this board. Like previous reviewers said, Vista 64 picked up raid with no problems. Gigabyte's drivers from their website install and work flawlessly. Quality product. Sadly, I'm now left waiting on the Intel Q9450 now.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: ATI HD 3870, 2GB Mushkin 1066 (PC2-8500), waiting on Q9450

Pros: Awesome product. Running Vista 64 bit with 4gigs of ram and a Q6600. The computer screams! It's very stable.. no crashes or anything. Loaded with features. BIOS is extremely customizable.

Cons: None.