As AMD prepares to launch its true native quad core architecture for processors on the 10th of September, Intel counts the days until the first X38 compatible mainboards will hit the market. The X38 chipset, developed by Intel is intended as a replacement for older chipsets and this product is aimed only at the high performance computing level.

While the most important motherboard manufacturers already announced some of their products that are based on the Intel X38 chipset, the great majority of them were pretty tight lipped when talking about their soon to be officially launched offerings. One of the mainboard manufacturers and vendors that chose to reveal its products sooner is the Gigabyte company that presents its GA-5BXWV-RH motherboard which represents a lower cost solution that implements the X38 chipset, for users that are not expecting the very top performance from their computers.

One of the reasons the new X38 bgased Gigabyte motherboard will be priced at a more affordable level is the fact that it only supports DDR2 memory modules and the mainboard sports only one PCI-Express x16 slot, so multi graphics cards setups are not an option. Even crippled as it is, Intel specified that support for the DDR3 memory standard must be included in the mainboards centered around the X38 chipset, the Gigabyte mainboard will offer support for the entire line of Core 2 Duo processors and the new line of 45 nanometer processors.

It is expected that the Gigabyte GA-5BXWV-RH motherboard will be priced close to the high end P35 based motherboards, that might be a little pricey for what it offers. As high end motherboards that are based on the Intel P35 chipset are offering a larger range of features and benefits than the GA-5BXWV-RH solution, users might think twice before switching to a chipset that offers them nothing new and eventually takes away the multi graphics cards option. One good point is that if Gigabyte keeps its price range for the incoming products, the motherboard will not be excessively expensive.