Closer Look:

Box Front

Box Back

What a first impression! It appears Gigabyte wanted to make a statement with the X48 series and that's what they've done. Here we have one of the coolest looking motherboards around. (Oh, and the product box isn't half bad either if you feel like showing it off.) While my camera flash presents a lighter blue, it's more of a dark blue and a cool color theme. The motherboard has a great stream lined feel as you look over the Ferrite Core Chokes, RDS Mosfets, and more Lower ESR Solid State Capacitors.

1600 MHz FSB & 1200 MHz DDR2 Support

The GA-X48-DQ6 is one of the two current top X48 chipset motherboards in the Gigabyte line up. The major difference between the two are the types of memory it supports. The X48-DQ6 supports DDR2 memory up to 1200 MHz, while the GA-X48T-DQ6 supports DDR3 memory up to 1900 MHz. Both versions have native 1600 MHz FSB support. This of course is achieved by overclocking in most instances since faster modules can be purchased. 

Opening The Board

This is a wise decision offering the DDR3 and DDR2 platforms. While there is an enthusiast demand for these kinds of motherboards, it offers them a choice between the more expensive DDR3 and more cost effective DDR2 due to its still abundant supply and low cost. (Oh, we'd love to give the X48T a test drive for comparison, but we know more of you still use DDR2.)

Finding a spot for all of the connectors and ports is really tough these days. The board's over all layout leaves nothing to be desired. You can at least access all of the ports even if there are two large ATI Crossfire video cards installed. The connector color theme continues to be free of light and even pastel colors that tend to make a board look "soft".

Bottom Half

There are 3 PCIX x1 slots, 2 PCI slots, and 2 PCI Expresx 2.0 slots for single NVidia based graphics cards, or two ATI CrossfireX graphics cards. This board will truly rock some intense games coupled with two ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB graphics cards. Most of the SATA ports are at the bottom right along with the onboard USB and Firewire ports.

Top Half

Just below the rear I/O ports, you'll find the Realtek High Definition 7.1 Channel Audio Codec. The onboard audio port typically plugged in to your ROM drive so you can hear the audio from the movies or music.

Slot Shot

Realtek HD 7.1 Audio

Looking at the I/O ports, you can see the many connectible options. Besides the standard PS2, there are 8 USB ports, 2 GigaLan RJ-45 ports, 2 Firewire ports, 6 Audio Jacks fed by the Realtek ALC889A 7.1 HD Codec, and both Coaxial and Optical S/PDIF Out ports. Where's the eSATA you ask? Well, since more people have a need for USB ports rather than eSATA ports, Gigabyte saw fit to include two eSATA PCI brackets that allow for four eSATA devices. These are pretty slim and should still allow you to install the two largest video cards to break a Fedex truck's axel.

I/O Ports

Included in the box is a pretty nice bundle. There are several cables for powering and connecting several eSATA devices beyond what's already integrated on the back of the motherboard. As I mentioned, the eSATA brackets offer power and connectivity to four eSATA devices. That should be plenty for the extreme user. Professional storage fiends are the types to pick up a NAS unit rather than connect more than four eSATA drives.

PATA, FDD, 24pin Power, DIMMs

About the only thing in the bundle that might be a draw back is the old-school flat blue IDE and FDD cables. Perhaps next time we'll see some blue or yellow rounded cables, or none at all. If you're upgrading your system or just to this motherboard, chances are you've long since left PATA drives behind and moved everything over to the SATA II standard. If you haven't, you may not know what you're missing.

The Bundle

Dual eSATA Brackets

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