Referring, as usually, to motherboards producers , Intel will officially begin the deliveries Of x38 chipsets in the middle of September. This will allow to begin the mass production of motherboards on their basis to the end of present month.
X38 is selected taking in account the near release of competing product : AMD RD790. Let us recall, that RD790 will be supplied during November.
Besides the FSB 1333 MHz support , memory DDR 3-1333, the system bus PCI express 2.0 (PCIe) and two slots PCIe x16, x38 chipsets will have one additional special feature : it will become the first chipset which uses the technology ISH (integrated heat spreader, built-in ).
Intel already plans to release the modernized version of this chipset, X48. This will occur at the end of year, and the first motherboards on the base Of x48 can appear in sale in the first quarter 2008.
In Its functional capability, X48 will be equivalent to X38, but it will acquire the FSB 1600 MHz and DDR 3-1600 support . Since the arrangement and microcircuit designation will remain as before, producers can use the same motherboards for X38 and X48. According to associate , X38 will be able to overclock up to FSB 1600 MHz and DDR 3-1600.