Introduction:

Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Motherboard

When asked, which computer components were the most important to building a successful system, you get a few different answers. If your first thought was the processor, memory, video card, power supply, and motherboard, then you answered similarly when the question was posed to some avid gamers, overclockers, and number crunchers. However, one particular component was answered more often than the rest. That was the motherboard.

Motherboards weren't quite as prominent about four years ago. And it's just recently that many of my well educated colleagues finally started explaining what has changed since then. Processors and memory have pretty much out paced the rest of the computer sector meaning that frequencies have gone from extreme to out right ludicrous. Video cards are just now catching up to some degree. One thing that is a constant in every system, no matter what kinds of components are connected, they all eventually lead back to the motherboard.

The motherboard is currently the most important component in a computer. I can see a few of you thinking this over. However, I didn't say it's the single most, just the most important. What has drawn me to that conclusion is that with all the various components reaching in to frequencies that engineers three decades couldn't fathom, there has to be a back bone component that restores order to the chaos.

There are so many variations of hardware and specifications that it becomes a daunting task trying to get all that different hardware to play nice together. Motherboard and chipset makers have to put a lot of work in to designing and engineering these components to be the most stable platform possible. If they lose sight of their objective, a substandard motherboard can be released and that means enormous headaches for you and me. This is what separates a quality motherboard manufacturer from the "other guys". It's a stigma that can make or break a company's future.

Gigabyte has truly stepped up to become a serious contender for the top manufacturer of quality motherboards. Gigabyte has aggressively pursued ways to produce the best choice in quality and enthusiast motherboards. They've brought us features like Dynamic Energy Saver, complete solid state computing, and some of the most consistent extreme overclocking to date. These kinds of features have culminated in to two recent Best Choice Awards at Computex 2008 for the GA-EP45-DQ6 and GA-EP45-DS5 Motherboards.

All of that and more have been combined once again to bring us the Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Motherboard. There's plenty of features and bonuses to be had. Here's what you'll get when you purchase yours.

Specifications:

GA-X48-DQ6

Intel® X48 + ICH9R Chipset Revolution energy saving design with DES technology Supports Intel® Core 2™ multi-core and 45nm processors. 1600 MHz FSB (Front Side Bus) support. DDR2 1200 memory with Intel® ECC technology featuring faster speeds and higher data bandwidth High quality CPU power module with Ferrite Core Chokes, Lower RDS (on) MOSFETs and Lower ESR Solid Capacitors. Supports ATI CrossFireX™ with Dual PCI-E 2.0 x16 graphics for extreme gaming performance. High speed Gigabit Ethernet with Green design for power consumption ALC889A with DTS Connect enables high quality Full Rate Lossless Audio and support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD. Features SATA 3Gb/s with Quad eSATA 2 interface. Quad BIOS for an extended level of protection. Quad-Triple Phase Power Design for ultimate system stability. 2 Gigabit Ethernet LAN through Teaming.

Got News? Send 'em in!