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- Date:
- Thursday , August 07, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Intel DX48BT2 Motherboard
Intel’s own motherboard answer to its X48 chipset, the DX48BT2, holds a lot of promise. From its sleek looks to its feature rich design, is this board is lining up to be a serious choice for those wanting to go an unbeaten enthusiast path?
Introduction
Intel is known throughout the world for their CPUs, chipsets, and motherboards. While their motherboards are not known for their overclocking, Intel boards rank among the top for performance, quality and stability at stock CPU speeds. Their latest enthusiast motherboard would seem to be worthy of the Intel namesake at first glance.
The DX48BT2 is the latest motherboard release from Intel, based on its own X48 chipset line. The Intel X48 Express chipset supports all current Intel LGA 775 processors, DDR3 memory operating in Dual Channel mode up to 1600MHz officially, and dual card CrossFire graphics mode using matched ATI graphics cards.
The DX48BT2 is designed to be feature complete out of the box, requiring only a minimal number of components for a working system, including the following: an Intel LGA 775 processor, DDR3 memory, a video card, drives, and a PSU. Intel designed the following ports in to the DX48BT2: 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the Intel ICH9R controller; 1 ATA-133 IDE port and 2 eSATA ports (RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 capable) on the Marvell controller; 12 USB 2.0 capable ports (8 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header); 1 x Intel GigE Ethernet port in the rear panel; Intel 8-channel HD audio codec featuring an S/PDIF optical output port; and an onboard power button. Note that the board does not have any PS/2 keyboard or mouse ports integrated in to its design.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
Packaging
Intel took a minimalistic approach with the DX48BT2’s box art design, with the board name and supported technologies emblazed in across the box front in an artistic and tasteful manner. As far as the included components, the DX48BT2 comes with the following: an ATA-133 rounded cable; SATA drives cables; the rear panel shield; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs.
Board Layout
The board’s layout design is cleanly done, with only a few tight areas to note around the board. The most obvious layout issue you’ll run in to is the interaction between the left side of the DIMM slots and the primary PCI-Express x16 slot. With a larger size video card installed, it will be tricky to seat and remove your memory modules. The other area of concern is around the CPU socket. The metal capacitors above and to the right of the socket may pose problems if you use a CPU cooler with a larger contact surface, as the tops of those capacitors are slightly above the seated CPU’s surface. What looks like the board serial number is on a white sticker along the lower left side of the primary PCI-Express x16 slot, while the board revision is marked on a white sticker in between the CPU socket and the upper set of DIMM slots. While Intel did use aluminum solid-state capacitors for the capacitors powering the CPU, they chose to use normal capacitors for the other board sections, manufactured by SAMXON (China) and Rubycon (Japan).
Aside from the height issues with the capacitors in close proximity to the socket, the CPU socket area has a clean layout. For the CPU cooler hold-down mechanism, Intel uses the standard LGA775 4 hole based implementation. Note that you may only run into cooler mounting problems using an overly large CPU cooler. The Northbridge chipset is located to the left of the CPU socket, cooled by a large aluminum heat sink which is screw mounted to the board. Just above the Northbridge are the rear chassis fan header and the MCH fan header. Intel chose to passively cool the CPU power components with low profile aluminum heat sinks above and to the right of the socket. The ATX12V 8-pin power connector is to the upper right of the socket, with the 4-pin CPU header to its lower right.
The 4 DDR3 memory slots are located just below the CPU socket and Northbridge chipset, arranged in a bi-colored 2-by-2 configuration. Dual Channel memory mode becomes active with memory modules placed in like colored slots across the two sets. Just below the DIMM slots are the front chassis fan header, the ATX 24-pin power connector, and the onboard ATA-133 IDE port. Just above the ATX power connector is a green standby power LED, which illuminates when an active power source is connected to the board.
The ICH9R Southbridge chipset is located directly below the secondary PCI-Express x16 slot, cooled by a low-profile aluminum cooler. The Southbridge’s 6 SATA 2 ports are located below it, along with the CMOS battery and an onboard speaker. The chassis intrusion header is located directly above the Southbridge chipset. In the lower left corner of the board, you have the 2 onboard USB 2.0 headers, with the IEEE 1394 header, the CMOS reset jumper, the onboard power button, IR input and output headers and front panel header directly above them.
The DX48BT2 comes standard with a total of 3 PCI-Express x16 slots and 2 PCI slots. Along the outer edge of PCI slot 2 are the HD audio link header, a female MOLEX style power port, the CD_IN header, and a 4-pin rear panel fan header. Note that the MOLEX power connector is used to supply extra power to the board when using multiple video cards in CrossFire mode. The front panel audio header is located just above the secondary PCI-Express x16 slot.
The DX48BT2’s rear panel contains the following port configuration: 1 IEEE 1394 port; 8 USB 2.0 ports; 1 Intel GigE Ethernet port; 2 eSATA ports; and 5 analogue audio port and an S/PDIF optical output audio port.