Introduction

About a month ago, Foxconn sent us a review sample of their latest flagship motherboard, the Foxconn X38A. As this was before the official launch of the Intel X38 chipset, we could only run a preview of the board. Since its launch though, we found that the retail version of the Foxconn X38A motherboard has undergone some minor cosmetic changes as well as being the star in Foxconn's latest Digital Life product segment. However, there hadn't been any modifications to functionality or design and our sample was proven to be feature-complete and fit for a review.

Our Foxconn X38A review sample motherboard.

The retail version of the Foxconn X38A "Digital Life" motherboard. The only real difference is the updated heat-pipe cooler.

In this review, we will look closer at the X38A motherboard and check out the differences between our sample and the retail board. As usual, before we go into the details, you can check out the full technical specifications in the following table:-

Pretty much what to expect from a full-featured high-end motherboard. Apart from the legacy PS/2 connectors, you get optical and coaxial S/PDIF, FireWire, two eSATA, two LAN, four USB 2.0 ports and analog surround audio jacks. Our board is missing the Foxconn Digital Connector, which is located in the space between the eSATA and S/PDIF ports. Retail boards will all feature it.

 

Features

From our preview of the X38A motherboard, it seemed to us that it was Foxconn's intention to target a wider market with this product. Unlike Gigabyte or ASUS, both of which design specialist boards to target every market segment, the Foxconn X38A was built to fit comfortably from best-of-class performance to the ultra enthusiast crowd. Beneath the demure design of the board, the X38A actually packs quite a punch as a high-end motherboard. Foxconn has also followed suit with a full solid capacitor design and Ferrite chokes around the CPU PWM as well as upgraded the original active fan cooler (on our sample) to a silent heat-pipe structure as can be seen on the first page. This means that you can put aside any noise concerns you may initially have had for the board as well. Catering to overclockers and power users, the board also features a POST debug LED as well as onboard power/reset/CMOS clear buttons.

Our review set still used the older active cooler instead of the heat-pipe system, but what's important to note is that the X38A uses Ferrite chokes and solid capacitors for its PWM.

Based on the newest Intel X38 chipset, the X38A features dual full-speed PCIe x16 slots for proper CrossFire multi GPU configuration support. In addition, there is a third PCIe x16 slot onboard (in black). Foxconn's technical specifications aren't exactly explicit about this, but they imply that all three PCIe x16 slots support the new PCIe 2.0 standards. However, it would seem that the third slot actually operates at PCIe x4 and driven by the Southbridge instead, which would mean that it really only supports PCIe 1.1. The new X38 MCH is the only chip to feature PCIe 2.0, thus, only the two main PCIe x16 slots (in blue) will be able to take advantage of upcoming PCIe 2.0 cards.

The third (black) PCIe x16 slots seems to draw its PCIe lanes from the Southbridge, which will make it an PCIe 1.1 slot operating at x4.

Another indication that Foxconn is playing on the fence is the fact that the X38A features both DDR2 and DDR3 memory support, appealing to early adopters while not shutting out the upgrade path for users that are still on DDR2. The rest of the features on the X38A are pretty much expected from a board of its class today. Familiar chipsets can be seen on the board such as Realtek's ALC888S HD Audio CODEC powering onboard audio, Texas Instruments' TSB43AB22A enabling FireWire-400 support and a JMicron JMB363 controller for legacy IDE as well as eSATA support. The X38A also features dual Gigabit LAN through Realtek's PCIe RTL8111B and PCI RTL8110SC ASICs. Interestingly enough, Foxconn chose to limit the USB 2.0 ports on the X38A. While most manufacturers enable all 12 USB 2.0 ports available to the ICH9R Southbridge, we only count eight on the X38A – four on the rear I/O panel and two more optional headers. There is actually reserved space on the PCB for two additional headers, but one still wonders why Foxconn chose not to enable them.

Memory flexibility of the X38A.

Note the two remaining USB header pinouts reserved on the PCB, but never used.

Lastly, the Foxconn X38A has now been classified under Foxconn's latest Digital Life product segment. However, unlike other manufacturers, this doesn't necessarily mean that the board itself includes all these features. Instead, from what we understand, the X38A will feature a proprietary Foxconn Digital Connector (which our sample lacks) that can be used to interface with upcoming Foxconn Digital Life products to enhance the board's multimedia capabilities. At the moment, there doesn't seem to be any such devices out yet, so we can only hope that its inclusion means that Foxconn is committed to deliver some useful devices that will take advantage of this port in the upcoming months.


Layout

The board has a simplistic nature to it and we can't really find anything seriously wrong with its component placement, but the X38A looks like a very cluttered and busy motherboard, possibly due to the gamut of colors Foxconn chose for its components. Seen from afar, the X38A looks like it is made from Lego blocks. Even so, space should not be an issue. The CPU area is relatively spacious and users should be able to comfortably fit two large Radeons into the board, and have sufficient room for RAM installation. Larger cards may however, interfere with the upper row of SATA ports.

 

Overclocking

• FSB Settings: 266MHz to 800MHz
  
• Memory Settings (FSB:MEM Ratio): 1:2, 1:2.4, 1:2.5, 1:3, 1:3.3, 1:4
  
• PCIe Settings: 100MHz to 200MHz
  
• PCI Settings: 33.6MHz, 37.3MHz, 42MHz
  
• CPU Voltage Settings: +12.5mV to +387.5mV (in 12.5mV steps)
  
• Memory Voltage Settings: +0.032V to +0.892V
  
• NB Voltage Settings: +0.032V to +0.380V
  
• SB Voltage Settings: +0.037V to +0.424V
  
• Multiplier Selection: Yes (unlocked CPUs only)

The Foxconn X38A motherboard performed decently in our overclocking tests, but is not exactly an outstanding overclocker. Foxconn's latest BIOS overclocking module, called the Gladiator BIOS, is responsible for all the overclocking functions. On paper, the Gladiator BIOS does offer up some impressive voltage ranges and stepping modes, but we were unable to really push the board to the speeds that we're familiar with. The maximum stable FSB overclock achievable on our X38A sample was 430MHz, well below the 480-500MHz upper limit we usually see with enthusiast boards based on Intel's Broadwater or Bearlake series of chipsets.

CPU-Z overclocking screenshot. Click for full-sized image.

Test Setup

The benchmarking segment can get a little confusing, so pay attention here. The Foxconn X38A supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, which will both be tested to determine the actual implications of memory performance on the new Intel X38 chipset. For comparisons, we will pit the Foxconn X38A against some of the better Intel P35 DDR2 and DDR3 motherboards (MSI P35 Platinum and ASUS P5K3 Deluxe respectively) to find out just how well the X38 performs against the P35. In addition to this, we will also be including the results from the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 as a base performance gauge for the X38 chipset. Seeing that this is still a brand new chipset, what we do not have at the moment are comparable results for X38 DDR3 performance, which we promise will be coming real soon in a future review.

The test bed configuration used for this article is listed below and will be used for all products mentioned unless otherwise stated:-

• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 processor (3.00GHz)
  
• 2 x 1GB Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 @ 4-4-12 CAS 4.0 (For DDR2 boards)
  
• 2 x 1GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1333 @ 7-7-20 CAS 7.0 (For DDR3 boards)
  
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 200GB SATA hard disk drive (one single NTFS partition)
  
• MSI GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB - with ForceWare 162.18 drivers
  
• Intel INF 8.3.1.1013 and AHCI 7.5.0.1017 driver set
  
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (and DirectX 9.0c)

Benchmarks

The following benchmarks will be run to determine the performance of the Foxconn X38A:-

• BAPco SYSmark 2004
  
• Futuremark PCMark05
  
• SPECviewperf 9.0
  
• AquaMark3

 

Results - BAPco SYSmark 2004

Overall DDR2 performance from the Foxconn X38A managed to meet our expectations. The board did perform better in the Internet Content Creation tests, but its overall scores competed well with the rest of the boards. Its DDR3 results however, stand out from the crowd, performing much better than the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe.

 

Results - Futuremark PCMark05

Again, DDR2 performance from the Foxconn X38A managed to be on par with all the other boards, but its true colors were apparent using DDR3 memory. Both the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe and Foxconn X38A achieved higher memory performance using DDR3 memory over their DDR2 brethren, but Foxconn's lead was much more convincing. While the change in memory configuration did not seem to affect CPU performance, the X38A did register improved storage performance.

 

Results - SPECviewperf 9.0

In SPECviewperf 9.0, the Foxconn X38A managed to come out on top in the 3dsmax workloads, achieving the highest results for DDR3 memory and was nearly on par with the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe using DDR2 memory as well. However, it was a little strange that the board did not do so well in the PRO/Engineer workloads, one of the tests that we had expected the Foxconn to excel in. Among SPECviewperf's battery of tests, the PRO/Engineer workload was the only one that displayed a dip in performance rather than a gain.

 

Results - AquaMark3

In terms of gaming graphics, AquaMark3 results were the most telling. The Foxconn X38A maintained its average performance with DDR2 memory compared to the rest of the boards tested in this review. That is, it managed to keep up with expected numbers, coming in just a hair's breath under the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 in terms of frame rates. Using DDR3 however, the performance of the X38A shot straight up with an ultra high CPU score as you can see in the charts below. While the GPU scores remain mostly constant, this alone gave the board an additional 4fps.

 

Conclusion

The Foxconn X38A came to us in an unassuming anti-static bag, sporting an unassuming layout design. Now, Foxconn is one of the biggest players in the manufacturing sector, and yet, their motherboards are usually simple and only capable enough to be viable in the market, but never over the top or flamboyant. When we initially did our preview article, you can say that we didn't expect the X38A to excel in any area, but it just goes to show time and again that you cannot judge a book by its cover.

True, the Foxconn X38A will not turn any heads with its specifications and component setup, all of which are standard fare on almost every motherboard today. Yet, the X38A has a certain uniqueness to it that makes it a desirable board even when you compare it against the real heavy weights in the market. Take a look at the traditional high-end motherboard, such as Gigabyte's X38 DQ6 series. The Gigabyte boards offer a direct approach to the chipset, with single memory support and dual PCIe x16. The X38A entices with its hybrid memory design and triple PCIe x16 interface. MSI's X38 Diamond on the other hand seems to be the ultimate hybrid motherboard, but when price comes into the factor, it is hard to beat X38A's value proposition. The Foxconn X38A carries a recommended retail price of only US$220! Gigabyte's GA-X38T-DQ6 (DDR3 edition) retails for around US$315. ASUS' P5E3 Deluxe is a whopping US$350 and even the gamer edition Maximus Formula goes for around US$280. Most of the time, we find it really hard to justify the premium pricing on a product. Very rarely do we find a product with a price point that actually lures you into considering an upgrade, even if you know you don't really need one yet.

The Foxconn X38A settles in its own comfortable niche as a well rounded, hybrid, high-end, high-performance motherboard with a mainstream price. It is this motley combination that puts the Foxconn X38A in its own class that very few or no other board can meet.

Performance-wise, the Foxconn X38A started out like any other DDR2-based P35/X38 board out there. The board held its own in every benchmark and showed a consistent all-round performance level that is suggestive of a well implemented chipset. Plug in DDR3 however, the X38A was suddenly on steroids. Although, the X38A is still one of the early X38 boards we've tested with DDR3, it is the first DDR3 capable board we've come across that has shown us a good indication of DDR3 performance scaling against DDR2. For DDR2 owners, you'll get the level of performance from the X38A that you expect from boards of this class, but it is DDR3 owners that will reap the benefits of the board. It is too bad that the X38A could not wrap up our performance testing with strong overclocking results though, which would have made this board a great underdog performer, much like how Gigabyte's original DS3 gained its popularity.

The Foxconn X38A isn't without its faults. The overall feel of the board isn't as polished as you would get from a high-end ASUS or Gigabyte board. The BIOS sometimes resets certain settings on its own after a reboot, which became a chore to double and triple check, especially considering we have to ensure correct settings for testing purposes. We also encountered some minor issues like the board refusing to boot from a warm reset from time to time. When this problem croped up, we were forced to turn off the power and turn it back on to boot properly. We did not encounter any stability or compatibility issues while the board was actually running though, which was a good thing. These are ultimately not show stoppers for an average user, but it does put a dent on the overall quality and polish of the board and the only thing stopping it from getting a better score. Hopefully, we will be seeing future firmware updates that are able to stabilize the board further. As the chipset matures, the Foxconn X38A has the markings to become a very solid entry into the market.