Conclusion

Intel DX38BT mainboard features all the features necessary for CPU and memory overclocking. We did personally see screenshots proving successful overclocking results. However, this time I failed to even slightly overclock our system and I have no idea what happened to the board that it kept offering to correct the BIOS settings after a few failed attempts to boot with different frequencies. Even if you are lucky enough to get a mainboard sample that will overclock, there is one thing that doesn’t let us recommend this solution fro overclockers. The main problem is that Intel DX38BT mainboard doesn’t seem to be very user friendly.

I first tested Intel DX38BT mainboard last year and it was the first Intel X38 Express based mainboard that I worked with. Since then I have already checked out a few other Intel X38 Express based solutions from other manufacturers, one of them was Asus Maximus Extreme, and the difference between these two products is evident.

For example, it made absolutely no sense to set the memory to work at 1333MHz, not to mention 1600MHz, with a non-overclocked Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 processor. It turned out that the maximum memory frequency for a CPU with 266MHz nominal bus speed is only 1066MHz. Asus Maximus Extreme mainboard has the higher memory dividers removed. If you install a CPU with 333MHz bus (or overclock a CPU with lower nominal bus speed to 333MHz FSB), then you get the option to clock your memory as DDR1333. Intel DX38BT has these dividers from the very beginning, so I spent quite a bit of time trying to find a perfect combination of parameters that simply doesn’t exist at all.

Too low memory frequency may also hinder system boot-up, however, the lowest dividers cannot be removed: as the FSB frequency increases so does the memory frequency and these dividers may come in handy. Asus takes good care of their users, so there is a corresponding warning right in the BIOS Setup, Intel, in its turn, doesn’t even mention this potential problem anywhere.

If you are on good terms with overclocking techniques, then Asus Maximus Extreme will offer you extraordinary options for system fine tuning. But what if you are just starting on the overclocking path? – No problem! Thank you for purchasing Asus Maximus Extreme. You can use CPU Level Up and Memory Up options to boot the performance of your system. Just let the mainboard do the job. Once again thank you for being with Asus. Intel, however, has a different attitude: if you are a specialist - you will figure it out, if not – too bad for you then.

So, by looking at the screenshots I am ready to admit that Intel DX38BT does overclock processors. However, I haven’t figured out yet how it is supposed to be done. If you are curious, try to get an answer to that from Intel’s technical support or get yourself a board and play around with it for a while. As for me, I have seen a number of other real overclocker mainboards on Intel X38 Express that allow easy and efficient processor overclocking. Our ongoing articles are going to focus on a few of them, so stay tuned.