MSI X48 Platinum Manufacturer MSI Category Motherboard Socket Socket 775 LGA Chipset Intel X48 Chipset - DDR3 Editor Winston Chim Share    digg this! "... The MSI X48 Platinum features Intel's latest X48 chipset and offers support for 1600FSB, DDR3 ram, 45nm Penryn processors with great overclocking potential. "

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MSI debuts Intel's flagship X48 chipset in the form of the X48 Platinum ... Is it more than just a cherry picked X38?

INTRODUCTION

We now turn our attention to Intel's latest flagship chipset ... the X48. This chipset was announced shortly after the release of the X38 chipset only a few months ago. It was meant to be released towards the end of 2007, but there have been reports that Intel had purposely delayed its release. The reason being, it allows manufacturers the chance to make a little profit on the X38 based motherboards. The release of the X48 would be too soon, not allowing the X38 to mature ... it would also undermine market pricing of the X38.

So what is so special about the Intel X48 chipset? Well, to be honest with you, there is nothing that I can see which tells me it's a "Next-Gen" chipset. I think one of the advantages of the X48 is the fact that it officially support 1600FSB. Does that mean we will see 1600FSB processors from Intel in the near future? We've already tested the MSI X38 Diamond a few weeks ago, and by looking at the MSI X48 Platinum, the motherboard layout is exactly the same. Some say the X48 chipset is actually "cherry-picked"  versions of the X38 chipset ... allowing better overclocking potential and a little extra performance boost. So, is this true? ... or is the X48 chipset just a re-branded X38 chipset on adrenalin?

           

In this review, we'll be taking a look at the MSI X48 Platinum motherboard. It utilises Intel's latest X48 chipset and supports the new 1600FSB, DDR3-1600 ram, the new 45nm Penryn processors as well as ATi's Crossfire multi-GPU configuration. It will be interesting to see what the performance will be, using this new chipset from Intel. We're expecting the X48 to perform just like the X38 at default speeds using a Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor.

However, something tells me that when I cranked up the FSB to 1600Mhz, then we will see the true colours of the X48 chipset. Right now, we can only archieve 1600FSB by overclocking our Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor from 2.4Ghz (9x266) to 3.2Ghz (8x400). A lower multiplier is always good for overclocking ... allowing us to push the FSB higher.

OK, let's take a closer look at the specifications of the MSI X48 Platinum motherboard