To help digest what the X48 is all about, here’s a simple outline of its supported features in a block-diagram:

Intel has stepped up to meet the onslaught of DDR3 technology head-on with this chipset, however, that brings a mixed bag of issues with it. On one hand, the industry is clearly moving to DDR3 and the extra bandwidth it brings to the table but on the other hand, it’s still very pricey and its latencies are still a tad on the high side.

This means should you decide to jump on the X48 bandwagon – you should be prepared to pay a more premium price for the adoption of DDR3. If you’re still on the fence, just know that the industry will move to DDR3 with or without you.

Two leading motherboard makers of products which do an excellent job of showcasing the X48’s prowess are ASUS and Gigabyte – two companies which have had close ties in the past and continue to bring about new products to market which excel in performance and reliability.

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