It’s not only J.K. Rowling who has a rabid following around the world, one that waits outside still-closed stores to become the first buyer of a certain book. Intel also has its own groupies, although admittedly smaller in number.

As those same readers who have bought and have finished reading the last book of the series can attest, endings aren’t really suited to a good thing – good continuations are preferable. Intel understands this very well, and thus the next Harry Potter-esque hit from Intel will certainly be the X38 chipset, which represents Intel’s commitment to the hyper-enthusiasts among us. The X38 chipset will take on the mantle of “performance champ” soon, joining the ranks of the former “extreme” chipset offerings from Intel such as the 975X, the 955X and the 925X.

                                                MSI P35 Platinum. Rollercoaster in the middle.

In the meantime though, there is only one option for the performance oriented motherboard buyer: the P35 chipset. This chipset is part of the “3-series” offerings from Intel developed for the Core2 Duo and its most recent advancements. Ranging from the G31 sporting integrated X3100 graphics and with a minimum of new features, to the all-encompassing P35’s, this latest onslaught of chipsets will serve as the foundation for the engine that is the Core2 Duo, and eventually, the Core2 Duo Quads.

                                                Gigabyte DQ6

With the prospect of a performance oriented chipset on the horizon, we set about wringing out the best we can get from the current crop of chipsets, notably the P35’s. Three factors were the focus of our testing regimen here at the lab: Performance, Stability, and “Extreme-ness”. Fortunately, we were able to fill in these classifications fairly quickly – as can be seen in the next paragraph.

Of the many motherboard manufacturers currently producing P35 based boards, three stand out as fair representations of the different aspects of the enthusiast market: the MSI P35 Platinum, the Asus “RoG” Blitz P35, and the Gigabyte DQ6. All three sport the P35 chipset, and all three, regardless of the tag that we put on them, have attributes that make them suitable representatives to any of their counterparts. Case in point: while we consider the Gigabyte DQ6 as the “Extreme-ness” category representative due to its unique layout, above average number of ports and general packaging, both the Asus (with integrated water-cooling connectors) and the MSI (with a roller-coaster cooling circuit) can stand in as well. On the other hand, Stability is represented by the MSI board, which has “safe” settings that ensures constant stable operation and quality components. The same can be said of the other two - all three uses solid capacitors at the least - although MSI has a well earned reputation as being the stability king. Lastly, Gaming is obviously represented by the Asus “Republic of Gamers” board – seeing as the marketing itself is targeted at gamers interested in squeezing out the best in a game.

                                                 Asus Blitz. Note the water-cooling nubs on the northbridge

Getting to these conclusions was definitely not a walk in the park; our editor here responsible for getting the numbers had a tough 2 weeks wringing out the strengths of these boards. We here at the HWM office have prepared a tasty and filling treat for next month’s issue based on the P35 chipset, if only to sate your cravings for Intel’s upcoming X38.