Does gigabyte DES (Dynamic Energy Saver) actually work for you?

[taltamir]

I have NEVER had DES work for me. I paid extra for a GA-EP35DS3R compared to just the GA-P35DS3R version to ensure i get the rev 2.1, i figured it will be worth it. However the first version of DES was crap. Later versions improved on it (with stealth mode), but still crashed all the time. It has been more than a year now, and we have a new DES Advanced version from 16th of march 2009, and it STILL crashes all the time. It crashed on me within 3 minutes of installing it.

So, am I the exception or the norm? does DES work for you?

Actually... does the ASUS implementation work for you? how about MSI? I hear MSI doesn't need a program and handles the entire thing in the bios (which is also nice if you want to run an os other than windows).

My email to gigabyte support

I bought this board almost as soon as it came out, I actually paid a little extra compared to the GA-P35DS3R to make sure I get rev 2.1 of the board with DES. I figured the power savings will help.

But that never happened.
DES crashed all the time, it was also really annoying to use. I uninstalled it.
DES advanced crashed all the time. I uninstalled it too.
I just now decided to give it another try. I got the latest version of DES advanced from march 16th of 2009. And it crashed within 3 MINUTES of being installed.
I have switched video card, CPU, and ram since I bought this board. Des always crashed.
I reinstall windows regularly, and I think I even started off with win XP 64bit on this board...
I went through every revision of bios for this board and they all crashed on me...

I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you would not claim a feature that does not really work. In my experience only Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI are trustworthy motherboard manufacturers.

So if it does not crash on your test machines, there must be SOMETHING on mine that causes, and will like to help figure out why it constantly crashes on MY machine all the time. tell me which programs you want me to get detailed info from, ill install loggers, or whatever is required. But lets get it actually fixed, because I really would like to have a working DES.

their response:

make sure that you do not have any overclocking being done and are running at default spec. Next do turn off any anti-virus or spyware applications which you have running on the background

My response:

I was not overclocking, and from what i heard it actually makes things better.

My antivirus (ESET) makes no difference if it is on or off. But disabling windows defender solved the problem. I almost forgot it was there since it is a PART OF WINDOWS.

Crashing all the time if windows defender is on is a big issue, and it would be good if there was actually some documentation of this problem.

Their response:

Good to hear the issue been resolved, any other questions please let us know

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

what is des?

 

[taltamir]

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3206

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Fil...80516_des_advanced.htm

Final thoughts

D.E.S. presents the average user with an easy method of small-scale power saving. The largest group of consumers is not those who are interested in overclocking or spending hours fiddling with BIOS settings. With this in mind, Gigabyte has taken a few steps in ensuring the DES software is installed on user systems during the initial OS setup. For example, the driver/software CD auto-installs all required system drivers including D.E.S. Most users will use the auto-install function on the driver CD, meaning the software will find its home in the Windows task bar. Once installed, the software auto-alerts the user if D.E.S. has not been set up or switched on.

There is still one hurdle though: all current BIOS releases for the GA-X48T-DQ6 enable C1E and EIST by default, and these have to be switched off manually for DES savings to be fully realized. Gigabyte will need to consider this and release future BIOS revisions without these functions enabled if DES is to be successfully used by the masses. Gigabyte would also do well to add an advanced tab to the DES GUI that allows altering the level of Vcore. With the 45nm process proving so responsive to reduced voltage levels, we are sure users can tune their processors for even lower levels of power consumption than DES level 3 currently offers - provided the users take the time to do the proper amount of testing; if not then DES is close enough in our opinion. Gigabyte are still refining the DES software and tell us that full C1E and EIST compatibility is possible. The CPU throttle function will also be improved in future releases, so that performance under load is not drastically altered.
Okay, the power savings per user are not huge, but we have to take the prospect of thousands of users enabling DES simultaneously into account. Even if many people decide not to use the software, we have no hesitation in giving Gigabyte the thumbs up for attempting to make consumers more aware of power consumption and offering an initial solution to reduce it without much user intervention.

Nowhere does anandtech warn that the piece of shit doesn't work. As every USER who ever owned it and I talked to indicated, it just doesn't work, it crashes and crashes and crashes.

I wanted to verify that I am not just finding the people with problems, and that this is a deeper issue.

 

[elconejito]

Both systems I tried to install it on were overclocked. Overclocks were near impossible with DES installed and I eventually removed it. Can't speak to any power savings it may have given at stock speeds since I didn't measure it.

 

[taltamir]

if you can try it without overclock for a day and let me know if it works please, i would appreciate it.

 

[arkcom]

Mine works fine (ga-ex58-ud3r, 920 @3.8). At idle it just cuts the multiplier in half (so with speedstep on, it sits at 6x). It doesn't change the voltage though (I can't even get speedstep to decrease voltage), I don't know what's up with that.

 

[taltamir]

if you are overclocking it disables some (or all) of its power saving functions...
the processor cuts its own multiplier to 6x via something called C1E and has nothing to do with DES (although DES CAN report that figure to you).

Can you try running it for a day without overclocking and see if you get a warning that GSvr.exe crashed
http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/gsvr-exe-crash-27616/

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: taltamir
if you are overclocking it disables some (or all) of its power saving functions...
the processor cuts its own multiplier to 6x via something called C1E and has nothing to do with DES (although DES CAN report that figure to you).

Can you try running it for a day without overclocking and see if you get a warning that GSvr.exe crashed
http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/gsvr-exe-crash-27616/

Ok, I've reset my bios to stock, we'll see how it goes.

 

[arkcom]

Gsvr crashed about five minutes ago. However, the power saving features were still running (checked cpu-z for slightly decreased voltage). According to Gigabyte the program is changing hardware based settings, so once they're set, they should stay after the program crashes or is closed.

 

[taltamir]

interesting to know on both counts (that it crashes on your board if you don't OC, and that it should still power save after crashing).

are you sure it is still going to power save after crashing? because the "being closed" is actually terminating the GUI but running the background service; but the service is what's crashing.

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: taltamir
interesting to know on both counts (that it crashes on your board if you don't OC, and that it should still power save after crashing).

are you sure it is still going to power save after crashing? because the "being closed" is actually terminating the GUI but running the background service; but the service is what's crashing.

Yes it was still working after gsvr crash. It idles at 1.088v without des and 1.024v with. (the motherboard "phase leds" stayed on also.)

 

[taltamir]

cool.

I contacted gigabyte. they told me to:
1. Not overclock
2. Turn off all antivirus/antispyware apps...

just to humor them I am shutting down NOD32 and windows defender and seeing if it makes a difference, i doubt it though.

 

[taltamir]

ok... ran some tests and I have something for you now... its windows defender!

Disabling windows defender stopped the crashes (of DES). What is amazing is that it has been going on for so damn long and that they were keeping it hush hush. Yet they probably know considering it happens to everyone (since it is part of windows) and since they knew to tell me to disable antispyware.

eset antivirus has been running with no problems with DES.

 

[taltamir]

it would be really nice if anandtech ran an article about weather or not DES reliably works, then we could actually have it FIXED.
Because they consider my problem solved by having narrowed it down to "disabling windows defender" (note, it still crashes, only more rarely, only once in the last day)

 

[arkcom]

Honestly, even if it did work, it only saves a couple of watts at idle and none at load.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

weren't asus and gigabyte going back and forth over their power-saving systems? then it was proven they don't do anything, right?

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
weren't asus and gigabyte going back and forth over their power-saving systems? then it was proven they don't do anything, right?

what? by who?

 

[A5]

I never, ever use utilities made by mobo makers. Every single one I've ever used has been a bloated piece of junk...

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: A5
I never, ever use utilities made by mobo makers. Every single one I've ever used has been a bloated piece of junk...

now that is a true point.
bloated, typically useless and hyped, crash often, cause system instability, and don't really work.

I don't think I have seen one that actually works.

 

[arkcom]

I was actually really impressed with easytune6. I could set my bios vcore high, and then lowered it one notch at a time in windows, til you find the lowest stable voltage. Much easier than rebooting and changing the bios every time.