GA-EP35-DS3L

[SorryImLate]

Hi i finished my rig a little while ago with a GA-P35-DS3L rev 2.0 and now im going to build a rig for my cuz and im going to use a GA-EP35-DS3L.

First from what it looks like this board supports an E8400 right out of the box with the F1 bios correct???

Does anyone know which Bios its shipping with now from newegg.

Is the only difference between the P35 and the EP35 is the energy saver or saving ability?

Any problems with this board compared to the to my DS3L?

Thank you

 

[SorryImLate]

Just saw F1 bios supports an E8400 with C0 stepping but if you get a E8400 with E0 Stepping you need F5 bios from what it says on gigabytes website. Im going to order the E8400 through newegg so how would i be able to get the C0 stepping so its supported right out of the box?

 

[SorryImLate]

Anyone?

 

[nerp]

You can't know. Depends where you live and other random factors. I just got a C0 E8400 last week and it shipped from their Edison N.J. warehouse. Other people are reporting E0 shippings from Whittier, CA. There are probably still a lot of C0 stepping E8400s laying around but they're trickling out, so there's no guarentee.

Newegg doesn't let you pick any type of stepping. Other retailers will promise you an E0 but they are charging a premium.

 

[SorryImLate]

Well from what im looking up all the C0 8400 have the same spec # of SLAPL and all the E0 8400 have the same spec # of SLB9J so ive been looking on ebay and finding 8400 with the with the correct Spec# i guess thats all i can do to insure i get the C0 stepping

Motherboard is the same as the original DS3L though right?

is CPU warrenty still valid if you buy it off ebay or only valid through a dealer like newegg. Thanks

 

[brencat]

Just built a PC for my brother and also selected the EP35-DS3L. Bought all my parts from Newegg too, including an E8400. Got a C0 -- shipped from the NJ warehouse (I live in NJ). Apparently, the E0s are shipping from the CA warehouse.

My board shipped with the F4 bios, and I flashed it immediately to F5 with Q-Flash (great!)

Not really sure how you should proceed here -- I had the exact same concern you did about getting the E0, but I also knew I had the E2180 from my machine I could put in in a pinch to flash to F5 if it didn't POST.

Do you feel lucky? Well do ya...??

 

[SorryImLate]

Ill probably just go to a local computer store and see if i can find one with the C0 stepping so that way i know its going to post. How hard is it to flash bios with the Q-flash. I would probably do it with a flash drive but just wondering. Has any tried the @bios?

 

[Foxery]

Originally posted by: SorryImLate
Just saw F1 bios supports an E8400 with C0 stepping but if you get a E8400 with E0 Stepping you need F5 bios from what it says on gigabytes website. Im going to order the E8400 through newegg so how would i be able to get the C0 stepping so its supported right out of the box?

That doesn't sound right at all. Do you have a link?

Motherboards really shouldn't notice a stepping change. It's the same product. You're also very likely to get a board with a newer BIOS, in which case it's a moot point. Or borrow the E6550 in your existing rig to flash it if there really is some bizarre problem.

 

[SorryImLate]

Here is the link but i have never flashed bios before. Thats why i was asking if anyone has use the @bios where it just updates it for you. How hard is the qflash?

http://www.giga-byte.com/Suppo...el.aspx?ProductID=2778

 

[brencat]

Do not use @bios to flash. Let me repeat that. Please do not use @bios to flash. This has been posted multiple times on a variety of forums. Flashing from within windows is inherently dangerous, but particularly so on these motherboards.

The best way is with QFlash using a floppy or USB drive. I used a floppy -- go to www.bootdisk.com and select 'driver free disk for bios flashing'. This will allow you to format a floppy with the absolute minimum drivers so you'll have room for the bios file which is just over 1mb. Put nothing else on the disk except for the bios file.

After that, go into bios and select QFlash. Stick floppy in, follow instructions and you're good to go. Once flashing is done, the system will reboot -- remove the floppy. As it reboots, go back into bios and choose 'load optimized defaults', then save and exit.

After that, shut down completely and clear the CMOS (always a good idea after a flash). Start it back up, and go back into bios again and choose load optimized defaults, save and exit, reboot, then you're good to go.

QFlash is so easy, every board should have this feature built into it. I certainly think it's easier than doing it the fully manual way as with my IP35-E.

 

[Modelworks]

Reset the board to factory defaults before flashing.
And do as Brencat said above.

You need to be EXTREMELY careful flashing this board.
More so than others as there is NO WAY to recover this board if the flash goes wrong.
You will have to send the board back .

It is a great board, I can't understand how they screwed up so bad on how the bios recovery is implemented .

 

[SorryImLate]

Ok sounds good when i flash mine ill have to get a floppy drive and a floppy. Does that sound right though...why does the stepping determine what version of bios you need?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Foxery

Originally posted by: SorryImLate
Just saw F1 bios supports an E8400 with C0 stepping but if you get a E8400 with E0 Stepping you need F5 bios from what it says on gigabytes website. Im going to order the E8400 through newegg so how would i be able to get the C0 stepping so its supported right out of the box?

That doesn't sound right at all. Do you have a link?

Motherboards really shouldn't notice a stepping change. It's the same product. You're also very likely to get a board with a newer BIOS, in which case it's a moot point. Or borrow the E6550 in your existing rig to flash it if there really is some bizarre problem.

Huh? Mobos need different various BIOS revisions to support stepping changes. They require different microcode patches, and thus BIOS updates.

 

[SorryImLate]

Ok well ill either have to go to a comp store by my house and hopefully fine the correct 8400 or just get an 8200 because according to gigabyte cpu charts that only comes in the C0 stepping and only needs the F1 bios.

Have they produced the 8200 in a E0 stepping yet?