GA-x48-DQ6 build

[peppie]

The good news, it didn't blow up,
The bad news, once again I leave a blood trail in my case.

Zalman 9700 did it to me again, use to be the case did it, but that CPU cooler has nailed me my last 2 builds.

Lesson one, on a Antec 900 case your Positive/with current wires for the Pwr, Reset, HDD connectors are the colored wires, not the white. Just FYI.

Lesson two for those not use to a back bracket on your MB for the CPU cooler: on the GA-X48-DQ6 you have to remove Crazy Cool Heatsink on the back of the MB. I like Zalman 9700's, it's just a proven workhorse for me, but if this is your first build, you may want to look at a CPU cooler that mounts like the stock Intel Cooler.

Lesson three, the MSI NX8800GT 512M OC video card does allow the stock Interface cables that come with the MB to work. Only problem is cable management in the case. There is not enough slack to clean them up for better Air flow and appearance in the case. And on the Antec 900 case the card does not bump any HD or other drives close to the back of the MB. Obviously performance is the Key, but that after stock radiator and fan really look awesome.

Working on BIOS overclocks now, following the great guide posted here, thanks Graysky. Will post any problems or settings once I get this puppy cranked up for those building a X48 Gigabyte like me.

Regards

 

[Markfw]

I mounted my Ultra 120 extreme USING the factory "Crazy Cool Heatsink on the back",, just had to alter my mounting method....

 

[peppie]

Markfw900

Sounds like that might have been the CPU cooler to get for me, instead of the 9700. But I have had good results from the Zalman before.

Good news, with just 2 sticks of the 1Gb of memory, and default Win XP install on the Seagate, no issues. F6 version of BIOS was on the Revision 1.1 of MB.

Was able to get into OS with no crashes. Installed lastest drivers for MB and MSI video card, Win XP updates past SP2, no issues.

Core Temp and HWmonitor show CPU Temp at idle of 42 and GPU at 38, CPU temp seems a little high at idle, but then the Artic Silver was just applied. Hasn't broken in yet. May have wished I lapped CPU and 9700, but didn't want to break the warranty yet.

get the OC done and stable, will put the other 2 Gb of memory in.

----- edit update 27 March 08 -----

Memtest and Prime95 tests No Errors. Going to try to install EasyTune to see if I can get a accurate CPU Temp Reading. Tried another program, it read 30, which seems about right to me. When I was running Prime95 tests, Temp never went above 46 , but wasn't doing 100% load on both CPUs.

Adding in the last 2 sticks of memory for 4gb total. Then will ramp back up the settings.

---update---

Think I figured Temp Issue out, Used Speedfan 4.33 and figured out which HWmonitor reading was actually the CPU, ITE IT87, TMPIN1 was CPU, TMPIN0 was the case. I feel better at idle both read 19 C, and both CPUs at 100% Load, never got above 33 C.

Installed EasyTune 5 Pro. It is reading the BIOS PC Health TEMP data. Which matches Speedfan 4.33 and HWmonitor. Guess that is about as good as I can rely on for now.

Have all 4Gb memory running now. Just need to tweak it up closer to 1066 it's rated at.

---- update -----

Got the 4Gb at 1066.
Using Realtemp 2.24, the Tjmax=95.
100% Load for 15 mins shows 33C.

regards

 

[TheDoc9]

Good thread, please let us know the final clock. Just got my x48 in today and will probably start building my new comp either tonight or tomorrow. How does speedfan work with this board, can you change the fan speeds without issue?