Gigabyte S-Series GA-73VM-S2 mATX & E2140 C2D

[BonzaiDuck]

We had a "Motherboard-went-South" event on Mother's Xmas computer. The plan was to upgrade Momma from a 1.8A Ghz Pentium 4 (400Mhz FSB) with PC800 Rambus (circa 2002) to a Pentium 4 3.4E @ 3.84 Ghz and a 7600GT AGP-card in a P4P800SE motherboard. There was to be a round-robin-hand-me-down in other parts to a younger brother.

But one of the two P4P800 mobos in the fam-dam-ily went south. So we bought Momma a Gigabyte GA-73VM-S2 mATX mobo. It has onboard GeForce 7050 video and uses the nForce 610i chipset. The BIOS is over-clockable. It apparently runs DDR2 memory in "native-800" mode.

If the solution for Momma works out OK, we're going to junk the youngest Bro's parts and get him the same mobo and C2D.

I had a pair of brand-new Crucial Ballistix DDR2-1000 modules -- a 2x512 1GB kit. While they're not on the compatibility list, they default to DDR2-800 with other nVidia motherboards, and I decided to use them -- for now. The GA-73VM-S2 has only two DDR2 slots -- so we'll have to go 2x1GB to increase the memory size. No problem, there, either, because I'm in the RMA cycle with Crucial for a 2x1GB kit of DDR2-1000's. But Momma typically only does "genealogy" using Family-Tree for Windows with e-mail and web-surfing.

[Of course, I want to set up the OS so I, too, have a "profile" and password, and so I can use the system casually when Momma is watching Greta van Susteren on FOX. Don't get me started about that network: my blood-pressure will rise.]

I want to change the CPU-to-RAM ratio by OC'ing the FSB. The GA-73VM-S2 is spec'd to run at up to 1,333 FSB.

What voltage setting should I expect to be stable if I want to run the E2140 processor up to 2.13 Ghz and the FSB to 1,066 Mhz?

[We ain't goin' no higher than that, cuz Momma will be stunned by the speed anyway, and this is as much as she needs or more.]

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Oh, Geeeee!!!

Fah-GET-aboutit!! FAH-GET-aboutit!!

I just did a search here on "E2140" and found this:

E2xxx and E4xxx Over-Clocking thread

Sheee . . . . !! [ut!!]

People are OC'ing these things to 3.2 Ghz+ at less than 1.40V Vcore.

This . . . . is gonna be easy . . . . and fun.

 

[Mondoman]

Sure makes you feel like a Donald Trumplike big spender if you pay more than $100 for a CPU now, doesn't it?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Look at it from this angle. Momma has been working with computers since about 1992. In 1998, she purchased a Gateway 2000 Pentium Pro and insisted on having a CD-burner. She never bothered -- nor figured out how -- to use the CD-burner. The guts of the system were replaced with an Intel D850MV motherboard and ATA-100 120GB hard disk. A new CD-burner was added, with software (Roxio -- with Drag-to-Disc and CD-Creator) to facilitate its use. She never used it. I showed her how, but today, she is clueless.

So -- no -- I'm not giving her my spare Striker Extreme motherboard or my spare E6600 processor. For Momma, an E2140 C2D processor ( @ $85 ) and this mATX Gigabyte motherboard -- $65-worth -- is like upgrading an old Piper-Cub to the Starship Enterprise.

The disheartening thing about it so far is as follows. The board is "over-clockable," with "Linked" and "Unlinked" options, FSB and DDR speed settings, and CPU VCORE setting. BUT THERE IS NO %*&$##!! place in the BIOS setup (version F1 or F1a) to change the memory voltage and the memory latencies!! I SAVE money by using these high-end Crucials, but I waste memory-potential by using the high-end Crucials!! It would be better to pick up a set of DDR2-667 modules and run the system at 2.25 Ghz with ratio of 4:5 so that the memories are OC'd to 700 Mhz.

 

[Phunk0ne]

have you tried the CTRL + F1 before doing anything else in the BIOS?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Prepare me for the great experiment, PhunkOne . . . .

What happens when you press CTRL-F1? Can I tweak the RAM voltage and latencies?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Darn!! I bet that's it -- I just checked the printed manual.

Sometimes I read this stuff too fast . . . . and things "slip by me."

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I either overlooked the item under FSB/Memory Speed at the bottom -- "Memory Timings" -- or the CTRL-F1 brought it into view.

But I still cannot find the RAM voltage-setting feature -- if there is one.

This is progress, so far, though.

Only question is -- will it pass MEMTEST86+ with timings 4,3,4,9,2T, tRC=13 @ DDR= 702 Mhz with voltage at the monitored value of 1.84V.

 

[Phunk0ne]

CTRL+F1 will show the options to tweak the latencies, not quite sure if it will show up on your Gigabyte motherboard, but it did on mine running older BIOS versions.

@ BIOS menu, where you can do some advanced tweaking such as cpu multiplier, fsb, etc. Do you see "System Voltage Control" ?
Gigabyte BIOS

And check this out, the VID voltage range for your processor
E2140 VID Voltage Range @ Intel.com
I'd say, start with stock volts and go from there until your system becomes unstable, then up the voltage a notch until your system becomes stable again (ORTHOS/PRIME 95 for stability check 8+ hours). From there just repeat the cycle and see where you will end, of course, keep the max of 1.5V in BIOS in mind and not all CPU's of same kind may get the same overclock results.

regarding your timings, those are pretty tight timings @ DDRII 351, but tighter timings will not result in stellar results, especially when mum only uses it to browse around and e-mail. You would really only want to up the voltage if you were going to overclock your ram with tighter timings (at least that what I would do. but going from 4-4-4-12 2t to 5-5-5-15 2t, I did not notice any frame rate gain in any of the games I play, only benchies such as 3DM06 eat up tighter timings like a sunday desert)

ps: Updated the BIOS perhaps?
GA-73VM-S2 BIOS

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I looked at the screenies shown in the link. I don't remember that one.

It COULD be that I overlooked it after "CTRL-F1" when I got all goosey and elated about finding the *$#&@* latency settings.

I'll look again.

Meantime -- I ran the processor speed up to 8 x 282, underclocking the RAMs from 1000 down to 702, and set the timings tentatively to 4,3,4,9,2T, tRC=13.

Rock-stable for 11 hours MEMTEST86+ and counting -- some 60 iterations. I'd done another 60 iterations with test #5 when I'd last posted here.

I may try a different ratio, loosen the timings to 4,4,4,10, tRC=14 known to work at 800 through maybe 880, and try that. Need to get the OS and benchmark software installed first so I can see if there's any money in it.

That DOESN'T mean I'm going to use any of these settings when I install the OS!!

So far, except that the colors used in the BIOS screens seem reminiscent of a 486 era, and I just need to get used to working with these Gigabyte screens, this seems to be a sweet little mATX mobo for the money. In fact, it is soooo cheap, you wonder . . . . how it can be this good. Or . . . how long it will last. Or . . . . "there's got to be something wrong with this motherboard for that price." But you can't do SLI or Crossfire with it, it's only got 1 PCI-E slot. Even so -- it's spec'd to 1,333FSB. It's got onboard GeForce video.

There is another all-time first for me here. I realized that my ThermalRight SI-120 cooler wouldn't fit on the LGA775 socket without ordering some special kit from TR, so I just decided -- ALL-TIME FIRST -- to try the stock cooler. I used IC Diamond paste on it. It seems to be all that's needed here.

Another thing. The fam-dam-ily decided to spring for another configuration like this one for my youngest brother's setup. So when I did the shopping, I found the price had dropped on the E2180 chip to where the E2140 was a couple weeks ago. Schweeeet!!

Neither Momma or the youngest brother could care less about over-clocking performance, and this is a real Rip-van-Winkle experience for them -- coming out of 1.8A Ghz P4 and PC800 Rambus systems. They'll be happier . . . . than pigs . . . . . in s***!!!

 

[Phunk0ne]

Well I can share in the amazement and joy when I went from an Athlon XP 2600+ Overclocked to 2.3Ghz with 1GB of DDR-333 ram and a Radeon 9800XT to this 3.8GHz monstrosity, 4 times the ram and a graphics card that screams to for more games, that I am currently running

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Hey!! I already downloaded that BIOS version -- anticipating a flash-job after I've got the system all put together.

This is an exe file. When you execute it, does it just unpack the BIOS update? Or does it "do something?" If I don't wait to get the OS installed on these systems, I might want to update the BIOS first, and I'd want to run the executable on my 680i system. As long as it doesn't "interact" with said 680i system, of course . . . .

 

[Phunk0ne]

My bad, completely forgot, the exe just unpacks the bios file. you need the @BIOS to flash your bios:

@BIOS flash utility

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just understand, I've grown cautious in my old age. So I may ask questions about low-risk matters such as this.

You mention the @BIOS utility. I assume the Gigabyte boards don't have a built-in flashing feature in the BIOS? I guess I didn't see one.

Does this @BIOS utility require an MS-DOS-bootable floppy? Or does its install just write the floppy to make it bootable?

And -- hey -- thanks -- we're communicating in real-time here. I need to knock this out and put it aside soon. Very busy day.

 

[Phunk0ne]

@BIOS flashes the bios in windows, where after its done you need to restart your computer. That is how I flashed my bios with this utility in Vista 64bit Ultimate.
You can also make a backup of your BIOS with this program.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OK -- I got it. I'll look closer, but I'm thinking this requires use through Windows. Definitely will attend to resetting BIOS to defaults before I do this . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yeah -- Roger, that --

I had a disaster with ASUS Update last summer. I intend to follow all the precautions. Had used Windows-based flashing before and got "too comfortable" with it.

thanks again . . .

 

[Mondoman]

Ctrl-F1 is the "secret" Gigabyte code for accessing advanced BIOS settings. As for the 21xx CPUs, just slap on the included Intel CPU cooler and set the FSB to 333MHz (1333MHz datarate) straightaway (with memory speed unlinked so you can run it at something like DDR2-667), and you're good to go.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'll do that, and I would've anticipated it. Even with the $65 motherboard, spec-d to 1,333, the only thing at risk here is the cheap Exxxx processor.

I'm not keen on turning these things loose among the don't-over-clock family. So the bro' who lives in the mountains gets the E2180. I can keep a watchful eye on Mom's machine here at the house, though.

This entire spate of upgrades occurred because the younger bro' was imbibing the brandy-bottle while web-surfing; found a web-site with pics of "girls-over-18" -- you know, 2nd planet from the sun, third-to-last letter of alphabet; got a message from Kaspersky about a Trojan threat; then, just decided out of sheer prurient curiosity to add the site to Kaspersky's "trusted zone."

After the gremlins took over and literally altered his OS, I just decided to wipe it clean and start over. Then I discovered problems with the onboard IDE controller . . . .. and that's how I came to these Gigabyte upgrades.

I could keep the story under my hat for embarrassment, but . . . . it's actually funny. Lil' b****** screws things up again, though, and he's on his own . . . . there will be "serious intervention." Just short of the maitre-de in "The Shining:" " . . . . my daughters, sir, were . . . . very willful . . . and I . . . . . I COR-RECTED THEM. Yes, I did, indeed . . . . I COR-RECTED THEM." :shocked:

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thanks for letting me know about that mobo. Keep us informed about how well it OC's, OK? I'm thinking of buying a small quantity of boards to build some crunching rigs.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, I'm putting it through some paces, but not any "stellar" over-clocking yet, although I can guarantee that it over-clocks.

I'm still investigating -- low-priority at the moment -- whether there is a feature in which the mobo automatically adjusts the memory voltage -- because I still haven't found a memory voltage-setting feature in that BIOS.

There IS a new BIOS, which I've downloaded (per above), and will attend to flashing it.

There were a couple times when I'd reconfigure the BIOS, "Exit and Save," and the re-boot would begin, but the system would just hang without posting to the monitor.

These things are cheap, and if they're reliable as mainstream desktop boards, they'll do fine.

But even so, I notice with the SATA drive set up with the default "IDE" setting, all perfectly formatted and installed with XP, the front-panel drive light barely blinks enough to remind you that things are working. The board DOES activate the drive light, but not nearly as often and as much as you would expect it to with certain activities in progress.

I posted under "Motherboards" minutes ago on this issue of [default] "IDE"[PATA mode], "RAID" mode and "AHCI" mode.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Thanks for letting me know about that mobo. Keep us informed about how well it OC's, OK? I'm thinking of buying a small quantity of boards to build some crunching rigs.

UPDATE for VirtualLarry -- [ interested in the mATX GA-73VM-S2 motherboard]

Troubles so far -- not serious. The board is "stable," "over-clocks" as much as I'd want (for "Momma"), and should be good for a mainstream-type desktop general-use, low-cost machine -- assuming that a component on the board doesn't "go South" for its expected lifespan.

I didn't like the fact that the onboard LAN is 10/100 Ethernet, since most boards come with 10/100/1000 gigabit LAN. Our household is wired for gigabit Ethernet. Seeing this just after ordering the board from NewEgg, I went to Provantage and found an Agere ET1310 PCI-E x1 gigabit LAN card. The Gigabyte mATX has a single PCI-E x1 slot.

You figure with such simple things, XP Pro is going to recognize the card and bring up the hardware wizard -- but no dice. No "?" yellow bang-nodes in the Device Manager, either. I had carefully uninstalled the 10/100 driver and disabled in BIOS.

Rebooted, still didn't find the NIC -- but its lights were flashing, communicating with my gigabit switch on this floor of the house. Nothing again in device manager. Installed the Agere drivers from disc with the "Setup.exe" program there. No cigar -- no dice -- no luck.

Uninstalled the driver; uninstalled the card; went to my parts-locker and discovered that I'd forgotten I had a PCI Trendnet TEG-PCITXR gigabit card from a disassembly of a Pentium 3 server four months ago. I'm getting old -- can't keep track of "stuff" -- could have avoided ordering the PCI-E card.

The GA-73VM-S2 has two PCI slots, and with the analog Hauppauge Tuner-Capture next to install -- only NEEDS two.

IN goes the TEG-PCITXR. UP pops the Wizard. IN goes the downloaded TrendNet drivers -- good to go.

I wonder if using the onboard Geforce 7050 video somehow screws up using those PCI-E slots, or why the Agere card doesn't seem to be recognized by the mobo. Got another one of these mATX cards on order now -- arrives in three days -- and I'll test the Agere card in it.

Otherwise, as I head swiftly toward a (hopefully uneventful, undisastrous) BIOS flash for this sucker, it's a nice little motherboard for $65. At least the Agere NIC was only $18. Even so, I was thoughtful not to order the cheapest NIC I could find.

 

[bobad]

I Just got 1 of these from NewEgg, and can't get the audio to working. I tried all the usual things. Is there a trick to it?

Thanks,,,

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OK, bobad -- I can only judge your experience from what I don't know. You could be Geek-Guru-Supreme in the Western Hemisphere, but you only posted here once.

So, first, welcome to the Anandtech forums.

Under most pessimistic assumption, I'm wondering if you set the audio features to "enabled" on lthe motherboard, but the hitch there in my guesswork arises from the fact that it should be enabled by default.

The other possibility is that you hooked up your speaker system to the wrong plug (for 2.1 speakers you want the green one.)

The other possibility is that you have a 7.1 or 5.1 speaker system with three inputs, and the Windows-based sound features haven't been properly configured.

But then, there's the other possibility. (And I hope you didn't spring for the GA-73VM-S2 on my account, because I've been forthright about what seems to be random aspects of the board showing failure -- minor ones for me -- but if someone didn't have workarounds for them, I'd recommend spending an extra $20 or so.)

As I said, I have one board where the 10/100 NIC only seems to "send" and doesn't show signs of receiving. The other board didn't recognize a PCI-E x1 gigabit-NIC, but the first board did -- just fine!!

What I'm hoping for derives from the "infant mortality" of electronic components. If it failed but you weren't planning on using it, for $65 I can accept that with indifference. And if it failed before or after you burned it in, you have two choices: pick an alternative solution, or RMA the board to Gigabyte.

I've already been in touch with them -- and without asking for an RMA#, they suggested it. I'd guess that their RMA department handles low-end boards no differently than the more expensive models. It's just a lot of trouble -- preparing for shipment, burning gasoline to travel to the post-office, living without the board for a couple weeks. You've heard the expression: "Time is money." There's a corollary: "Money is time." At the price of those boards, I could almost imagine buying a spare and taking my chances -- the RMA postage is gonna cost me about $10 anyway.

Test the other components of the board. Also, use the BIOS-Setup-based flash utility to flash in the F2 BIOS version -- maybe that will make a difference. Once you have an assessment of what works and doesn't work, make your decision. If, for instance, you hadn't planned on using the PCI slots for something else, and if, for instance, you have a spare Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS, then go into BIOS and disable the on-board sound. Then install the drivers for the Audigy. I say "Audigy" because . . . . I just wouldn't spend the money for a CL SB X-Fi PCI card for this motherboard. And, hey, something like an Audigy 2ZS? You can still set up a darn good HTPC capability . . . . Also, I bet you can still get an Audigy 2ZS for change plus a Jackson note.

 

[bobad]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
OK, bobad -- I can only judge your experience from what I don't know. You could be Geek-Guru-Supreme in the Western Hemisphere, but you only posted here once.

No,,, I'm probably in the top 10, but not even close to G-G-S status.

So, first, welcome to the Anandtech forums.

Thank you!

Under most pessimistic assumption, I'm wondering if you set the audio features to "enabled" on lthe motherboard, but the hitch there in my guesswork arises from the fact that it should be enabled by default.

The other possibility is that you hooked up your speaker system to the wrong plug (for 2.1 speakers you want the green one.)

The other possibility is that you have a 7.1 or 5.1 speaker system with three inputs, and the Windows-based sound features haven't been properly configured.

No feelings hurt. With my posting history, you have to ask those basic questions.

I ensure the sound driver is loaded by looking in the device manager, not by listening to the speakers.

But then, there's the other possibility. (And I hope you didn't spring for the GA-73VM-S2 on my account, because I've been forthright about what seems to be random aspects of the board showing failure -- minor ones for me -- but if someone didn't have workarounds for them, I'd recommend spending an extra $20 or so.)

Actually, I did buy the 73vm-S2 because of your review. But I take partial responsibility. (JK!) There were some complaints on NewEgg, so I should have been more cautions.

I shot an e-mail to Gigabyte yesterday afternoon, and was surprised to find a reply this AM. Apparently this issue is familiar to them. Here is their reply:

------------------

Please reload realtek HD audio driver by follow procedure below :

1) go to windows device manager open system devices

2) uninstall Microsoftdisable Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio, if item can not be uninstall , select disable it first then Without restarting back to system devices uninstall the Disable Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio should be ok to uninstall

3) Restart computer , on restart system should automatically reload the driver for the Microsoft UAA Bus driver system will then pop up driver wizard ask to load the High Definition Audio device ,close driver wizard restart computer

4) on restart driver wizard will pops up ask load driver for the High Definition Audio device again , close wizard manually open gigabyte driver CD from CDrom drive go to audio folder open realtek folder click on the realtek HD Audio driver setup file install driver, after driver complete restart system realtek HD driver will picks up and works .

---------------------

I'm a little late getting out to my shop this AM, but I will let you know how it turns out.

I'm disappointed, because I was hoping this board could be my foundation for building economy systems. Don't know if it's a purely software driver problem, or it will taks a BIOS update to fix. For that matter, I don't even know if it's a common problem.

Many thanks,,,

Bob A.