Official Gigabyte GA-IEXP thread

[ronein]

Well since nobody started a thread for it, why not.

Actually I just converted back to the dark side, so please help me out.

Actually I have more questions than tips to begin on the setup.

Well I just had it setup yesterday and loaded just the OS (winxp) and 3dmarkse to try and bench its performance. Ive flashed it to the newest BIOS as well. Loaded the basic drivers as well for the LAN, USB2.0 together with the S3 patch(I don?t know what this is for). I didn?t load the drivers for the RAID and firewire yet, since I have no plans to use them at the moment

Well trouble immediately was, after loading the drivers for my Ti4400(30.82) and started to benchmark, it would just reboot without even starting the test. I resolved the issue by using the older 29.42 drivers and it seemed to run the test after that. Ive left it to loop after that and hopefully its still working when I come backJ

System specs are:
P4 1.6a(non overclocked yet)
Crucial PC2100 RAM-2 sticks
Gainward ti4400
TB Santa Cruz
Adaptec 2940
40x plextor
Imation 8x20 CDR
Philips 5x DVD ROM
Maxtor 40 gig 7200rpm, ata 133
WD 30BB 7200 rpm ata 133


Questions to ask are:
1. I read the temperature readings and it seemed quite low(around 36C); is this accurate?
2. I had tried overclocking the P4 but was only successful at 133fsb; what are the optimum settings on the BIOS to at least 150fsb(2.4 gig)?
3. I think my RAM is holding me back since I read there may be difficulty overclocking two PC2100 sticks to reach PC2400(150fsb).Is this true?I will try one stick at a time to verify it, but I want to hear your opinions.
4. Can I use the RAID controller as a regular IDE channel?
5. How is the performance of the sound card? Comparable to the TBSC
6. Can anybody point to another site where thy have reviewed the board?

Thanks and if you have any tips, feel free to post.

 

[Sunny129]

hey, now that you've flashed to the latest BIOS revision, you should be able to post what CPU : DRAM ratios are available in the new BIOS...


also, here are a few links to reviews:

AusPCWorld
LegionHardware
TweakTown
Tweakers Australia

and AnandTech's i845E motherboard roundup includes a one page review of the board also:
AnandTech

 

[Hamburgerpimp]

I have had great overclocking with this mobo. I sent Gigabyte an email saying they should have more ratios like 4/5 to run the memory higher.

 

[mikeg]

I have this board & I think that its great. I have a 1.8A P4 running at 2.4 gigs and it seems to run fine. Only thing that gets me is that I cant seem to OC much past the 133MHz FSB. I don't know if its the chip but then again I should be happy getting a $140 chip to run at the speed of a $200 chip. All the onboard extras are great and I get to take full advantage of them all except for the SM interface.
Just my 2 Cents
Mike

 

[rch4001]

noticed a new version 2 of this board, that apparently uses a realtek sound chip instead of the creative one. is this good or bad?

 

[ronein]

Well between the intel LAN and the Realtek one, i can notice a slight advantage on intels favor. I have used both LAN cards and i can say the intel is a little faster...But thats just my opinion

As far as the sound goes i cant tell because i never used them....Still like my TBSC to bits

 

[cookj]

I`ve got a P4 2.8 coming and was thinking about getting this board. I have a Abit TH7 II with a P4 1.8 right now.Will the 2.8 work on the TH7 II, since it`s 400 fsb and the cpu is 533?Would thr DDR be noticibly slower than rambus?

 

[ronein]

cookj,

well the gigabyte board should handle the 533fsb chip just fine.
On the TH7-II, i have no idea
ON DDR versus RAMBUS, yes there will be a difference, but actually depends on what you describe as "noticibly". All depends on how subjective we all are.....Actually more to do with what application youre gonna use.

Regards.

 

[cookj]

Thanks. I`ll have to read up some more on MB`s before i decide,I guess a lot to choose from,but the 8IEXP sounds good.