***Unofficial Gigabyte X38 / EX38 Chipset Thread***

[bigsnyder]

The faster memory is mainly for overclocking headroom (which is why I linked the DDR2 1000). Many people (if not most) run their memory at 1:1 ratio to get the highest overclock possible. Example: fsb of 400Mhz(1200) will run memory at 400Mhz(800). There is really no need to run the memory IMO any faster than the fsb because the current crop of processors are really not bandwidth starved. Yes, you can get a slight speed boost doing so, but the gain is generally small.

Not sure about G.Skill though as they aren't listed in the qvl, also, that $99 piece seems like a little bit of an oddball at 1000mghz even (not 1066), speed of 1000mhz is not listed in the qvl for this board. What is the deal with that speed not being listed in the qvl anyway?

Leads to another question, is there any reason to even follow the qvl since it leaves out so many different manufactures of memory?

Another question, the DS4 manual says to use 1.8 volt memory but the G-Skill link is for 2.0 - 2.1v, and not 1.8. Is it okay to use 2.0 - 2.1 even though the user manual says 1.8?

Even though the memory specifies a higher voltage, they will still run at 1.8v as long as the memory speed is set to auto and the timings are still set to get SPD ratings from the memory. The deal with the higher voltage is that are supposedly guaranteed to run at their specified speed when set to the recommended voltage. Not sure about the qvl, but DDR2 1000 is pretty viable with fsb at 333 and the memory set to a factor of 1.5 (3.00A in the bios tweaker). For the hardcore overclock, you will definitely hit it at 500fsb with a straight 1:1 ratio (2.00 in the bios). Now, there are always exceptions to compatibility, but the failures are more the exception instead of the norm. The G.Skill usually seems to be a pretty safe choice and seems to get overwhelming recommendations on this forum is why I am suggesting these choices.

I hope all of this makes sense! If anyone disagrees, please do so. This is just my opinion based on other user's experiences.

 

[LittleScoobyMaster]

Thanks. Any input is good. I'm not into overclocking so many of these terms are foreign to me but I enjoy learning about them.

I was wondering why the Crucial memory suggester kept showing only 800mhz memory and not 1066, now I know why I guess.

Does anyone still rely on the Crucial memory selector, or is it pretty useless these days?

It suggested this memory.

http://www.crucial.com/store/m...bpoid=4BE51D53A5CA7304

Only cas6, would that be a problem for my non-overclocked system or slow it down in any way?

Not sure if I should go with the Crucial recomendation, or a new egg review, or qvl, or what.

Sounds like I need to do a little more homework. I was hoping to order some tonight but not sure.

What do you think of this Corsair memory for my situation? (probably won't overclock the DS4).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145176

Doesn't list the voltage though in the specs. Hope it is 1.8.

Hope the spreader won't be a problem for the DS4 with an HD3870 video card.

 

[bigsnyder]

Again, any decent stick of memory will support compatibility at 1.8v, sometimes at a slower speed than what it is rated run. Check this link for info on the memory you picked. It should run on 1.8v just fine.

 

[LittleScoobyMaster]

Thanks. I ended up going with that Corsair above. Should have it before the weekend.

Thanks for the spec sheet on it. Kinda happy with the price too, I thought 4 gigs would have cost more than that. Only $84 after $40 rebate. That is very reasonable.

 

[fredeb]

Hi there all ! I'm the proud owner of a X38-DS5 . Great board . I removed the chipset and mosfet all-in-one heatpipe cooler to install Thermalright HR-05 FX and HR-05 FX Sli on north and south bridges respectively and the TR HR-09 on the mosfets . Alas , none of the Thermalright mosfet coolers fit on my board ( capacitors are too close ) , now the mosfets have no heatsink . Anyway , removing the stock heatsink made me notice a couple of empty spaces between each mosfet which seem to be space for more mosfets . Could this be one of the differences between the DS5 and DQ6 ? I'll have to get a DQ6 naked to know the answer .

Other than that , I run an e2160 @ 333mhz bus @ stock voltages 24/7 - that's 3.0 Ghz cpu 1333Mhz FSB under a Thermalright Ultra 120 ( 32 degrees C idle and about 46 degrees under load ) . That's until I can afford a Quad 9450/9550 or Xeon equivalent , the QX's are waaaay too expensive .

As far as memory is concerned , I saw DDR 1244 @ 2.17v on my DDR800 el-cheapo Hynix modules ( 2x 1 gb ) the other day - not stable though ( not suprised ! ) . They do run stable @ DDR1066 @ 2.17v ( that's +0.35v in the bios ) - probably should make some heatspreaders for them !

What I do want as far as memory is concerned is the transcend DDR800 aXeram modules ( 4-4-4-12 @ 1.8v ) , apparently they are capable of ddr1200 @ 2.2V . Here's a link to a South African forum ( that's where I'm from , no , I'm not a racsist , I am dyslexic sometimes ) that makes me droool . http://www.systemshock.co.za/f...ex.php?showtopic=19369

Sorry for being so long-winded , just excited 'bout this thread . Long live the Gigabyte Ultra Durable X38 series - these boards rock .

It would be cool to get someone from Gigabyte onto this thread ( they actually sponsored the prizes for an overclocking competition on the above mentioned South African forum ) . You up for that Xpoc ?

 

[Xpoc]

TweakTown has a Gigabyte Forum. There is actually a Gigabyte techy there to answer questions.

GIGABYTE needs no introduction but they are here to provide free technical support for their motherboards, graphics cards and other products! Competitions will also be ran from time to time!

http://forums.tweaktown.com/forumdisplay.php?f=69

 

[bigsnyder]

Originally posted by: fredeb
Anyway , removing the stock heatsink made me notice a couple of empty spaces between each mosfet which seem to be space for more mosfets . Could this be one of the differences between the DS5 and DQ6 ? I'll have to get a DQ6 naked to know the answer

Yes, the DQ6 and all the EX38 revisions feature the virtual "12-phase" power regulation as opposed to the standard 6-phase as found on most Gigabyte boards. Check out my post earlier in the thread to see screenshots of each board.

 

[rntntn10]

Hi Guys, Great Board Really Sweet!!!! I'm running crucial 1066"s rock solid no post problems at all!! The problem i did have though is xp would not preload either of my drives!! I Spent the better part of the days with timing and voltage and no luck!!! So i stuck in 1 stick of 800 ram set stock voltage and timing and xp loaded right up!! So then i shut her down and put the stick of 1066 back in, all settings on auto and haven"t looked back yet!! Fast and rock solid!! I hope this helps someone. It might just be an electron migratition sort of thing!! Thanks...

 

[BigMoosey74]

Hey thanks for the forum link...that is going in the bookies right now.

Has any X48 been compared to the same X38 version yet? I have been scanning and scanning around the net but haven't found anything yet...just reviews with one or the other.

 

[bigsnyder]

Toms Hardware has a X48 preview which has been online a few weeks. It might provide some insight.

 

[rntntn10]

hi guys back again, xpoc thanks for the lead to the tweaktown techy. I downloaded memset and ran it and found my 1066 crucials are running a 5/8 divider at 1080 to 1204 mgh's at 2.2 volts factory specs. on 333 f.s.b. stock board settings! I originally thought the 5-7-7-7-24 ram timing were kind of funky but i guess that exsplains why xp would not would not flash the hard drive in preloading. In a few days I might boot the cpu up and see what happens! until then I'll talk to you all later miserable asus p... argggh!!!!!!!!

 

[rntntn10]

Well gang I'm back again, Thanks, Fredeb for the information on the bus reaching 1244 I was wondering what the ceiling might be. So far my ram is completly stable. I downloaded vista sp1 yesterday on my seagate drive and ran 3d mark 06 without any problems!! The score was 10460 to be exspected with the a 2.66 cpu with the settings I have on auto (all) my cpu topped at 2.972 so 30 Ghz's would seem to equal a 120 Mgz's in the ram swing!! So when my r.m.a. motherboard comes back and the E6750 gets it's home back. It would only seem logical to replace with a E8400 or E8500 just to stay in that safe ceiling. Then i would be able to find the best overclock! Now i just have to figure out wich processor will fit in better! O.K. all is well in rntntn land. Oh I also ordered a vantec slot fan that I hope will fit under the northbridge. I put a thermaltake freespirit on the southbridge and seems to be happy!! O.K. Hey somebody else post for awhile I'm about tapped out!!

 

[rntntn10]

And the answer is: 3.08 Mhz's and paint at 1260 Mhz's l.o.l I Won I Won !!!!!!!

 

[Hibrass]

Well I starting my first build in nearly 4yrs... LOL

So I have picked up a Q6600 and the GA EX38-DS4 board... This is the first build I have done with a Gigabyte product so far it sounds like a pretty nice board. In the past I used ASUS or Epox boards but sadly based on what I have read of late ASUS has slipped a little in quality...

Will this board SLI two 8800GT cards??? I have a chance to pick up another PNY card for cheap and up until now I have never really thought of trying SLI..

Thanks for any feedback... (I should have my own next week once all of my parts are in.)

Later,

Hibrass

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: Hibrass
Well I starting my first build in nearly 4yrs... LOL

So I have picked up a Q6600 and the GA EX38-DS4 board... This is the first build I have done with a Gigabyte product so far it sounds like a pretty nice board. In the past I used ASUS or Epox boards but sadly based on what I have read of late ASUS has slipped a little in quality...

Will this board SLI two 8800GT cards??? I have a chance to pick up another PNY card for cheap and up until now I have never really thought of trying SLI..

Thanks for any feedback... (I should have my own next week once all of my parts are in.)

Later,

Hibrass

no sli. only nvidia chipset based boards will support sli.

this board will do crossfire aka dual ati cards.

 

[bigsnyder]

There was a hack at one time that would allow SLI, but you have to use a fairly old build of the forceware drivers. For newer games, that probably is not a good thing.
So all in all, probably not worth it.

 

[bobo327]

Hello,
New to the board.My spec's...Q6600 GO,Artic-Pro 7 cooler,Sahpire3870 512 ggrd4, Gigabyte ex-38-ds4 (of course), 2x2gb G Skill pc2-8500,20x Samaung DVD, 2 Seagate ppr 320 gb sata HD in raid, 1 80 WD Pata, 850 watt coolermaster psu, XP Pro (with vista 64bit soon to be installed), Raidmax case.
Just really getting around to fooling with this thing. Currently oc'd to 3.0MHZ (333x9)with ram strapping set to 3.20B(333) and DDR voltage at +0.25. Ran Prime95 6 hours with no errors and temps between 50-56 C with Speedstep enabled. Disabled speedstep and temp decreased by 4-5 degrees C.
Looking to try and run this between 3.2 and 3.4 MHZ on air. Anyone here got theirs set up to that? LMK your settings. Is the F3 bios worth upgrding to? This seems to be a pretty informative place to stop by now and then. Check back later.

 

[LittleScoobyMaster]

Finally got my Corsair memory today and posted. Tight fit with my Diamond HD3870, not sure if another one is going to fit in the other pci-x slot or not the way the the pci slots stick out. I should remove this card and try it in the other slot just to be sure.

My thermals so far with stock cooler are 27c for System Temperature and 37 to 38 C for CPU (Q6600) just while in Bios, no OS installed yet.

The user manual for the Q6600 says "To ensure that this Intel precessor will operate within thermal specifications, an internal ambient temperature at or below 38C is required."

Does that mean that the CPU temp should be below that amount, or just the air around the CPU?

Anyone else here with a Q6600? What kind of temperatures are you getting? I am afraid once I load the OS and start doing some CGI rendering, that the CPU temp is going to spike to above what the user manual suggests, and I don't want to have to use a 3rd party cooler because I don't intend to overclock.

My old ASUS boards always came with PC Probe for monitoring temperatures through the OS, not sure if this board has anything like that or not. I hope so though. I havent checked the utility disk it came with yet.

 

[bigsnyder]

It is talking about the air around it, basically the temperature of the enviroment it is operating in.

 

[Xpoc]

The F3 bios is a real good bios in my opinion. It adds the .5 multiplier option.
Ever since I installed F3 overclocking seems much easier. Lately I've been using 8.5 x 472 = 4ghz @1.37volts in bios. 1.36v after droop.
I noticed Orthos reads my cpu speed wrong. It assumes I am using 9X multiplier.

link

 

[rntntn10]

dont try to to run 4 sticks of 1066 at anything less than 3.3 gh's or you'll blow a stick of ram, I know my friend just did. You can get into windows at less than 3.2 but everthing goes to s**t in a handbag!! this is duo core don't know about quad.

 

[mismajor99]

Hey, is anyone else having a problem installing Vista on the their P5E Board? I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong. Vista won't detect any of my HDD's, even after setting them to AHCI or IDE mode. It just terminates the installation with an error saying it needs to be restarted.

I updated the other day to the 0605 BIOS, I'm thinking maybe there's an issue with it. I'm using plain old SATA hdd's too.

 

[Hibrass]

idiotekniques,

Thanks for the info.. I should have know better...

Hibrass

 

[Hibrass]

Ok..

I'm into my 2nd day of playing with various OS's... So far I can't get the RealTek NIC to work with the provided XP drivers. It was so bad I was forced to temporarily use my old reliable 905C. I will look for some updated drivers later in the week. I also experianced multiple unexplained reboots while working with XP and all of the settings are at defaults...

Vista 32 and 64 won't run my VPN app that I use to connect to work and Win2K3 has the same issue with AHCI that XP has... I haven't had any luck changing that.

So today I plan to update the BIOS and see if I can get AHCI to work on XP any suggestions on how to do the latter???

Hibrass

 

[bigsnyder]

I used the drivers from Gigabyte's website, didn't even fool with the CD.