Where Are The Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Motherboards?

[Bayard]

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People... do you think that the problem could be from the PSU?

Thermaltake 600W is enough to hold my fort, isn't it?
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should be enugh if u don't go dual graphics card. i have the same PSU with 2 hd, 2 dvd drives, total of 7 fans, watercooling kit, 8800GTS, etc on it. and it's overclocked to 3.6goghz

 

[MraK]

For Curr, thanks for the tip and heads up, I'm goin to uninstall easytune, oh btw where can i download Everest 3.7??

 

[MraK]

oh and i almost forgot, (Curr) how long have you had your BFG 8800GTX?? is it the OCE model or OC2E model??? has it worked wonders on your system?? (my card that is arriving soon is the OCE model)

 

[cdfire]

I am pretty happy with my BFG 8800GTX OCE with the new 158.19 XP drivers. A few bugs like all black screenshots in UT2004, fan speed control in the CP not working and such, but performance wise its pretty dang good.

 

[eklock2000]

Originally posted by: Curr
I dumped EasyTune, it hangs a lot and doesn't bring anything useful to the table for me, and I really never got a good feeling from it. I use CoreTemp, Everest, Speedfan, CPU-Z for all my informational needs. I definitely suggest doing all your OC'ing from bios, as I've never found Windows tweaking to be stable.

I love Everest 3.7, as it identifies both the ITE8718 sensor for the DQ6 and ADI ADT7374 that is on my BFG 8800GTX so I get accurate temps for my system.

Hi Curr,

I'm looking for a way to most accurately report the northbridge temp. I've got speedfan, everest 2.0, and pcwizard2007 (which is kinda cool). I'm curious how to know what sensors are sensing what. PCwizard id's the ITE8718F sensor and gives core1 & 2 and a system board temp. reading. Speedfan is less detailed on what it's measuring, but references the ITE8712F. Any help?

Am I stuck getting a thermal sensor and plopping it somewhere near the northbridge for a reading? The new Zalman fan controller looks pretty cool.

Thanks,

EK2K

 

[MraK]

sorry flame

 

[MraK]

if its a cmos setting error, could i clear it, while the overall system is still OC?? do you all think it could be the way my voltage settings are, the reason y i have a cmos error?

 

[Curr]

Good morning Mr AK,

I have an original BFG 8800GTX, I ordered it on release day. It runs pretty fine at 625/2050 (when I'm stable!). I'm currently using the 158.19 drivers, but haven't been stable in a couple days to test them (damn NVENETFD.SYS BSODs). I was using the last Forceware release (97.94?) and had very good results (~12k in 3DMark06). I haven't had any issues with my 8800. I must add that I put a Thermalright HR-03 Plus on it, instead of the stock HSF, and I never see temps above 50C

/off topic
I would be leary of the OC model of these cards to be honest. Check HardForums, or here, for threads on OC'ing 8800GTX to find the table that lists "Set OC speed" versus "Actual OC speeds". The way that the 8800GTX PLL Osc works (to my best understanding) is that there are "27MHz steps". So say you set your OC utility to 590MHz (stock is 575MHz) the actually clock speed may not change since you are still within the range of 1 PLL "step" (27MHz). There's a good chart floating around somewhere... PM me for more thoughts / details on this if you'd like. I wanna keep this topic on track.
/off topic

I got Everest from http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=3&ps=UE&lang=en

I bought the license, since I think it's such a good utility. $30 isn't much of an investment for your $2-3k machine.

Good morning to you Eklock2000,

Accurate Northbridge temps? I'm not 100% sure of this, so I sent an email to Gigabtye's tech support about what temps are actually measured by the 8718 sensor. (Still waiting on response) I am not sure where that "board sensor" actually is. I don't think it's the NB temp.

I know speedfan detects the right "family" of ITE sensors, but I'm not sure what the differences are between the -12 and -18 are, and I really don't feel like looking up the datasheets and reading them to find out! I do enough of that at work (I'm an EE)

 

[eklock2000]

Thank you Curr,

Yeah, I emailed Gigabyte and asked about measuring the NB temp. They said it was not measured by their product EasyTune5 and to try Everest. Everest 2.0 Home is a free download...but it's not reporting as much infor as PCWizard2007, is Everest 3.7 any better? Looks like $30 well spent if it works well.

Thanks,

EK2K

 

[drakey]

Hello Threader

thank you sleeprae and bravo36 for the replys.

Asus boards with heat pipes seem fine up side down.

i guess i probably run this and see if the other heatsinks needs replacing and if so ill will.

Thank Again

 

[GriMRapeR]

A big thankyou to all you guys who have contributed to this thread. Especially TheBeagle, you guys have definately helped to me to decide to go with this motherboard.

I have tried to put a system together that will do this board justice. I am having it built by a friend of mine and we are just waiting for a couple of components to arrive from overseas. It should be ready by the 30th of April. Here are the specs.

Case - Coolermaster Stacker 830 CM Evolution SLI certified (black)
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
M/B - Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6
GFX - 2 X SLI'd Inno3D GF8800GTX 768Mb both OC'd to 590MHz/1900 MHz
RAM - 4Gb OCZ DDR2 1066MHz PC2-8500 SLI Edition
HD 1 - 2 X Samsung 80Gb SATA II 16Mb Cache 7200RPM in Raid 0 (for OS)
HD 2 - Samsung 400Gb SATA II 16Mb Cache 7200RPM (soley for games/programs)
HD 3 - Samsung 400Gb SATA II 16Mb Cache 7200RPM (soley for music/movies/photos)
HD 4 - External Seagate/Vantec 320Gb 16Mb Cache 7200RPM USB2.0/Firewire
DVD/CD 1 - Pioneer DVR-212D SATA DVD/RW black
DVD/CD 2 - Pioneer DVR-212D SATA DVD/RW black
FDD - Sony 1,44Mb FDD (black)
PSU - OCZ Gamestream 850W SLI certified
Monitor 1 - Samsung 22" 226BW TFT wide screen 2ms 1680x1050 resolution
Monitor 2 - Dell 19 " 1907FPV UltraSharp flat panel
Sound - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatality Pro 7.1 Channel
Speakers - Logitech Z-5400 Digital 5.1 surround sound
CPU Cooler - Zalman CNPS9700 with blue LED
Case Side Fans - 4 x Antec Tricool Blue LED 120mm
Case Front Fan - 1 X Coolermaster Blue LED 120mm
Case Top Fan - 1 x Antec Tricool 120mm exhaust fan
Case Rear Fan - 1 x Coolermaster Blue LED 120mm
Fan Controller - AeroGate Gatewatch 2 (black) front I/O temperature LCD monitor and controller
Keyboard - Logitech G15
Mouse - Logitech G7
OS - Windows XP Professional and Vista Home Premium dual boot (XP default OS)

I hope to OC it to 3.2GHz but as this is my first attempt at this stuff we will see. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[jwwill01]

I have tried to put a system together that will do this board justice

Mission accomplished

 

[TheBeagle]

Hello Mr. Grim.

That's sure a fine basket full of goodies that you are assembling. Like I told one of our other colleagues, make damn sure you have your seat belt fastened when you fly that thing. If you can't make that one rock-n-roll, then there's no hope for the rest of us.

I'm pleased to hear that the postings on this thread were of some value to you in making your decision and getting the right components assembled. Best of luck and enjoy! TheBeagle

 

[Curr]

I'd be interested in hearing from the folks who've populated DQ6 with four 1Gb sticks of memory. I have four 1Gb Corsair Dominator 8500C5DF's and have been having issues for a while (BSOD's, CTD during games, etc). Win XP Pro x32, running the F4e bios.

The memory is rated for 2.2V 1066MHz 5-5-5-15-2T. I was told by a couple of Corsair reps that even with four DIMMs populated it should run at this speed, with an increase in the NB, FSB, HT-link voltages (on the motherboards they have tested at their facilities).

I was able to get the RAM to run at it's rated speed with two 1Gb DIMMs installed. In fact, in this configuration, I can run the memory very stable all the way to 2.2V 1155MHz 5-5-5-15-2T. It's running in unlinked mode, and this is with the CPU at stock speeds, and OC'ed to 3465MHz (E6600). It's fast!

When I had raised all the NB,SB,HT-link,FSB volatges to their maximum via bios, I was able to boot and get into WinXP at 2.2V 1066MHz 5-5-5-18-2T but the computer would not post at 2.2-2.35V 1066MHz 5-5-5-15-2T at all, and would just default back to the 800MHz "safe" settings.

I know the RAM is good, as I've run MEMTEST on it at "safe" speeds, and at "rated" speeds, with no errors, in single DIMM and dual channel modes. So it really seems that it is a board limitation.

So for right now, I have two 1Gb sitting on my desk, unused, sadly.

 

[MraK]

could that mean with you dilemma the board cant hack 4Gigs of high end memory, only just 2gigs? And i was planning on getting another 2gigs from OCZ but i may decide to keep it at 2 for now

 

[Curr]

Hello MrAK,

I guess that depends on your definition of "can't hack". I am definitely having issues running it at rated speeds AND timings. I can run it at one or the other, however. I can run 4Gb of memory all day long at 2.2V 1066MHz 5-7-7-24-2T or 2.2V 800MHz 4-4-4-12-2T but I bought 1066MHz 5-5-5-15-2T memory, and being a fairly picky consumer, that's where I'd like it to run.

Now, really, how much "speed" / "bandwidth" / "noticeable difference" is there between 2Gb 5-5-5-15-2T and 4Gb 5-7-7-24-2T (and everything in between)? Probably on the order of 5-10% (my guess). I haven't run ten different benchmarks trying to squeeze out that last MB/s. I'm not trying to have the single fastest machine in some online e-penis comparison match. My concerns are stability-overall speed-amount of memory, in that order. Considering that I mainly game / surf / watch movies on this computer (STALKER, Far Cry, WoW, EQ, HL2, etc) I don't think I'd ever really see any noticeable impact. It's mostly from a "I want to get what I paid for" point of view.

If you want 4Gb of memory, then by all means get it! Please don't take my posts as "The DQ6 doesn't work with 4Gb", but read them as "I'm having issues with MY DQ6 and MY memory at it's rated speeds / timings".

 

[TheBeagle]

Good Afternoon Mr. Curr & Mr. AK.

Just so you know that you're not alone in this matter, I too have had those issues. In fact, I just ordered several sticks of PC2-8500 Crucial Ballistix memory from the Egg, here: Crucial @ the Egg. As you can see from that link, a 2x1GB stick kit of that memory usually sells for $270.00, BUT there's a $75.00 MIR on it until May 3rd or so, which brings it down to $195.00. That's the best price I have ever seen on that level of high performance Crucial memory.

Anyway, I'll let you know how I make out on the memory upgrade. Best regards to all. TheBeagle

 

[TheBeagle]

Hello To Gary.

Is there any further word on the F4 Final Bios (or an even newer version?)? Thanks for any update info that you can provide. TheBeagle

 

[Beacon147]

Hello people...

It's me again...

I came here just to say that no I have no change... I got the WinVista, an SATA DVD-RAM, an 80gb HD and tryed every option of the chipset, and couldn't install it... cant go on... still having the same issues...

According to the M$ support, the problem may be from the ram or the mobo... I'll maybe need to have it replaced...

Well, that's it...

Thx for the help....

 

[imported_sleeprae]

Originally posted by: Curr
Hello MrAK,

I guess that depends on your definition of "can't hack". I am definitely having issues running it at rated speeds AND timings. I can run it at one or the other, however. I can run 4Gb of memory all day long at 2.2V 1066MHz 5-7-7-24-2T or 2.2V 800MHz 4-4-4-12-2T but I bought 1066MHz 5-5-5-15-2T memory, and being a fairly picky consumer, that's where I'd like it to run.

If you want 4Gb of memory, then by all means get it! Please don't take my posts as "The DQ6 doesn't work with 4Gb", but read them as "I'm having issues with MY DQ6 and MY memory at it's rated speeds / timings".

I initially ran my 4 1GB sticks of Corsair XMS2-8500C5D (no F) at 2.2v 5-5-5-15 at 1040MHz. However, in the interest of better speed, I bumped my FSB to 450, dropped my multiplier by one, and run my memory at 900MHz (1:1) 4-4-4-12 at 2.1v instead. This was also a good move IMO given the widely reported failures at high voltage for Micron D9 ICs that almost all high-performance memory (including the 8500C5D) uses.

The 680i seems to provide better performance at 1:1 than at high unlinked speeds...even if it is several hundred MHz faster.

 

[Curr]

Good morning sleeprae,

I'm curious, could you please list you bios settings for NB, SB, HT, and FSB voltages? How much did you have to adjust them to reach 1040MHz @ 5-5-5-15? Did you test it with Orthos / Prime in Windows? Was it "stable" enough for you?

Regarding the better performance at linked speeds, was this from some benchmark / game demo, or a "seat of the pants" feeling you got / saw?

I'm still not convinced yet either way (latency vs. bandwidth) and right now I'm trying to focus on getting the 4 DIMM's to run at their rated speeds, but I know it's something I will have to look into soon. I did some very preliminary testing with 2 DIMM's and Everest Ultimate's synthetic memory benchmarks at 5-5-5-15 1078MHz, 1155MHz and 5-5-5-18 1200MHz, and the differences were very uninspiring, to say the least. I may make a post later on after I've done some more testing and I get this 4 vs 2 DIMM issue straightened out.

 

[imported_sleeprae]

Hi Curr,

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I ran 5-5-5-15 at 1040 on the Gigabyte board. I may have only ran those exact timings on the EVGA 680i board it replaced...still, same chipset. The best I'm positive that I ran (I don't remember even trying lower) was 5-5-5-18 at 1040 on the Gigabyte. No errors were reported in an overnight run of Memtest86+, nor in a 20 hour run of (2x) Prime95 in Vista64.

2.2vdimm, all other voltages (NB, SB, HD, FSB) at stock.

With regard to the performance claim, I never did run a benchmark, but it's been pretty widely reported that the 680i just runs better at 1:1. Corsair's own testing results note that the 680i does better at 1:1 than unlinked with higher speeds.

 

[Smitty1705]

Still no siting of the board for sale again?

 

[UP]

 

[UP]

Hello Smitty,

there are some in europe.
http://geizhals.at/deutschland/a234090.html
I don´t know the exvchange rate, but ?250 should be in the $ 300 range.

Good Luck