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Where Are The Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Motherboards?

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Originally posted by: BrianDickens
Originally posted by: rt182
*Update*
umm core temp doesnt work with Vista 64 bit? or maybe im just not running it right
does anyone know what program does work besides speedfan?or settings i should run core temp at

Whoops, didn't notice you were running Vista 64-bit. But try running something to stress all four cores, as the temperatures under load are what you should be concerned about.

haha no thats cool umm do you know any programs that do work with 64bit vista other than speed fan?? anyone

 
Mr rt182 & Mr BrianDickens.

You can use coretemp instead. Have in mind that coretemp is not designed to run under Vista. In order to make it work you?ll have to disable the driver enforcement signature "feature". You can do that from the OS boot menu (F8 during boot). After entering Vista you should go to the program?s properties and check the ?run this program as an administrator? box. That should do it.
 
Originally posted by: GriMRapeRIn your opinon, do you believe there are grounds for us to demand an equivelent replacement board eg: X38 or 780i for example?

Oh man I hope that would happen. I would not mind a 780i board, X38 I would mind cuz then I would lose out on SLI. Now that Crysis is out + cheap and good gpu (8800GT), I have a reason to use SLI.
 
Originally posted by: Blazer7
Mr rt182 & Mr BrianDickens.

You can use coretemp instead. Have in mind that coretemp is not designed to run under Vista. In order to make it work you?ll have to disable the driver enforcement signature "feature". You can do that from the OS boot menu (F8 during boot). After entering Vista you should go to the program?s properties and check the ?run this program as an administrator? box. That should do it.

Awesome thanx i got it working but now in core temp it says my temps are about high sixties and in speedfan it says my temps are low 50's =S umm what???? whic should i believe and the fan doesnt even seem to be uder loaad, btw what should my core temp be im really confused about this what is reasonable core temp, right now i got my QX 6700 @ 3.3 ghz

rt182
 
Originally posted by: Blazer7
ok guys, thank you for your kind words but don?t get your hopes up too high. Right now nobody knows for sure what?s gonna happen with the penryns and the 680 boards. It seems that ASUS & maybe Evga & BFG are doing well with their latest BIOS releases but there is no sign of official support for the penryns except from what?s been posted on MSI?s site.

There is also a new article on the inquirer about the upcoming 780 chipset that mentions compatibility issues with penryn. Since the 780 is very similar to the 680 this can?t be good. Right now I?m holding my breath like everyone else and hope that Gary will bring us some good news for a change.


Hey, my bubble is well-formed and has a nice shiny film around it...don't mess with it!
 
So my computer just died tonight. Not entirely sure how, why, or how to even fix at the moment. Here is what happened.

I shutdown the system (first time in a week) so I could move it 4 feet from where it was in the middle of the room to where it was going to sit peacefully for the next year or two (or so I thought). Upon reboot, I get the single long BIOS beep, which according to the manual means a memory issue. I have had 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix and 2x1GB Buffalo Firestix in this system happily since I built it (didn't even have the RAM voltage problems others have had, as I was able to go into BIOS without issue and up the voltage when I first built). So I start trouble-shooting. I remove all but 1 stick, and I was able to boot. So I check the voltage settings and speed, and decide to turn it down to 800mhz (from 1000mhz that these worked fine with for last 6 months). Put in all the sticks again, and still get the BIOS beep for bad RAM. I then remove the Buffalo pair, boot up, BIOS beeps for bad RAM. Remove the Crucial pair, and put back the Buffalo pair, no BIOS problems and system boots. Shutdown, remove the Buffalo pair again, and add back a single Crucial DIMM. Boot, and have the bad RAM beep. Shutdown, remove the Crucial DIMM in there, and put in the other. Boot, and bad RAM beep.

So now that I determined that this pair is dead somehow (oh didn't mention that I also tried all the slots just to make sure it was a bad slot and not the DIMMs themselves), I go and put back the Buffalo pair that I determined earlier worked. I boot up, and now get nothing. No BIOS beeps, but no video either. The DVD-ROM spins up a couple times as if the system is internally constantly rebooting without giving any beep codes or anything. I remove one of the Buffalo and try again, and get same results. I remove the other and replace it with the other DIMM I previously removed, and still get the same symptoms (or lack of any). I remove all memory for $h!t$ and giggles and I get what I expected, the memory beep (since there isn't any memory in there, so I expected this). I then try putting back one of the "bad" Crucial DIMMs, and boot, and get the bad RAM beep. I put back the Buffalo, and boot again, only to still get nothing, no beeps, no video. I re-seat my video card (just in case somehow it was loose), and try again, but get the same results. So I pull the power, short the clear CMOS jumper, and then try and boot, still get nothing. I now pull the power and pull the CMOS battery, wait a couple minutes, short the jumper just for good measure, and pop the battery back in, and try to boot again, still no video, no error codes. I try the other stick of Buffalo just for good measure with the same results (I even try the Crucial again, and at least it is consistent, I get the bad RAM beeps).

So anyone have any suggestions?
 
Hey everyone i just have a question
what do i look out for core temps or CPU temp?? i am using everest and my core temps r REALLY high (well i think so they might not be) i just installed a CNPS 9700 NT, running on a stock intel QX 6700 right now, idealing it says my cpu is at 42 degrees and my cores range from 60 to 55? is this very high ???? im really confused about this should i be lookin out for the CPU temp or core temp when overclocking
 
Originally posted by: rt182

Awesome thanx i got it working but now in core temp it says my temps are about high sixties and in speedfan it says my temps are low 50's =S umm what???? whic should i believe and the fan doesnt even seem to be uder loaad, btw what should my core temp be im really confused about this what is reasonable core temp, right now i got my QX 6700 @ 3.3 ghz

rt182


Mr rt182,

You?re welcome. From what I know both programs should return almost identical results. The fact that coretemp is not designed for Vista has me thinking. It would all be much easier if you were running dual OS (Vista & XP) as you could just compare readings from different OSs. However, I believe that coretemp is more accurate since it reads each core's DTS.

No one can really tell you what the temp of your proc should be as this is a result of too many factors (environmental temp, case ventilation, oc, HSF, case temp, thermal paste, system stress, etc) that can vary greatly from one system to another. I will have a further look at your situation and post if I find anything worth mentioning.


Originally posted by: eklock2000

Hey, my bubble is well-formed and has a nice shiny film around it...don't mess with it!


Mr eklock2000,

Hold on to that bubble, that?s an order ! 😀


Originally posted by: Fallen Kell

So anyone have any suggestions?


Mr Fallen Kell,

I think that your bios is fubar. You should try your mem at some other mobo just to validate whether your sticks have gone bad or not. If the sticks are good then you should remove the power cord and the battery, short the clear cmos jumper and let it like this for some hours. After that try to boot with minimal setup (cpu, vga, 1 stick, fdd) and flash your bios with F5b or F5e. If you won?t be able to boot then you would be in for an RMA. What BIOS ver are you using ?
 
Originally posted by: EateryOfPiza
Originally posted by: GriMRapeRIn your opinon, do you believe there are grounds for us to demand an equivelent replacement board eg: X38 or 780i for example?

Oh man I hope that would happen. I would not mind a 780i board, X38 I would mind cuz then I would lose out on SLI. Now that Crysis is out + cheap and good gpu (8800GT), I have a reason to use SLI.


Mr EateryOfPiza,

I totally agree with you and I believe that the same goes for most of the guys here.


Originally posted by: rt182
Hey everyone i just have a question
what do i look out for core temps or CPU temp?? i am using everest and my core temps r REALLY high (well i think so they might not be) i just installed a CNPS 9700 NT, running on a stock intel QX 6700 right now, idealing it says my cpu is at 42 degrees and my cores range from 60 to 55? is this very high ???? im really confused about this should i be lookin out for the CPU temp or core temp when overclocking


Mr rt182,

You should definitely focus on your core temps. If any of your 4 cores craps out then you?ve had it.
 
Originally posted by: Fallen Kell
So my computer just died tonight. Not entirely sure how, why, or how to even fix at the moment. Here is what happened.

So anyone have any suggestions?



As always the more info the better...bios version, components, OS, etc. I would first confirm that ur PSU is good. Then install minimum components to check them individually, or confirm they're good in another comp. like Blazer said. The BIOS draining thing can take a while to work, make sure the power is unplugged also.

Good luck, keep us posted.

EK2K
 
Originally posted by: Blazer7

Mr Fallen Kell,

I think that your bios is fubar. You should try your mem at some other mobo just to validate whether your sticks have gone bad or not. If the sticks are good then you should remove the power cord and the battery, short the clear cmos jumper and let it like this for some hours. After that try to boot with minimal setup (cpu, vga, 1 stick, fdd) and flash your bios with F5b or F5e. If you won?t be able to boot then you would be in for an RMA. What BIOS ver are you using ?

The secondary BIOS is still the original F2 that came on the board (ver 1.0 board). The primary was flashed to F4, since it was the last official release (and I didn't have any problems with it, as I am not doing any major overclocking and it met my needs (and the old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it)). I will try doing the emergency floppy flash to F5e since most people run "ok" on that version.

As for everything in the box, it is the "Server" in my sig, with a OCZ Gamextream 850 Watt power supply. I plugged in a power supply tester I have to it and it reads ok for voltage levels (however, it doesn't put any real load on it, so I take it with a grain of salt... but everything looks ok at least from the info I have).
 
Well I have been messing with it for the last couple hours. After pulling the power, pulling the battery, and shorting the clear cmos jumper (and then sitting down and eating dinner, watch some TV, etc), I now at least no longer get the "bad memory" beep error on ANY of the RAM (including the Crucial sticks), however, I still do not get any video, or any other BIOS beep codes. Removing the memory completely does generate the "bad RAM" beep code (since there isn't any installed), so something is working, just not enough to get past post or allow me to flash the BIOS.

I disconnected everything non-essential (and even some essential things) trying to get this to post. I am currently stripped down to the power supply, the motherboard, CPU, 1 stick of RAM, a vid card, and a boot floppy with the flash util, F5b, and an auto-exec.bat file that should cause it to flash once it boots. I even tried the same without the video card since in theory, I don't need to see it to know it started reading the floppy (I would see and hear the floppy drive accessed, or at the worst case a "no bootable media" beep if it was able to get past POST).

Is there anyway to force the system to use the backup BIOS somehow? Or a way to force load one from somewhere without passing POST? Any other ideas? If I have to RMA this I will probably buy another board from another brand since Gigabyte support has been nowhere compared to EVGA and others with their 680i boards...
 
Originally posted by: Fallen Kell
Is there anyway to force the system to use the backup BIOS somehow? ...

I followed Blazer7 advice. Powered off,and cleared the CMOS, got myself a drink.... Repeatedly for quite few hours till it finaly booted on the second BIOS and I flashed from there. Also found using a PS2 keyboard prevented 'hangs' and may have cut my time messing with it, if I had tried sooner.

Back to the memory question, coz its something I know little about, but i'm looking for a boost from the 667mhz that I've started with
People seem to be using the newer 1066mhz stuff though the board is still only listed for 800mhz. Would it be better for someone like myself who dosn't OC to opt for some low latency 800mhz or am i missing something re the 1066mhz?

Thanks in advance
 
Mr Fallen Kell,

If your mobo doesn?t post then you cannot flash your BIOS, period. There is no work-around. You should again remove power cord & battery, short the clear cmos jumper and wait for at least 6 to 8 hours. If this doesn?t work, then like I mentioned in my earlier post you?ll have no choice but to RMA the board.

PafetikBezerka is right about USB keyboards. I?m using a Logitech G15 and it gives me some weird problems from time to time. Sometimes I can press alt+ctrl+del and reboot but after that if I try to enter BIOS nomatter how many times I press del it won?t enter. Same goes for Qflash. Sometimes alt+ctrl+del won?t work for no apparent reason. Some other times I can boot to DOS but the keyboard won?t work at all !?! No problem under windows though, ever !!

I don?t know what?s the issue with the USB keyboards (I?ve tried 2 so far), but PS/2 keyboards don?t seem to be affected. I?ve even thought of getting a basic PS/2 keyboard just for troubleshooting as it would have made my life a lot easier. If you do have one I strongly recommend that you use it, at least when troubleshooting.


PS
You are right about Gigabyte support.
 
Mr PafetikBezerka,

There is no JEDEC std for 1066 DDR2 memory. 1066 modules are basically factory oced, nothing more. This is why they are not listed as supported, they are not an official std. From what I know JEDEC is not interested anymore in DDR2 and there won?t be any new standards.

The performance difference between 800 & 1066 modules is not that great either. Many of us here use 1066 modules and so far I can say that this board has an exceptional record for running with various brands and models without problems. There are many guys here including yours truly that use 4 sticks @1066 without problems. In fact this is quite common.

Latencies have improved for 1066 modules and even though 800 modules still have an edged expect the 1066 modules to still be faster. From my point of view the real issue is bandwidth and not latencies. If you are running a 1066 proc and are not interested in ocing your proc or mem it would be cool to be able to run linked at 1:1.

If you want the extra juice and can afford the price then you should go for it. To avoid possible conflicts you?d better stick with mems that are known to work with this mobo like G.Skill & Crucial. Crucial are amongst the favourites here as many guys are using them without problems and the price is quite reasonable. The guys in this thread can really help you with your choice, so if you need to know anything else don?t hesitate to ask.

PS
Since 1066 modules need more juice (2.2 to 2.4V depending on make/model) it would be prudent to use some mem cooler like OCZ?s XTC memory cooler or Corsair?s Dominator mem cooler.
 
Thanks Blazer7. I removed the battery last night and removed the plug. It has been sitting all night like that and will sit all day as well (since I am at work). I'll look to dig up a PS2 keyboard from my parts bin just to try and see if that helps me get into the BIOS easier. But from how things went last night I might be RMA'ing... While true that I only waited about 2 hours the last time I pulled the battery and unplugged, it did seem to change the nature of my problems a bit as before the system would consistently think the Crucial RAM was bad, and it no longer did that after that last clear attempt. I'll see how it goes tonight.

Again really strange, it is almost like I have the memory problems that others reported due to factory overclocks on the RAM requiring higher then 1.8V for their SPD setting. Neither the Crucial or Buffalo need that much voltage to run at SPD since their SPD setting is for 800, not the 1000+ they are rated for (but require 2.1V to get). I'm gonna see if anyone has some slow DDR2 memory that I can borrow just to make sure that I am not getting the dreaded memory catch-22.
 
I agree Blazer7. I might be better off with the RMA where I might wind up with a rev 2.0 board which might be a good thing as it is the only board that penryn's might be compatible (but I don't have my hopes up on that, only EVGA seems to stand by their product in terms of meeting the specs they said it would 1333 FSB and Quad Core).

That said, if I RMA this, I need to go put the Crazy Cool 2 back on it which I removed to allow my heat sink to work.
 
I sent in a support request email about my problems. I tried it again tonight after letting it sit unplugged, without the CMOS battery, and with a jumper on the clear CMOS jumper for the last 18 hours. Same results, no error codes/beeps and no video. I just put the video card in another machine to make sure it was working, and it works fine. I'll see what Gigabyte support has to say, but it will probably be something that I already did at least 20 times in the last 3 days. So it will probably be an RMA... I am glad I have all the stuff. Did you guys know that you NEED that CPU socket protective cover otherwise you can't get an RMA? I am glad I was able to find mine. I mean, its been 6 months since I looked at it.
 
Mr Fallen Kell,

What?s that crap about that socket protective cover. Are you serious ?! Rejoice everyone, Gigabyte?s support is getting better and better.
 
If I remember correctly, the CPU socket protective cover itself clearly states it needs to be put back when you have no CPU installed. There's a sticker on it to remind you.

Or is my mind fucking with me right now? 🙂

Anyway, I always save everything that comes with a motherboard (or any other computer component) so there's no problem for me when I return my N680SLI-DQ6 next week.

BTW, My GA-X38-DQ6 has been running like a charm. No problems with the QX6850 and therefore I could finally even venture into overclocking. Right now I'm at 3.66ghz, still going strong 🙂
 
Yikes !!!

Mr BrianDickens you are correct. I?ve just looked at my stuff and found that dreaded piece of plastic and there is indeed a sticker on it. Good thing I didn?t throw it away.

With so many RMAs it?s just a matter of time before I?ll need it myself ! It would be a pity to have spent all that cash for this great Gigabyte mobo and be denied an RMA because of this. (sarcasm intended)

Right now I doubt that Gary will be able to come through with the info on the penryns this week. Not that I doubt Gary?s word or intentions (I don?t believe that anyone here does), it?s just that I doubt that Gigabyte will provide him with the info on time. Anyway since MSI have already confirmed that at least some of the lower clocked wolfdales and Yorkfields (2.33-2.66GHz) work with their mobo I expect no less from Gigabyte.
 
I am done with Gigabyte, they are totally useless. They have denied my RMA, stating that it is not repairable, voided my warranty, and stating that I have damaged my motherboard. What a crock, quality my ass, their f***ing chip dislodges from the board and they think I did it. So, they are sending me back my $300 paper weight, so I can throw the piece of crap out. I can't imagine (oh yes I can) buying a high end motherboard, spending all that money, and a company not caring a rats ass about their customers. Although I did include my CPU coverplate, after my experience I wouldn't be surprised them dening someones RMA for not putting it back on. I guess they try to make sure the customer is second and their bottom line is first.

So, not having a choice and wanting to stay with SLI and go with a company that provides real customer service. I have an EVGA 680i A1 coming today. At least EVGA knows how to take care of their customers. Should be a nice match with the new Q6600 G0 I picked up.
 
Mr BDickens and WArpX9...

Sorry to hear about the sh@tty Gigabyte support, although I think we all expect that. I don't think I have any chance of an RMA cuz my brand new Board from ClubIT had a dent on the crazycool setup before I took it outta the box. If they're giving you guys a ration of sh@t for those issues, I'm prolly in the same boat.

I wish all you guys the best of luck with ur new boards...I've heard nothing but good stuff from EVGA customers.

Mr. Blazer, I agree with ur Gary assessment.

I can hear it now...

Gary:
Will the new Penryn's work on your 680i boards?

Gigabyte:
We won't know until they release yet?


As an aside...I was reading an article in the latest PCWorld last night and they were evaluating the new Penryn 9650 on an X38 chipset. At the end of the article, they mentioned that Nvidia said that the 600i series chipsets will support the Penryn's. Some boards just need a BIOS update. Gigabyte does not seem to be in this camp tho, maybe cuz their board is not a reference design?

EK2K
 
Originally posted by: eklock2000
Some boards just need a BIOS update. Gigabyte does not seem to be in this camp tho, maybe cuz their board is not a reference design?

EK2K

More like they don't know how to write the BIOS to incorporate the update. I mean, we havn't had a new official BIOS since May!!! I think EVGA releases one every 2 weeks...
 
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