Where Are The Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Motherboards?

[jaggerwild]

Originally posted by: eklock2000

Originally posted by: mjrtoo
yes sir, if you add .4 volts to 1.8 volts you get 2.2 volts, which is your ram manufacturers recommended voltage.

Thank you mrjtoo and jagger,

I was worried that if the default voltage was 1.87 then +.4 would be almost 2.3V? But everest is reporting about 2.2 after it's all said and done. Seems like more volts is better with this mobo.

Weird thing is that it ran fine for almost a week at the default BIOS setting - 1.8, then all these stability issues?

Is anyone on the F7b and having these issues? I'll give it a try now that I'm past POST.

Thanks,

EK2K

Good morning Mr. EK,
Seems the instability follows the new bios also, or maybe its just me? Not sure yet starting to think I got faulty mem but it was fine before this board.I may flash back, as It seemed more stabile to me.
I've not had a lot of time using this still, but will in a couple days.
Regards all :beer:

 

[GigabyteColin]

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to chime in before Computex sucks aways all my time. As Mr. eklock2000 mentioned from Chuck, please carefully read the memory voltage settings according to your mem. manufacturer. GIGABYTE when designing our boards has followed Intel design guidelines regarding mem volts at default. However, many of the memory manufacturers have increased the default volt settings for their modules, so it is important to do a check. If you find the default for your memory is higher than the 1.8 default of the mobo, please follow mr eklock2000's instructions from Chuck:

1. Turn off Power and remove all RAM sticks
2. Remove CMOS battery for 10 seconds
3. Replace battery and put one stick in DDR2 slot 1
4. Power up and go directly into BIOS
5. Adjust Mem to rated voltage from manufacturer and exit BIOS
6. Replace second stick after succesful boot.

Cheers Guys,
Colin

 

[jaggerwild]

Originally posted by: GigabyteColin
Hi Guys,

I just wanted to chime in before Computex sucks aways all my time. As Mr. eklock2000 mentioned from Chuck, please carefully read the memory voltage settings according to your mem. manufacturer. GIGABYTE when designing our boards has followed Intel design guidelines regarding mem volts at default. However, many of the memory manufacturers have increased the default volt settings for their modules, so it is important to do a check. If you find the default for your memory is higher than the 1.8 default of the mobo, please follow mr eklock2000's instructions from Chuck:

1. Turn off Power and remove all RAM sticks
2. Remove CMOS battery for 10 seconds
3. Replace battery and put one stick in DDR2 slot 1
4. Power up and go directly into BIOS
5. Adjust Mem to rated voltage from manufacturer and exit BIOS
6. Replace second stick after succesful boot.

Cheers Guys,
Colin

Good Morning All!
Mr. Colin :thumbsup:
Thank you!
Regards :beer:

 

[mjrtoo]

Has anyone else had a problem with Energy Saver that came with this mobo? I've been running it and it seems after an undetermined amount of time it crashes and generates a 'ton' of crash windows....like 30 or so. I've emailed Gigabyte but they want me to try a different OS or a different BIOS and it's just not that important to me to go through the hassle when they can do that themselves, I'm not here to troubleshoot their software glitches....

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 bit and running BIOS 7b, has anyone else had this problem with any other OS and/or BIOS version?

 

[eklock2000]

Originally posted by: mjrtoo
Has anyone else had a problem with Energy Saver that came with this mobo? I've been running it and it seems after an undetermined amount of time it crashes and generates a 'ton' of crash windows....like 30 or so. I've emailed Gigabyte but they want me to try a different OS or a different BIOS and it's just not that important to me to go through the hassle when they can do that themselves, I'm not here to troubleshoot their software glitches....

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 bit and running BIOS 7b, has anyone else had this problem with any other OS and/or BIOS version?

mrjtoo,

Most fricken definately. DES and EasyTune5Pro were the likely causes of my memory troubles. It appears as though DES was throttling back my voltage bump on the memory and it would not maintain a consistent voltage, resulting in frequent lock-ups and no-POSTS. Uninstall that software for sure. Still under testing to confirm this though.

Peace,

EK2K

 

[jaggerwild]

Originally posted by: mjrtoo
Has anyone else had a problem with Energy Saver that came with this mobo? I've been running it and it seems after an undetermined amount of time it crashes and generates a 'ton' of crash windows....like 30 or so. I've emailed Gigabyte but they want me to try a different OS or a different BIOS and it's just not that important to me to go through the hassle when they can do that themselves, I'm not here to troubleshoot their software glitches....

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 bit and running BIOS 7b, has anyone else had this problem with any other OS and/or BIOS version?

Good Afternoon all!
Yeah, Energy saver or something is messed. I just did a fresh install and now everytime I update the MB drivers it tells me my computer config has changed and I need to re-activate, not good. This is like four times in four days.... Guess I should wait to activate till latter ?
Regards all!:thumbsup:

 

[EateryOfPiza]

Hi, I'm thinking of getting the GA-X48-DQ6 board soon, and I was wondering where the primary PCI-E x16 slot was. Is it the one sandwiched between the two PCI-E x1 slots or the one under the two PCI slots? That is, if I put a single card in the lower slot (the one between the two x1's), then will the thing still work? If so, then I can get a dual slot GPU.
Thanks.

 

[Blazer7]

Hello Mr EateryOfPiza,

The primary slot is the top one but AFAIK you can use the 2nd one for your VGA if that's what you want. Both slots are x16 PCI-E ver 2.0 so you won't lose on performance. One question tho, why not use the primary slot? It should be ok for any 2-slot VGA unless you'll be using some exotic HS that takes a lot of space on the back side of the card in which case this may interfere with the adjacent DIMM slots.

 

[EateryOfPiza]

I have two PCI cards. Since I like to keep my cards as spaced out as possible, I want to put the two PCI cards in the top slots and the GPU in the bottom slot

 

[Blazer7]

Hello Mr EateryOfPiza,

I think I lost you here. Are we talking about the same board? The GA-X48-DQ6 features only 2 PCI slots and they are located at the bottom of the board. If you use them both there is no way that you can fit a 2-slot VGA in the 2nd PCI-E slot. Are you sure that we are talking about the same board?

 

[EateryOfPiza]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Hello Mr EateryOfPiza,

I think I lost you here. Are we talking about the same board? The GA-X48-DQ6 features only 2 PCI slots and they are located at the bottom of the board. If you use them both there is no way that you can fit a 2-slot VGA in the 2nd PCI-E slot. Are you sure that we are talking about the same board?

Rofl, I think we have our orientations of the boards mixed up. Your bottom was my top. I'll try to use your terminology from now on. To restate my post:

I have two PCI cards. Since I like to keep my cards as spaced out as possible, I want to put the two PCI cards in the bottom slots and the GPU in the top slot between the two PCI-E x1 slots.

 

[Blazer7]

:laugh: Great! For a moment I thought I was losing it.

i don't think that you'll have any problem with the TOP PCI-E x16 slot.

 

[jaggerwild]

Good Morning all!
Still working out the kinks on this board as it is so different than I'm used to, I removed the Easy tune feature as well as the power saving features. As the power saver is not really a selling point for this board .
I booted into Vista 64 bit with my Q6600 @ 4Ghz, could not run 3Dmark06 as riva tuner is giving me head aches. But did do a run @3.8 with just one 3870X2 18,199 not bad for a first run no tweaks.
I did find booting @4 Ghz very easy, and no stability issues WSE (till I tried for more ).

Good day all :thumbsup:

 

[jaggerwild]

Good morning all!

Just wondering why not many postings lately? is it because your all off enjoying this board or............
I had more stability issues so I reverted back to the F6 bios where it then brought back the Realtech either net teaming crashes.
I'm now running this with out the teaming feature to see if I can learn more.
Good day all! :thumbsup:

 

[jaggerwild]

Good Morning all!
Thought I'd post up, I found most of my problems are related to Vista 64 and Internet Exploder 7. The newer bios seems more stable (F7b).
Gonna try fire fox or any other program to try to not deal with all the issues I've found or am finding.
Good day all!

 

[Blazer7]

Hello Mr jaggerwild,

I don't know if all your issues are because of IE7 but Firefox is a decent alternative. If you're serious about switching to Firefox it may be best for you to wait a bit as Firefox 3 is just around the corner.

The Inquirer : Mozilla wants to get into the record books

 

[anindrew]

Hi all! I'm planning out my new build based around a Q9450. The two DDR2 Gigabyte X48 boards look great and get nice reviews. I figured you guys and gals might be able to answer a question I have. What is the difference between the GA-X48-DS4 and the GA-X48-DQ6?

Other than a $55 price difference, the only differences I notice are that the DQ6 has 8 SATA ports while the DS4 has 6. Also the DQ6 has the heat sinks on the bottom on the board. Since I'd be using an after market heat sink, I'd have to remove one of those anyway.

Thank you for your assistance!

 

[EateryOfPiza]

I have the Zalman 9700 heatsink, how does that fit on this board? If it doesn't what heatsinks should I be looking at. The main limitations that I can see for me would be my Lian Li PC-201b case and the backplate

 

[jaggerwild]

Originally posted by: EateryOfPiza
I have the Zalman 9700 heatsink, how does that fit on this board? If it doesn't what heatsinks should I be looking at. The main limitations that I can see for me would be my Lian Li PC-201b case and the backplate

Good morning all!

@Blazer,
Yeah, some errors are realtech errors also. If I do not use the teaming then I get less. Also may be a weak PSU, as I now have crossfire-x. so I'll be buying another bigger PSU soon.


@Anindrew,
I think, not certain but the answer is the crazy cool and the quad bios.

@Eatery,
The crazy cool does comes off, fairly easy to. Or they have the option to just remove the crazy cool from the back side of the CPU socket, as the MB comes with extra screws for people who will be using their after market coolers. So you wouldn't have any issues there IMHO.

Good day all

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: anindrew
Hi all! I'm planning out my new build based around a Q9450. The two DDR2 Gigabyte X48 boards look great and get nice reviews. I figured you guys and gals might be able to answer a question I have. What is the difference between the GA-X48-DS4 and the GA-X48-DQ6?

Other than a $55 price difference, the only differences I notice are that the DQ6 has 8 SATA ports while the DS4 has 6. Also the DQ6 has the heat sinks on the bottom on the board. Since I'd be using an after market heat sink, I'd have to remove one of those anyway.

Thank you for your assistance!

Hello Mr anindrew,

Yes, there're few differences between the DS4 and the DQ6. Besides the additional SATA ports the DQ6 features better heatsinks with silent-pipe for the southbridge also, Crazy Cool and Quad BIOS. I also think that GB uses better quality solid caps on the DQ6 but I?m not 100% sure on this.

All and all I think that the DQ6 is built with better ocing in mind. Thus the better cooling, the different caps and the additional BIOS security (Quad BIOS).

 

[anindrew]

Hello Mr. Blazer7,

Thank you for the great response. I looked again on GB's site. Both the DQ6 and DS4 have the same "solid capacitor" description on their pages. The DQ6 does appear to have a nice pipe/cooler design (Silent Pipe), but the DS4 has the Ultra Durable 2 style heat pipe. The DQ6 certainly looks like a great board.

For me, I think the DS4 would be a better match (unless the price of the DQ6 comes down a bit). I use two hard drives and 1 optical drive that use SATA. When my other (EIDE) DVD drive gets replaced, I'd go with SATA. That's only 4 devices, so I'd have another 2 ports available in case I ever get another HDD, etc. I'm not a big OCer. If I can OC, I usually do a pretty mild one. I'm planning to get a Q9450. I'd be happy running it at 3.0Ghz. Anything above that would be lovely, but it's not my goal to get the max OC on it.

Could you (or someone) please explain the difference between Dual-BIOS (DS4) and Quad-BIOS (DQ6)? Thank you very much!

 

[jaggerwild]

Good morning all!
@Andrew,
I think, not certain but the quad will hold four BIOS versions that you can switch between. Where the dual only holds two BIOS versions.
OK,
So finally getting this pig up off the ground a Lil bit figured you 680 guys needed to see some score's
21,615 still a lot of room as only a slight OC on the GPU"S

http://pic80.picturetrail.com/...19704061/321648085.jpg">screen shots, gotta have um</a>

that score is in VISTA 64 bit also, Also Andrew I read some where not sure you want to hear this to avoid the DS4 as they have issues(link) for proof
3/4 the way down guy has issues with that board!


Good day all

 

[anindrew]

Hi jaggerwild,

Thanks for the link. I read through most of that forum thread, but I don't any posts about DS4 issues. Are you sure it was the DS4 and not a different model? Every motherboard is going to have some issues with certain people's setups. I've read plenty of reviews where people run the Q9450 with the DQ6 and DS4 with zero problems. Both mother boards get great reviews on newegg.

Some good news: the DQ6 dropped $5 on newegg while the DS4 dropped $10.

 

[jaggerwild]

Originally posted by: anindrew
Hi jaggerwild,

Thanks for the link. I read through most of that forum thread, but I don't any posts about DS4 issues. Are you sure it was the DS4 and not a different model? Every motherboard is going to have some issues with certain people's setups. I've read plenty of reviews where people run the Q9450 with the DQ6 and DS4 with zero problems. Both mother boards get great reviews on newegg.

Some good news: the DQ6 dropped $5 on newegg while the DS4 dropped $10.

Hey Anindrew,

It was posting number #244, guy only has a few posting so it is meant for take it as info only. I think you'll be happy either way all in all.............
Like my rig photos ? Got my water blocks for my 2 3870's soon post up more........
Good day all :thumbsup:

 

[Blazer7]

Hello Mr anindrew,

I?m sorry for the late reply but I was off-line for a day. The base for Quadbios is Dualbios but you can also use a backup BIOS image stored in your HD0 or a CD-ROM. To make such an image you should use GB?s Xpress Recovery2 utility included in the board?s CD-ROM. After you run Xpress Recovery2 from the CD it will stay permanently in your system (HD0) and from thereafter you can execute it by pressing F9 during post.

This utility will create a hidden partition in your primary HD and you can use it to store a BIOS image there. The hidden partition is very small so you don?t have to worry about losing valuable HD space. In case that both BIOS stored in the board's chips are corrupted and you can?t use, or you don?t have, a BIOS image in your HD you can use a BIOS image from a CD. GB typically places a BIOS image in the board?s CD-ROM.

So that?s what Quadbios is. Primary BIOS + Secondary BIOS + BIOS image in HD0 hidden partition + BIOS image from CD-ROM.

You can see the possible failure scenarios and how Quadbios works here : Gigabyte - How does Quad BIOS work

Have in mind that all new GB boards that feature Quadbios come with Xpress Recovery2. Xpress Recovery2 is not compatible with Xpress Recovery (older version).