Sapphire Pure Innovation (PI-A9RX480)

[schrickvr6]

I noticed these have now hit retail in the UK, has anyone had a decent play with one of these yet?

I'm particularly interested htt speeds both 1:1 and using a divider....

TIA

[situman]

you mean its actually on sale physically IN THE STORES?

[schrickvr6]

Yeah ebuyer have had them in stock since friday

[AgentVX]

Get one and be the guinea pig for the rest of us? :hrhr:

[schrickvr6]

Lol actually i feel strangely tempted to do that...watch this space :eek:

[DJ_Datte]

Komplett.* has it, 6 left, I just ordered one, probably have it by Wednesday Morning :)

/DJ

[ZeroX]

Some days before the CF-DR started selling at the egg, someone ordered one to ebuyer, it was "already in stock", i dont remember the name... He received a DFI nf4 ultra-d :stick: ...

I hope this isn't the same thing..

[LoN3R]

hmm wonder when they would hit the US market

[jetjaguar]

is this that red and white grouper board ?

[schrickvr6]

Yeah that's the one

[jetjaguar]

lol yeah someone get this board .. im still trying to decide whether to go over to crossfire or not .. :confused:

[DJ_Datte]

Komplett is quite reliable in my expirience, I doubt mis-shipping would happen :)

/DJ

[split]

Someone here (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17487498) got his this morning, tho he doesn't say where.

EDIT: Stock here (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=98015) (or so they say)

[althes]

Cant wait to see how it works

[split]

Seen it reviewed here (http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2005q3/sapphire-pi-a9rx480/index.x?pg=1) if that helps ;)

[Afterburner]

Most important thing is.......has anyone seen the mobo physically and inspected what Caps the are using. If they are still using Teapo Caps for CPU regulation there's no way I am touching it then. Goin down tomoro to do a personal inspection in one of our retail outlets....... :p:

[Afterburner]

I have Good News. I picked up a Grouper today after inspecting it. Sapphire have changed the Caps as promised. The Retail Grouper has only Sanyo and Nichicon caps on board :woot:

Time to rejoice :toast:

[eva2000]

I have Good News. I picked up a Grouper today after inspecting it. Sapphire have changed the Caps as promised. The Retail Grouper has only Sanyo and Nichicon caps on board :woot:

Time to rejoice :toast:
looking forward to your adventures... :)

[Afterburner]

I intend to do a basic review with pics by tomoro Nite....... :)

[biohead]

Great :)

[LoN3R]

:woot: now all we need is a retailer in the US to get em in stock

[LowRun]

Great news finally, waiting in anticipation for your results.

[situman]

how about some initial results?

[DJ_Datte]

I got mine too today :D, but I am extremly dead tired and going to bed.

So tomorrow during the day. I picked up a Venice 3000+ for testing too, it was week 33 btw.

Goodnight people!

/tease

[fareastgq]

what the heck man, US can't get groupers or opertons before uk side, boggle...

[LowRun]

Guys, what is the price tag?

[TheMeatFrog]

Subscribed

[asianguy80]

are any of the ati chipset mb's coming with the ULi 1965 chipsets?

edit: i thought this mobo didn't have crossfire capabilities and was single vga card only?

[chew*]

are any of the ati chipset mb's coming with the ULi 1965 chipsets?

edit: i thought this mobo didn't have crossfire capabilities and was single vga card only?

abit is offering a uli southbridge crossfire board

[situman]

abit is still no where to be seen.

[Grayskull]

See told ya :)

Remember to enable PLL High speed mode in the Hypertransport area in the CMOS for high HTT overclocking. ;)

I have Good News. I picked up a Grouper today after inspecting it. Sapphire have changed the Caps as promised. The Retail Grouper has only Sanyo and Nichicon caps on board :woot:

Time to rejoice :toast:

[fareastgq]

I'm really happy it turned out this way grayskull, this board looks great, has great build quality, and the mosfets will be cooled very well, that's one thing I didnt like about dfi's. guess I'll have to pick up a pa120.3 now too, hehe

edit : is it a 6 layer board?

[Supertim0r]

:D Xtreme pics ?

[Grayskull]

yes it's 6 layer

I'm really happy it turned out this way grayskull, this board looks great, has great build quality, and the mosfets will be cooled very well, that's one thing I didnt like about dfi's. guess I'll have to pick up a pa120.3 now too, hehe

edit : is it a 6 layer board?

[DJ_Datte]

The cost to me was 174$ + Tax.

It does seem like a real nice board.

Grayskull, will the board work with a ATX-20 PSU, or do I need a ATX24 ?

/DJ

[tennvols_69]

grayskull, you know of any US sellers yet? ive yet to be able to find any. and im thinking of this board over the DFI flavor.

[ArcTan]

what the heck man, US can't get groupers or opertons before uk side, boggle...the tide is turning :p:

[Grayskull]

20 pin is ok.

The cost to me was 174$ + Tax.

It does seem like a real nice board.

Grayskull, will the board work with a ATX-20 PSU, or do I need a ATX24 ?

/DJ

[Grayskull]

Sorry I have details on the retailers. I will ask Sapphire.

grayskull, you know of any US sellers yet? ive yet to be able to find any. and im thinking of this board over the DFI flavor.

[situman]

what happened to the guy taht said he was gonna post up results? Its a bad omen that hes MIA.

[LoN3R]

Sorry I have details on the retailers. I will ask Sapphire.

yes please , ive gotten my $$ and am not gonna use crossfire ;)

[Ad Rock]

Waiting patiently for some updates on this board. Has this mobo penciled in for my jump from my Dothan to a X2.

[Kenetixx]

where are you ppl getting this board , ive been making phone calls all over the world with no luck?

[chew*]

@ Grayskull,

Abit has seemed to turn to ati after the nforce 2 controversy and came late with nf3 and nf4 after reconciling with nvidia.

Have you any comments on the board they are turning out? It almost looks like they went with ati's reference design however it seems they have implemented the ULi southbridge to possibly get around the performance issues of sata II and USB that ati's lacked slightly in.

My only first impression of the board is they're heatpipe implemention is poorly applied as it was with the an8 ultra. Had they installed a fan on the actual heatsink end of the heatpipes it would be more effective although i think they were going for the fanless/quiet approach.

Also any comments on what they used for capacitors? Usually they use sanyo oscon and rubycon caps.

[Afterburner]

what happened to the guy taht said he was gonna post up results? Its a bad omen that hes MIA.
Am here :p: We have to work here dude ;) I am having "some problems" gettin the mobo to clock at all and it does seem to have reboot issues. Its either Bios or my Settings (some xtreme options available) or I may have a dud. I will be investigating further tonite. I bought it for SGD$315 for those curious :)

@ Grayskull @ Tony....your assistance will be extremely appreciated.

[Afterburner]

:D Xtreme pics ?
Have taken some close ups......comin in approximately 6 hrs after I am done @ work :)

[Gambit_2K]

where are you ppl getting this board , ive been making phone calls all over the world with no luck?

http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.asp?sku=312895&cks=PRL

Currently 4 boards in stock.

[xforce]

Am here :p: We have to work here dude ;) I am having "some problems" gettin the mobo to clock at all and it does seem to have reboot issues. Its either Bios or my Settings (some xtreme options available) or I may have a dud. I will be investigating further tonite. I bought it for SGD$315 for those curious :)

@ Grayskull @ Tony....your assistance will be extremely appreciated.

Bro, wanna try flashing your bios to this one ?

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/driverfiles/44.BIN

Its on the Sapphire drivers page. Date 4 Oct 2005.

:)

[Supertim0r]

can't wait to see pics

[Afterburner]

Bro, wanna try flashing your bios to this one ?

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/driverfiles/44.BIN

Its on the Sapphire drivers page. Date 4 Oct 2005.

:)
Hey thanx for the Heads Up...... :D

[Afterburner]

can't wait to see pics
There will be a slight delay for the pics bud.....the owner of the Cam isnt available yet so rest assured I will post them as soon as I can. Sorry bout that.

[metro.cl]

There will be a slight delay for the pics bud.....the owner of the Cam isnt available yet so rest assured I will post them as soon as I can. Sorry bout that.

screenshots?

[Kenetixx]

Mine are on the way but 2 weeks away i got hold of 2 :D ---Thanks to my Sister :D

[Tony]

Afterburner

I will recieve my ATI built gruper any day now but there are things you need to remember.

1 it will probably not have the same bios
2 It may not have the tweaks my board has
3 It may be missing components

So until i see your board and compare it to mine its hard to say if they will clock the same.

Some things you need to remember.

1 you have to manually set LDT speed
2 drive strength and data drive do need tweaking
3 you may need more vdimm
4 Set high speed like grayskull mentioned
5 Start a fresh and do not thing the same settings that work on the DFI work on this.

[eva2000]

Mine are on the way but 2 weeks away i got hold of 2 :D ---Thanks to my Sister :D
2 of them huh .. hmmmm :D

[Afterburner]

Noted Tony thanx....... :) I will get pics up ASAP. I am waiting jus like everyone else for the Cam owner. I have never used DFI before except for the Lanparty 875P-T and till now the Abit AN8 Ultra so the Bios is pretty much a shock to me though I have seen the mad Bioses of the DFI mobos. I was with an experienced DFI Ultra-D user when I was tryin Grouper out though. The Grouper is however in a class of its own :p:

[LowRun]

No camera needed for screenshots :fact:

Bring 'em on mate :stick:

[Afterburner]

HaHa.....that I know :p: I tested the mobo at my buddy's place + had stuff to attend to + its 3am here already so......patience my friend ;)

[DJ_Datte]

its Alive!

It took me 5 tries to figure out why the comp bluescreened while "Starting Windows" in the WinXP textmode installation. Windows dont play well with the USB drivers.

When I connected a real cdrom, it installed flawlessly :)

Needed chipset drivers, found them on the cd that came with. None on the ATI webpage tho ?

Right now I am running it at 260.9 x 9 = 2347 MHz, on a Venice 3000 week 33.

/DJ

[Revv23]

what memory/ frequency/ timings? a64 tweaker work?

[DJ_Datte]

Not there yet. I'll take a A64 tweak screenshot for ya later, just so you can see the current settings.

/DJ

[Revv23]

cool thanks, take your time and have fun with it!

[Afterburner]

OK here are the pics as promised...... :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/board_f.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/board_b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/caps2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/caps1.jpg

[Afterburner]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/NB.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/power.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/rear.jpg

[Dumo]

Heres the clockgen....
set it with ICS 951446.....http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1094033#post1094033

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/5059/screenshot0211ka.jpg

Thanks, Franck :toast:

[Supertim0r]

wow I love this board ! :toast:
can't wait till they are availabe here
nice board m8 :clap:

[dfx]

OK here are the pics as promised...... :D


Thumps up bro
Me n' phenglee saw it just now @ Hardwareplace
Jaw dropped
Beautiful board
Have fun ;)

[Ad Rock]

If this board performs as well as it looks it shall be mine. I just LOVE the Canadian color scheme on it :D.

[tennvols_69]

dumo where you get your board at? that things sexy!

[Afterburner]

Thumps up bro
Me n' phenglee saw it just now @ Hardwareplace
Jaw dropped
Beautiful board
Have fun ;)
Thanx will do......after some of the upcoming festivals next week :D

[LowRun]

Hmmm, so none of the owners is gonna OC this beast and post screenshots :stick:

Seems like DJ_Datte had a 4 days night.

[mag|c]

Will this board be any better than dfi rdx200 / expert¿

Btw. the board is in stock at www.overclockers.co.uk

[uwackme]

When will they release an onboard video version with DVI connector.

1st one wins... battle between NV 6150 and RD480 and who coughs up DVI first wins the HTPC war.

[don_vercetti]

c'mon, where are the OC results? We all know how anand and xbit did, but we need the general publics consensus!

[Bar81]

US release needed now. All your teasing is killing me.

[SynGroW]

I've seen the crossfire version running @ the hardware.info dagen in the Netherlands.

It looks very nice and it ran stable with 2 X850XT's in crossfire. Scored 103xx in 3DMark05 with a 3500+. DFI's crossfire board did 9800 3DMarks with a 4000+ for example ;) (same graka's, not sure about the drivers though)

They didn't allow me to overclock it but I did have a look in the bios :)

I think the following 3 options are very interesting:

Memory DQ Drive Strength
DRAM Drive Strength
DDR Memory Drive Strength

Is it possible that one of these settings will help to fix the coldbug ?(or atleast reduce it)

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/1045/sapphire1zu.gif
(sorry for the bad quality of the pic, phonecam and only paint avaible at my system makes it like this)

[don_vercetti]

what's MTRR mapping?? I've never seen that in a DFI before, or anywhere else.

Looks like a very nice BIOS though, well layed out.

[SynGroW]

Some more pics of the BIOS

http://img433.imageshack.us/img433/8021/19eb.gif

http://img433.imageshack.us/img433/9387/35ni.gif

http://img433.imageshack.us/img433/9934/42ia.gif
The last one is really bad, i know ;) I don't have a pic without the PLL calibration popup
Above the CPU/HT Reference clk you can find the usual CPU Fid Control, CPU Vid Control and CPU VID Offset settings.

vcore up to 2.15v
vdimm up to 4v

The board:

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/8069/51er.jpg

[LowRun]

c'mon, where are the OC results? We all know how anand and xbit did, but we need the general publics consensus!

I bet the ones who have the board are having a hard time to make it perform.

[biohead]

hey SynGroW that's a VERY nice board! I want one heel graag! :D

[SynGroW]

hey SynGroW that's a VERY nice board! I want one heel graag! :D

Hehe, it should be avaible in NL in about 3 weeks according to the Sapphire representative for ~200e

[don_vercetti]

I bet the ones who have the board are having a hard time to make it perform.

Well i still wish they would post about it. People did about the RDX200, after all.

[Nem]

Just a quick question, whats the differnce between this lovely motherboard and this one:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=307851&cks=PRL

I'm just thinking that the first board is this week only on OCUK at £135, but the second on Komplett is only £56. What extra am I getting for the extra £80 or so? I can see the difference with the pci and pci-ex slot number and the extra S-ata ports, but not much else.

Thanks.

Nick

[DJ_Datte]

I will admit I am having a hard time making it fetch high HTT.

The cpu isnt the limiting factor I belive. Max sofar I've reached is
282 HTT, x 9 2538 MHz, CPU is at 27 Deg with watercooling.

Tell me what you need, and I'll provide it tomorrow, to see if we can get it up higher.

I am running my memory at 100 FSB 2:1 Divider, so its around 144 MHz when the FSB is at 282.

I think the board has lots of potential, but the BIOS is just *mean* =)

I am btw running the 44.Bin bios thats on Saphs web.

/DJ

[ironsid3]

It seems a very nice board to me. This is my first attempt with A64 overclocking but it has been made very easy so far. Got an Opteron 144 CABYE 0536 running at 295HTT with the memory at 166Mhz I think. Crashed at 300HTT after a few seconds of Prime but have run for a couple of hours at 195. Have not had time to really play and want to get it watercooled before I crank it up. First impressions are very good but I don’t have anything to compare it to so my opinions can be dismissed as worthless :p:

[Sushi1976]

Can an owner of the Sapphire Pure Motherboards say to me highly the Opteron 144 on Board runs and is recognized properly?

Sushi

[don_vercetti]

It seems a very nice board to me. This is my first attempt with A64 overclocking but it has been made very easy so far. Got an Opteron 144 CABYE 0536 running at 195HTT with the memory at 166Mhz I think. Crashed at 200HTT after a few seconds of Prime but have run for a couple of hours at 195. Have not had time to really play and want to get it watercooled before I crank it up. First impressions are very good but I don’t have anything to compare it to so my opinions can be dismissed as worthless :p:

195htt??

as in less than 200mhz HTT?

[Arkangyl]

A few questions about the two Sapphire boards;

on the SLI, why are the PCI slots right next to the PCI-E's when there's all that space that's devoted to the logo? just shift everything down and give a slot of clearance for the 2nd video card

and with the single VGA board, why are the NB and SB epoxied on [my guess as the mounting holes are empty], arnt the holes there for a reason? and the mosfet cooling looks like it misses quite a few fetts

[Nitestorm]

Will this board be any better than dfi rdx200 / expert¿

Btw. the board is in stock at www.overclockers.co.uk

Yeah it's been in stock for quite a while now at overclock.co.uk and they are £6 cheaper than overclocker's normal price. Makes a change that us brits get something in stock and some price competition.

[ironsid3]

195htt??

as in less than 200mhz HTT?

Ummm yes but no.

I meant 295htt. Like I said, all this A64 stuff is a bit new to me...lol :D

and my Opteron 144 runs fine on it Sushi.

[don_vercetti]

ok phew. A board that can't run at 200HTT is a board not worth even mentioning around these parts.

I remember when i was new to A64..its a lovely platform to be new too.

[Grayskull]

Trying setting the PLL High Speed mode to "enabled" for anything over 250 MHz HTT. In high speed mode, the chipset will clear 300 MHz without even breaking a sweat. But getting your memory to run that fast will depend on many other things :)

Do not play with the PLL stability calibration.


Some more pics of the BIOS

http://img433.imageshack.us/img433/8021/19eb.gif

http://img433.imageshack.us/img433/9387/35ni.gif

http://img433.imageshack.us/img433/9934/42ia.gif
The last one is really bad, i know ;) I don't have a pic without the PLL calibration popup
Above the CPU/HT Reference clk you can find the usual CPU Fid Control, CPU Vid Control and CPU VID Offset settings.

vcore up to 2.15v
vdimm up to 4v

The board:

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/8069/51er.jpg

[Nem]

Trying setting the PLL High Speed mode to "enabled" for anything over 250 MHz HTT. In high speed mode, the chipset will clear 300 MHz without even breaking a sweat. But getting your memory to run that fast will depend on many other things :)

Do not play with the PLL stability calibration.
Is the clearing 300HTT something that is definate, something anyone has seen done yet? I'm after a new toy to play with and this seems the ideal item, but need to make sure it's going to let me run at 300HTT or beyond.

Thanks

Nick

EDIT: Just noticed your ATI Support tag, so I assume you know whats what :) Can you comment on the question I posted further up this page regarding the differenced betweek the 2 boards.

[Bar81]

It's been cleared by everyone using the board. Admittedly, these are all reviewers but it shouldn't be an issue.

Dammit, when are these coming to America? :(

[Grayskull]

I haven't seen the board in the link in person and can't tell much from such a small picture. It doesn't look like a Grouper reference board from what I can tell might have some of the features...for example I think I see a 4 phase CPU supply and some pretty beefy looking inductors near the memory sockets but it's too blurry when I blow the picture up.

Just a quick question, whats the differnce between this lovely motherboard and this one:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=307851&cks=PRL

I'm just thinking that the first board is this week only on OCUK at £135, but the second on Komplett is only £56. What extra am I getting for the extra £80 or so? I can see the difference with the pci and pci-ex slot number and the extra S-ata ports, but not much else.

Thanks.

Nick

[Bar81]

I have Good News. I picked up a Grouper today after inspecting it. Sapphire have changed the Caps as promised. The Retail Grouper has only Sanyo and Nichicon caps on board :woot:

Time to rejoice :toast:

NIIIIIIIICE. Now come to the US, Mr. PURE Innovation, PLEASE :mad:

[Grayskull]

300HTT is no problem.

Is the clearing 300HTT something that is definate, something anyone has seen done yet? I'm after a new toy to play with and this seems the ideal item, but need to make sure it's going to let me run at 300HTT or beyond.

Thanks

Nick

EDIT: Just noticed your ATI Support tag, so I assume you know whats what :) Can you comment on the question I posted further up this page regarding the differenced betweek the 2 boards.

[LowRun]

I will admit I am having a hard time making it fetch high HTT.

The cpu isnt the limiting factor I belive. Max sofar I've reached is
282 HTT, x 9 2538 MHz, CPU is at 27 Deg with watercooling.

Tell me what you need, and I'll provide it tomorrow, to see if we can get it up higher.

I am running my memory at 100 FSB 2:1 Divider, so its around 144 MHz when the FSB is at 282.

I think the board has lots of potential, but the BIOS is just *mean* =)

I am btw running the 44.Bin bios thats on Saphs web.

/DJ


Hey, thanks for the input DJ, not trying to have you doing this or that but surely appreciate to know whats been working and what didn't for you, so please keep it comin' and have a nice play :toast:

[split]

Yeah it's been in stock for quite a while now at overclock.co.uk and they are £6 cheaper than overclocker's normal price. Makes a change that us brits get something in stock and some price competition.

Cheaper here (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=12544552272&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3NlYXJjaA==&cat_uid=14&stid=2) @ £129.98 inc VAT

[Dynasty]

Cheaper here (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=12544552272&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3NlYXJjaA==&cat_uid=14&stid=2) @ £129.98 inc VAT

They have 35 in stock, I need CF version of this board.

None yet in Can or USA ??

[Afterburner]

Sorry for the delay. I been pretty caught up with Diwali these few days :) CPU-Z needs an update coz it does not recognise the Vcore @ any setting be it stock or increased. The mobo runs mighty cool. Bios readings are pretty stable with minor fluctuations. +5V and +12v readings are jus slightly off when compared readings taken from a Fluke Multi direct from my PSU. +3.3V is almost spot on. The High Performance standalone CPU temp measuring device Tony mentioned seems rather accurate with no visible fluctuations. I have clocked my Venice to a level I couldnt do before on the Grouper. Its now doin 2750mhz @ 1.45v and on my previous mobo it was 2700 @ 1.475v and has potential for 2.9Ghz :slobber: I am having difficulty clocking my Gskills though so I am runnin them on Divider tentatively. I wonder if Grouper will be like DFI as in needin different Bioses for diff types of RAMs. I will need both Tony and Grayskull's assistance in this area. I am waitin to receive more pics of the Bios so bear with me :p:

Here's an initial result and a basic screenshot coz I am primarily a gamer ;) Taken usin a Zalman 7700 Copper HSF (120mm). Vcore @ 1.45v :p:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/GrouperInitial.jpg

[Dynasty]

Here's an initial result and a basic screenshot coz I am primarily a gamer Taken usin a Zalman 7700 Copper HSF (120mm). Vcore @ 1.45v

Does the voltage read correct through bios ?? Or does it read 1.776 ?

[Afterburner]

Does the voltage read correct through bios ?? Or does it read 1.776 ?
It reads fine in Bios......no worries there ;)

[AgentVX]

I have clocked my Venice to a level I couldnt do before on the Grouper. Its now doin 2750mhz @ 1.45v and on my previous mobo it was 2700 @ 1.475v and has potential for 2.9Ghz :slobber:

That's great dude! Makes up for the delay :p:

[Nem]

Whats the max vcore available on this board, one review I have seen said it was a max of 1.55v?

I've just seen that Ebuyer UK have these in stock at £130 all in, with £4 delivery ish, so am just about to order.

Thanks

Nick

[don_vercetti]

thats custompc, right? They're talkin nonsense there, i've already emailed the people the magazine about that.

[Nem]

thats custompc, right? They're talkin nonsense there, i've already emailed the people the magazine about that.
It was the custom pc review indeed. Glad to know they are wrong as usual then :)

I'll get me one ordered then I think.

Nick

[Bar81]

2.10v core

[johann]

I see this board in stock in the UK here:

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=18799

[Nem]

Also in stock for £5 cheaper this week at www.overclockers.co.uk

And in stock £10 cheaper at www.ebuyer.co.uk

Both UK stockists.

Nick

[Detract]

What's the consensus on this board, PC-A9RD480Adv (http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/products/mainboards_overview.php?gpid=129)

[Revv23]

its of sapphires design, i wouldnt expect it to be like grouper and halibut.

[Afterburner]

Max Vcore is up 2.10v on this board. IIRC it has the same principle as the DFI as in using a VID offset to add on to the 1.55v :)

[Afterburner]

Here are the Bios pics as promised....... :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/9.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/10.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/11.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/12.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/13.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/14.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/15.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/16.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/17.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/18.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/19.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/20.jpg

[situman]

any more updates?

[Afterburner]

If you are refering to me......thats it for now mate :)

[eva2000]

woah sure there's enough bios screenies there ? :D

thanks much appreciated :)

[situman]

yeah thanks for the work. Geez still can't get it here in the US. Any good stores in Australia or Singapore that I can order from? Probably comes out to the same price as the US anyways.

[Bar81]

yeah thanks for the work. Geez still can't get it here in the US. Any good stores in Australia or Singapore that I can order from? Probably comes out to the same price as the US anyways.

Just talked to Sapphire. Supposed to be here end of October but didn't show, been delayed. No ETA although maybe next 1-2 weeks. Basically they have no idea what's going on. Prices in UK are ridiculous and besides don't ship to the US. This is getting ridiculous.

[situman]

Its ok I thought about it hard and long. With M2 socket approaching, no need to splurge on such an expensive board anyways. Bought myself an Epox SLI to "hold" me over till the new stuff comes out. Besides, its not like I'm losing out on much performance if any at all.

Besides, first Gen xfire is a dud anyways. ATI limited the refresh rate on higher resolutions so its pretty much useless and current Nvidia cards pretty much owns ATI cards, barring the shadow launched x1800xt.

[Bar81]

Its ok I thought about it hard and long. With M2 socket approaching, no need to splurge on such an expensive board anyways. Bought myself an Epox SLI to "hold" me over till the new stuff comes out. Besides, its not like I'm losing out on much performance if any at all.

Besides, first Gen xfire is a dud anyways. ATI limited the refresh rate on higher resolutions so its pretty much useless and current Nvidia cards pretty much owns ATI cards, barring the shadow launched x1800xt.

Frankly, if you're waiting for M2 you're waiting for nothing. It's not going to offer any perceptible gain over 939 for the desktop.

This mobo isn't a crossfire mobo so I think you're confused. As to the whole 1600x1200 resolution limit that only applies to the x8x0 series and not the X1800 series.

As to the X1800XT, considering it's available world wide as of today, you again are misinformed as to the launch status of the product.

Good luck with your SLI board, but the reasons you made for picking it don't hold water.

[situman]

It is true socket M2 probably won't offer any tangible performance upgrades. BUT! It will be future proof where as socket 939 will/might be relegated to the low end a la socket 754. I believe this argument holds plenty of water.

With regards to which cards limits refresh rates at high resolutions, I might be wrong and frankly I am too lazy to dig up the article about it. So yeah this argument might not hold much water.

Also, last time I checked, I do not see any retail x1800xt at any of the major online stores (Eggy, ZZF...) So I am not sure what you meant by "available world wide as of today." So again this argurment holds plenty of water.

[Bar81]

It is true socket M2 probably won't offer any tangible performance upgrades. BUT! It will be future proof where as socket 939 will/might be relegated to the low end a la socket 754. I believe this argument holds plenty of water.

With regards to which cards limits refresh rates at high resolutions, I might be wrong and frankly I am too lazy to dig up the article about it. So yeah this argument might not hold much water.

Also, last time I checked, I do not see any retail x1800xt at any of the major online stores (Eggy, ZZF...) So I am not sure what you meant by "available world wide as of today." So again this argurment holds plenty of water.

Glad you only shop at two stores. Try www.allstarshop.com and in Europe they've been shipping. Do your homework son ;)

[situman]

Hey I did say I'm lazy. Besides son, not ALL stores have the cards yet, so I do not consider it widely availabe worldwide.

[Revv23]

any high vol;;s hf klfjaldfu fkdjf sc of poooppoyoy aijdlkj yeee haw


i mean, bh/utt clocking? at high volts?

[SmokeyTheBandit]

Hi yesterday i bought the Sapphire Pure Innovation thinking it could be my solution to the DFI headaches.

But unfortunatley i cant get my board past 9x 250.
The Ultrad booted straigt up into windows at 9x 307 without a single glitch, so i know the cpu can handle it.
I reduced the memory divider to the lowest (100) but still i cannot boot past 250 ....
I also messed with the latencys/voltages but it was a waste of time.

My system specs :

X2 4400+
G-Skill 2 GB Kit PC 3200
XFX 7800 GTX Extreme
Silverstone 650 Watt Zeus PSU

But the DFI nF4s had some problems with the first bios revisions so i hope this will be resolved on a very short term ;)

[Afterburner]

Smokey......remember to set the NB HT PLL Control option to Manual and select High Speed while leaving the Stability Calibration alone followed by the other settings you used and remember patience is of the essence when playin with a new mobo ....... :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Bios/20.jpg

Mine's doin 305 HTT so there are no issues thus far xept for the RAMs portion..... :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/GrouperInitial.jpg

[SmokeyTheBandit]

Allright thx will try this tonight ;)

Did you encounter the same "limits" without changing the NB PLL default settings ?

[Afterburner]

Allright thx will try this tonight ;)

Did you encounter the same "limits" without changing the NB PLL default settings ? Yes I did.....:p:

[split]

I see saffire have made more software avaliable on their site.

There is links to it in this (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17487498&page=2) thread by Coolasmoo here (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=5861997&postcount=50)

Northbridge looks a bit warm though.

[Revv23]

that ati systems manager is amazing, well done ati, id like to see the mem tweaker, if its got everything a64 tweaker does it could have killed the need for me to have any of those tools at all.

[Grayskull]

It has most of the settings of the A64 tweaker. It also can show you the contents of the memory's SPD. At some point there will be an update with more features and should obsolete the need for any other platform tool.

that ati systems manager is amazing, well done ati, id like to see the mem tweaker, if its got everything a64 tweaker does it could have killed the need for me to have any of those tools at all.

[Sushi1976]

New Bios for Sapphire pure PI-A9RX480

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/support/drivers_viewlist.php


Sushi

[SnipingWaste]

Grayskull can you find out why ther are no TUL mother boards here in the US? Newegg had them but looks like only one shipment and that was it. Theres no full ATX bullhead mobo in the US but only mATX, why?

Sorry for the OT.

[Hybrid]

So is it safe to assume Sapphire will support their boards well? LAst hting i want is a board with few bios updates during its lifespan.

[Revv23]

so when will we see this in USA?

[Afterburner]

New Bios for Sapphire pure PI-A9RX480

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/support/drivers_viewlist.php


Sushi
Thanx...... :D

[Sushi1976]

Thanx...... :D


Did you already flasht the new Bios and did test? Are there any changes?

Sushi

[ken]

Can you guys with the board test and see how high the HTT can go? :)
cheers

[Afterburner]

Did you already flasht the new Bios and did test? Are there any changes?

Sushi
I see no visible changes and strangely though its an update, Sapphire dated the Bios same as the stock one which is 26/09/05....... :confused:

[G-Man]

Just got myself one of these boards with my new opteron 144 system, having a nightmare setting it up though!

this is my first a64 system so not 100% sure on all the settings.

So far the best overclock i can get is by just upping the mem voltage to 3.4, NB HT PLL to high speed and setting the cpu to 250 leaving everything running 1:1. that gives me 2250 at 250 FSB stable. I've got 2 x 512 winbond UTT by the way, not touched the timings as yet.

So, i figure first thing first, i should find the CPU limit. So, set CPU FID to 9x CPU VID to 1.55, CPU HTT ref to 265. To keep RAM limits out of the equation for now, and not fully understanding alot of the settings, I set the following:

memclock index value: 100 (Is this the memory divider? Just figured I'd set it to lowest for now)

LDT & PCI bus control: 200 (What is this? Is this the HT multiplier? again just figured i'd set to lowest for now)

NB - SB Port config: tried both default and enhanced (anyone know what this does?)

These settings resulted in no boot. I had to clear the cmos to get the board to boot, however the exact same settings botted fine at 250. Really confused on this when i have set everything else to lowest.

Can anyone offer some suggestions on what im doing wrong? I did also try upping the ATI chipset voltages but it did'nt seem to make any difference. still no boot. I know these CPUs don't top out till well over 300 x 9 so why do I get no boot with my RAM on a divider?

Any help much appreciated!

[Bar81]

Alright, this is just fing ridiculous. Any stores anywhere that have this in stock and ship to the US?

[biohead]

holland, €180 x 1,19 = $215 :woot:

[Afterburner]

memclock index value: 100 (Is this the memory divider? Just figured I'd set it to lowest for now) yes this is the Memory Divider.

LDT & PCI bus control: 200 (What is this? Is this the HT multiplier? again just figured i'd set to lowest for now) yes this is the HT Multiplier.

NB - SB Port config: tried both default and enhanced (anyone know what this does?) am not sure myself but leave this @ default till we receive enlightment from the Wise ones


- Set the LDT Bus to 600
- Ensure NB HT PLL @ High Speed at all times
- Set Overclockin attempts to Three
- Turn Off AMD 'Cool n Quiet'
- Set RAMs to Manual, 133mhz, 2, 5, 2, 2, 2, 8, 10, 4, 133mhz 7.8us, 1 bus clock, 2 bus clocks, Manual, 1T, 5.5ns, 7ns, 8, Disabled, 16 Cycles, 4, Not Reduced, Disabled, Normal Drive, Enabled, Enabled, Nominal, Enabled, 4 beats, Continous, Disabled, 2.90v , 0.0%
- Leave all NB and Chipset voltage @ default

[Afterburner]

Here's the thing dude.......this mobo from the info I got is designed to be swtiched off then turned back on after Bios changes are made. Weird I know but what I practice is using the Reset button instead so bear this in mind. Continue to set the FID x 9 and CPU Vcore @ 1.55v and then start playin with the HTT once the above settings have been changed. Remember that this mobo wont boot at times so you will have to hit Reset and it will boot Overclocked. Use CPU-Z to verify this. You can refer to the Bios pics I posted to guide urself. Cheers...... :p:

[G-Man]

Thanks for the reply. about to give those settings a go.

When you say turn it off though, how do you mean exactly? Do you go to save setings and exit, then once it saves and does'nt boot you hit reset? I don't have a reset botton my lian li v2000.

[alpha0ne]

Hey 'burner why have'nt you plopped an Opty in this board yet ?? :)

[Afterburner]

Thanks for the reply. about to give those settings a go.

When you say turn it off though, how do you mean exactly? Do you go to save setings and exit, then once it saves and does'nt boot you hit reset? I don't have a reset botton my lian li v2000.
No prob :D Yes thats what I mean but oh bummer you dont have a reset Button :( You could try turning the system off and on instead. Note: If you are turning the unit on and off multiple times, it would be a good thing diconnecting the HDD first to avoid straining it :)

[Afterburner]

Hey 'burner why have'nt you plopped an Opty in this board yet ?? :)
Coz I dont have one coz I am no longer in the Armed Forces so I can no longer keep up the Hardware expenditure and not to mention the pay-per-hour here SUX big-time so the Grouper is basically my last purchase till Jan 2007 :p:

[G-Man]

OK, yeah see what you mean after having a little play with it. If it does'nt boot, turning on and off twice always seems to bring it back. It just turns the overclock settings back to auto.

Got a little higher with your settings, but now stuck at a less than impressive 270 HTT with just 2432 mhz on the CPU. The CPU can do this at default volts, its not even breaking a sweat. Any ideas why its not going any higher? What HTT are you running out of interest?

I did try upping the chipset volts but it made no difference.

thanks

[Afterburner]

Mine's doin 305 HTT so far with the settings I advised on and will push further when I have my Water Rig up and runnin...... :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/GrouperInitial.jpg

[Afterburner]

Woops abit of typo up there, post edited :p: Seriously mate I havent a clue why your Grouper isnt doing any higher. Jus bear in mind the settings I provided and play around and see if you get anything and don forget to let me know as well if you hit the Jackpot.......heheh :p:

[Afterburner]

Folks out there do take note that as with all Sapphire graphic solutions, this badboy is made in China and not Taiwan so dont be taken aback. Build quality and finish still amazes me till today...... :clap:

[G-Man]

Done a little more testing and I have def hit a rock solid wall on the motherboard at 270. even tried dropping the multiplier right down on the CPU. Tried increasing CPU volts further with no luck.

Wondering if my board is faulty or something. If I was stuck at 320 - 340, then fair enough, might be as high as the board can go, but 270? Just wish I knew WTF the problem is. Where are the ATI reps when you need them?

[G-Man]

Anyone had any floppy disk troubles? It always says "floppy disk fail 40" at boot despite me using a floppy drive that I KNOW works fine. So i can't even update the bios to see if the new one will make the board work as it's supposed too.

[SPQQKY]

flip your floppy drive cable around.

[Revv23]

Done a little more testing and I have def hit a rock solid wall on the motherboard at 270. even tried dropping the multiplier right down on the CPU. Tried increasing CPU volts further with no luck.

Wondering if my board is faulty or something. If I was stuck at 320 - 340, then fair enough, might be as high as the board can go, but 270? Just wish I knew WTF the problem is. Where are the ATI reps when you need them?


http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1116994#post1116994

[Bar81]

Folks out there do take note that as with all Sapphire graphic solutions, this badboy is made in China and not Taiwan so dont be taken aback. Build quality and finish still amazes me till today...... :clap:

What most people don't understand about Chinese production is that it's not all crap. Sure, the stuff you see in stores is Chinese produced crap but that's because you want it cheap. Chinese manufacturing spans the range from high quality high priced goods to throw away junk, it's the customer that determines what he wants and all too often they want cheap junk. Given the price of the board, the capacitors, and the build quality seen it's obvious Sapphire has gone the high quality and high price (obviously) route with their Chinese production facilities.

[Revv23]

i think hes saying that as for the fact that in the days of the NF2 infinity a chinese board sucked and a TW one was of very good quality.

[Afterburner]

I am sayin its all good........ :D

[G-Man]

flip your floppy drive cable around.

I managed to stop the floppy disk fail message, but now it won't read or format any disk i put in it. It worked fine on my nforce 2.

[G-Man]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1116994#post1116994

Yes, I know about that setting. Its set to high speed as it should be.

Just did a bit more testing after my computer locked up (Did'nt bother stability testing, as I assumed it would at least be stable at such a low speed) and it appears im in exactly the same situation as Smokeythebandit, I had to drop the HTT to 250 to get a successful 32M SuperPI run. I can't believe it! What on earth is wrong with these boards! I could of got better overclocking performance for 1/3rd of the price on a cheapy Asrock ULI board.

[Afterburner]

Patience buddy......allow Tony to receive his board and giude us ;)

[G-Man]

Yeah, i just hope its not long before someone can shed some light on this problem. I've spent a whole lot of cash on a new system and its not really any faster than my XP-M at the clocks i can get. Would'nt be so bothered if I was stuck at 300, at least that would give 2.7 on the opteron.

Found a working floppy drive in an old computer. Flashed the new bios and still have the exact same limit.

[G-Man]

Notice the review for the RDX 200 on VR zone came up against a similar wall at 270

http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/?i=2893&s=14

Noticed a couple of members mention it in the rdx 200 thread here too. Seems the new bios that just came out fixed it. Hope another bios for this isn't far away with a fix.

[Afterburner]

Looks like the Bios update from Sapphire made my Grouper really Horny :D
I hadn't given the updated bios a go since I updated it so I thought what da heck :p:

Vcore @ 1.45v
HT @ 1035mhz


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/Reheat/Grouper/Grouper345HTT.jpg

[Bar81]

What's the point of running the ridiculous HTT when you're RAM is only doing 230? Is there actually a performance increase in any real world application from jacking up the HTT by an extra 100 versus upping the multiplier and running the HTT and RAM at 230?

[Frodin]

What's the point of running the ridiculous HTT when you're RAM is only doing 230? Is there actually a performance increase in any real world application from jacking up the HTT by an extra 100 versus upping the multiplier and running the HTT and RAM at 230?
I guess the point is showing that the board is capable of high HTT, which is seriously needed by people with low multi cpus (like mye 3000 Venice which reaches 317+ HTT on the 9 (max) multi). And I don't think running insane HTTs with low dividers will show any performance difference vs lower HTTs, as long as the ram and cpu mhz are equal.

[Bar81]

I guess the point is showing that the board is capable of high HTT, which is seriously needed by people with low multi cpus (like mye 3000 Venice which reaches 317+ HTT on the 9 (max) multi). And I don't think running insane HTTs with low dividers will show any performance difference vs lower HTTs, as long as the ram and cpu mhz are equal.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Forgot about that. Low multi needs high HTT for large OC (I haven't bought anything lower than a 10x multi chip so I forgot about that). Thanks for that and the confirmation that if your multi is high enough there's no point in running the HTT at insane speeds otherwise.

[Afterburner]

What's the point of running the ridiculous HTT when you're RAM is only doing 230? Is there actually a performance increase in any real world application from jacking up the HTT by an extra 100 versus upping the multiplier and running the HTT and RAM at 230?
As mentioned I am tryin to show how high the HTT can go jus like how the DFI RDX200 folks are doin..... :) Like I mentioned earlier on I will need Tony's advice on running the TCCDs any higher but there's a definite improvement with this Bios as I couldnt go above 305 HTT and 200mhz + on the RAMs. As for real world applications......Doom3 is MUCH smoother and I can feel a boost in FPS and overall system response is so damn freakin fast you wouldnt believe it ! Furthermore I am usin an old 60GB PATA for testing and it scares me to think what would happen if I used my 74GB Raptor....... :eek:

[G-Man]

Nice results Afterburner!

Only wish my board worked properly like yours!

[Bar81]

As mentioned I am tryin to show how high the HTT can go jus like how the DFI RDX200 folks are doin..... :) Like I mentioned earlier on I will need Tony's advice on running the TCCDs any higher but there's a definite improvement with this Bios as I couldnt go above 305 HTT and 200mhz + on the RAMs. As for real world applications......Doom3 is MUCH smoother and I can feel a boost in FPS and overall system response is so damn freakin fast you wouldnt believe it ! Furthermore I am usin an old 60GB PATA for testing and it scares me to think what would happen if I used my 74GB Raptor....... :eek:

You're saying that at the SAME CPU speed, but higher HTT that a game is "MUCH" smoother? I find that not likely.

[Afterburner]

I can feel it thus far so we cant be certain for sure but for a mobo runnin @ 345 HTT and HT @ 1035mhz, system response and speed is insanely fast :slobber:

[Afterburner]

Nice results Afterburner!

Only wish my board worked properly like yours! Follow the same settings I recomended but this time increase the voltages for Xpress 200 and HT Link to 1.40v for both and see what you get this time :)

[dfx]

As mentioned I am tryin to show how high the HTT can go jus like how the DFI RDX200 folks are doin..... :) Like I mentioned earlier on I will need Tony's advice on running the TCCDs any higher but there's a definite improvement with this Bios as I couldnt go above 305 HTT and 200mhz + on the RAMs. As for real world applications......Doom3 is MUCH smoother and I can feel a boost in FPS and overall system response is so damn freakin fast you wouldnt believe it ! Furthermore I am usin an old 60GB PATA for testing and it scares me to think what would happen if I used my 74GB Raptor....... :eek:

Bro had u tried running timedemo in your doom3 console before and after
How much fps increase u see?

[Afterburner]

No I have not.......I will give it a go and report back :p:

[G-Man]

Follow the same settings I recomended but this time increase the voltages for Xpress 200 and HT Link to 1.40v for both and see what you get this time :)

Already tried that unfortunatly. Tried that last night, no change at all.

Got another opteron 144 turning up tomorrow for a PC im building for a friend, I'll try that one incase I've got some sort of freak CPU that won't go over 250 HTT.

[Sushi1976]

@all
Were it possibly on the Sapphire Pure A9RX480 with the bios from the 26.09.05 the multiplikator change down ? With me no other multi is taken over except the standard multi 11x200 (Venice 3500 +). Does somebody have the same problem or can test this?

Sushi

Sorry for my bad Englisch

[DJ_Datte]

I can attest that with some changes in bios, I can so far hit 325 HTT, and I am sure if I had the time to sit with the board for a whole day, I could get it a few notches higher.

Boys, hows your 12 Volt line. With my PSU's , the best I have it at is 11.79, but they arent superquality ones.

I can so far run HTT 315 at high speed, but my cpu is a dog, maxes out between 2.6 - 2.7 GHz.

/DJ

[G-Man]

I've got an OCZ powerstream so my rails are tip top. 12.3, 5.2, 3.4 not that it seems to do me any good as far as the board goes.

[kimandsally]

Not a lot seems to be happening, I was thinking of swapping out my DFI NF4 SLI-D is this a good board is it worth me swapping or is it better to wait?

[Afterburner]

Already tried that unfortunatly. Tried that last night, no change at all.

Got another opteron 144 turning up tomorrow for a PC im building for a friend, I'll try that one incase I've got some sort of freak CPU that won't go over 250 HTT.
Damn realli sorry to hear man...... :( It will be excellent if you gave the another chip a go before declaring the mobo a dud :)

[Afterburner]

@all
Were it possibly on the Sapphire Pure A9RX480 with the bios from the 26.09.05 the multiplikator change down ? With me no other multi is taken over except the standard multi 11x200 (Venice 3500 +). Does somebody have the same problem or can test this?

Sushi

Sorry for my bad Englisch I have no issues with the second Bios regarding Multipliers. I can use any multiplier I want and I have used 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5 and 9 :)

[Afterburner]

I've got an OCZ powerstream so my rails are tip top. 12.3, 5.2, 3.4 not that it seems to do me any good as far as the board goes.
Same here......I got a OCZ Powerstream 520w @ 12.07v / 5.07v / 3.60v respectively :p:

[Afterburner]

Not a lot seems to be happening, I was thinking of swapping out my DFI NF4 SLI-D is this a good board is it worth me swapping or is it better to wait?
The reason I got this mobo is becoz it can supposedly do 300+ HTT @ 4 x 512mb @ 2T which is excellent for my gaming. I have yet to see it do this so I suggest you hang on for awhile and let the BIOS mature...... :)

[kimandsally]

The reason I got this mobo is becoz it can supposedly do 300+ HTT @ 4 x 512mb @ 2T which is excellent for my gaming. I have yet to see it do this so I suggest you hang on for awhile and let the BIOS mature...... :)

Thanks for that, I'll keep my eye on this thread I'm sure you'll crack it soon.

[Hybrid]

These results look very promising! I was able to get my hands on an X1800 XT, but i dont have a PCI-E board :(. Im wating on these sapphire boards. Is there and updates on a US release date?

[G-Man]

tried another CPU in the board last night, no change. still not stable over 250.

I've had it with this POS board, Got a DFI RDX200 on the way. At least if you have a problem with a DFI and you post on DFI street you get a response. Sapphire support is non-existant. No reply on their forum, no reply to tech support emails. This will be the last sapphire board I'll buy.

[alpha0ne]

Maybe Sapphire dont know/HNFI that there is more to selling a mobo than just stocking the shelves :rolleyes:

[G-Man]

yeah, exactly. Sure, some people's seem to work great, but if it does'nt there isn't any help.

At least with a DFI you never feel like your alone with your problem, there is nearly always a thread of other people with the same problem and the manufaturers actually look at the forum to see what needs fixing for each bios update. Certainly does'nt seem to happen on the sapphire forum, makes you wonder how they will ever fix bios issues if they don't try and work thorugh them with their customers.

[alpha0ne]

yeah, exactly. Sure, some people's seem to work great, but if it does'nt there isn't any help.

At least with a DFI you never feel like your alone with your problem, there is nearly always a thread of other people with the same problem and the manufaturers actually look at the forum to see what needs fixing for each bios update. Certainly does'nt seem to happen on the sapphire forum, makes you wonder how they will ever fix bios issues if they don't try and work thorugh them with their customers.

Exactly !!.............That is the MAIN reason I buy DFI :fact:

That is why I will NEVER buy Sapphire until they have a proven track record with taking onboard and acknowledging user input :)

That is also the sole reason why I will NEVER buy any other make either

[Afterburner]

Relax guys......give Sapphire sometime :) This is their first Enthusiasts mobo. DFI didnt becum first class overnite either. Sapphire may not have the luxury of having someone like Oskar who engineers and then perfects marvels and so I think Sapphire is doin a good job thus far...... :)

[G-Man]

Got the DFI RDX200 in, flying along with full stability at 315HTT 2835 mhz on the CPU, using exact same settings that would'nt go over 250 on the sapphire.

Does 340 HTT no prob without even upping any voltages.

Not had 1 boot issue either yet! infact not one problem at all.

[markr]

Sapphire USA says Gouper end of November, Halibut middle of December for USA availability

[REBEL900]

Sapphire USA says Gouper end of November, Halibut middle of December for USA availability

Could you tell me again the difference between Halibut

and Grouper?

I used to know, but with all these mobos coming out at once, i forgot again..

Thanks :)

[deception``]

Halibut is the X-Fire compatible board...Grouper is for single GPU's only.

deception``

[REBEL900]

Gotcha...Thank You ;)

[Afterburner]

Does 340 HTT no prob without even upping any voltages.

I am runnnin @ stock volts as well now.....no bump in voltages needed to run 340 HTT :)

[Bar81]

Sapphire USA says Gouper end of November, Halibut middle of December for USA availability

Sapphire USA are a bunch of strokeoffs :mad: There is no reason for this delay. I guess I'll have to get it from my UK contacts given my schedule of leaving the US by the 23rd of November.

[Nem]

Well I've had this board in for about a week now and not getting amazingly far with it. I can get stable at 260HTT for 2.6Ghz on my opty 146, but 270 is in windows but not stable.

Why is the cpu temp in the bios totally out but about 10 deg? 46 in the bios is about 35 in the ATI system manager, and 33 on my temp probe.

Why is the cpu voltage different everywhere? 1.40v and then 0.20v on the adjustment should give 1.60v right? Well in the bios stats it says 1.5v and in the ati manager it reads 1.45v I think.

I've put the stability setting in high speed which actually seems to make no difference at all. I've set the nb-sb control to enhanced and that also oes nothing apart from kill the onboard lan port.

Anyone got any more ideas on this board, or got any further with it? I'm sat looking at the dfi nf4 ultrad on my desk which was doing 300htt solid for 3Ghz on the opty and wondering why I'm wasting my time with the sapphire.

Nick

[Ket]

Relax guys......give Sapphire sometime :) This is their first Enthusiasts mobo. DFI didnt becum first class overnite either. Sapphire may not have the luxury of having someone like Oskar who engineers and then perfects marvels and so I think Sapphire is doin a good job thus far...... :)

they may not have oskar, but from seeing their bios personally for the board, they dont need him, their bios is better than anything oskar has done (more options etc) and if you have a bios related issue, for christs sake email their tech support, thats what its there for :brick: :fact:

[LowRun]

and if you have a bios related issue, for christs sake email their tech support, thats what its there for :brick: :fact:

Sapphire support is non-existant. No reply on their forum, no reply to tech support emails. This will be the last sapphire board I'll buy.

Seems to be a :fact: too.

[Afterburner]

I have no qualms wat-so-eva with Sapphire and their Bioses.......my mobo is happily humming away @ 340 HTT :p:

[Bar81]

Yeah, really not enthused about this board anymore given the lack of support for their products on their own forums, lack of availability in the US, and price. Probably will just save my money and wait for RD580 anyway as that actually looks like a product that offers something new outside of tweaking options; besides the ASRock is a great board even for good type ocing given the right choice components.

[fareastgq]

why the heck isn't this board in the US? I couldn't wait so I picked up a an832, I guess I'll get the sapphire when/IF it comes then keep whichever is better.

[STEvil]

The board can be found on ncix.com (for pre-order).

[situman]

This board is pretty much outdated when RD580 is just around the corner or so Anandtech reported. If you have the A8N32, hold on to it until something even better comes out.

[Bar81]

This board is pretty much outdated when RD580 is just around the corner or so Anandtech reported. If you have the A8N32, hold on to it until something even better comes out.

Yup, not to mention that there will probably be high end boards based on the design from companies other than Sapphire.

[nn_step]

This board is an antique in the computer world and was basically vaporware.. SO bury the thread...

[alpha0ne]

This board is an antique in the computer world and was basically vaporware.. SO bury the thread...

Yep :fact: :yawn:

[fareastgq]

It's just such a shame that such good hardware went to waste and didn't make any money. Being a bussiness man, I hate seeing things that could have been an immense success become instant failure. I guess it can be the "reference board" still. ppl get excited over the damn an832 and that board is not even close to being a grouper... oh well.

[situman]

ATI claimed numerous times there wasn't any design or supply issues, yet the Sapphire was delayed beyong believe, a whole generation behind. Some of the unreleased boards look kinda crappy too. The asus model, you have to plug in a card in one of the empty PCIX slots if you are not using two cards, god forbid if you lose that card.

[Kenetixx]

LOL so many ppl bagging Sapphire because the boards are in limited quantitiys and there are probs, obviously these ppl dont know how marketing /sales/manufacturing works. Give it a bit more time guys then see what happens, if you think its easy to make and release a new board or any product for that matter from scratch, Go do it yourself anf see how much is involved :)

[Haltech]

I think what people are complaining about is how hyped up the saphire board was. You even had Grey Skull asking what people wanted, so right there, on this particular forum, you had a lot of exciting people. Not everyone is hiphop for Nvidia chipsets.. I personally dont like going out to a pub and having my only choice of beer being Harp. Its kind of funny, the way ATI/Saphire implemented the 4.0V dimm setup, resolved DFIs 4V Dimm problem, hence why the DFI NF4 Expert came out. ATIs supply channel to manf's is what screwed this board up.. Theres always Halibut.

[Kenetixx]

Yes true about the hype and then it died for some reason??
I have 2 of these boards coming this weekend , and to tell the truth im not that excited about it anymore :|

[situman]

I bought myself an A8n32. Might as well wait for the next gen chipset. It can't possibly take more than a few months for it to come out since M2 is coming at the end of the 2nd qtr of 2006 or something. Unless RD580 gets changed to socket M2.

[alpha0ne]

Unless RD580 gets changed to socket M2.

That would be the logical choise IMO :)

[nilsrock]

I have this board and I'm pretty happy with it. It can do at least 300 HTT.

I have a problem with my HDDs breaking down though. Any ideas on why that would be? Am I supposed to use som particular SATA-ports? I'm beginning to think that I've accidentally run to high LDT and thats what has destroyed the drives. Could there be another plausible reason? :confused:

[Grayskull]

What HT multiplier are you using? If you're using x3 then there shoudln't be any problems with the HT bus. If you are using x4 then you might have problems depending on a few factors.


I have this board and I'm pretty happy with it. It can do at least 300 HTT.

I have a problem with my HDDs breaking down though. Any ideas on why that would be? Am I supposed to use som particular SATA-ports? I'm beginning to think that I've accidentally run to high LDT and thats what has destroyed the drives. Could there be another plausible reason? :confused:

[Redheads]

Have that board also running at 9x300HTT with my 3000+ venice running raid 0 on sil 3112 1 and 2 tryed alos 3 and 4 no problem sil 3132 sata 2 also works with no problem

[nilsrock]

What HT multiplier are you using? If you're using x3 then there shoudln't be any problems with the HT bus. If you are using x4 then you might have problems depending on a few factors.
I hope I'm right thinking that the "LDT Bus Frequency" is the HT miltiplier in disguise. (I have read it in this very thread.) I have it set to 600 wich I'm pretty shure mens HT multi = 3.

What about the Upstream and Downstream LDT Bus Widht, should I leave it at 16 bit?

On my first HHD destruction session, when I crashed two Maxtor DM9 PATA I had the LDT Bus at 800 and I might have been stupid enough to combine that with 300+ HT.

But now my replacement HDD, a brand new WD 320GB SATA, died on me. And this time it's even more serious. The Maxtors could be revived by formating, but the WD is just dead. WD diagnostic tool says it's worse than worst case scenario.

Through all of these adventures the system disk has been a WD raptor 36GB and it's still working away flawlessly.

[Master_G]

Im caught in 2 minds now, been waiting for the Grouper board for so damn long now, was going to buy it in a few weeks time, but seeing the RD580 just around the corner with better features and according to anandtech no 1000HTT limit.
However, going on what happened to Grouper, if i wait for the RD580 im worried that it will be so late that M2 will be upon us and i cant afford that big an upgrade but dont want to upgrade to stuff that is already outdated.
I think im going to wait, though i was really looking forward to messing around with my system this holiday. :(

G

[markr]

It is here at Eggy in case you missed it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813154006

[alpha0ne]

I wonder if the the newer model with the 580SB will have 3 x PCI instead of just the 2 and that huge unused space at the bottom of the board :rolleyes: