GIGABYTE DS3 FAQ by CrazyJohn /FAQ on 1st page/

Slacker, it appears a lot of people were having X-Fi compatibility problems with F6, so I flashed back to F5 and it seems to have fixed the problem. Another possible solution is raising the PCI Bus Latency from 32 (factory set) to 64 or 128. To get to PCI latency, just do Ctrl+F1 in BIOS as usual, and it's under PCI/PnP Configurator or whatever.

If raising PCI latency doesn't help, flashing to F5 seems to be the best solution for now. F6, in my opinion, is still too new, even in its final release, to be assumed as stable as F6 (September 6th). Wait for F7, I suppose, to see if the problems in F6 are fixed without having to flash to an earlier BIOS.

But F5 gave me the same overclock as I had with F6, so meh.

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Originally Posted by snips

Lil problem here.

I am able to o/c to this:

But after that i cant raise FSB...

1st i thought it was my memory (DDR2-667) but then i raised the mem divider to 4:5 and i was able to do that (timings are AUTO):

I have to say i didnt try to do more. Maybe ram can do better...i ll try later. But that is not the case.

All voltages are in NORMAL mode. Tried to raise manually Vdimm by 0.4 but i got a FAILED msg in bios.

Why PC cant hold more FSB than 430 in 1:1???Am i missing something here?

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It could just be the limit of your chip. 3.4 GHz is pretty good. If you think you're at a FSB wall, lower the multi and go from there.

Does everyone put there pci-e to 100 or should it be auto? If i put auto and overclock will it like destory the card?

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Originally Posted by crspyjohn

Does everyone put there pci-e to 100 or should it be auto? If i put auto and overclock will it like destory the card?

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I always lock it in at 100, and seems most people do or anywhere from 100 - 110. I'm not sure about destroying the card, but I'm sure locking it down would help your overclock and stability...

I leave mine set to 100

and F6 is stable as F4 for me.

Can't wait to see what F7 will bring.

gah i had a c2d for a month then sold it and been without one for a week!~!!! i cant take it

Does anyone know the specified amperages of the DS3's fan headers?

I am thinking about using some meaty Delta fans, but want the montherboard to control their noise. I can not find the specification in Gigabyte's DS3 manual.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=125050

My overclock on a Gigabyte DQ4@DQ6 F5 BIOS, not bad for a stock voltage system Orthos small FFT at max 50c! Will try to go even further, but I'd like to know if it stays stable at this speed for a longer time.
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/609/2800ocqx0.jpg

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Originally Posted by darkandlong

It could just be the limit of your chip. 3.4 GHz is pretty good. If you think you're at a FSB wall, lower the multi and go from there.

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Well I lowered the multi and FSB went up a little with devider 1:1....around 445...Normal volatges and timings...

So i CAN raise the FSBmoire than 430, memory CAN handle more than 870Mhz (430 fsb), but i cant seem to pass the 3.44 in 1:1....
And....since cpu is watercooled i doubt it is the upper limit of it. Should i "touch" FSB and VMCH voltages?

Can someone with a 7950-gx2 let me know what they are using for PCIE frequency and PCIE voltage? I am dual orthos stable but I am having lots of strange video problems OCed FSB to 400. I dont think its my memory or processor becuase I can run dual prime/orthos for hours without problems as well as PI calculations and temps are just fine. My video seems flakey though. Sometimes windows doesn't completely load on reboot(freezes at windows splash screen) or loads to a blank black screen. I have a feeling it is related to my video card rather than processor/memory.

Also occassionaly on a reboot my whole bios boot screen is got weird scrambly characters and colors.

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Originally Posted by HeadShotWI

Can someone with a 7950-gx2 let me know what they are using for PCIE frequency and PCIE voltage? I am dual orthos stable but I am having lots of strange video problems OCed FSB to 400. I dont think its my memory or processor becuase I can run dual prime/orthos for hours without problems as well as PI calculations and temps are just fine. My video seems flakey though. Sometimes windows doesn't completely load on reboot(freezes at windows splash screen) or loads to a blank black screen. I have a feeling it is related to my video card rather than processor/memory.

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I got the same problem, try setting the PCIE frequency to 100 or 105, 105 seem to work better for me. I get less blank black screen when i play game and alt+tab to window.

I have an issue, not sure when it started doing it, but for some reason whatever I set my fsb to in the bios, like say, I set it to 400, when I reboot it reports it as 399, and it says the same in windows. wtf? f6 bios, and it worked fine before.

does anyone have DVI issues?

I have a ds3 and a x1800xt, and is I use DVI cable i get no image at all. either in bios or windows, i get no image output trought the DVI.

if i use dvi to VGA converter, it works fine.

I tested this vga card in p5wdh and p5b and it works just fine.

is there any bios or some setting to solve this problem?

i'm using lastest bios on site. F6

know anyone of this board boot with subzero temps ?

Some board are reading ~255degrees when the cpu is under subzero and don't boot because the bios thinks the cpu is to hot.

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Originally Posted by chaos30

I got the same problem, try setting the PCIE frequency to 100 or 105, 105 seem to work better for me. I get less blank black screen when i play game and alt+tab to window.

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I have the same issues, even at stock speeds/voltages.

Play a game for a few minutes, and it completely locks up. Have to hard re-boot, but most of the time doesnt display anything, or locks up getting into windows

Subzero! Ur Chip Is Freezing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got a DS3 and some fruity things are happening.

1) My onboard sound isn't working, windows says it doesn't even exist. It is set to "auto" in the bios. In sound and audio devices under the audio and voice tabs it says no playback devices.

2) In the bios it says my E6600 has a multiplyer of 6 and an of 100mhz. On cpuz it says that the cpu is 6x277. It should be 6x400, in system properties it says it is a 2.4 ghz cpu.

3) My temps in the bios are reading low to mid 70s idle, this can't be right.

If anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

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Originally Posted by The_Hardstylez

know anyone of this board boot with subzero temps ?

Some board are reading ~255degrees when the cpu is under subzero and don't boot because the bios thinks the cpu is to hot.

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No problems with subzerotemps

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Originally Posted by remorema

does anyone have DVI issues?

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Do you have BIOS set to PEG graphics first? Tried pushing the button on your LCD to switch from analog (VGA) to digital (DVI)?

I've had real "rocket scientists" not try the second one and claim the computer or monitor was broken...

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Originally Posted by Omastar

Slacker, it appears a lot of people were having X-Fi compatibility problems with F6, so I flashed back to F5 and it seems to have fixed the problem. Another possible solution is raising the PCI Bus Latency from 32 (factory set) to 64 or 128. To get to PCI latency, just do Ctrl+F1 in BIOS as usual, and it's under PCI/PnP Configurator or whatever.

If raising PCI latency doesn't help, flashing to F5 seems to be the best solution for now. F6, in my opinion, is still too new, even in its final release, to be assumed as stable as F6 (September 6th). Wait for F7, I suppose, to see if the problems in F6 are fixed without having to flash to an earlier BIOS.

But F5 gave me the same overclock as I had with F6, so meh.

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Exactly! I had the same XF-I issue w/ the F6 BIOS. I tried raising the PCI latency to 64 and 128 and nothing helped. Today I switched back to the F5, and seems to be OK again. Thank god My OC was still stable (458*7) I primed for 1 hour (dual SP2004) then played FEAR for awhile, KNOCK ON WOOD, all seems good again. I didnt really like the F6 BIOS, caused me more issues then it was worth.

F5 for DS4 helped me out big time

I can now do 3.2Ghz 1.28V and 3.6Ghz 1.45V

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Originally Posted by Paladin

Do you have BIOS set to PEG graphics first?

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nop, going to try that ASAP.

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Originally Posted by Paladin

Tried pushing the button on your LCD to switch from analog (VGA) to digital (DVI)?

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yep, done that. but no success.

tkx for helping. going to try that peg first to see if it works.

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Originally Posted by Brainstew

I just got a DS3 and some fruity things are happening.

1) My onboard sound isn't working, windows says it doesn't even exist. It is set to "auto" in the bios. In sound and audio devices under the audio and voice tabs it says no playback devices.

2) In the bios it says my E6600 has a multiplyer of 6 and an of 100mhz. On cpuz it says that the cpu is 6x277. It should be 6x400, in system properties it says it is a 2.4 ghz cpu.

3) My temps in the bios are reading low to mid 70s idle, this can't be right.

If anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

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1. Installed Azalia drivers?

2. E6600 has multi of 9. Should be 9x266, not 6x400

3. Your CPU is probably clocked itself down due to the temps. Re-install your HSF, something is obviously wrong.

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Originally Posted by remorema

nop, going to try that ASAP.

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didnt work :(

i dont get image trought DVi output no matter what config i use.
i'm going to try other bioses to see if i can solve this problem.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but can someone provide a basic overview of how much impact memory timing has on system performance. I'm running my DS3 at a mild overclock with the clock frequency increased from 266 to 320 Mhz so my E6600 is running at 2.88GHz. I've also set the memory multiplier (or whatever it's called) to 2.66 so my Corsair XMS 6400C4 memory is running at 851MHz (51Mhz over the stock speed of 800MHz). I have all of the memory parameters in BIOS set to auto except for the DIMM voltage which is set to +0.2 so the memory is running at 2.0 volts.

When I check the memory settings using CPU-Z it indicates that the memory timings are set to 5-6-6-20 whereas the memory is rated to run at 4-4-4-12. The system seems to be running perfectly at the current settings but I'm wondering if it's worth the trouble to try running the memory at a slower speed (i.e. change the multiplier to 2.5 so the memory is running at 800Mhz) and start playing around with the settings for timing or is it better to run it at the faster speed with the current timings.

Thanks in advance for your help and I'm sorry if I got any of the terminology wrong (I'm new to overclocking and still trying to make sense of all the variables involved).:)

Is there already a version of memtest86 that support P965 ?

And is there a bios that you can set 1.65v or 1.70v ?

Yes, there will be a performance improvement with tighter timings.

However, the amount of that is contentable. You should have better results by having your memory divider at 1:1 (if possible ;)).

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Originally Posted by Zoomer

Yes, there will be a performance improvement with tighter timings.

However, the amount of that is contentable. You should have better results by having your memory divider at 1:1 (if possible ;)).

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Thanks Zoomer. I guess it's just a matter of trying different combinations of settings until you find the one that gives the best performance. However, I'm still wondering if the general consensus is to focus on running the memory at a faster clock speed (i.e 800+MHz) or to focus on better timing settings.

What's the word about the chipset loosening timings up until 400 FSB at which point they're reset again?? I've read that somewhere

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Originally Posted by Frackal

What's the word about the chipset loosening timings up until 400 FSB at which point they're reset again?? I've read that somewhere

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Have a look at this for some info/user experiences: http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=114726

Note though, I haven't had this happen lately with current config. - 8x400/DQ6/F5

I actually have the rest at 400fsb too, it is annoying.


What I was asking about though is, is there some kind of performance difference between 399 and 400fsb due to something about the chipset timings being loosened as it is overclocked up until 399fsb and then at 400fsb the timings are reset again back to their original "tighter" settings?

It goes for the DQ4 as well (or maybe DQ6 'cause I flashed my DS4 to DQ6, but it is probably for all the P965 series of Gigabyte anyway). At 399 memtest gives a throughput of 4031MB/s, @400 4052MB/s and @401 3910MB/s!!!! So after the 400FSB the strap goes to 1333!

So not counting the minute core clock difference, it's actually better speedwise to be at 399 than at 401? If that's the case, works for me cause this stupid thing doesn't like 400 ATM anyway

Is anyone else having problems with their screen flashing black or not being able to recognize the computer after playing games for a bit? Usually after about 20 minutes of hardcore gaming at 1680x1050 the screen will start flickering black or the monitor will go into the same state it does when it's in standby, but it doesn't come back unless you restart the computer. So far the only possible causes I can think of are:

The video card dying
Video Card Drivers
Bad DVI cable
Motherboard problem

Is anyone else having this problem with the DS3 and if so how did you fix it?

LOL that's weird, because I've been having problems with source games freezing about 20 minutes in, although I initially thought it was just my x1900xtx oc being too high, or some defrag errors I had related to PerfectDisk8 (which seems buggy). Can you please add your system specs to your sig Brainstew?

Specs:
CPU: Conroe E6600 @ 2.4 (Waiting for new cooler to OC)
RAM: 2 GB Corsair Dual Channel XMS2 DDR2 800
GPU: Ati Radeon X700 Pro With Latest ATI drivers/CCC (Maybe the Issue)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 250GB
PSU: OCZ GameXtreme 700 watt PSU
Mobo: Gigabyte GA 965P DS3
Case: Antec p180b
Monitor: Samsung 205bw 20" Widescreen Display

Oh you're not even OC'ed ? I'm not sure then. In my case it doesnt go blank, it just freezes and I can exit out into windows and shut it down via task manager

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Originally Posted by Dublin_Gunner

I have the same issues, even at stock speeds/voltages.

Play a game for a few minutes, and it completely locks up. Have to hard re-boot, but most of the time doesnt display anything, or locks up getting into windows

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I'm having the same problem as you I think, have you found a solution?

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Originally Posted by Brainstew

I'm having the same problem as you I think, have you found a solution?

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I am also having the same problem. Its either my video card or motherboard not sure which yet..... NO clue how to fix it. I personalyl think its the motherboard though and the crappy F6 bios.

It turns out in my case that it was either a bad dvi cable or something is wrong with the dvi on my monitor or gfx card, because I tried the analog cable and everything is working fine with no black outs. I guess in my case it has nothing to do with the board.

On my DS3, bios F5, Bios sets back to 266 fsb when i disconnect the power cable from the computer. Is this normal or has anyone else ran in to this issue?

I have returnedf my DS3 due to too many incompatibility prblems and the constant re-setting of clocks driving me insane.

Strange, I haven't had any issues at all. The settings would reset if I set a bad OC or something, but my rig has been stable in both XP and Vista. Currently running F5 with my E6600 @ 3.2.

If I OC I get some high pitch squeeling from the mobo, also if my OC is too high I have to take out my graphics just to reset the CMOS.

Not to mention anything above 340 is unstable on E6600..

Take out your GFX???

Just short the pins with a screwdriver or something....

Is it those two pins just "north" of the battery? (if north is towards the GPU/CPU direction)

btw,

I too am getting this OC resetting issue, and it is annoying. If Gigabyte can do anything to get these boards to be more cooperative at over 400fsb, that'd be great.

For me the cutoff is literally 400, I have mine set back at 399fsb now because 410 was working fine until I turned my PC on this morning and it reset the clocks again

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Originally Posted by Frackal

Is it those two pins just "north" of the battery? (if north is towards the GPU/CPU direction)

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That would be the ones....

Sweet, thats much easier than having to dig around and switch the jumper on my DFI

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Originally Posted by Frackal

Sweet, thats much easier than having to dig around and switch the jumper on my DFI

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Not when it's mounted right under the GPU...

As I said, just short the jumper with a screwdriver or something, easy.

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Originally Posted by Dublin_Gunner

As I said, just short the jumper with a screwdriver or something, easy.

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I was thinking it'd be easier to attach two wires to it, and maybe a button or switch for ease of use.

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Originally Posted by Dominus

I was thinking it'd be easier to attach two wires to it, and maybe a button or switch for ease of use.

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If you plan on resetting the CMOS everytime you turn on the PC, maybe. Otherwise a complete waste of time. Takes a few seconds with a screwdriver.

Just touch the 2 pins, done.

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Originally Posted by Dominus

Not when it's mounted right under the GPU...

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Haha! So true...would it be so hard to put this in the lower right corner Mr. Board maker?

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Originally Posted by MightyOne

I've just put my new system together and have the following problem: after I power it up the fans start spinning and the LEDs light up for a second, then shut down again. One or two seconds later, the system seems to actually start, but the monitor doesn't get a signal ...

Hardware is:
Conroe 6400
Gigabyte DS3
2GB Team DDR2-667 3-3-3
Point of View GF7900GT

I've switched out the 7900GT and still have the same problem, everything but the graphics card, monitor and keyboard is unplugged.

Has anybody else had that problem before (and knows some extraordinarily simple solution to it that I just haven't found? ) or is my DS3 DOA?

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I have a Gigabyte GA-965PDS3 from newegg retail. It is rev C2 and it came with BIOS F4 out of the box. I installed with my E6300 Core 2 duo and Geil DDR2 6400 4-4-4-12 2.1Volts and I was able to boot. I installed WindowsXP SP2, games, software everything without any Issue. Then I up grated to BIOS F6 from Gigabytes website and everything was working fine and I was able to OC (You can see the PIC) for 2 days with no issues. After that, just one day I turned on my system just like everyday, It said something like recovering the image, looking for in drive C\:... It didn't boot so I turned off then back on but now it goes on for 1 sec. Then it goes on for 2 secs and off, then on and off again... The PSU fan spins, But the CPU fan doesn't. It's like he tried to but there is no spinning. Vcard fan Spins.

I though it was a memory problem but I tried 2 different memories (cheap ones) with the same result. I also cleared the CMOS but it stills the same. I tried with 2 different PSU and still the same. I tried with a Pentium 4 LGA775 630 and it still the same (on and off).

I red the 35 pages of this forum and I found:

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Originally Posted by Fred_Pohl

I had exactly the same problem with my DS3. Even Gigabyte TS concluded that I had a corrupted bios. I had it packed up and ready to RMA when I decided to give it one more try. These are the steps I used to revive my DS3 and what I think is happening:

1) Remove 24-pin power lead from mobo

2) Remove battery

3) Wait 1/2 hour

4) Reinstall battery

5) Re-attach 24-pin power lead

6) Short power pins (press pwr button)

7) If mobo continues to power-on and immediately shut down, short power jumpers (hold power button) for several seconds.

When I did this, my mobo beeped and posted.

I believe that the Gigabyte self-test post routine (failed OC recovery) can get stuck and recycle continuously. By shorting the power pins for more than 4 seconds you can break the cycle and it will reset to bios defaults. This may or may not work for you but it did work for me and I'm very happy with my DS3 now.

I hope this helps.

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I followed those steps and in the first run the Board turn on, then off, then on and it was on, with all the fans spinning, and the HDD LED blinking but with no video and no beeps. I restart and it went back to on and off, on and off.

I'm outside the US for 4 months so it’s complicated to RMA my Board, if someone can help me I will really really appreciate it. Because I understand you need as much info as possible this is my system:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
PSU: 750Watt
VCARD: MSI NX6600GT TD128 128MB
RAM: 2X512 Geil 6400 2.1v 4-4-4-12
MB: Gigabyte 965P DS3 BIOS F6 REV C2.
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy SE (2nd PCI)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA2 Perpendicular recording 320GB
Floppy
DVD LG H10A
Cables =P


nax007!!!

Picture here: http://www.laneros.com/attachment.ph...8&d=1159637966

@nax007, interesting procedure. I've experienced the same issues before, the last time resulted in RMA. As it happens, there was a broken cpu socket pin. This may explain the last time but not the previous times. It seems quite random and I can't offer any sure-fire fix.

Try the same procedure with that 'cheapo' ram you mentioned. The fix for most people is to insert 1.8v (default) ram and that does the trick.

I've recovered before by disconnecting the power or switching off the PSU and then starting the machine. Should fire for a second and then die (draining the last bit of any stored power). Then remove your battery or short the pins next to it.

Try it again. RMAing is PITA. I was three weeks without by board!

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Jodiuh

Haha! So true...would it be so hard to put this in the lower right corner Mr. Board maker?

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DFI's SLI-DR was the worst lol

What is the recommended sata connection to be using. I am not clear the diff between the 4 orange and the 2 separate controllers. Which is better I am doing a fresh format right now

Orange is better from what I read on the forum.

The orange ones are controlled by ICH8, and the purple ones are controlled by Gigabyte Sata (JMicrion?). So best the choice is the orange ones.

While we're on the subject, has anyone succesfully added a drive to create a new array without losing data on the current drive? I threw the question in the bios thread, but it probably belongs here.

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Originally Posted by ClockCatcher

The orange ones are controlled by ICH8, and the purple ones are controlled by Gigabyte Sata (JMicrion?). So best the choice is the orange ones.

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But you only get basic leghacy functions through the ICH8.

The jmicron controller gives you full SATA2 support, and the option of RAID

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Originally Posted by Dublin_Gunner

But you only get basic leghacy functions through the ICH8.

The jmicron controller gives you full SATA2 support, and the option of RAID

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What do you mean by full SATA2 support? And also with ICH8 you don't need sata drivers when you install Windows, because they are native ports, but with Jmicron sata ports you will need the drivers (at least so I read from manual).

I used the jmicron and didnt have to install drivers when installing windows.

The only drivers you need are on the CD, but it doesnt stop windows loading. You load them from windows.

You need to install the drivers if you want to enable AHCI which supports/provides 'full' SATA2 functions. If you haven't done that, you're not running SATA2.

"But you only get basic leghacy functions through the ICH8." This is not true.

If you've already installed Windows without installing the drivers, you have to some tricky business to get them enabled.

This is what I did on an existing install which worked perfectly (I have since rebuilt and installed the drivers at the outset via the F6 function.)

1. Shutdown and power off
2. Connect your OS drive to the GB controller (Purple headers-JMicron)
3. Boot to BIOS and check/change the boot order to the GB controller (it should do this for you depending on your system components/config)
4. Enable AHCI in BIOS
5. Save and reboot to Windows
6. Install the Intel Matrix Storage Technology drivers from the CD. (You cannot do this if AHCI is disabled as the software checks for it before proceeding. If disabled, you'll get the message that it is not supported by your board.
7. Reboot for good measure.
8. Shutdown and power off
9. Reconnect your OS drive back to the Intel ICH8 yellow headers
10. Boot to BIOS and change/check your boot to order (back to OS drive on ICH8)
11. Save and reboot to Windows

All done.

The main reason I enable AHCI for SATA2, is for hot swapping drives. I have a couple of removable drives that I use for backups etc and this allows me to successfully power off the drive, swap and power up again while Windows is running.

Does AHCI provide any other benefits than hot plug? I didn't find any information about AHCI features. Currently my SATA2 driver (Hitachi DeskStar 7k80) isn’t even run at full speed, only half of it, so maybe enabling AHCI will help?

Did you remove the sataI jumper on the back of the hd?

http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../cs-012304.htm

I searched on the forum and people said they can't really notice the speed difference and its useful for hotswaping.

AHCI enables the SATA2 functions, i.e., hot swap/plug, NCQ...and I think is also required for SATA2 300 Mps speeds, but not sure on this last one.

From memory, the difference in benchmarks between my SATA and SATA2 drives, using HD Tach, were slight.[edit: this must have been with the SATA2 disabled on the 'drive' by jumper, as difference in speed is significant.]

I get 260mb with sata2 and 130mb with my sata on hdtach.

Well, I used the purple headers on the DS3, enabled RAID on them, and installed the Gigabyte RAID utility. Then it let me create from existing disk, which had the same name...no free space statistics or drive labels to determine which drive was original tho. It does tell you Channel 0 or 1 and I unplugged 1 just to be sure. After a reboot, it rebuilt and gave me a mirror! :D

Has anyone gotten the Intel Matrix Manager software to work with the DS3? I can't find a version that supports the plain ICH8 (specifically, not the ICH8R)

Thanks,
-Eric

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Originally Posted by ekessel

Has anyone gotten the Intel Matrix Manager software to work with the DS3? I can't find a version that supports the plain ICH8 (specifically, not the ICH8R)

Thanks,
-Eric

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I suspect you need to do this (a few posts down in this thread;)):
http://xtremesystems.org/forums/show...&postcount=865

The Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver install does not recognise systems without AHCI enabled.

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Originally Posted by GAM

I suspect you need to do this (a few posts down in this thread;)):
http://xtremesystems.org/forums/show...&postcount=865

The Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver install does not recognise systems without AHCI enabled.

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That's completely right, BUT this guy has a DS3 with ICH8 and not ICH8R which doesn't support AHCI. So he can't get the IMS driver installed EVER, because everything under the DS4 doesn't have the R and thus doesn't support AHCI over the Intel SATA bus.

This means that Dublin Gunner is right with his statement and that ICH8 only has legacy support...
But the ICH8R has full SATA2 support

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheForce81

That's completely right, BUT this guy has a DS3 with ICH8 and not ICH8R which doesn't support AHCI. So he can't get the IMS driver installed EVER, because everything under the DS4 doesn't have the R and thus doesn't support AHCI over the Intel SATA bus.

This means that Dublin Gunner is right with his statement and that ICH8 only has legacy support...
But the ICH8R has full SATA2 support

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Thanks for clearing that up. Apologies for being misleading (I did actually think the DS3 had the same chip :slapass: )

Well GAM, I did too. I just built a DS3 for someone else and thought: Well lets turn on AHCI and enjoy the NCQ!
When I tried to turn it on I was like :stick: where is it, and browsed a bit more on the Intel and Gigabyte websites and found out...
I have to say that NCQ is a very nice feature and that with AHCI enabled (I don't care what benchmarks say) I notice a difference and therefore can recommend the ICH8R over the ICH8. So pay the 20Euro extra and go for the DS4 (or DQ6 of course) is my recommandation!

Phew! I wasnt talking from my ass!:woot:


Gonna pick up a new SATA2 drive with NCQ today myself, I want to see what the difference will be like from my standard SATA drive

So Dublin I guess you are going to use the JMicron controller of the GB chip?

Well I wont have a choice if I want to use NCQ etc

Yes that's exactly what I meant to say, I just was curious if you would do it on the JMicron and thus understand what you have to do to get NCQ working.

Yep, its fairly straight forward using the jmicron.

I'll give it a blast anyway. Considering they still havent collected my board for RMA yet (were meant to last monday, grrr). Currently using A64 3000+ system, as I've dismantled my Core 2 Duo system, my new RMA'd ram arrives tomorrow

Silly question, what does flashing the X1800XT gain you? Just wondering.

Thanks,
-Eric

DS3 - E6300 at 3.0 Ghz
Big Typhoon
PQI Cheapo Turbo Ram (set to auto)
X1800XT (currently stock, since BF2 has problems if I OC it)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dublin_Gunner

Well I wont have a choice if I want to use NCQ etc

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Unless your machine is a file server or you're doing serious multi-tasking, NCQ will probably lead to worse performance in a lot of areas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ekessel

Silly question, what does flashing the X1800XT gain you? Just wondering.

Thanks,
-Eric

DS3 - E6300 at 3.0 Ghz
Big Typhoon
PQI Cheapo Turbo Ram (set to auto)
X1800XT (currently stock, since BF2 has problems if I OC it)

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Basically his card can OC to XTPE speeds. By flashing the cards BIOS the card will default to these clocks when booting, instead of having a 3rd party app boot up and OC it when windows starts. Its just faster and easier.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kurg

Unless your machine is a file server or you're doing serious multi-tasking, NCQ will probably lead to worse performance in a lot of areas.

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Yeah, I don't understand why everyone wants NCQ. Pretty much every Storagereview.com review shows that except for some Maxtor models most drives are slower in single user environments when NCQ is enabled.

@ekessel
Sapphire released a BIOS for the cards [x1800xt 512] with the later revision pcb's and 6 phase power regulation circuit.

Basically, it changed the card to 700/1600 for 3d mode, as opposed to 625/1500. It also increases the voltage to the core to stabilise the higher clock, something that might not have been too stable on the older rev boards.

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I decided to go with a perpendicular recording drive instead of the one with ncq

which mem slots to use ? the red or the yellow ?? sorry if its been answered

also how can i tell what rev i have ??


last question .. since i might be sending my 6400 back .. should i just use the stock cooler with the thermal pad on it ? lol

who you directing that question at??

If by 'do you use' you mean 'should i use' I assume you're talking about the rig in your sig?? head on over to dfi-street.com, it depends really on what IC's your ram is using usually.


And use whatever cooler you like, preferably NOT the stock one because
1. Its crap
2. Better to send it back intact, not with the paste after being used
3. they will in no way be able to tell what cooler you used, or even if you used the chip at all if you clean it up properly

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dublin_Gunner

who you directing that question at??

If by 'do you use' you mean 'should i use' I assume you're talking about the rig in your sig?? head on over to dfi-street.com, it depends really on what IC's your ram is using usually.


And use whatever cooler you like, preferably NOT the stock one because
1. Its crap
2. Better to send it back intact, not with the paste after being used
3. they will in no way be able to tell what cooler you used, or even if you used the chip at all if you clean it up properly

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no no .. i just got a ds3 .. corsair 1066 ram and an e6400 .. all the stuff has a 30 day return policy

FYI, quick 'read test' between SATA and SATA2 drives in my machine. Note, CPU working 100% (dual folding instances, amongst other things) so don't look too closely at the actual result, just the difference between the two:
[edit: better example]
AHCI enabled ICH8R (SATA2) in Gigabyte DQ6
Red - Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 200GB SATA/150MB/s max
Blue - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2/300MB/s max (Contains OS partition too)
The SATA2 drive is over 100% faster according to this test (note, this was not performed in any accurate test environment or following guidelines, just an example of the difference in speed between the two drives/standards on my DQ6):
http://www.gam.net.au/forumimages/SATA-vs-SATA2.gif

Drive #0 is the SATA2 drive.
http://www.gam.net.au/forumimages/ST...0%25%20cpu.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jetjaguar

no no .. i just got a ds3 .. corsair 1066 ram and an e6400 .. all the stuff has a 30 day return policy

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only using the stock cooler to test it out .. if i like it .. ill get a better one

DAM can you please dumb down your screenshots as to what exactly do they show.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stalk3r

DAM can you please dumb down your screenshots as to what exactly do they show.

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lol

were talking about the rives theoretical performance.

I think the graph is quot straight forward. Blue is the sata2 drive, red is the sata drive. Just compare the 2.

what exactly are the differences between the DS3 and the S3?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GAM

FYI, quick 'read test' between SATA and SATA2 drives in my machine. Note, CPU working 100% (dual folding instances, amongst other things) so don't look too closely at the actual result, just the difference between the two:
[edit: better example]
AHCI enabled ICH8R (SATA2) in Gigabyte DQ6
Red - Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 200GB SATA/150MB/s max
Blue - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2/300MB/s max (Contains OS partition too)
The SATA2 drive is over 100% faster according to this test (note, this was not performed in any accurate test environment or following guidelines, just an example of the difference in speed between the two drives/standards on my DQ6):
http://www.gam.net.au/forumimages/SATA-vs-SATA2.gif

Drive #0 is the SATA2 drive.
http://www.gam.net.au/forumimages/ST...0%25%20cpu.png

---

For comparison, here is my 320Gb Seagate 7200.10 on a ICH8 controller in native mode:

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/3996/hdtachji2.jpg

There doesn't appear to be much difference between ICH8R with AHCI and ICH8 without.

Difference between DS and S is the D (duh:banana: ) where the D stands for Durability. This means that the Capacitors are Solid in the D series where they are Electrolytic in the normal series (it's a bit like the difference between Li-on and NiCam Batteries). So bottom line, you're board should last longer with the D series.

Well all's not quite well in Jmicron RAID land. It will create from an existing drive...every time I boot into windows. :D Oh well, back to Acronis True Image every couple weeks.

also there's a different integrated nic on the S3.

edit: i helped a buddy of mine from Australia get his S3 + 6300 to 3.185ghz, so the S3 is a VERY capable board.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fred_Pohl

For comparison, here is my 320Gb Seagate 7200.10 on a ICH8 controller in native mode:

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/3996/hdtachji2.jpg

There doesn't appear to be much difference between ICH8R with AHCI and ICH8 without.

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Thanks Fred, I didn't think AHCI was necessary for SATA2 speeds, just NCQ and Hot Swap (and anything else SATA2 supports other than speed, I guess).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GAM

Thanks Fred, I didn't think AHCI was necessary for SATA2 speeds, just NCQ and Hot Swap (and anything else SATA2 supports other than speed, I guess).

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Just doing my civic duty. I'd hate to see DS3 owners trusting their data to the JMicron controller thinking that there might be some advantage over using the ICH8.

Yeah, I don't use the JMicron (aka Gigabyte SATA controller) either. All yellow ICH8R headers (4 in use).