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

[Thrawn]

Which Bios is that?

F3 BIOS

[Kampfflummi]

Ok I just testet the same with F3 and got the same results.
Also, I testet 1:1 against 4:5. At 400FSB that means DDR1000, but CPUZ reports the right timings at 4:5 so I figured it worth a try.
To make it short; DDR1000 beats DDR800 in Case of stability. Funny...

If your shots are real all I can guess is that the real ram issue on this Board is linked to certain sticks only, which should be clear by now, while the wrong showing of the Timings occurs always.

btw I am impressed your sticks do DDR1000 at all, is it stable?

[Thrawn]

btw I am impressed your sticks do DDR1000 at all, is it stable?

Quite stable. I'm on my second DS3 right now (the shot before was on my 1st DS3). This one is not as good as the first and doesn't seem to like "Auto" settings or the 1:1 dividers. I have to use the 4:5 dividers to achieve stability. Running in "daily use" at 408 FSB now on an e6400. RAM is at 1020 odd 5-7-7-24 2.0v.

[Kampfflummi]

Well...that is about the same problem I desribed, isn't it? So maybe you should test what I testet so we can be sure.

Why did you give away your old Board anyway?

[CrazyJohn]

My result is with Corsair PC-5300 Value sticks. I really doubt value stick can pull off CAS 3 at 500 FSB. So the reading must be false.

That is my opinion to.

I think the dvd+rw (pioneer 111d) problem I experienced was actually the fault of bios f3 and not the drivers as I previously said.

i need another confirmation and i'll change faq

[mkorpal333]

Quick question, how hard is it to flash the bios on the DS3. I'm thinking of getting it and if it's going to be a pain to flash, than I will wait to make sure that a decent bios is shipped with the board. I've never actually flashed bios, so I'm not sure how hard it is.

[ste]

I'm getting the same problems as Kampfflummi. There is only a problem when using the 1:1 ratio. All other ratios seem fine to me. When I use 4:5 ratio my ram is stable at ~460Mhz, when using exactly the same timings but changing the ratio to 1:1, the system won't even load windows. Something has to be wrong with the 1:1 ratio at least for some kinds of Ram. I'm using G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 NR Series 5-5-5-15 ram

[CrazyJohn]

Quick question, how hard is it to flash the bios on the DS3. I'm thinking of getting it and if it's going to be a pain to flash, than I will wait to make sure that a decent bios is shipped with the board. I've never actually flashed bios, so I'm not sure how hard it is.

a baby can do it
windows, dos, bios (from bios special menu) flash. easy like 1,2,3... under windows it's like 4clicks on special buttons, don't worry

[thunderstruck!]

I've got a question about this mobo and decided to post here instead of creating a thread, but I haven't found an answer.

When I boot up, the system powers on (fans begin to spin), then stalls (fans pause for 1-2 seconds, then the fans start spinning again normally and it POSTS.

Is this normal? I just installed this DS3 w/ a 6400. Using box cooler for now.

[TimothyB]

I think in the FAQ here there are some questions related to how the board will go on and off, once or many times in a row. So feel better that it's normal for various reasons for this mobo to do this. So check out the fact to find out if one of the answers about it restarting clears things up for yo.

But does your mobo post fine from then on after the initial power on?

I can't give anymore feedback because I have the ZX GSkill ram which doesn't work so my system so it powers on and off endlessly right now until my new ram that will arrive later today.

[mkorpal333]

Another quick question, how hot does the NB get? Is it worth it to get aftermarket cooling for the NB? I was thinking that if I had room, I would get a thermalright HR-05.

[CrazyJohn]

read the faq ;[

[mkorpal333]

read the faq ;[

Oops. I've read it at least twice but I must have missed it. Do you know of any results from people who replace the NB heatsink. Like a max OC with the stock and a max OC with the aftermarket.

[CrazyJohn]

no, no results, sorry
but the NB itself is so damn hot that i am thinking of putting sth there... but what can fit under ninja :| and it has to be silent... i've got a problem...
anyway it's normal that the NB is so hot that u cannot touch it

[Pjoeloe]

So I gues the best bios for the ds3 for the highest fsb`s possible is currently the F3 bios from Gigabyte`s webpage ?

[CrazyJohn]

f4c if ur mem boots at 1.8V

[Pjoeloe]

And why is the f4c better than f3 ? We want all to obtain the highest fsb possible , I am curious if the f4c is better for high fsb`s.

[Rare1]

Great info!

Subscribed

[Lt_JWS]

I've been doing some testing with my DS3/E6400, I can prime @ 3.2Ghz 400x8 1.475vcore in bios, wont bootup with any higher setting with "virtualization" technology enabled, with it disabled i can boot @ 3.3 and its pretty much stable, just wondered if anyone else had the same results???

[ocZZZ]

anything over 400fsb is crap with mine with virtualization or not.

I've been doing some testing with my DS3/E6400, I can prime @ 3.2Ghz 400x8 1.475vcore in bios, wont bootup with any higher setting with "virtualization" technology enabled, with it disabled i can boot @ 3.3 and its pretty much stable, just wondered if anyone else had the same results???

[korruptedone]

no, no results, sorry
but the NB itself is so damn hot that i am thinking of putting sth there... but what can fit under ninja :| and it has to be silent... i've got a problem...
anyway it's normal that the NB is so hot that u cannot touch it

http://www.frozencpu.com/vid-64.html?id=IeQ2eoum

I have that plus the Ninja mounted, just got all of my stuff today finally. Mounting the NB cooler was a little scary (haven't seen a naked NB in ages...used to a heatspreader) and I'm not even sure if my system is gonna boot, but I do have this + the Ninja. As long as it turns on I think it's a good pairing.

[fyleow]

I noticed that the memory dividers aren't really stable. If I run at stock speeds using the 667mhz or 800mhz dividers it crashes my system. But I can run using the 1:1 divider at 333 mhz FSB, giving me the same 667mhz on the memory and everything works fine. What is going on?

[Pjoeloe]

So I gues F4c is the preferred DS3 BIOS right now because CPU-Z showes the information correctly with this bios. Ok

[fyleow]

Can't get 7 x 400 = 2.8 ghz stable with an E6300 @ 1.4Vcore. I wonder if it's a crappy CPU or a crappy board. Using an Thermalright SI-120, and RAM seems to pass memtest at this speed.

[Pjoeloe]

changelog F3 to F4c ( download here : http://www.venomousmofo.com/XtremeSy...S3/965PDS3.F4C )

"this bios greatly improves compatibility with ram"

"PIO MODE problem is fixed with F4 bios"

" You may have to boot with 1 stick of ram to get the board to post out of the box, then flash the bios and try both sticks "

"can allow to use 2.1V ram and++"

"you need to turn off all unnecessary things in the BIOS, USB legacy, parallel ports etc"

"DMA mode is fully working" to check this : Go to device manager from system. Under IDE ATA/Atapi controller, right click on primary ide channel (maybe multiple) for properties. Should be under advanced settings tab =>transfer mode.

Lestat ""the F3 bios would reset the bios and let you boot into the bios if you overclocked too far. the F4 bios isnt letting you do that. you have to reset the bios. i dont care for that but hey they are making progress and its a beta so..."

" Due to the 4MB cache and hitting the 1066 memory strap earlier, these CPUs have not been clocking as high on the P965 boards (9x410 or so) unless you drop the mulitplier which defeats the purpose of buying one. The bios revisions are coming in hot and heavy right now"

and remember, the North Bridge get`s very warm, even @ 300 mhz fsb so cool it PROPER

>> To go to the advanced settings in the bios : hit ctrl F1

Who does the bios flash in windows ?