Official GIGABYTE X38-DQ6/X38T-DQ6 Info/BIOS Thread

[vanovich]

i see people are running the 2900xt's in crossfire, have the 2900's cought up to the 8800GTX yet???

hihi ,yes and passed .

[Teccxpert]

Anyone played with these options which I have circled in this screenshot?
Results? effects?

[GAR]

Anyone played with these options which I have circled in this screenshot?
Results? effects?

I was wondering the same thing.......anyone??

[zsamz_]

I was wondering the same thing.......anyone??

i found this

When timing problems occur between CPU and memory, your rig becomes unstable. If this happens while overclocking, you back off a bit thinking you reached your cpu/memory limits. If it happens during the initial boot of a new build you curse your bad luck and get ready to RMA your high-priced memory and/or mobo. One last adjustment you need to try before either of these actions, that might just save the day, is adjusting your clock skew. Timing issues can occur between any of the many buses in your computer, but it is a real problem when it occurs amidst the ultra high speed chatter of the cpu, memory controller and memory channels. Mobo manufactures know this and some, such as ASUS and DFI, provide settings in the bios to allow you to fine tune the memory clock and compensate for these timing issues. According to ASUS, you may be able to maintain a stable 10 to 15% performance pop by adjusting clock skew. It has also been reported that mystery compatibility problems between mobos and high quality memory modules such as Corsair and OCZ were fixed by adjusting skews.

The Bottom Line Adjustments:
Most overclockers leave clock skew adjustments at their factory default of “Auto.” The problem is that when overclocking at higher frequencies, the auto control does not adjust precisely enough to keep your overclock from crashing, hence a manual setting is often needed. Also, "Auto" cannot compensate sufficiently to resolve some memory compatibility problems.

Manual adjustments for clock skew are here for ASUS and DFI mobos:

ASUS mobos:

ASUS mobos allow you to tune each memory bank separately. Very handy, since each bank has its own transmission path and need different skews to be fully optimized.

In some ASUS mobos the bios adjustment is referred to as “DDR Clock Skew.” There is one for “Bank A” and another for “Bank B”. In other mobos they are referred to as “AI Clock Skew for Channel A” and another for “Channel B”.

Regardless of how they are labeled the choices are the same: “Auto”, “Normal” and a series of “Advance” (speed up clock - reduce setup/hold time) and “Delay” (slow down clock - increase setup/hold time) adjustments from 150ps to 900ps. These are not large adjustments - one picosecond (ps) is one trillionth of a second. Light travels only 3mm in one picosecond.

I don’t have any specific recommendations as to settings because variances between components are too wide. However, a 1 or 2 ps adjustment is not going to do much. Think in increments of 50 or 100ps starting at 100 or 200ps. It’s tough to find solid info on this adjustment (a cynical no-thanks to ASUS) but I did find this reference from Tony at bleedingedge that seems to be a good and reasonable approach. I took the liberty of including it. He was tuning his A8R32 MVP mobo. Here is what he wrote:

“For channel A I found normal or a slight delay worked best, for DDR600 delay 150ps

For channel B I found advancing worked well, 300ps for DDR600.

Now, you must tune and test with 1 dimm, tune the skew and get the ram stable as high as you can in memtest86+. Then lower the clock a little and remove the dimm, add the second dimm and test the same and tweak the skew for the second channel. Channel A is closest to the CPU and B furthest away. Do NOT alter any memory timings; only tune the skew under the config system frequency/voltage section. Once you have a base line knowing what each dimm is stable to, re enter bios and set 5 fsb lower than the lowest stable clock from the 2 dimms tested. Switch off and add the second dimm back to its slot, reboot and re enter memtest...check if it’s still stable.”

DFI mobos:

“DQS Skew Control” = “Auto”, “Increase Skew” (speed up clock - decrease setup/holdtime), “Decrease Skew” (slow down clock - increase setup/hold time).

"DQS Skew Value"= 0-255 in 1.0 increments. This is the value that is increased or decreased when you set the DQS Skew Control. Begin adjustments in the 50-255 range.

Conclusion
I was as many overclockers content to let Clock Skew ride at Auto because I did not understand how it worked. I wrote this FAQ simply because internet searches yielded a lot of references to promotional materials lauding its value - but not much as to how to actually use it. After much research I now know that it can be a vital adjustment and is an important tool in the overclocker's tool chest. I’d like to apologize to all electrical engineers if I killed any technical details in the writing of this FAQ, but I wrote this for the non-technical overclockers – like me.

[zsamz_]

i got board going lol
wasted all that time all i had to do was reset cmos manually lol
i went back to f3
f4 poor overclocker n those skew settings

[kam03]

just try opping the cpu vcore a bit til its stabil ,also depends on what cooling you have ,dont think you need to touch the other voltages in your case .

thanks, one last question. When oc'ing do i have to go in steps or can i jump from 266 straight to 400 fsb?



Thanks

[Lugburz]

thanks, one last question. When oc'ing do i have to go in steps or can i jump from 266 straight to 400 fsb?



Thanks

Straight to 400, tried it and it worked like a charm.

[dinos22]

i found this
.

nice and informative writeup there

that may explain some of my recent monster clocks with Corsair PC10K sticks on Gigabyte boards

did you write this or found it on the net somewhere....if so where?

[Richard Dower]

X38-DQ6, F5d beta:

http://rapidshare.com/files/60451262/x38dq6f5d.exe.html

[kam03]

X38-DQ6, F5d beta:

http://rapidshare.com/files/60451262/x38dq6f5d.exe.html

GA-X38-DQ6

F5F 2007/10/04

1. Improve CPU FSB overclocking and memory performance

http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Mot...ProductID=2665


GA-X38T-DQ6

F3G 2007/10/04

1. Improve CPU FSB overclocking and memory performance

http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Mot...ProductID=2674

[GAR]

nice find, im going to install this now, be back in a bit with results.

EDIT.........
OK, so new bios did nothing for me, same max mem clock, and max cpu clock......voltage seems to be a bit higher with the same setting, had to drop it one to get the same amount of volts......all in all seems to be a bit better than F4 but preety much the same.

[DEVIL K-ce]

Out of box, put on table

E6850 @ GeminII
2 x 512MB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800MHz
Gigabyte X38@F3 bios

Board clock my ram identical as P35 ( Blitz/MSI Neo-FR )



Martin

[GAR]

ok, an issue i am running into, when i restart sometimes, the board does not boot back up, even tho it is a stable OC.......anyone else get these hangs??

One other thing, this boards voltage on the cpu jumps around, like at setting 1.5725, it jumps from 1.520-1.568 on 100 load w/ P95, on idle sit around 1.536........any way to fix this?

[DEVIL K-ce]

Heh surpise

OBR say max FSB with E6850 is 510MHz and lol for me also.

510 rock stable, 511MHz no boot

Going to try this new bios Maybe F5 can do better.

Martin

[vanovich]

Heh surpise

OBR say max FSB with E6850 is 510MHz and lol for me also.

510 rock stable, 511MHz no boot

Going to try this new bios Maybe F5 can do better.

Martin

540 here no problem .http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=245784

[DEVIL K-ce]

540 here no problem .http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=245784

On P35-DS4 Not X38-DQ6


Martin

[vanovich]

oh sorry my mistake ,ill take a new pic tommorrow

[zsamz_]

nice and informative writeup there

that may explain some of my recent monster clocks with Corsair PC10K sticks on Gigabyte boards

did you write this or found it on the net somewhere....if so where?

i just googled cpu skew lol

[GAR]

ok, got me a new G0 and listed my B3 on ebay, this G0 so far is priming at 3.73ghz, about 20 mins into it, with 1.47v @ load, my goal is 3.8....if i get 3.8ghz i wont upgrade my cpu for a year, that would be a long time for me lol

[Minnyboy]

Any results on the new F5F Beta bios guys?

I am building a 3rd rig atm & am curious as to any performance improvements from the f5f bios...

Parts I am using are:
Q6600 G0
X38-DQ6
2 x 1gb Corsair TwinX 6400C4 (waiting on my OCZ FlexXLC 9200 to come back from RA)
Gigabyte Aurora Case (bought it cos I got the watercooling kit free)
Thermaltake 750w PSU
2 x 250GB Raid-0

Have just put PC together... planning on installing XP Pro/Vista Home Preium Dual boot...

Hopefully it performs better than my P35-DS4/q6600/6400C4/OCZ750w PC
edit:
I was lucky enough to be able to go to my old workplace & "swap" my POS Q6600 B3 for a better G0 one (B3 was not stable at 333fsb lol)

[zsamz_]

Any results on the new F5F Beta bios guys?

I am building a 3rd rig atm & am curious as to any performance improvements from the f5f bios...

Parts I am using are:
Q6600 G0
X38-DQ6
2 x 1gb Corsair TwinX 6400C4 (waiting on my OCZ FlexXLC 9200 to come back from RA)
Gigabyte Aurora Case (bought it cos I got the watercooling kit free)
Thermaltake 750w PSU
2 x 250GB Raid-0

Have just put PC together... planning on installing XP Pro/Vista Home Preium Dual boot...

Hopefully it performs better than my P35-DS4/q6600/6400C4/OCZ750w PC
edit:
I was lucky enough to be able to go to my old workplace & "swap" my POS Q6600 B3 for a better G0 one (B3 was not stable at 333fsb lol)

i just did its much better than f4

[GAR]

i just did its much better than f4

really, i didnt see much difference.

[dinos22]

GA-X38-DQ6

F5F 2007/10/04

1. Improve CPU FSB overclocking and memory performance

http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Mot...ProductID=2665

i was told this one has all the changes i asked for
will test when i get some free time
fingers crossed it's not house like F4

[zsamz_]

i was told this one has all the changes i asked for
will test when i get some free time
fingers crossed it's not house like F4

its much better than f4 i can clock memory 1200+ but performance is poor
i had best performance with f3 @530fsb
f5g has descent performance @ 400-480fsb but 500+ is verry poor
i cant get 10000 read no matter what i got 10200 copy with f3@ 540fsb

[paulxmn]

its much better than f4 i can clock memory 1200+ but performance is poor
i had best performance with f3 @530fsb
f5g has descent performance @ 400-480fsb but 500+ is verry poor
i cant get 10000 read no matter what i got 10200 copy with f3@ 540fsb

I experienced a loss in GPU performance(Bios F5F) on all benchmarks across the board. Setting Graphics Boost to "Turbo" and PCIEX to "1000" had no effect with F5F. Rolled back to F4 and GPU performance returned. Bios F4 clocks the memory to 1212 memory settings 266D with 2GB Corsair Dominators 5.5.5.15 2T.