Official DFI LanParty UT X38-T2R(and LT) Discussion/Review/Overclock/Guide Thread

[Riggs]

I've got the DFI Dark X38, but I couldn't really find a thread for it. What cooler would fit on the DK X38? I tried the Freezer 7 Pro, but it was rubbing against the NB Heatsink... I was looking at the XIGMATEK HDT-SD964 92mm Rifle CPU Cooler but don't know if it will fit. Do you think it will?

EDIT: Sorry, just didnt look enough :O

[jupitersj]

what do u mean the TRUE fits perfect vertically, horizontally it has problem

Why does it have a problem horizontally? Isn't it much longer vertically which would make it touch the nb.... I don't undertstand.

I'm not going to be cutting; my modding and leet pushing every last inch days are over. I know it's not necessarily "xtreme" but I picked this board for stability and out of box 45nm support.

The pc room is above a split garage that holds so much heat the room heats up 10deg over the rest of the house which is why I always pick the best heatsink + larger case. I'll probably run this e8400 at 400fsb though.

[Fenuxx]

Does anyone know how to get a BIOS flash to "stick" permanently with this board? I flashed this board with a modded BIOS, but it won't "stick". Is it due to being a multi-BIOS design? Anyone know how to fix it?

[Praz]

Does anyone know how to get a BIOS flash to "stick" permanently with this board? I flashed this board with a modded BIOS, but it won't "stick". Is it due to being a multi-BIOS design? Anyone know how to fix it?

Maybe you need to go ask whoever modded the BIOS. Don't believe anyone posting in this thread has had any issue regarding the BIOS "sticking", whatever that means. And what is a "multi-BIOS" design?

[Fenuxx]

Meaning 2 BIOS chips. Primary and backup (Auxiliary). I only see one physical CMOS chip on the board (Gigabyte boards are most known having dual-BIOS designs). I was wondering if this was the case with this board (though, again, I'm not sure) due to the "CMOS Reloaded" tech.

[zsamz_]

Meaning 2 BIOS chips. Primary and backup (Auxiliary). I only see one physical CMOS chip on the board (Gigabyte boards are most known having dual-BIOS designs). I was wondering if this was the case with this board (though, again, I'm not sure) due to the "CMOS Reloaded" tech.

cmos reloaded keeps last loaded setting and saved settings
and gigabuts dual bios dont work
board has 1 bios chip
if you gonna play with moded bioses i suggest you get a spare bios chip from biosdepot on ebay 10$

Praz are we getting a new bios soon?

[zanzabar]

yah removable bois blocks are all that u need

[emoners]

can i use a spare P35 bios chip on this board & just hot flash it with this board's bios?

[zanzabar]

yah, u could do that too

[zsamz_]

yah, u could do that too

yup i already flashed my spare x38 chip for my p35
both my original chips are safely tucked away

[merlin76]

[...] are we getting a new bios soon?

It's already there and working great so far.

Major Reasons of Change:
Added New Micro Code for 45nm family CPUs.

But there are a lot more changes in this BIOS. I was able to tighten tRD, there is new DLL mode option which might help overclocking RAM and also an unlock option for special add voltage. There is also a new bootlogo similar to the LT X48 but I dislike it and replaced it with the old one (cbrom).

450x8 266/667 tRD6 EIST/C1E enabled

[zsamz_]

thanks merlin
gonna try it out
edit:i tried it out lol all it did was piss me off not stable any of my settings even loosened it lol tried ballistix n redline

Praz whats so different in this bios ?
i noticed more aggressive settings for ram
i was always on more aggressive i put on nominal n not stable

[Shalamay]

Quick question, I just got an e8500 and was wondering if I should get this board or the x48 board? I'm on phase so I plan to push it and want to know if the difference in price (about $30 difference between the two LT verisons) is worth it? Also, how are the e8400/e8500's clocking on this board? Thanks alot.

[zsamz_]

Quick question, I just got an e8500 and was wondering if I should get this board or the x48 board? I'm on phase so I plan to push it and want to know if the difference in price (about $30 difference between the two LT verisons) is worth it? Also, how are the e8400/e8500's clocking on this board? Thanks alot.

yes 30$ is nothin for a higher binned chip my first board did 555fsb and my second board can only do 541fsb
if you plan going past 540fsb get the ut p35 if you plan on crossfire get x38 x48
btw the dfi ut p35 is the best board i've seen better than any x38 x48 mind you i love my x38 but the ut p35 outperforms any x38 x48

[mustrum]

It's already there and working great so far.



But there are a lot more changes in this BIOS. I was able to tighten tRD, there is new DLL mode option which might help overclocking RAM and also an unlock option for special add voltage. There is also a new bootlogo similar to the LT X48 but I dislike it and replaced it with the old one (cbrom).

450x8 266/667 tRD6 EIST/C1E enabled

DFI made a 45nm bios for all x38/x48 it seems. Same change notes for my DK x38 but they changed more. Gained no FSB but with this bios all my FSB dividers started to work while only 333/667 worked before. Having a complete change list would be interesting. These bios are worth using though. At least for the DK it is a major difference.

[vws]

It's already there and working great so far.

Isn't that webpage dedicated to beta BIOS only (&STATUS_FLAG=B, not 'A')?

[vws]

btw the dfi ut p35 is the best board i've seen better than any x38 x48 mind you i love my x38 but the ut p35 outperforms any x38 x48

Not to troll but the question is how you define "outperform". If you simply mean higher fsb then how about the memory controller performance (+ controls) comparison of x38 vs p35 clock-to-clock? If let's say the x38 delivers the same CPU-memory performance at 540 fsb as the p35 at 555, then would you still want to run your CPU at 540x8 or 555x8?

Has anyone done such a clock-to-clock A-B test and presented the results?

[zsamz_]

Not to troll but the question is how you define "outperform". If you simply mean higher fsb then how about the memory controller performance (+ controls) comparison of x38 vs p35 clock-to-clock? If let's say the x38 delivers the same CPU-memory performance at 540 fsb as the p35 at 555, then would you still want to run your CPU at 540x8 or 555x8?

Has anyone done such a clock-to-clock A-B test and presented the results?

memory performance is higher clock for clock the ut p35 is faster

[vws]

memory performance is higher clock for clock the ut p35 is faster

Geez I'll be damned.. Is it possible that DFI already fine-tuned the P35 performance via BIOS while the X38's is still "rough" at the moment. Because hardware-wise, I don't see P35 delivers more than X38 clock-for-clock (sorry for the misspelling earlier). Oh this begs for another question.. How's DFI tuned the X48 performance? They are essentially the same chipset so if the X48 mobo performs better we'd better off take its BIOS (or mod it if it doesn't work directly), if DFI does not intend to transfer all the fruition from their X48 BIOS development over to the X38 boards.

[zsamz_]

Geez I'll be damned.. Is it possible that DFI already fine-tuned the P35 performance via BIOS while the X38's is still "rough" at the moment. Because hardware-wise, I don't see P35 delivers more than X38 clock-for-clock (sorry for the misspelling earlier). Oh this begs for another question.. How's DFI tuned the X48 performance? They are essentially the same chipset so if the X48 mobo performs better we'd better off take its BIOS (or mod it if it doesn't work directly), if DFI does not intend to transfer all the fruition from their X48 BIOS development over to the X38 boards.

if they made a better x48 bios i will flash mine to x48
i honestly beleive the x38-48 is more for ddr3
the fact is that the ut p35 is just too good
maybe you should wait for the dfi-p45
x38 x48 is a waste of xtra money
mind you the dfi-x38 is a great board they just made the ut p35 too good

[Shalamay]

Thanks zsamz for you opinion, i got the x48. Guess i need to find the x48 thread now, thanks again for the help.

[Dimek]

Thanks zsamz for you opinion, i got the x48. Guess i need to find the x48 thread now, thanks again for the help.

It's right here

[JaD]

It's already there and working great so far.



But there are a lot more changes in this BIOS. I was able to tighten tRD, there is new DLL mode option which might help overclocking RAM and also an unlock option for special add voltage. There is also a new bootlogo similar to the LT X48 but I dislike it and replaced it with the old one (cbrom).

Just upgraded to the new BIOS.
Looks solid so far, but it completely changed the behavior of fine delay tweaking: I couldn't boot at all with my previous settings (which were necessary to me in order to get over 480fsb), so i checked what "current" values it was choosing at 480fsb and delays were consistently different than 0314's at 333/800 (like from 240-770-630-560-980 to around 1800-900-1000-900-40 ).
I had to slightly adjust GTLs aswell (might just be me though, my board outputs like 1.350v with a 1.275 VTT setting so i have to use some quite uncommon GTL values).

CBA testing right now (fine delay tweaking is such a pain in the arse ) but considering it's stable so far with "current" fine delays at 500FSB (when as I stated before I couldn't even boot without tweaking them on 0314), I'm looking forward for better results
What is DLL mode about btw?

[S_G]

you shoulda got the dfi ut p35 its better actually the best ddr2 board
you damn lucky you didnt get the gigabut p35-ds3r its garbage

I thought about it, but I went with the X38 for x16+x16+x16(x4) -- triple CrossFire goodness, baby. Waiting to see benchmark results of the 4850 and 4870 cards, then I'll decide what cards to get.

this cas 3 on hyperx 4 stix 2.24v

Damn you! All I could get was 60.0ns at 3-2-2-6 808MHz. Too scared to pump my Ballistix beyond 2.15V, even with a fan on them. I need these sticks to last me until my DDR3 upgrade.

[zsamz_]

Damn you! All I could get was 60.0ns at 3-2-2-6 808MHz. Too scared to pump my Ballistix beyond 2.15V, even with a fan on them. I need these sticks to last me until my DDR3 upgrade.

that is only 2.24v on hyperx they go much much higher
i've only used 2.24 on ballistix so far only need 2.03 for 1240mhz
just happy no dead micron ever since i been with dfi
my gigabut boards ate them on regular basis