Forward: official GIGA 965P-S3/DS3/DS4/DQ6 beta BIOS

[Richard Dower]

X-Fi problem is back with F7, losing the sound card once again...same crap as before. Also there is a problem with Q-Flash and updating the bios, like i wanted to flash the backup bios ROM....it read from the floppy, saw all the files but would not flash.

This bios seems very buggy.

[Lestat]

as much as i can respect your gigabyte love, richard dont you think its time to move on to a new mobo?

i strongly recommend you look into the eVGA board. i'll have mine Wed.

[TKC]

Personally i think there is a Micron D9 issue with the DQ6, which is why i can't get past 450FSB.

With an earlier bios i was able to boot 445-448FSB, but since F6 is 440FSB and under.

Can anyone independently verify the bios ROM for the DQ6 with F7?...because mine says 1.06.53 and has not been updated, same ROM since F1.

Richard, regarding D9 issue with DQ6, it looks like I have no similiar problem here, I'm running Transcend DDR2-667 1Gx2 at 920 MHz/4-4-4-4/F7/FSB:460 MHz, Orthos Blend stable for at least 2 hours, and they are D9GMH chips.
I believe my D9 can oc even higher because I almost confirmed that I'm limited by E6300's max x7 multiplier but not the Transcend. With setting multi to x6, I have tried, D9 can run at 940 MHz/4-4-4-4/FSB:470 MHz also Orthos stable, didn't manage to go further ahead but I believe it could.
People here are discussing D9 problem on some GB mobo, maybe DQ6 is not affected, at least for my DQ6 it is true.

[bingo13]

The DS3 Micron D9 issues have been isolated to a series of sub-timings in the BIOS and a resistor on the board. Changing out this resistor and utilizing the latest beta BIOS resulted in a very stable 7x510FSB with an X6800 and 7x525FSB with a good E6300. Gigabyte will release a final BIOS on or around the 16th of this month that should result in 480~490FSB capability with the majority of D9 modules, anything higher on the current board will require the resistor change. Hopefully I can get a "how to" posted on it before I leave tomorrow (it will void your warranty, repeat it will void your warranty), if not it will be on Friday or later.

[msgclb]

The DS3 Micron D9 issues have been isolated to a series of sub-timings in the BIOS and a resistor on the board. Changing out this resistor ... (it will void your warranty, repeat it will void your warranty)....

Thanks bingo13.

Damn, my soldering station is packed and I don't know what box it's in. I guess I'll have to warm that back room up so I can find it.

I almost dropped a dime on that evga board.

Did they also test an E6400 and E6600 with the resister change and new BIOS? It would be nice to know if a ‘good’ E6400 or E6600 was also capable of a 525 FSB or what there maximum FSB is. I understand that not all c2ds overclock the same but I now need to purchase one of them. So is the E6300, E6400 or E6600 going to be the best?

[MadMikeSS]

The DS3 Micron D9 issues have been isolated to a series of sub-timings in the BIOS and a resistor on the board. Changing out this resistor and utilizing the latest beta BIOS resulted in a very stable 7x510FSB with an X6800 and 7x525FSB with a good E6300. Gigabyte will release a final BIOS on or around the 16th of this month that should result in 480~490FSB capability with the majority of D9 modules, anything higher on the current board will require the resistor change. Hopefully I can get a "how to" posted on it before I leave tomorrow (it will void your warranty, repeat it will void your warranty), if not it will be on Friday or later.

I'm glad to hear that they found the issue. However, does that mean since they acknowledge the issue is partly due to a resistor on the board, do you think that they will replace the board for those of us affected by it? I really don't want to void my warranty by desoldering and soldering a new resistor.

[markopoleo]

replace the board cause you can't overclock?? Must be joking..hehe

[dnottis]

replace the board cause you can't overclock?? Must be joking..hehe

Replace the board because it's not an ASUS board.

[_Eduard_]

which resistor is it and what does it need to be replaced with? I better order it now

[Lestat]

how about replace the board cuz its a pile of crap

issue after issue, crappy overclocking. do i have to say anymore ?

issues and overclocking that are NOT issues on other baords.
wtf would you do sit on that sam eboard ing and whining day after day just so you can have something to complain about? get real. you dump the p.o.s. and get something that doesnt have the issues and can do what you want it to do.

[Jodiuh]

So Asus 965 or 975? I'm not comfy with 680i yet...

[dnottis]

how about replace the board cuz its a pile of crap

issue after issue, crappy overclocking. do i have to say anymore ?

issues and overclocking that are NOT issues on other baords.
wtf would you do sit on that sam eboard ing and whining day after day just so you can have something to complain about? get real. you dump the p.o.s. and get something that doesnt have the issues and can do what you want it to do.

Cuttin' through the bull and keepin' it real.

[_Eduard_]

Because alternatives are a lot more expensive (p5b-d is 170 euro here, that is as expensive as my cpu lol)

[MadMikeSS]

How about because it's the board I bought and because gigabyte acknowledges these issues are related to board hardware and not from any fault of mine. Ok, sure you are right that it's not an issue at stock. If that was the case then why should Gigabyte worry about fixing any bios as long as the board performs at stock settings. Why bother with crazy FSB settings in the first place? Why bother allowing the user to overclock at all if you aren't going to support it in some way. I dunno, maybe it's just me but they give us all these options and don't expect anyone to overclock? Sure I can go out and spend all the money in the world on the best board for overclocking, but guess what? It won't be covered by the manufacturer either if it's run outside of stock settings. If a manufacturer acknowledges they f'ed up with the design of a product they should pony up and at least do the repair work to replace the hardware on the board thereby not voiding my warranty.

[ScythedBlade]

I can't return my board to buy another one ... it's so expensive to do that ...

[markopoleo]

So basically your saying is you just want to replace the board cause you can't get insane overclocks..lol Some people are never happy with even a 1ghz+ overclock on a BUDGET board..

Thats like saying you are mad cause the ford escort won't run like a muscle car. Get real.

[MadMikeSS]

So basically your saying is you just want to replace the board cause you can't get insane overclocks..lol Some people are never happy with even a 1ghz+ overclock on a BUDGET board..

Thats like saying you are mad cause the ford escort won't run like a muscle car. Get real.

I never said replace it, please read my comments. They acknowledge it's a resistor problem on the board. I don't think it's beneath them to offer to replace the resistor on the board with the proper one.

As far not being happy with my overclock, I'm actually very happy with my overclock. What I'm not happy about is having the only motherboard out there that has this problem that could have been corrected before it was even put out to market. I'm not happy that the only thing holding my further overclock back is this board. So what if it's a budget board, people are getting much better overclocks with other budget boards. If you don't want to hear us complain about issues with hardware when we overclock then you shouldn't even be adding to this forum. It's an overclockers forum. I could see your point if I had reached the limit of all my hardware. But I'm nowhere near that. And while my S3 is a budget board, the DS3, DS4 and DQ6 are not so why shouldn't those folks expect more from their hardware? Please take your "you should be happy with X M/Ghz overclock" posts to some other forum like [H], god knows there are enough of those there. They aren't appreciated here.

[dnottis]

What I'm not happy about is having the only motherboard out there that has this problem that could have been corrected before it was even put out to market.

QFT - and that is why people that own the DS3 / S3 have the right to complain.

markopoleo

[Fiddy]

If it's a tiny surface mounted resistor it maybe cheaper and easier to add a small 1/4 watt in parallel with it to reduce it's value or in series to increase it.

Or you can try the ChipQuik® Surface Mount Device Removal Kit
http://www.chipquikinc.com/
$150.00 REwork Kit

$17.00 SMD Removal Kit


They're probably cheaper from other distributers than directly from the manufacturer.

Although I'm able to hit 3.4 with my DS3 and E6300 I think it could go higher. I'm able to overclock my Wintec DDR2-800 up to 1140 with a 1:2 ratio if I run the cpu at 266. Right now 970 is a high as I can go before it freezes. I'm not sure what chips Wintec uses though.
Does Gigabyte owe me anything? No, not really. But this will end up hurting their future sales and reputation. Looks like we will be seeing a new revised version of the GA-9xx-xxx series soon I'm sure.

[MadMikeSS]

If it's a tiny surface mounted resistor it maybe cheaper and easier to add a small 1/4 watt in parallel with it to reduce it's value or in series to increase it.

Or you can try the ChipQuik® Surface Mount Device Removal Kit
http://www.chipquikinc.com/
$150.00 REwork Kit

$17.00 SMD Removal Kit


They're probably cheaper from other distributers than directly from the manufacturer.

Although I'm able to hit 3.4 with my DS3 and E6300 I think it could go higher. I'm able to overclock my Wintec DDR2-800 up to 1140 with a 1:2 ratio if I run the cpu at 266. Right now 970 is a high as I can go before it freezes. I'm not sure what chips Wintec uses though.
Does Gigabyte owe me anything? No, not really. But this will end up hurting their future sales and reputation. Looks like we will be seeing a new revised version of the GA-9xx-xxx series soon I'm sure.

Those are cool kits. Certainly would come in handy for surface mount components which is basically what you get with most electronics anymore. But I'm not about to spend more money than the board is worth on something that I will probably only use once.

[markopoleo]

QFT - and that is why people that own the DS3 / S3 have the right to complain.

markopoleo

They have a right to complain about something legit..just cause you can't overclock insane speeds is not one of them.

You would be laughed at if you asked to get a replacement. Sorry, I had to bring reason and common sense to a thread on the internet but sometimes it happens..

[jondl]

I just want to be able to restart my computer... and not have to reinstall the x-fi drivers. Overclocking more would be nice.

[Phosphate]

as much as i can respect your gigabyte love, richard dont you think its time to move on to a new mobo?

i strongly recommend you look into the eVGA board. i'll have mine Wed.

It will be interesting to see how that does. Something tells me you will still get 3.8 Ghz on water but your memory speed will go higher because you will be able to use a different divider.

When I eventually feel the need to go to SLI (maybe when I finally step up to the Dell 24: widesceen) I'll definitely be looking at the 680i.

[Richard Dower]

Richard, regarding D9 issue with DQ6, it looks like I have no similiar problem here, I'm running Transcend DDR2-667 1Gx2 at 920 MHz/4-4-4-4/F7/FSB:460 MHz, Orthos Blend stable for at least 2 hours, and they are D9GMH chips.
I believe my D9 can oc even higher because I almost confirmed that I'm limited by E6300's max x7 multiplier but not the Transcend. With setting multi to x6, I have tried, D9 can run at 940 MHz/4-4-4-4/FSB:470 MHz also Orthos stable, didn't manage to go further ahead but I believe it could.
People here are discussing D9 problem on some GB mobo, maybe DQ6 is not affected, at least for my DQ6 it is true.

Then it could be related to G.SKILL and how they have programmed the SPD.
Are you adding any juice to the (G)MCH and FSB?

[Richard Dower]

The DS3 Micron D9 issues have been isolated to a series of sub-timings in the BIOS and a resistor on the board. Changing out this resistor and utilizing the latest beta BIOS resulted in a very stable 7x510FSB with an X6800 and 7x525FSB with a good E6300. Gigabyte will release a final BIOS on or around the 16th of this month that should result in 480~490FSB capability with the majority of D9 modules, anything higher on the current board will require the resistor change. Hopefully I can get a "how to" posted on it before I leave tomorrow (it will void your warranty, repeat it will void your warranty), if not it will be on Friday or later.

Does this also apply to the DQ6?...can you have a word with GB bios folks about the DQ6, like the X-Fi issue is back with F7, but was actually fixed with F7a,

Also ask WHY with each bios release they fix one bug but add two more with each build, why do they do this?

Also, ask them why the HELL don't they update the bios ROMs for the Intel and JMicron controllers?