Testing / comparing : Intel D975XBX2 / Asus P5B DX ***56K WARNING***

[cryptocat]

gtj, have you already given your results to intel?

I love the D975XBX2 as a piece of hardware, its an Intel (wee!) and its so puristic and stable, it makes me so mad that they still havent managed to disable C1E.

If they dont fix it, can i declare my board as "broken" (since a feature it SHOULD have is not there) and return it to the (online)store?

I might just get an X38-Board if Intel doesnt fix the D975XBX2.

Asus (P5WDH) is not an option since i only had problems with them in the past and there quality-level is lowering with every board they release...

MSI and Foxconn suck, the ABIT is said to have BIOS-problems.... Aww, like the D975XBX2 hasnt... :/

[gtj]

gtj, have you already given your results to intel?

I love the D975XBX2 as a piece of hardware, its an Intel (wee!) and its so puristic and stable, it makes me so mad that they still havent managed to disable C1E.

If they dont fix it, can i declare my board as "broken" (since a feature it SHOULD have is not there) and return it to the (online)store?

I might just get an X38-Board if Intel doesnt fix the D975XBX2.

Asus (P5WDH) is not an option since i only had problems with them in the past and there quality-level is lowering with every board they release...

MSI and Foxconn suck, the ABIT is said to have BIOS-problems.... Aww, like the D975XBX2 hasnt... :/

I was on the phone with Intel for half an hour this afternoon while they were goofing with it on their system. After getting the company line about how overclocking is bad I think they got it. The BIOS team has the issue now. Who knows, they may actually fix it.

[J@mmer]

Just one more question guys? Does speedfan work with the BX2? What utils do you guys use for monitoring temps/volts etc?

EDIT: IDU sucks.

[cryptocat]

Stupid customer-support, its not about overclocking, its about having a maximum of available power, lol...

So you did talk to the BIOS-team or any of the developers in person?

Maybe I should call them aswell, its always good to have some pressure on them, though im not a native speaker of English i would try to get on the line with them.

Lets just hope for the best.

[gtj]

Just one more question guys? Does speedfan work with the BX2? What utils do you guys use for monitoring temps/volts etc?

EDIT: IDU sucks.

Check here...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=2140

[gtj]

Stupid customer-support, its not about overclocking, its about having a maximum of available power, lol...

So you did talk to the BIOS-team or any of the developers in person?

Maybe I should call them aswell, its always good to have some pressure on them, though im not a native speaker of English i would try to get on the line with them.

Lets just hope for the best.

It was tier 2 support I talked to. I'm just grateful they had a system they could play with while I was on the phone with them.

Create a support request first to get a reference number...

http://supportmail.intel.com/scripts...d=36,2386,2578

Be very specific about the problem so they route it correctly. Something like...

On the Intel 975XBX2 motherboard runinng BIOS 2634, disabling C1E on the BIOS maintenance screen doesn't actually disable C1E on the processor.

[jetjaguar]

All your power cables connected again?
If you're changing the voltages,did you completely power down afterwards?

yeap all psu cables are in ..

i dont get it .. i set the mem to 533 and left the other thing at default

[pcdoc1]

You just got to like this... Over the years there's been thousands of post about why speedstep, C1E, or whatever doesn't work while OCing... And although there's a valid argument to having bios functions perform as advertised, we have the best of both worlds and everyone has there panties in a wad over nothing... OC to max yet idle at stock MHz and control temps... What's the problem here?

[J@mmer]

Ummm guys, maybe I'm just blind, but where do I switch off the watchdog feature? What is it called? I'm not seeing it in my BIOS.

[Maglin]

Anyone getting decent luck with the new 2634 BIOS? I couldn't get to 400 FSB with my E6600 so I tried the 2507 BIOS. It was actually worse. With the 2634 I was able to get to 375 FSB @ 1.5 vCore. I couldn't get 350 FSB stable in the 2507. I tried all sorts or different vMCH and vFSB just to check it out.

I should also mention I happened to get a bum F Steeping E6600 with a default vCore of 1.325. I just got it in from newegg. Was checking up on the new BIOS and seeing what others thought of it.

[Blacklash]

Ummm guys, maybe I'm just blind, but where do I switch off the watchdog feature? What is it called? I'm not seeing it in my BIOS.

Shut your system down and move the mobo jumper to position 2 or "config". The jumper is near the bottom of your memory slots. Then when you post go into the BIOS it will be on the first page. You may disable C1E here as well if you wish. Save. Power off and move the jumper back to position 1 or its default.

Anybody with overclocking problems needs to kill that feature. Some may want to disable C1E and EIST because they reduce the system voltage and lower the multi in an idle state. That could cause freezing or crashing in rare cases with a high OC. YMMV.

Details on EIST:

http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/rese...eng/203838.htm

C1E:

http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q1...0/index.x?pg=2

[Blacklash]

Hey guys who has tried the BX2 with 4 1gb sticks of ram under a 32 bit OS? I am wondering how much will be "seen". I know I will lose some and some mobos do better than others with this. Usually a "memory remapping" BIOS setting helps.

I am on Vista 32 bit and have two more 1gb sticks incoming. I may install Vista x64 if I lose too much and I hate to lose the compatibility of the 32 bit version.

[Skerlnik]

Hey guys who has tried the BX2 with 4 1gb sticks of ram under a 32 bit OS? I am wondering how much will be "seen". I know I will lose some and some mobos do better than others with this. Usually a "memory remapping" BIOS setting helps.

I am on Vista 32 bit and have two more 1gb sticks incoming. I may install Vista x64 if I lose too much and I hate to lose the compatibility of the 32 bit version.

I run 4x 1GB sticks in Vista 32. Windows reports 3325MB (3324MB in Task Manager) available.

On a side note, I don't think this board really loves my OCZ Titanium Alpha modules. It won't boot at stock memory voltages Especially with 4 sticks in the slots (needs more voltage). Lucky that I have 2 sticks of G.Skill HZ's sitting around to boot with if I mess with the BIOS. My Asus P5WDH was the same way though, so I firmly place blame on OCZ

[Blacklash]

I run 4x 1GB sticks in Vista 32. Windows reports 3325MB (3324MB in Task Manager) available.

On a side note, I don't think this board really loves my OCZ Titanium Alpha modules. It won't boot at stock memory voltages Especially with 4 sticks in the slots (needs more voltage). Lucky that I have 2 sticks of G.Skill HZ's sitting around to boot with if I mess with the BIOS. My Asus P5WDH was the same way though, so I firmly place blame on OCZ

Interesting. Think I will try it a while in 32bit with the /3gb switch enabled. Most programs are written in a 32 bit environment and aren't going to take advantage of more than that anyway.

[Reinvented]

4x1GB under XP Pro. I only see 3.0 GB's.

Also, do not use the 3GB switch as it will cause you problems.

[Nightprowler_77]

I just purcased a XBX2 "bulk" to see if it`s more stable than my AW9DMAX. Hope it does more than fsb 400 orthos blend stable.

What is the best bios ?
Is there a winflash utility for this board?

[Blacklash]

4x1GB under XP Pro. I only see 3.0 GB's.

Also, do not use the 3GB switch as it will cause you problems.

Ok perhaps you can help me with my frustration. Hard disk access can kill a game's performance and this often happens in a lot of MMOs. I am trying to limit this as much as possible. I am not talking about level loading. I understand that.

I am wanting to do whatever I can to get my system to use available ram rather than resorting to paging to a disk when playing said games. I could turn off the page file and I have heard that can lead to other problems as well.

I am experimenting with playing some on line games with superfetch off to see if that helps.

So how do I stop my system from using the hard disk so much when I have plenty of ram? I was thinking allowing the application more than 2gb might help.

Would it be better to just go x64 Vista? Some times I feel like I have 512mb ram. I mean IMO there is way too much HD access for the amount of installed ram I have. This behavior is only out of control in on line games and not in Oblivion or others.

[argylesocks]

what is burn-in? and should i leave this at 'default' ?
how about latency timer?

[sdgserv]

Does anybody know what the "Ext PEG' in the Video part of the Bios is for..Can't seem to find any info on it..
If I put another card in the 2nd PCI-E slot the video drops to 8X on the 1st.
Is there a way to change that?

[gtj]

Does anybody know what the "Ext PEG' in the Video part of the Bios is for..Can't seem to find any info on it..
If I put another card in the 2nd PCI-E slot the video drops to 8X on the 1st.
Is there a way to change that?

Ext PEG is the pci-e video card.

The 975X chipset supports 1 x16 or 2 x8. Can't change it.

[gtj]

I just purcased a XBX2 "bulk" to see if it`s more stable than my AW9DMAX. Hope it does more than fsb 400 orthos blend stable.

What is the best bios ?
Is there a winflash utility for this board?

2333 is the generally accepted most stable. Intel gives you the following options...

Recovery BIOS Update [BX2634P.BIO] - A .BIO file to be used for BIOS recovery process, regardless of operating system. In the unlikely event that a BIOS update is interrupted, it is possible the BIOS may be left in an unusable state. Use the Recovery BIOS update to recovering from this condition. It requires a blank floppy diskette or CD.

ISO Image BIOS Update [BX2634P.ISO] - Bootable ISO image BIOS update; this is the recommended method to update the BIOS on systems running Linux*. It requires a blank CD and a read/writeable CD drive.

Express BIOS Update [BX97520J.86A.2634.EB.EXE] - Self-extracting Windows*-based update file includes Software License Agreement and the utility for updating the BIOS. It is designed to be used on Windows* systems. This method is the most commonly used.

Iflash BIOS Update [BX97520J.86A.2634.IB.EXE] - A DOS-based utility to update the BIOS regardless of operating system. It requires a blank floppy diskette, a bootable CD or a bootable USB device.

[jetjaguar]

anyone have a link to the 2507 bios .. i cant seem to do anything with this 2634 one

[gtj]

anyone have a link to the 2507 bios .. i cant seem to do anything with this 2634 one

Go to the current BIOS web page. At the bottom there's a link to all previous versions.

[jetjaguar]

thanks got it .. flashed to it .. still cannot overclock at all ..
c1e .. watchdog and eist all disabled

all i get is after i exit the bios .. screen goes blank .. and just hangs

[heikis]

thanks got it .. flashed to it .. still cannot overclock at all ..
c1e .. watchdog and eist all disabled

all i get is after i exit the bios .. screen goes blank .. and just hangs

let it be with the black screen for a minute, then manually restart it. maybe helps. the badaxe2 tends to be a slow poster and sometimes needs to be hand-resetted.