Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Testing

**revenant** · 03-07-2007, 04:09 PM

Nice.. welcome aboard.

that's a lot of cpu voltage.. 3.50? I am guessing a typo.. what's your multi and fsb frequency @?

**BKA** · 03-07-2007, 04:34 PM

Yea, oops. I meant 1.350 for CPUv, 9X and 1516(CPU-Z)

**jinst4** · 03-08-2007, 12:25 AM

any cold boot issue with this board, guys?

**BKA** · 03-08-2007, 09:02 AM

Well, I've only had the board for a day and I let it run all night last night to get the AS5 to settle in. I did shut down this morning and it booted fine about 30 minutes later.

Before installing the motherboard, I remove the backplate which was pretty easy(4 screws/2 push pins), and since I had it off removed the heatpipes for the NB/SB also. Cleaned off all the previous stuff and applied AS5 to both NB and SB. They do have spacers on the heatsink for both and the layer of thermal stuff they had was kind of thick. I was generous with the amount of AS5 I put on to make sure it made contact. I haven't loaded Gigabytes monitoring tool yet. But on first boot I checked and system temp was around 36C while figuring out all the BIOS settings.

Also I used the backplate that came with the Monsoon II and I also put the Gigabyte backplate back on. So it's literally on top on the Monsoon backplate. Of course I couldn't use the 4 screws but I did use the 2 push pins that attach it to the heatpipes on top. I figured I would give it a try and see what happens. The Monsoon backplate is quite thin for a backplate so its like a perfect fit as far as space the motherboard studs provide on my case. So far no issues.

**revenant** · 03-08-2007, 10:37 AM

huh - good to know on the factory thermal compound under the NB and SB.. this is the first mobo I have not pulled the sinks on yet.. but when my new cpu arrives I am thinking I might do that.. I think AS5 works a lot better than that puddy like stuff they tend to use on these mobos..

the person who cpu I am buying has a monsoon II for sale also.. I am very tempted after reading your post installing one also.. but I have my heart set on a freezone.. so I think I will pass on it.. but am eager to hear about your results with it.

So far my machine has not refused to boot ever.. I run it all night and day sometimes.. but recently had it off for two days and it started fine.. never misses a beat when I do lots of restarts while testing bios options.. I am sure that will change when I get more aggressive on the FSB and memory speed.

**BKA** · 03-08-2007, 11:02 AM

Well this probably my 4th or 5th motherboard using the Monsoon II on. The highest temps I had using it were with the Abit IN9. Like I said I don't have the Gigabyte monitoring software installed yet. But the Gigabyte BIOS reports the same as the Monsoon display, so I was going by that for now. About 32-33 on idle and 40-42 under load. Of course Core Temp report 8-9 degree difference(higher). This is with the OC though, I haven't ran it at stock yet, which should be lower considering the present bump in voltage.

I think the only board that I had that Core Temp was close to what the Monsoon display reports was the AW9D-MAX. All others have temps lower than Core Temp reports.

**bingo13** · 03-08-2007, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by swhitney

Using XP 32 Pro SP2...fully updated

As strange as it sounds I am going to pull the sli bridge and see if enabling it still does the same thing...without the bridge...I checked the resources on the cards and they are IRQ21 and 22....

Pulling the SLI bridge made no difference. Sam thing...crash crash crash

Did you do a fresh install of XP, what platform and video drivers are you using? I have no issues with 8800GTX SLI here, stock or overclocked, on the F3 or F4 BIOS.

**revenant** · 03-08-2007, 07:45 PM

Where's the F4 bios?

**thriller99** · 03-09-2007, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by revenant

Where's the F4 bios?

oh ! BIOS F4 comming ????
I got a few issue with this board

1 : USB problem with BIOS F2, if u still plug USB Device, system can't boot . create DMI ppol warning : protected ...
2 : HDD sata very slow : detect n running very very slow

. what's problem . EVGA board again ??????
3 : sli performance ????????
4 : OC ram not good with "Unlink". so shi t

**bingo13** · 03-09-2007, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by revenant

Where's the F4 bios?

Last time I checked it was on my board.

If it appears to be a decent release and does not meltdown the board after some additional testing today then I will post it up.

**BKA** · 03-09-2007, 06:50 AM

Originally Posted by bingo13

Last time I checked it was on my board.

If it appears to be a decent release and does not meltdown the board after some additional testing today then I will post it up.

Ha, Ha, Keep us informed on how it goes. So far haven't had any problems with F3. Is there any release notes on fixes for F4?

**revenant** · 03-09-2007, 09:29 AM

heh.. nice. ok, well, lettuce know.

I'm down to try a new bios if it's a good release.. I still can't get anything over 450 fsb stable.. when I boot with 457 oin the fsb windows wants to run a checkdisk... very strange.. I have never seen that while overclock testing.. anyways..

thriller99 - have you loaded the F3 bios up? it's posted in this thread if you want to try it out. might help with some of your problems.

**FMT** · 03-09-2007, 11:47 AM

revenant,

Some customers on newegg say that they couldn't install this fan on the board. Have you needed any special work to install this cooler?

Thanks
FMT

**revenant** · 03-09-2007, 12:01 PM

I used some washers and nuts on the bottom.. also a set of special rounded nuts for two of the screw anchors.. those ones were the perfect size to fit in the hole on the crazycool2 plate.. for the the washers I used two different sizes, one very small to contact the nut, then one larger to get good surface area on the pcb.. anyways, see these pics..

edit: the special rounded "nuts" came with my MicroCool NorthPole XE Whisper cooler..

**BKA** · 03-09-2007, 12:08 PM

Nice job there, revenant.

I saw those reviews on Newegg also but I don't trust those reviews most of the time. A lot of them seem like newbies when it comes to hardware installation and configuring. Nothing is wrong with that, everyone has to start somewhere but you have to do your research when building systems, especially with newly released hardware. Google is your friend.

**thriller99** · 03-10-2007, 01:46 AM

Originally Posted by revenant

thriller99 - have you loaded the F3 bios up? it's posted in this thread if you want to try it out. might help with some of your problems.

I'm flashed lastest BIOS for this board : F3 rev . So it fix a few problem. but SLI Performance not improve

. i tried with quad SLI 7950GX2 n SLI 8800GTX, i can't get higher 20k 3DMark 2005

**Benny Lodewijk** · 03-10-2007, 08:08 AM

for those who needs F4b BIOS, you can send a PM to me (please write down your email address)

@thriller99 : i don't understand your problem. 3DMARK 2005 score depends on your GPU / Memory Clock, also the speed of your processor.

**thriller99** · 03-11-2007, 02:16 AM

my problem with SLI 8800GTX : my CPU tested at Striker Extreme can break ~23k 3DMark 2005 with CPU@3500 Mhz , ram bus same same , but in gigabyte board i can't get over 20k . what happend ???

**khurios2000** · 03-11-2007, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by thriller99

my problem with SLI 8800GTX : my CPU tested at Striker Extreme can break ~23k 3DMark 2005 with CPU@3500 Mhz , ram bus same same , but in gigabyte board i can't get over 20k . what happend ???

prolly your pcix running at 1x or 4x

you can check it in cpuz

**thriller99** · 03-11-2007, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by khurios2000

prolly your pcix running at 1x or 4x

you can check it in cpuz

what do u mean ???? LDT multi ?????

**noobzed** · 03-12-2007, 03:21 AM

Is this mobo hit 500 fsb easy ?

**revenant** · 03-12-2007, 08:26 AM

I searched my bios for a spot where I could adust the pci-e bw (8x / 16x / etc) and could not find one.. I think maybe disabling or enabling spread spectrum might have an effect? I am not sure.. I have my spread spectrum for pci-e and ldt disabled and things seem to be running well.. maybe try that? also, maybe enable Nvidia gpu Ex? I have mine enabled right now.. I could not tell a real difference with it enabled, but it's something to try I guess.. here's a blurb on what it does.. still pretty vaigue.. I'm still chasing a small amount of video instability out of my system I think.. it's hard to tell because I am playing the LOTRO beta.. and there are bugs in it still.. so who knows what's a bug or a bad OC setting.. with the randomness of the crashes of the game it seems more like bugs to me.. maybe I should disable that Ex thing. ? anyways..

I have not loaded the F4 beta up yet.. but maybe tonight.. and I'll see if there are more options for controlling the pci-e bw.

**thriller99** · 03-19-2007, 10:20 PM

revenant try with F4B BIOS yet ????

**revenant** · 03-19-2007, 10:30 PM

hey - not yet.. lol. I want to soon though.. I ahve been gaming it hard lately.. no time to fuss with the OC

**Toti** · 03-23-2007, 03:49 AM

I heard that under WIN XP PRO SP2 that 680SLI can only read max 3.5 gigab. memory and Windows Vista can read 8 gigab.
I just got this Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 and so far so good just running it on stock. Never tried OC.

What is the latest bios now for Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6?
Is it F4b?

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