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

[mjb1206]

Richard> Any improvements with the F5i bios? I'm still using the F3, and was hoping for a new one with some noticeable improvements!

Thanks in advance, and also could you post a link to the new bios!

[easyrider]

I tend to agree, i've had a P965, P35 and now X38...using all bios that come out...my E6600 will not go past 450FSB, it's stable upto 445FSB...after that it gets dodgy.

I'm happy with the chip 3.4GHz at 1.4V is fine with me....i'm waiting for the new 45nm chips before upgrading the CPU. As for boot time with the X38, there is a definate lag, several seconds on pushing the power button, very weird....it's like it waits to POST,

I've noticed this boot lag..

Its not good at all.

Early days though seems better than the Abit P35 pro..could not get my chip 3.8ghz stable

[easyrider]

Try this:

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/1088...6_PV_Intel.exe

Works fine for me:

Will give it a go

thanks alot

[merlin76]

460x8 1:1 266 strap:




Performance is really nice.

[chefnr1]

not that bad this is on F4 but will switch back to F3.



Major problems to get over 500 with F4 it's a crap bios..

[easyrider]

If you are running 4 gig in all banks whats the best bios?

[walste]

It could be your CPU, i've had three boards and my own E6600 will NOT go past 450FSB, no matter what voltage mods i make. Some chips are FSB limited.

Some can go past 500 and others can't.

Well, i´m so happy right now, i have just installed my new Asus P5E3 Dlx and no problem att all going 500FSB.

There must have been something really bad with my DQ6 board.
I really love this Asus, so i´m gonna get my money back for the ty DQ6.

[E.R]

If you are running 4 gig in all banks whats the best bios?

None, even when MCH voltage cranked ut in top i can´t even go over 1100MHz when use 4x1GB, 1067MHz it max without errors on my OCZ Flex XLC 9200 and +.375V on MCH is what is needed for stable OC. In 2x1GB teh memory does 1200MHz without any problem and it is more to squize out of them when crank vdimm up.
Thats the main reason for me to try out the ASUS Maximus Formula SE witch should be rev 1.03 since it is a couple of days delayed.
However i run the old F3 and tried all Beta and the funny thing is that F5h stated that "Improve memory performance when populate 4 DIMMs". Not that i notised of any gain of memoryperformance with that or the new F5i, or any other for that matter.
2x2Gb is not my kind of choise sense the only 2x2-kit i really have my eyes on is the beautiful Mushkin XP8500 5-4-4-12 and that is like 600-750€ and a ripoff compared price/performace what i gave for 4x1GB OCZ Flex XLC PC9200and what they can do on the right mb, besides that Mushkin memory needs some wc-memoryblocks for like 30-60€ to in my setup when i sort the mb-issue out sense wc is what is on the way.

[Richard Dower]

Richard> Any improvements with the F5i bios? I'm still using the F3, and was hoping for a new one with some noticeable improvements!

Thanks in advance, and also could you post a link to the new bios!

I'd stick with F3 for now, GB clearly have made major changes to F4 and up and the bios don't seem to be optimised very well. It's still early days for X38 based bios.

[chefnr1]

Yepp F3 it are from now until a decent bios shows up..

[Teccxpert]

Who can get Crossfire running on this board? I'm keen to get my 2 x HD2600XT up and running in Crossfire. Have 7.10 drivers installed. CCC indicates crossfire is enabled but 3K06 score indicates only 1 vga running. Using F5G bios on mobo.

[BigDK]

I couldn't hold out any longer with a dual core, and have finally given in to the temptation of a quad core Q6600 G0 CPU.

Just finishing a clean software build and then will see what I can get out of that compared to the E6600 I was using before.

Still going to stay with F3 until an obvious replacement BIOS makes sense to use.

Got the OEM CPU for £153 all in as the retailer is up the road from me (no postage to pay) Its a L724B3 batch so not sure how that will compare to other batches.

Also thinking of changing my 8500 C5 Dominator memory as well, as no matter what config's I try I can never get the memory much over 900 flat, even with slack timings and higher voltages, and thats on a P5WDH, P5B Deluxe, Striker Extreme and now an X38 DQ6, I'm convinced I've got a bit of a dud set here.

Depending on how well I get on with the new CPU, my trusty E6600 will go on ebay to help pay for the new one.

Managed to get it up to 9x450 last night on water on this DQ6 I've yet to rig the phase cooler up to the new board, as I bought it pre-order at £187 its been hard to take the risk with killing the board if I get the mounting wrong, my P5B got condensation on it and is now dead.

Will post some results as soon as I get a stable OC worth noting.

[chefnr1]

Who can get Crossfire running on this board? I'm keen to get my 2 x HD2600XT up and running in Crossfire. Have 7.10 drivers installed. CCC indicates crossfire is enabled but 3K06 score indicates only 1 vga running. Using F5G bios on mobo.

Switch back to F3 bios and im sure the CF will work without no problem.
I have tested most of the bios for this board and non of them are that good like F3, my CF work perfectly..
This is what i got in 3D01 after switch back to F3!
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=9276665

[Alcibiades]

TWR
Anyone know how to change the value in the bios???
I want to drop it from 13 to 9 as recommended in the Enhanced Performance Profile in the pic below.
Also ..., anyone got skews working successfully yet?
When would you use the cpu skew to lead the g skew or vice versa?
Apparently can get upto 10-15% better performance.
Using my trusty OCZ 9200 FLEX on a 333 strap, 266 looks very promising but can't boot OS at higher speeds.
Hey maybe ER has some good ones

[DStealth]

Switch back to F3 bios and im sure the CF will work without no problem.
I have tested most of the bios for this board and non of them are that good like F3, my CF work perfectly..
This is what i got in 3D01 after switch back to F3!
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=9276665

Imho F5H is the best one, F5I give me some troubles. Your 3dmark score seem little low to me. I have 813 nature with 2x2900pro with lower clocked processor and cards
3dmark2001
873/2322mhz Q6600@4160mhz
75406 points



Of course you have room to take my single 24/7 gaming 1 year old 8800 on that board and Quad @ water
3Dmark2001
77047


F3 bios have very very bad Vdrop and it's slow due to lack of strap options

[zsamz_]

Imho F5H is the best one, F5I give me some troubles. Your 3dmark score seem little low to me. I have 813 nature with 2x2900pro with lower clocked processor and cards
3dmark2001
873/2322mhz Q6600@4160mhz
75406 points



Of course you have room to take my single 24/7 gaming 1 year old 8800 on that board and Quad @ water
3Dmark2001
77047


F3 bios have very very bad Vdrop and it's slow due to lack of strap options

lol if you try goin 500fsb+ you gonna see whats real fast lol

[DStealth]

lol if you try goin 500fsb+ you gonna see whats real fast lol

With Quad i don't need such FSB and f3 is slow compared to f5 beatas, due to strap options, as i said. You can try running different strap deviders with lower FSB , which gives you nothing when it's sky high .

[easyrider]

X38 and Q6600 bios F5h


This chip would fail prime on the P35 Abit pro at any voltage.

Nailed 3.8ghz on the new X38 with the same chip.This is over cautious vcore to.

1.62v in bios.




Will push for 4ghz prime stable then lower the vcore to the sweet spot for 3.8ghz 24/7

[GTX]

added: F3i for X38T-DQ6

http://pic.xfastest.com/hicookie/Gig...os/X38TDQ6.F3I

[Brama]

In BIOS F5I it seems to me that boot lag is very short.

[Richard Dower]

Probably *should* have added the X38-DS5 to this thread, new beta bios for that:

http://www.station-drivers.com/

[mjb1206]

I am still pretty amazed at all the complaints folks are having pertaining to the bios.

i have never changed mine from the factory shipped F3, and it's been running at the following settings since I overclocked it. This is my every day operating set-up, and has worked flawlessly.

I guess maybe I'm a lucky one, but as far as I'm concerned this motherboard works fine. Now, I will say, I haven't seem some tremendous overclocking ability over the P-35 chip-set, but it does a fine job as far as I can see.

I really think it's a chip-set, processor, memory combination thats making mine work so nicely.

Matt

[turtletrax]

I am still pretty amazed at all the complaints folks are having pertaining to the bios.

i have never changed mine from the factory shipped F3, and it's been running at the following settings since I overclocked it. This is my every day operating set-up, and has worked flawlessly.

I guess maybe I'm a lucky one, but as far as I'm concerned this motherboard works fine. Now, I will say, I haven't seem some tremendous overclocking ability over the P-35 chip-set, but it does a fine job as far as I can see.

I really think it's a chip-set, processor, memory combination thats making mine work so nicely.

Matt

Ya, looks like it is totally hit or miss. I cannot break 400FSB stable no matter what I do. I have a 120mm fan blowing on the heatpipe and would be watercooling if I could.

Really strange and too bad. Now I have to dump another board for a nice loss and spin the wheel on another board.

[mjb1206]

Bummer deal brother! I'm water cooled, with 4X120 fans on my radiator, and 4X120 case fans, and 2X80 hard drive fans. I have stock cooling on the NB, and if an aftermarket cooler becomes available I would love to put one on it.

I have overclocked it to 534FSB, but you got to run the voltage up, and there is not that much performance difference.

Good luck, and hopefully the next board of choice you pick will work for ya!!

[E.R]

TWR
Anyone know how to change the value in the bios???
I want to drop it from 13 to 9 as recommended in the Enhanced Performance Profile in the pic below.
Also ..., anyone got skews working successfully yet?
When would you use the cpu skew to lead the g skew or vice versa?
Apparently can get upto 10-15% better performance.
Using my trusty OCZ 9200 FLEX on a 333 strap, 266 looks very promising but can't boot OS at higher speeds.
Hey maybe ER has some good ones

The only thing i did was raised the Vdimm +0.50V witch suposed to be around 2.33V and within the specs. left the timings on auto and used whatever systemmemory multiple that gave the desired speed to test them out i 2x1GB, that with the best F3 BIOS, dont realy know what strap there where on the multiple without any ~ or + or any other mark on them. After that i have always run 4x1GB but all BIOS more or less suxz big time for that combo, not even up to specs, just low 531Mhz on bad timings and have hard time to make that on 5-5-5-15 to even at 2.55V on Vdimm.
How they can claim F5h to be better for 4 dimm user is a mystery to me since that is no improvment is speed or tighter timings than F3.
Wish DFI had a board out to compare how that do against Maximus when 4 dimms used sinse i am no way near a happy camper with this crapboard.