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

[Sommer]

I had no luck shorting clear cmos or remove battery, endless looping no matter what.

You should be able to set up your memory right in bios, try som higher divider or something?

[Richard Dower]

F6a beta bios for the X38-DQ6:

http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/...S&FileID=13110

F4a beta bios for the X38T-DQ6:

http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/...S&FileID=13109

F4a beta bios for the X38-DS5:

http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/...S&FileID=13111

Not directly related, but if anyone is using a Ralink chipset like the RT2500 (like me), new driver out dated September 29th 2007, brand new control panel.

http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Hom...t/Windows.html

GB driver page for the X38 updated, they have the latest build of the Realtek codec drivers:

http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/...ProductID=2665

CPU support page updated, shows support for 45nm QX9650!

http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/...ProductID=2665

New X38-DQ6 reviews:

http://zockon.de/artikel,489.html

http://www.bootdaily.com/index.php?o...=810&Itemid=56

http://techreport.com/articles.x/13351/3

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid...e=expert&pid=3

http://www.hothardware.com/articles/...Debuts/?page=5

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item=871&num=1

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...x38-dq6/4.html

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...38_dq6_review/

http://techgage.com/article/gigabyte_ga-x38-dq6/

[Richard Dower]

DON'T USE THESE BETAS!...they are screwed up, you can't make voltage or FSB adjustments like normal...say FSB, you could manually input say "425" from standard 266 from the keyboard...normally.

Not with this beta, i had to use the Page Up/Down keys to manually go to 425x8...even after that, i can't enter bios!

Major issues with this bios from what i can see, i'll report more as i see it.

[turtletrax]

Wow, seems like the BIOS's are getting progressively worse. I cant even sell this board for a huge loss. A shame really, I guess I was a sucker this time round...

[REVHEAD]

I just got my board yesterday ,I jumped ship from a Striker 680i ,I am down from sli to a single card ,so far I am very impressed with this board ,way better than my Strikers.

I have a niggling problem ,on my old striker I could get my ram to run @ 1t on this board it wont boot on 1t only 2t ,any ideas guys?

I havnt had time to read thru this thread ,it the problem has been reported in another post i am sorry ,ill have time to read the thread in a few days.

[zsamz_]

Wow, seems like the BIOS's are getting progressively worse. I cant even sell this board for a huge loss. A shame really, I guess I was a sucker this time round...

happily i sent mine back
i havent had a bsod since 24/7@510fsb

[Cob]

Has anyone got their hands on a X38-DS5 yet?

I see they're on sale over here in the UK for around the same price as the X38 P5E.

[djshotty]

I had no luck shorting clear cmos or remove battery, endless looping no matter what.

You should be able to set up your memory right in bios, try som higher divider or something?

Old hat at OS issues and other tech stuff, just new to changing BIOS settings, especially ones that relate to voltages, chipset frequencies, etc. Could you please explain which settings in F5h to change, cos each time I've made SMM changes I've had errors, and I'm still yet to see DDR2-1066 written up in any benchmarking tool/system diagnostic application. I mean, come on! I've just forked out over AU$2700 for this machine only to have it tell me I haven't got what I thought I bought (RAM), while I watch guys with similar specs to me punch numbers I can only dream about

[Supershanks]

Wow, seems like the BIOS's are getting progressively worse

Sorry to hear that,
I'm starting to get some decent results with this board
Am currently playing with max fsb Havegone back to bios F5G

@djshotty - Have you checked out my settings in my 13hr stable post above?? you may get some help there.

@REVHEAD - Not Tried 1T yet.
luck

[REVHEAD]

I just got my board yesterday ,I jumped ship from a Striker 680i ,I am down from sli to a single card ,so far I am very impressed with this board ,way better than my Strikers.

I have a niggling problem ,on my old striker I could get my ram to run @ 1t on this board it wont boot on 1t only 2t ,any ideas guys?

I havnt had time to read thru this thread ,it the problem has been reported in another post i am sorry ,ill have time to read the thread in a few days.

Allso something else is annoying me ,My 680i I would get roughly 7200 mbps bandwidth in Sandra soft,with the X38 I am struggling to push 6500 bandwidth? I am confused I was lead to belive I would at least get similar if not better bandwidth on the Intel chipset, BTW I run my ram at identical setups as my Striker 5-5-5-15 800mhz.

Any help would be appreciated,I dearly love this board 1600 fsb 9x multi and 1.475 vcore on a q6600 stepping b3,the striker wouldnt even dream of booting on a 1600 fsb ,that was a massive fsb hole with quads.

[Supershanks]

1st thing i would look at , have you got a version of sandra that supports x38. "nd thing they warn you that you can't really compare benches run on different versions of the software, Try Everest & compare your results there with others.

[krampak]

Ok, got my X38T-DQ6 back from RMA... it uses the F2 BIOS, should I flash to F4a ? I don't want to screw it up again with a bad Flash like last time... but changelog shows many interesting improves with bios over F2.

Any X38T user to give me an advice ?

[Richard Dower]

I keep getting BSOD!....very bizarre.

[zsamz_]

I keep getting BSOD!....very bizarre.

not bizzare bios is not stable 100% not even f3
i'm happy i sent it back by the time they fix it it will be 50% off lol

[Richard Dower]

These X38 bios have been the most unstable i have ever encountered from Gigabyte, and i've tried many a beta in my time.

They NEED to get some serious work on these bios done, it's just not good enough!

Maybe we need a new mobo revision?....i can't even return my board for a refund!!

[zsamz_]

These X38 bios have been the most unstable i have ever encountered from Gigabyte, and i've tried many a beta in my time.

They NEED to get some serious work on these bios done, it's just not good enough!

Maybe we need a new mobo revision?....i can't even return my board for a refund!!

yup i never seen it so bad
the board topped out @ 580fsb but not 100% stable
i had 30 days to return my board for a refund i'm out 25$ for shipping
my local pc store was cheaper but no refunds
300$ for bsod board was too much had to install os 10+ times in 3 weeks
since you cant get a refund hang in there
if you get lucky n board dies maybe new revision
something really wrong with the board i think
its ok for mild overclock but killed my os so many times
it was 10$ more than p35-dq6 when i bought it

[Severance]

yup i never seen it so bad
the board topped out @ 580fsb but not 100% stable
i had 30 days to return my board for a refund i'm out 25$ for shipping
my local pc store was cheaper but no refunds
300$ for bsod board was too much had to install os 10+ times in 3 weeks
since you cant get a refund hang in there
if you get lucky n board dies maybe new revision
something really wrong with the board i think
its ok for mild overclock but killed my os so many times
it was 10$ more than p35-dq6 when i bought it

Its funny reading this stuff....580fsb is mild is it? MILD? And you wonder why u mess up your OS? Guys ....I started off with the dq6 and just for the heck of it I decided to try the maximus and let me tell you that its much worse then the dq6. Still playing with the maximus right now but im gonna give up very soon. This thing wont even boot on 266 strap at all and also The vdroop is scary so dont give up on the dq6

[zsamz_]

Its funny reading this stuff....580fsb is mild is it? MILD? And you wonder why u mess up your OS? Guys ....I started off with the dq6 and just for the heck of it I decided to try the maximus and let me tell you that its much worse then the dq6. Still playing with the maximus right now but im gonna give up very soon. This thing wont even boot on 266 strap at all and also The vdroop is scary so dont give up on the dq6

i ran 400 430 450 480 510 535 550 fsb
510 and 535fsb was the most stable

on my p35c im 100% stable up to 550fsb
hopefully dfi is bnetter or i'll just wait on x48

[Alcibiades]

f5g is the BEST bios in my opinion. F3 might give you a slightly higher FSB, but f5g let's you try your ddr2 so many more ways.
I'd love to hit 550FSB to go 1:1 with the ram, but, not even F3 can get me over 480. So...
I'm now on f5g again running 460x8 FSB on my Q6600
1224MHz on my OCZ 9200FlexXlc @ 5-5-5-14 (using 2.66D 400Mhz strap)
memory read 9700MB/s on latest Everest Ultimate EE beta (supports X38)
Latency is ~ 58-60 (not too bad)

I have't booted my XP OS for about a week now after installing Vista Ultimate x64, plus bioshock now on hold as I replay Crysis demo for the 3rd straight day.

So work out a good stable setting FIRST.
Lock it in, save it, write it down.
Next, go for gold overclocking, but don't do anything with the voltages BE CAREFUL!

When you're ready to actually use your computer for FUN or work, put in those good settings your wrote down somewhere and enjoy!

X38-DQ6 ROCKS!

[Severance]

f5g is the BEST bios in my opinion. F3 might give you a slightly higher FSB, but f5g let's you try your ddr2 so many more ways.
I'd love to hit 550FSB to go 1:1 with the ram, but, not even F3 can get me over 480. So...
I'm now on f5g again running 460x8 FSB on my Q6600
1224MHz on my OCZ 9200FlexXlc @ 5-5-5-14 (using 2.66D 400Mhz strap)
memory read 9700MB/s on latest Everest Ultimate EE beta (supports X38)
Latency is ~ 58-60 (not too bad)

I have't booted my XP OS for about a week now after installing Vista Ultimate x64, plus bioshock now on hold as I replay Crysis demo for the 3rd straight day.

So work out a good stable setting FIRST.
Lock it in, save it, write it down.
Next, go for gold overclocking, but don't do anything with the voltages BE CAREFUL!

When your ready to actually use your computer for FUN or work, put in those good settings your wrote down somewhere and enjoy!

X38-DQ6 ROCKS!

I think you have this board figured out better then most. Your information has helped me alot thankyou. Good work I was able to run my e6850 at 4400 3d stable on the dq6 but with the maximus its a no go. Alcibiades I been playing crysis beta and now the demo on my sli system for past couple of days also. The sli system eats crysis up compared to my crossfire system. Pic of my systems just before swapping dq6 for the P.O.S maximus

[turtletrax]

Looks like F5g has me at least to 423 FSB stable at 9x. Nothing to scream at, but is a start.

Sorry, failed while I was writing this..

What a POS... honestly

[koc]

noob question ?

the stripe for my memory in the bios ( 2.00 D - 2.66 D ) which give me ( 880 - 1170 ) ,

But i use the 2.4 B stripe which give me 1080 MHz almost the same as my memory

So. is it OK , if i use the 2.4 B , or i have to stick with ( D ) ?

[Alcibiades]

noob question ?

the stripe for my memory in the bios ( 2.00 D - 2.66 D ) which give me ( 880 - 1170 ) ,

But i use the 2.4 B stripe which give me 1080 MHz almost the same as my memory

So. is it OK , if i use the 2.4 B , or i have to stick with ( D ) ?

If you can hit the same Mhz with a lower strap you are doing better

[koc]

If you can hit the same Mhz with a lower strap you are doing better

thanks you again

another noob ques.

what do u mean by ( lower strap ) ?

[turtletrax]

Looks like F5g might have toasted my highly modded X-Fi. Will report back, but not looking good. I have not hated a board more than my MSI/Via days.

Edit: Reverted back to F3 and then removed the X-fi and rebooted, reinstalled card/drivers and all seems well. Scared the crap out of me.