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

[DStealth]

OMG i must be dreaming Vdroop mod finally discovered

F7 final with wolfie is killer mem. performance LOL

[ChrissTi]

Is not finally dicovered ... It's just a risk for the mobo and also for the CPU. In reality the voltage you see is not the real one. After the CPU goes out from full load, for a split of second the voltage can go up and you don't even know it, because the bios can't read that fast the voltages. It's only seen on an osciloscope.
Here are some graphics:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=3184&p=6

The higher power consumption gets, you get a higher peak voltage. So Vdroop is a safety measure.

[dinos22]

^^^^ lol looks like you're taking that article a bit too seriously

[ChrissTi]

^^^^ lol looks like you're taking that article a bit too seriously

Not that seriously , because anyway the CPU voltage is over the normal voltage.

[dinos22]

there is more to it

i asked Kris to comment on this over at OCX but he didn't yet

i don't actually think advocating to leave loadline calibration off is a better idea than having it on because you are effectively going to be giving the CPU more volts overall without the loadline calibration. i gave some extreme examples over there for LN2 benchmarks and the need to give between 1.9 and 2v to CPUs to get max clocks...........you think about it now............gigabyte have very large droop on X38 and in fact it's bigger than it was with their P35 boards which means that you will have to increase your vcore in bios by as much as 0.075v to compensate for the droop in windows. Now think about idle and load cycles with and without loadline calibration and different vcores set and used and the fact vcore fluctuates enormously without controlling droop

once you have a good thought i believe you will arrive at the same conclusion i did and that is that controlling droop on boards that exhibit a fairly large one is more beneficial and will probably save your CPU from dying more than doing without it

how was the data measured and there are no timeframes to spikes so are they just rough graphs, did they do the testing themselves or is some data from other sources........there are a few other things but IMO the aricle didn't make me change my mind about controlling droop

[derektm]

Any of you X38-DQ6 guys that have had this board and the Maximus:

Which board did you like best? Looking to pickup an X38 board for Wolfdale and crossfire to replace my IP35-Pro.

[ChrissTi]

there is more to it

i asked Kris to comment on this over at OCX but he didn't yet

i don't actually think advocating to leave loadline calibration off is a better idea than having it on because you are effectively going to be giving the CPU more volts overall without the loadline calibration. i gave some extreme examples over there for LN2 benchmarks and the need to give between 1.9 and 2v to CPUs to get max clocks...........you think about it now............gigabyte have very large droop on X38 and in fact it's bigger than it was with their P35 boards which means that you will have to increase your vcore in bios by as much as 0.075v to compensate for the droop in windows. Now think about idle and load cycles with and without loadline calibration and different vcores set and used and the fact vcore fluctuates enormously without controlling droop

once you have a good thought i believe you will arrive at the same conclusion i did and that is that controlling droop on boards that exhibit a fairly large one is more beneficial and will probably save your CPU from dying more than doing without it

how was the data measured and there are no timeframes to spikes so are they just rough graphs, did they do the testing themselves or is some data from other sources........there are a few other things but IMO the aricle didn't make me change my mind about controlling droop

You can do the Vdroop modification, because anyway when you overclock the CPU, you overvolt it.

As you see in that pics the CPU temps are 30C, so it means it's using some watercooling or so.

I do not need it. My CPU it has Temp limit to 70C and it is going on full load over 70C (air cooling).
My CPU voltage set in bios is 1.65 to be stable. In hardware monitor it shows 1.62 and it drops to 1.58 under load. Any lower voltage I set, I get Orthos errors ... (I run Orthos playing winamp . It's sufficient to get a Orthos error in maximum one hour if something is wrong. I noticed that if you run Orthos alone it cand give you no errors, but the system to be unstable, because it dosen't use the full CPU).
When I'll get Q9450 or Q9550 (I'll see when the will be available what I'll get),
I'll see what will be the voltage needs when overclock and if it will need any vmod.

[dinos22]

i would only ever use it for LN2 benches

[mister_no]

New beta bios (F8b):

http://rapidshare.com/files/86546115/x38dq6.f8b.html

[rbsmontemor]

The mod works very well, just look at my pics on last page..no droop. And i'ts so simple to do...

Rbs.

[DStealth]

4х1gb on f7 2.4B
501 fsb 1203mhz ram 5-5-5-18 - auto
The new Elpida 70nm @ 2.06v LOL



Cool, who said 4 modules can't work on GB X38 ? ? ?

And 24/7 settings @ 1.95V

[Buggalugs]

Hey Buggalugs and ChrissTi, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I think if you have only one drive, you will have no problem switching BIOS settings after installation. I think that the Intel ICH9R will detect it is only one drive and run AHCI, or ordinary SATA and not RAID. You might loose the Command Queuing ability, but it should still work.

That probably would change when you have more than one....

Just my thoughts, I have found nothing from Intel to dispute or verify this.

Yes its true i have 1 hard drive but i still use RAID.

To be honest i didnt read completely the issues people are having with RAID/AHCI etc (im more interested in the OCing etc) but i just made the point that it is recommended that motherboard be set on a mode, drivers/OS installed and not to change motherboard modes after as it is asking for problems according to Intel.

Ya i assume people with 2 or more hard drives are more likely to have issues than 1 Drive.

For me, i only have 1 hard drive but still use RAID mode in bios and use RAID drivers. This is recommended by Intel because i have the option to add a hard drive later and set up RAID without reinstalling the OS. I also have hotswappability functions.

Anyhoo i hope problems are solved but for now ima gonna check out the new BETA bios.

PS I love this board.

Peace.

[G.Foyle]

Some tRD scaling on X38-DS5:
tRD = 10 (default)


tRD = 8

tRD = 6 boots but hangs after few seconds; I'm afraid of upping MCH voltage even higher as I have almost no airflow in that area.

Tried F5 bios yesterday, but it's sh1t. Some options are renamed and Realtek NIC does not work properly in Vista.

[zicada]

With new F8 beta

This is pretty much the limit of what i can get with this E6750 stable on air. Cant wait to get my wolfie

With Extreme in BIOS, the latencies are pretty good for such a low CPU clock

[ChrissTi]

zicada: Prime or Orthos stable ? It's seems too tight your mem timings.

[zicada]

zicada: Prime or Orthos stable ? It's seems too tight your freq.

OCCT stable for hours.

That mem is ddr2-1150 5-5-5-15 default. Just left some headroom so that Extreme would be stable.

[ChrissTi]

OCCT stable for hours.

That mem is ddr2-1150 5-5-5-15 default. Just left some headroom so that Extreme would be stable.

Nice .

[DStealth]

F8 seems good in mem.performance - here 24/7 setting with half multi Everest

[Lightning98]

Hello,

I bought a X38-DQ6 mobo about 2 months ago, and i have to say i'm pretty happy... but i have no reference because this is my 1st Intel system in... years

Now i have a few questions.

1) Which is the best BIOS version that won't cause my mobo not to boot anymore? because i've read stories here about that... (currently F6b)
And also if i flash my BIOS i won't loose my RAID setup will I ??


2) A more important question... I have 2GB of ram now (1+1Gb - Corsair, TWIN2X2048-6400C4, 4-4-4-12) and i want to put in 4GB more (2+2Gb - Corsair,800MHz,TWIN2X4096-6400DH). Is that possibile with this mobo? i mean it looks pretty tight physically to put 4 sticks of RAM there, but will it even work?


3) Do i really need a PSU with the 8pin power connector (the one near the CPU)? and will a BlueStorm 550 be enough for 6Gb or RAM and a bunch of drives?


Well,, thanx

[zicada]

Hello,

I bought a X38-DQ6 mobo about 2 months ago, and i have to say i'm pretty happy... but i have no reference because this is my 1st Intel system in... years

Now i have a few questions.

1) Which is the best BIOS version that won't cause my mobo not to boot anymore? because i've read stories here about that... (currently F6b)
And also if i flash my BIOS i won't loose my RAID setup will I ??


2) A more important question... I have 2GB of ram now (1+1Gb - Corsair, TWIN2X2048-6400C4, 4-4-4-12) and i want to put in 4GB more (2+2Gb - Corsair,800MHz,TWIN2X4096-6400DH). Is that possibile with this mobo? i mean it looks pretty tight physically to put 4 sticks of RAM there, but will it even work?


3) Do i really need a PSU with the 8pin power connector (the one near the CPU)? and will a BlueStorm 550 be enough for 6Gb or RAM and a bunch of drives?


Well,, thanx

I'd definitely go with F7 as its the latest (non-beta) release.

As far as memory goes, i would definitely not use sticks that are not identical. You're going to have to chose between 2gb or 4gb,- at least if stability and performance is of any importance to you. I can't really see any need for more than 4gb ram on a typical desktop computer anyway, as most applications are still 32bit, and thus can never allocate more than 2gb in the first place.

I personally recommend Corsair 620W. It's very well built, has gotten excellent reviews all over,- and the pricetag is not too bad. Also,- it looks really good

[SetteUltras]

Any of you X38-DQ6 guys that have had this board and the Maximus:

Which board did you like best? Looking to pickup an X38 board for Wolfdale and crossfire to replace my IP35-Pro.

Hello all, i am in the same dilemma as Derek.
I am planning to go for a Q9450 as soon as it gets available. Only interested for 24/7 o/c on air prime stable. So with x8 multi obviously i will need a high (500) fsb.
Is X38-dq6 suitable for me or should i go for an asus formula.
Thank you in advance for your time, guys.

[Hornet331]

why still consider a x38?

when the Q9xxxs are coming im sure there will be also some X48s around.

[Sobek]

Not to sound like a broken record, but has anyone else who's been having flickering and/or corruption issues with Crossfire HD series cards seen any changes with this latest BIOS?

Waiting on ATi/AMD for a comment is a sure fire way to help the years pass by.

[REVHEAD]

Not to sound like a broken record, but has anyone else who's been having flickering and/or corruption issues with Crossfire HD series cards seen any changes with this latest BIOS?

Waiting on ATi/AMD for a comment is a sure fire way to help the years pass by.

Sounds to me like it could be a driver issue .

[dinos22]

F8 seems good in mem.performance - here 24/7 setting with half multi Everest

FSB compared to F3?

do half multies work properly