First I want to apologize for how long this post is going to be. First the highlights of my system;
Intel DX38BT motherboard with bios version 1478
QX9650 CPU (I had a QX6850 in it and all the problems I’m having I had with that CPU as well)
4 gig of Corsair WIN3X40961600C7DHXIN memory
2 ATI HD3870 Video Cards
Watercooled CPU

I have several problems that I cannot seem to resolve. The first problem is more of an annoyance but maybe someone knows what to do. Sometimes when it boots, just about 100% of the time after it sits for a bit (I travel quite a bit) and you turn it on, it turns itself on and off several times and then eventually boots. It will also do this after changes to the bios. During the changes to the bios sometimes it will boot, sometimes it won’t. When it won’t it just keeps turning on and off and eventually if I shut off the power supplies and give it about 5 minutes, it will boot ok, even if you change nothing in the bios. Even if I leave the bios at default settings it will do this after it sits for a few days and you turn it on. I contacted Intel and they told me it was the memory because the board is only designed for 1.5 volt memory and that memory runs at 1.9. I also tried some of the same memory but not Intel “certified” and had the same problem. (I also had this issue with another DX38BT board. The initial board I received did this, but the chipset drivers were messed up and it would not recognize the USB ports. Something when very wrong in the bios recovery (probably the fact that the optical drives were not really recognized during boot) so I sent that board back).

Second problem.

I have an issue, or really several issues overclocking the CPU. The main problem, I think, is the fact that I can’t seem to be able to actually change the CPU core voltage. I can change it in the bios, but when looking at CPU-Z it doesn’t show any change in voltage. In addition to this the CPU core temp agrees with the fact that voltage is not changing. When running at 100% load I do not see any change in core temp (averages about 100 F at full load no matter what CPU voltage is set at). However when I use the 300 mV offset there is clearly a significant increase in CPU core temp at 100% load (CPU core temp goes to about 140F with the offset at full load). Both the QX6850 and the QX9650 exhibited these characteristics.

From an overclocking standpoint with stock voltage I can get it about 3.65 GHz. With the 300 mV offset I can actually go to 4.42 GHz. No matter what combination of voltages, bus speeds, CPU multiplier, etc, I cannot set the bus speed faster than about 360 MHz or it is not stable. From a memory standpoint I normally just use XMP Profile 1, which is automatic memory overclocking. But I’ve had the same problem when I use my own memory timings.

Of course I talked to Intel about this issue as well and they won’t even talk to you if you are overclocking. I don’t want their help, I just want to know if there an issue with their hardware or something with my system.

I hope there is something easy that I have messed up or am overloocking. If anyone can offer help I would really appreciate it.

jerry