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

[ubiquityman]

I tried the RAID5 array, but restoring from Ghost, the RAID5 array would take 70hours (3 days) whereas the RAID10 array took only 5 hours. There is a big difference in performance if Windows is not running, I'm presuming to assist with the parity calculation. If left to the ICH9R, the RAID5 performance is doggy. (But it's pretty good in Windows).

Anyways, my system is now back to a "fully operational" state.
I put the Kill-A-Watt meter on it and with the "Dynamic Energy Saver", underclocked, it works out to be about 10W for a QX6700.

Overclocked (and overvoltaged) I'm expecting about 30% higher, but still that's pretty meager overall, so other than things such as fan noise, 10W-15W out of a total of 280W (as read by Kill-A-Watt) for my entire system (2 20"LCD, Corsair H X620, 5 SATA HDs, 2 DVD drives, 8600GTS), is less ~5% savings. (The fact that the CPU is cooler helps the fans stay quieter which is a plus for the power saving feature.)

So, while the power savings is a step in the right direction, I think right now it's more gimmick than significant.

However, the board is super stable. Compared to my D975XBX2, the EX38 POSTS quite a bit faster, boots faster (not sure why this is yet), comes out of suspend properly (YEAH!!!!!), and doesn't have the dead-keyboard on cold boot issue.

Overall, I'm thrilled with motherboard so far!

The only negative I've found thus far is that the Realtek HD audio is incompatible with Cisco Softphone 2.0. (whereas it worked with the onboard audio on the Bad Axe 2) This does suck, but I can resort to a USB headseat till I figure out a fix.

I should add, one of the reasons for me picking this board is the onboard COM and LPT/ECP ports.
I had some old IDC to DB9 cables from ISA card (I did say "old"). The first ones I tried were wired incorrectly for the Gigabyte motherboard, but I did eventually find one that was wired correctly.

What I couldn't find is a correctly wired IDC to DB25 for the LPT port. I have a cable that matches the gigabyte motherboard pinout except 1 wire is in the wrong position. (Pin24 "not used", is swapped with Pin26 "ground wire" on the IDC).

I'll probably end up just recrimping the IDC and flip the wires at the IDC end.

[ThatGuy16]

Alright, i need some suggestions.

About three times now when I'm playing COD4 i get a hard lockup (within 30 minutes to an hour). First i though maybe the CPU isn't getting enough juice, but now orthos has been running for two hours and still going, so i'm pretty sure thats not it. i have already raised the G MCH voltage from +0.025v to +0.05v (on auto, it would freeze within 5 minutes in windows). So now i'm not sure whats the cause, i even tried lowering my gpu OC. So the only thing i can think of is the G MCH may need more voltage or the ram (currently 5-5-5-15 / 2.0v / 890mhz)

??

[ubiquityman]

This is getting a little more interesting....

Overclocked, without DES, the system shows about 50W CPU power.
With DES (power saving) on, this drops down to under 20W.

So 30W savings, and a quieter fan. That's getting a little more worthwhile!

George

[Richard Dower]

This is getting a little more interesting....

Overclocked, without DES, the system shows about 50W CPU power.
With DES (power saving) on, this drops down to under 20W.

So 30W savings, and a quieter fan. That's getting a little more worthwhile!

George

Any chance of pics of the mobo?

[ubiquityman]

It's installed, so unfortunately, not a very good picture.
The red plastic to help direct airflow needs to be refabricated to match where this mobo has the CPU, etc. I also put a little baffle on the video card so it will vent out the back instead of inside the case.

[ubiquityman]

Also, I got my electric rate wrong originally.
I checked my utility bill and it's just about $0.11(US) per kW*hr (winter electric rates)
So 30W savings is actually $28.50/yr for 7x24 operation.
(30W*24h*30days*12mon*$0.11/1000=$28.50)

Include AC rejection of that heat in the summer and higher summer electrical rates, and it's probably ~$50/yr.
Still not huge, but starting to add up.

I have a server that's on 7x24 and at $50/yr electricity savings, I'm starting to think about replacing the motherboard with something that has power a power saving feature.