** OFFICIAL ** Intel DX38BT & DX48BT2 BoneTrail Thread

[bobov]

DX48BT2 in stock @ clubit.

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail...emno=CA4838949

[xMrBunglex]

why does it cost so much more than the BT? i thought it was basically the same thing. i can't find any good reviews on the BT2 yet.

[gtj]

DX48BT2 in stock @ clubit.

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail...emno=CA4838949

Be careful. The description says BOXDP35DPM but the title says BOXDX48BT2.

why does it cost so much more than the BT?

If they charged the same or only slightly higher, they'd be stuck with a whole bunch of BT boards that won't ever sell.

[Manel]

Was I just called a moron or did I misunderstand it?! I know I'm from what most consider a 3rd world country, some don't even know where it's located, but I don't think my English is that bad!! I did describe everything as asked, read it again to make sure. Anyway, never mind. Just tried to get some ideas to solve my problem as well but I guess no one has the same issue. This mobo really is a bag of surprises.
Anyway, sunday I had my very first BSOD with this board. I had just installed SP1 for Vista x32 HP, not sure it was related. Another hint, the PC had just come out of S3 state. Then it BSODed and restarted. Ideas?
By the way, does anyone know what the C2 state in BIOS (1521) means? If I remember correctly, the manual refers to it, maybe as a low power consumption state of the machine?! Guess I'll have to read it again.
I do get amused (well, not really) when checking out prices for hardware there in the US. You guys find it expensive to cash out 290USD for the DX48BT2, if I recall it correctlly the DX38BT would go for something like 229USD MSRP but you could get it for like 200USD or less. Well, just to show how much I wanted this board I paid 242EUR (yeap, that's like 390USD, right?!), imagine how much the DX48BT2 will cost here! All hardware is a lot more expensive here, usually it's like the same amount but in EUR instead of USD, sometimes higher.
It's a good board anyway, I guess mem support needs a little work still.
Just now my first boot was a no go, reset and it came alive.
Coming back to the BSOD, the culprit could be SP1 or maybe even S3 or still the Intel INF - I had installed recentlly the website's 1010 over the Express Installer DVD's 1016 which I installed right at the beginning. I believe after the BSOD, can't recall if it was there before, a new problem was reported in Maintenance->Problem Reports and Solutions - Problem caused by Intel ICH9, the solution would be download and install the driver. Well, not much help there. I also have reported a Problem caused by Windows with a solution to install latest updates (I guess before SP1) and another one sugesting to download and install the driver for Intel 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection, which I already have the latest 12.4 drivers installed, maybe it was reported before also. Funny little tool this one.

[Randy]

Was I just called a moron or did I misunderstand it?! I know I'm from what most consider a 3rd world country, some don't even know where it's located, but I don't think my English is that bad!! I did describe everything as asked, read it again to make sure. Anyway, never mind. Just tried to get some ideas to solve my problem as well but I guess no one has the same issue. This mobo really is a bag of surprises.
Anyway, sunday I had my very first BSOD with this board. I had just installed SP1 for Vista x32 HP, not sure it was related. Another hint, the PC had just come out of S3 state. Then it BSODed and restarted. Ideas?
By the way, does anyone know what the C2 state in BIOS (1521) means? If I remember correctly, the manual refers to it, maybe as a low power consumption state of the machine?! Guess I'll have to read it again.
I do get amused (well, not really) when checking out prices for hardware there in the US. You guys find it expensive to cash out 290USD for the DX48BT2, if I recall it correctlly the DX38BT would go for something like 229USD MSRP but you could get it for like 200USD or less. Well, just to show how much I wanted this board I paid 242EUR (yeap, that's like 390USD, right?!), imagine how much the DX48BT2 will cost here! All hardware is a lot more expensive here, usually it's like the same amount but in EUR instead of USD, sometimes higher.
It's a good board anyway, I guess mem support needs a little work still.
Just now my first boot was a no go, reset and it came alive.
Coming back to the BSOD, the culprit could be SP1 or maybe even S3 or still the Intel INF - I had installed recentlly the website's 1010 over the Express Installer DVD's 1016 which I installed right at the beginning. I believe after the BSOD, can't recall if it was there before, a new problem was reported in Maintenance->Problem Reports and Solutions - Problem caused by Intel ICH9, the solution would be download and install the driver. Well, not much help there. I also have reported a Problem caused by Windows with a solution to install latest updates (I guess before SP1) and another one sugesting to download and install the driver for Intel 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection, which I already have the latest 12.4 drivers installed, maybe it was reported before also. Funny little tool this one.

What is your MCH voltage at ?

[Sean-E-Boy]

gtj-
looking at the memory tab in cpu-z, not the spd tab.

the funny thing is that i know it has shown lower values before on this system, not sure what's up, but i will go with the bios.

thanks

[Manel]

Randy
they're all at default right now, MCH is set at 1.250V.
It could be the mem voltage, it's now set at 1.78V and my Plats are rated 1.8V but so far this was not a problem, just that one time. too bad the voltage adjustment still has a quite high granularity of 0.4V, 0.1V would be perfect.
Anyway, I'll find the time to re-install everything from the ground up and see what happens.
My main gripe now is with the ATA/SATA issue, why the drives are labeled as ATA if they are not. Maybe it was when I flashed to the latest 1521 BIOS, the board initially had a very early 1251 BIOS still with lots of issues/bugs. Maybe re-installing will do the trick.
also the Dolby tab doesn't show up in the IDT control panel.

[Randy]

Well,
if you are have any instability issues, it would seem that you need to get that memory up to 1.8V (1.82 here)as recommended by the manufacturer.

Randy
they're all at default right now, MCH is set at 1.250V.
It could be the mem voltage, it's now set at 1.78V and my Plats are rated 1.8V but so far this was not a problem, just that one time. too bad the voltage adjustment still has a quite high granularity of 0.4V, 0.1V would be perfect.
Anyway, I'll find the time to re-install everything from the ground up and see what happens.
My main gripe now is with the ATA/SATA issue, why the drives are labeled as ATA if they are not. Maybe it was when I flashed to the latest 1521 BIOS, the board initially had a very early 1251 BIOS still with lots of issues/bugs. Maybe re-installing will do the trick.
also the Dolby tab doesn't show up in the IDT control panel.

[xMrBunglex]

shoot, i have my vMEM set at 1.9 in the BIOS. i don't know if that's because my memory is borderline or because the board has vdroop. at any rate, it won't hurt you to try upping the vMEM a bit and see what happens. your memory will be fine.

[Randy]

shoot, i have my vMEM set at 1.9 in the BIOS. i don't know if that's because my memory is borderline or because the board has vdroop. at any rate, it won't hurt you to try upping the vMEM a bit and see what happens. your memory will be fine.

I had the 1866 Patriot earlier and they had 1.9 spec'd as default. My current 1333 is 1.7 default but I need 1.82 to run @ default and my current 1532. Isn't the memory you have 1.9V ?

[Randy]

FYI,

BT2 available @ Tigerdirect for $269.

[WingHeart]

I received my DX38BT and QX9650 the other day but have been waiting on the sidelines with both unopened to see if there were any improvements on the newly released DX48BT2 and if so, would return the DX38BT for it. Right now doesn't look like any gains and eager to start this build.

However, since I'm new to Intel after being with AMD so long (retiring a Supermicro H8DCE dual Opteron system with this bonetrail intel system) I'm still (re)learning about DDR3 memory settings and FSB settings.

Quick question that maybe someone can answer for me real quick (sorry if a bit off-topic). Say I do exchange this DX38BT for the X48 DX48BT2 and install my QX9650 with a 333mhz fsb, will it run with the faster, default DDR3 1600 memory frequency/timings? Or revert back to 1333mhz due to the detection of 333mhz fsb? I saw this briefly asked a few pages back with someone running a Q6600 in a DX38BT and when he set the memory frequency to 1333 it would drop back to 1066 due to the fsb of the Q6600.

Googling around, I've seen other boards able to run the default CPU speed and allow faster memory frequencies (although w/ not much gain). Does the Intel X38 and X48 boards allow this? Or revert any faster RAM to match the detected CPU fsb? (ie. is it possible to run my QX9650 at it's default fsb on a X48 with no OC and run a pair of DDR3 1600 memory it's default 1600mhz speed? Or would the BIOS automatically drop the memory frequency to 1333?).

Quickly switching topics based on a question asked earlier, after skimming through the online manual of DX38BT/DX48BT2, it looks like the onboard audio can do Dolby Digital Live encoding (http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...olby_live.html) but not DTS Connect (http://www.dts.com/consumer/pc/dtsconnect.php). While not a huge deal, I was hoping for the higher bitrates offered by DTS Connect and might hold onto my Auzentech X-Meridian after all.

Thanks again for everyone's help, this thread has been an invaluable resource!

[Sean-E-Boy]

WingHeart-
From my experience, the memory will be defaulted to 4xFSB, however, you can adjust the memory divider to increase or decrease the memory bus frequency...check out gjt's memory calculator HERE and see what frequencies you can set your memory to. Dont know about the audio stuff, though.

All Else-
Has anyone had issues with setting memory timings that POST, detect (in BIOS and CPU-Z, etc.), and run correctly, but after you turn off the computer for the night it wont POST the next day?

sean

[bobov]

If you run you fsb at 333MHz, the memory will be limited to 1333MHz. To run your memory at 1600MHz, you have to set fsb to 400MHz.

[WingHeart]

If you run you fsb at 333MHz, the memory will be limited to 1333MHz. To run your memory at 1600MHz, you have to set fsb to 400MHz.

That's what I thought.

Last question -- just so I know I'll get the BIOS settings right the first time, on the DX38BT (or DX48BT2), using this memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231167 (DDR3 1600), would you manually set the listed memory timings/speed/voltage for DDR3-1600 (would it boot? I've read that the DX38BT can be picky with higher speed memory) or manually set them for DDR3-1333 speeds (and reducing voltage perhaps for 1333mhz operation?)?

[xMrBunglex]

I had the 1866 Patriot earlier and they had 1.9 spec'd as default. My current 1333 is 1.7 default but I need 1.82 to run @ default and my current 1532. Isn't the memory you have 1.9V ?

my memory's rated voltage is 1.8 @ 1600 but i had to set it to 1.9 to pass Orthos and Memtest. i guess it's the motherboard and not the memory if yours does the same thing.

WingHeart, i'd recommend manually setting your memory's frequency, latencies, and voltage instead of trying to let the SPD set it. you might have to fiddle with it a little to make it stable. i'd also recommend running Orthos for at least a half hour before allowing Windows to install all its updates, just in case. unbeknownst to me, my computer was unstable for the first day of its life and i was running everything at default. i upped the vMEM by .1V and it was stable after that.

[Sean-E-Boy]

update from my previous post

...and then leave it off all day and it POSTs just fine when i got home from work?

[WingHeart]

I had the 1866 Patriot earlier and they had 1.9 spec'd as default. My current 1333 is 1.7 default but I need 1.82 to run @ default and my current 1532. Isn't the memory you have 1.9V ?

Just curious, are you running the PDC34G1333LLK memory kit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220278)? Were you getting errors/BSOD when you left it as the manufacturer listed 1.7v at default (no OC) speeds with your QX9650?

Edit: Just noticed you're running the 2GB kit...wonder if the voltage would vary with the 4GB kit (as I'll be running x64 xp)

[xMrBunglex]

update from my previous post

...and then leave it off all day and it POSTs just fine when i got home from work?

i'm starting to get occasional blue screens when Windows is loading now. it's rock solid once i'm in Windows, but a soft reboot seems to invite BSOD's. the solution is to power off, wait a few seconds, and power back on.

i would ordinarily assume my RAM is blame for something like that, but i always pass Orthos and Memtest with no errors. is it possible the 1517 BIOS is somehow causing this?

[Randy]

Just curious, are you running the PDC34G1333LLK memory kit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220278)? Were you getting errors/BSOD when you left it as the manufacturer listed 1.7v at default (no OC) speeds with your QX9650?

Edit: Just noticed you're running the 2GB kit...wonder if the voltage would vary with the 4GB kit (as I'll be running x64 xp)

If I remember correctly, I would get random hard reboots in Windows and booting windows. Just "POOF!" reboot, no BSOD's.

[Randy]

Here's another new twist...

I pick up another identical set of memory modules to bump up to 4GB and play around with 64bit on a separate partition. I pop the two additional one's in hoping to run them at the same OC, voltage and timings - which I know probably will not work 100%.

I was correct, it didn't. So I start reducing the FSB little by little to get it stable. I was getting random reboots and file corruption, and finally set everything to default. And without any stress testing, everything seemed stable, so I started bringing the FSB back up and hit a wall much lower than I was at. I finally said the hell with it and got rid of the new modules and put everything back where I was.

1.35V CPU
10 X 380
333/1333
7-7-7-20 @ 1.82V
MCH 1.325V

I was stable now for over a week, but now I am back to random reboots after adding and removing that ram and changing the bios settings. Man this is frustrating that you have to fear something like adding memory or adjusting any bios settings that you may not get the same results.

I realize that even though those memory sticks are all the same part #, that they will OC differently.

Any advice on what might be happening when you populate 4 slots versus 2 ?
I really hate to bump the memory voltage up any higher.

[Randy]

WingHeart-
All Else-
Has anyone had issues with setting memory timings that POST, detect (in BIOS and CPU-Z, etc.), and run correctly, but after you turn off the computer for the night it wont POST the next day?

sean

Sean,
yes I have had that happen. I wish I could give you what I did to fix it, but I have had so many issues, I can't recall. I know I RMA'd my board once, but I don't recall if that was one of the issues at that time.

[Sean-E-Boy]

Randy-
this may or may not help you, but i have 4 sticks. however, i have always had 4, so dont know about 2v4 stuff...you may need to raise mch.

But one trick that i have learned for tweaking memory with this board is to
1) drop processor clock by 20-30mhz...say to 350 in your case
2) set mem frequency to the lowest possible while leaving mem ref the same
3) reboot
4) increase mem frequency 1 step at a time followed by a reboot
5) once back to desired mem frequency, bring processor clock back up.
6) tighten timings

by following this method i have been able to boot to and remain stable at 375x10 and 333/1333 6-5-5-11-50-15-15-15-15-1T (1500MHz FSB, 1500MHz mem PC-12000), now mind you that my q6700 is natively 266x10, 1066FSB...and i am still working on lowering mem timings.

also, after 1521 i was having all kinds of problems booting, so i bumped vMCH and loosened timings all the way out (but stayed with 1T Command Rate), found highest mem ref and freq i could boot to @ 266x10, started raising processor clock until BSODs or random reboots, backed off a bit, and then started working my timings back down.

sean

[Randy]

Randy-
this may or may not help you, but i have 4 sticks. however, i have always had 4, so dont know about 2v4 stuff...you may need to raise mch.

But one trick that i have learned for tweaking memory with this board is to
1) drop processor clock by 20-30mhz...say to 350 in your case
2) set mem frequency to the lowest possible while leaving mem ref the same
3) reboot
4) increase mem frequency 1 step at a time followed by a reboot
5) once back to desired mem frequency, bring processor clock back up.
6) tighten timings

by following this method i have been able to boot to and remain stable at 375x10 and 333/1333 6-5-5-11-50-15-15-15-15-1T (1500MHz FSB, 1500MHz mem PC-12000), now mind you that my q6700 is natively 266x10, 1066FSB...and i am still working on lowering mem timings.

also, after 1521 i was having all kinds of problems booting, so i bumped vMCH and loosened timings all the way out (but stayed with 1T Command Rate), found highest mem ref and freq i could boot to @ 266x10, started raising processor clock until BSODs or random reboots, backed off a bit, and then started working my timings back down.

sean

I have increased the MCH twice already, where I was stable with default with the past bioses. It just doesn't make any sense of why you cannot just return to where you were after changing settings, but I guess a lot of things don't make sense with this board.

[Manel]

Haven't had any more BSODs so far. I'll have to put it through Orthos just to be sure anyway.
Randy, using 4 modules loads up the mem controller a lot more so usually you can't oc so much as with only 2. Also, you might need to bump the voltage. it's a sort of compromise, either mem amount or speed really.
Regarding going back to previous settings and not working the same way, it's strange really but you know this board, nothing is normal about it. Have you used the same 2 modules you had used first?