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

[Crow-]

Hi,

is this motherboard good for an E8400 or a Q9450?
And generally, is it a good motherboard?

[Caped Crusader]

Hi,

is this motherboard good for an E8400 or a Q9450?
And generally, is it a good motherboard?

I'd say... yes.

[truehighroller]

yes

[phu]

I got it up and running again. I don't know why I have to set a lot of settings manually now though. This EX38-DS4 board seems to be very picky on the RAM. Running prime for about 15 mins now on 454 FSB. Still running...

Anyone knows what's the safe settings for FSB OverVoltage Control and MCH OverVoltage Control are?

[phu]

Anyone knows why as soon as I increase the MCH voltage then I can't boot?

Any recommendations for the RAM on this EX38-DS4? This is the RAM I have and it seems very unstable http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145043

[ChrissTi]

Anyone knows why as soon as I increase the MCH voltage then I can't boot?

Any recommendations for the RAM on this EX38-DS4? This is the RAM I have and it seems very unstable http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145043

Tell us your config, if you want sugestions ...

MCH voltage can be upped till 0.35. You can also rise CPU and memory voltage to increase stability. I do not know how much you can increase the CPU voltage because the DS4 has different CPU power circuit than DQ6. Personally I do not think that DS4 can be overclocked as much as an DQ6 mainboard, because DS4 has gives lower amperage to the CPU, than DQ6. That means that if you want to overclock you have to give more voltage than an DQ6, especially that you have a quad.

[rhansme]

Hi,

is this motherboard good for an E8400 or a Q9450?
And generally, is it a good motherboard?

Yes.

[ThatGuy16]

has anyone messed with the GTL settings (ctrl+F1 to show the options)?

I'm trying to think of anything to help me get 4.4Ghz, im possitive its a motherboard setting i need to change.

[Wakuwaku]

Here i am again after a while.

The X38 did go well, i had no cold boot problems anymore with F5D.

But then suddenly my system booted at default settings and when i wanted to change the biosprofile it even did not reset the PC, i got a black screen and had to reset manually.

I was not able to change any settings and upgraded to F8.

Same problem, i did load optimise settings as Gigabyte told me to do.

I had to remove the CMOS battery and then i was able to put some overclock settings in.

Now i have the problem again, i don't want to to do this CMOS battery trick every week.

I think i will return the board now and go for ASUS or does anyone have a solution for this?

Thanks in advance.

[REVHEAD]

Here i am again after a while.

The X38 did go well, i had no cold boot problems anymore with F5D.

But then suddenly my system booted at default settings and when i wanted to change the biosprofile it even did not reset the PC, i got a black screen and had to reset manually.

I was not able to change any settings and upgraded to F8.

Same problem, i did load optimise settings as Gigabyte told me to do.

I had to remove the CMOS battery and then i was able to put some overclock settings in.

Now i have the problem again, i don't want to to do this CMOS battery trick every week.

I think i will return the board now and go for ASUS or does anyone have a solution for this?

Thanks in advance.

What bios version are you running? you sig sais F8 how about trying F9a? and see if anything is solved.

[truehighroller]

I think he needs to do the default settings before flashing and what bios did you have before you went to f8? Sounds to me like you either one have a bad board or two have the settings wrong to be stable, or three didn't go to default settings before flashing or four jumped up the bios revision to fast like f2-f8.

[Wakuwaku]

I had F7D before and all was stable until i had default settings one day and i could not overcloock anymore.

Then i did reset to defaults and flashed to F8 official bios.

After the flash i did a reset defaults again, i booted and i putted in my overclocksettings which worked for a few months.

I wanted to save and exit bios, but there was my black screen again, i solved this by removing the battery.

After that i could overclock again but now i have the same issue again, settings are default, it says 2.4 ghz at boot but my overclocksettings are still in the bios, which are 3.0 ghz.

I know it is solved when i remove the battery again but i need to remove my video everytime i do that.

[zicada]

I think he needs to do the default settings before flashing and what bios did you have before you went to f8? Sounds to me like you either one have a bad board or two have the settings wrong to be stable, or three didn't go to default settings before flashing or four jumped up the bios revision to fast like f2-f8.

There is absolutely no reason to upgrade bioses in order. Eg go from F2 to F3, then to F4 and so on. If you knew a bit about what a BIOS is, and how they work, you would realize this. Just go ahead and upgrade to the latest one, they release these for a reason, namely to fix bugs.

[truehighroller]

There is absolutely no reason to upgrade bioses in order. Eg go from F2 to F3, then to F4 and so on. If you knew a bit about what a BIOS is, and how they work, you would realize this. Just go ahead and upgrade to the latest one, they release these for a reason, namely to fix bugs.

For your info hot shot that is what they say to do,,,,, Get with their tech support on that one. I just listen to what people tell me that disigned what I am running ya know,,

[truehighroller]

There is absolutely no reason to upgrade bioses in order. Eg go from F2 to F3, then to F4 and so on. If you knew a bit about what a BIOS is, and how they work, you would realize this. Just go ahead and upgrade to the latest one, they release these for a reason, namely to fix bugs.

Besides I work on PCs for a living kiss my butt with your if you knew how crap that's kind of rude to say any way.

[dannyuk32]

Hi Guys,
Thinking of buying this board butnot sure what memory to get with it?
How about some GSkill 6400 HZ? I won't be over clocking much and only slightly if I do.
Thanks, Danny.

[TyphooN]

I don't know why but I am now able to get my G.Skill PC8800(2x2gb) to be stable at 548MHz. I am trying to tweak the subtimings/timings.

So far these are my settings:



Robust Graphics Booster: AUTO
CPU Clock Ratio: 9X
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) : 411
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) : 100
C.I.A.2 isabled
Performance Enhance :Extreme
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) 2.66D
Memory Frequency(Mhz):1096
DRAM Timing Selectable :Manual
Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time: :5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# :5
DRAM RAS# Precharge :3
Precharge Delay(tRAS) :15
Advanced Timing Control
ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD) :2
Rank Write to READ Delay :3
Write To Precharge Delay :3
Refresh to ACT Delay :52
Read To Precharge Delay :2
tRD :7
tRD Phase Adjustment :1(Auto is 5.. and not stable??)
Command to #CS Timing: : 2T
Clock Driving and Skew Control
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control : 800mv
CPU Clock Skew Control :Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control :Normal
System Voltage Control
DDR2 OverVoltage Control :+0.30v
PCI-E OverVoltage Control :Normal
FSB OverVoltage Control :+0.15v
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control :+0.15v
Loadline Calibration: Enabled
CPU Voltage Control: 1.53750V

I don't understand the tread phase adjust... When I leave it on Auto(5) it is not stable, but at 1 it is? What exactly does this do? 1-31 is a lot of options and I am not sure exactly how to tweak it.

EDIT: DRAM RAS# Precharge :3 -> 4 was the cause of the instability. tRead phase adjust is at 5 and stable now. I still don't understand exactly how to tweak this setting. Is it best to just use the setting that comes auto.. or a higher or lower setting?

[Richard Dower]

So guys...my Q9450 is due in the next day or two, gonna be offline for a couple of days as i'm deconstructing the PC and doing a fresh install. I'll report back on the testing and observations. My goal with the CPU is 3.4GHz with the least amount of voltage.

Then i'll try 3.5-3.6, if i need too much voltage i'll pass, but 3.4 is a must.

[freqy]

hi all

im running 3ghz on air (q6600) and the temps are ranging from 55--62 maxing 100percent on prime95

what temps are you guys getting using prime95 and core temp on the q6600?



im using a x38-gq6 ( version 1)

[ThatGuy16]

What memory strap should i use for best overclocking ability for 1:1 ratio?

A, B, C, or D? I'm using B and I'm not getting far.. i think that might be part of my problem.

Also every time i set all of the advanced timings manually to the default settings, it resets my bios and won't boot.

So, im thinking my ram settings is the cause of why i can't get pass 483FSB




EDIT: typhoon, the performance enhance can cause instability as well.. you can try it on standard.

[TyphooN]

I don't think that the memory strap at 1:1 should matter, I would think you could run 2.00D and get the best performance for your overclock. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

[ThatGuy16]

I don't understand what the difference is between the 1:1 straps

I can try that though. I'm about out of ideas though, I'm pretty sure its my ram thats the cause. With all the advance timings on auto, it runs fine with my 24/7 settings. But i tried setting it to the defaults manually and it resets the bios with a failed post.

[TyphooN]

The difference between the 1:1 straps is the (G)MCH strap speed. A higher speed should be faster... I don't know how much, but that is the idea. 2.00A would be easier on the MCH for overclocking.. but just add (G)MCH voltage and a higher strap setting shouldn't be a problem I would think. Could be your ram.. try out 2.00A if 2.00D doesn't work for you, since it is the slowest setting.. That will narrow it down to if it is the strap setting or your ram.

[ThatGuy16]

Yeah, my ram isn't exactly the best thing on the market

I got it to boot once at 4.4Ghz, by removing two sticks of ram. But couldn't get her to do it again lol.

The advance timings are funny, i'm thinking with them on auto, it keeps setting itself to something unstable. But yet, when i set them to the default timings manually, it won't post.

I'll try 2.00A in a few minutes

[truehighroller]

With my ex38 none of the straps work besides for the d straps... and what is the tread phaze adjust setting for??