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

[Richard Dower]

Gigabyte GA-P45-DQ6:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=186346

[Caped Crusader]

Gigabyte GA-P45-DQ6:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=186346

A regular user won't need that many SATA and LAN ports. What the hell was GB thinking off?

[Nuckin_Futs]

I'd use it easily, A 4 disc RAID uses most of what I got off the top plus a scratch RAID 0 and 2 SATA DVD, and still 2 extra left for external use. Cool. As for the 4x 1gb lAN, not bad, you can finally up and down stream dual 2GBs Gb LANs. It used to cost a fortune to do this. Most are limited to just dual 1GB for 1gb up and 1gb down streaming.

Just nead a bigger hub/switch is all for the quad wiring.

[Richard Dower]

Another driver update for the onboard Realtek 8111B/C LAN chip, dated April 29th:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...&GetDown=false

[REVHEAD]

Pish!... 8x8 will work just as well as 16x16, the PCB of the P45 is superior based on what i've seen

Not when running X2s mate ,supreme bottle necking, but if your on a small budget then p45 will suffice.

Edit ## seems the Foxconn board will be the only one with Dual PCI-E x16 Gen. 2.0 slots that make this motherboard one of a kind

[steve30x]

Well, I don't think this is a mb bug. I've encountered this problem when I was running a software (in my case cyberlink 64 bit software mpeg 2 encoder, for my tv tunner), after I uninstalled it here is my latency with tv-tunner application running and a wmware linux 2 processors virtual machine:

This may explain why my machine is slightly slower than my AMD machine. At the moment I am just doing a defrag with ultimate defrag and my latency is jumping between 10ys and 879ys.

[EDIT] just tried playing a video and my latency went up to 1229ys. Would it be worth my while sending a screen capture of this to Gigabyte?

[Buggalugs]

Another driver update for the onboard Realtek 8111B/C LAN chip, dated April 29th:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...&GetDown=false

Wow Realtek wins the "most updated drivers award" Every few weeks they bring out another one.

Anyhow on the Latency issue it is of Gigabytes opinion that the Specific Beta bioses they have released should solve the problem.

I disagree and the RD department are looking into it a little more apparently.
Gotta give them credit for trying to fix it though.


Oh. Steve yes i would send the screenshot with a short explanation of your problems. ie, stuttering, laggy system etc etc.

BTW i tested a 4 year old Dell Pentium4 PC today that im fixing and the latency was rock solid 10us with no spikes whatsoever.

[TyphooN]

I just received a f3b version of the EX38-DQ6 bios. My DPC latency is a lot better, and I can still overclock. The only problem is that tRead phase adjust is neutral, so some bandwidth/ram latency is lost. Overall, my gaming performance is much better.

http://home.comcast.net/~typhoon007/ex38dq6_f3b.zip

[Dr.Spankenstein]

Is it a known issue that the vDroop on this board is pretty bad? I'm talking: 1.412 BIOS, 1.408 CPU-z (idle), 1.376 (load)!

Not only that, I just dropped an E8500 in a day ago to run 3DMark Vantage. Pulled a few good runs then booted into XP to try a 3DM06 run. Chug....lag...CPU score halved! Uninstalled and reinstalled 3DM06 and ATI drivers, no dice.

Tried to uninstall processors in the Dev Mgr, loaded the latest beta BIOS, Loaded Optimum defaults, Cleared CMOS, reseated CPU, checked the socket and pads.

Any other suggestions?

[Richard Dower]

Spankenstein....dunno, i just like sayng spankestein.

[ThatGuy16]

The vdroop isn't that bad, i mean look at those asus boards

Mine is 1.23v windows/idle, and 1.216v on load.

[Nuckin_Futs]

The vdroop isn't that bad, i mean look at those asus boards

Mine is 1.23v windows/idle, and 1.216v on load.

Ya, look at the ASUS boards, alll their P35, X38, and X48 have a BIOS feature to zero out vdroop under loading to equal of what BIOS reads. In some cobbos of FSBT, PLL and GTL, you can actuall get a vboost under load so less at idle. For my Q6600 at 480x8 I get 1.480v idle and 1.488v loaded. There is a combo to zero it out but I like the boost so I can idle at less.

I was told by some other Gigabyte user, that this mobo was supposed to offer something close like ASUS's own "Loadline Calibration" What is it if any? Cause my Gigabyte P35 version vdroops to as much as 0.06 in some cobbo or no less then 0.04v on average or stock.

[Dr.Spankenstein]

Spankenstein....dunno, i just like sayng spankestein.

I have that effect on many!

Thanks for the responses regarding the vdroop. It seems like it can be managed with EIST disabled and LLC disabled.

Any thoughts about the E8500's behavior? Maybe I'll just reinstall the OS, a couple of the hangs might have jumbled something. Is the concensus positive or negative on the latest Beta BIOS?

[ThatGuy16]

Ya, look at the ASUS boards, alll their P35, X38, and X48 have a BIOS feature to zero out vdroop under loading to equal of what BIOS reads. In some cobbos of FSBT, PLL and GTL, you can actuall get a vboost under load so less at idle. For my Q6600 at 480x8 I get 1.480v idle and 1.488v loaded. There is a combo to zero it out but I like the boost so I can idle at less.

I was told by some other Gigabyte user, that this mobo was supposed to offer something close like ASUS's own "Loadline Calibration" What is it if any? Cause my Gigabyte P35 version vdroops to as much as 0.06 in some cobbo or no less then 0.04v on average or stock.

I was being sarcastic, in a way

And my board does has the option to disable "Loadline Calibration"

[Buggalugs]

I just received a f3b version of the EX38-DQ6 bios. My DPC latency is a lot better, and I can still overclock. The only problem is that tRead phase adjust is neutral, so some bandwidth/ram latency is lost. Overall, my gaming performance is much better.

http://home.comcast.net/~typhoon007/ex38dq6_f3b.zip

Thats good Typhoon. I noticed much better gaming performance too, so the bios definately helps even if it doesnt completely solve it.

I could probably live with it how it is now, but hopefully they can fix it properly.

[TyphooN]

I can definitely live with it. My memory latency/bandwidth is only slightly worse.. but my dpc latency is so much better. They should do something about allowing tRead phase adjust work with this bios, and then it'd be the best bios out for the board. I still think its the best bios out just because of the dpc latency fix.

[Dakkahun]

Regarding the DPC latency issue, here's what I get on my machine


This is during UT2004.

This is after UT2004 is closed and normal behaviour.

[Lightning98]

Hey, i just started reading about this... and just wondering,



Here's my screenshot while running Adobe Audition (playing) , winamp (playing) and BSPlayer (some movie...)

Now, is that a reliable test to judge if i don't have any issues, or is there a certain group of programs i can test to be 100% sure.

Also i'm running F6b BIOS (downloaded from Gigabyte)

Oh well,
Thanx

[ThatGuy16]

Can someone give me some suggestions, i can't get 4.6Ghz (512FSB) stable enough to bench 4.6Ghz. I have tried up to +0.35v on the G MCH and +0.2v FSB. The thing is, after about 5 minutes into windows, it completely locks up (regardless of the load). Also, anything above +0.25v G MCH makes it worse, but raising the MCH up to that point helps. The ram is stable, and its not the CPU.

I added a fan to my NB also.

Any suggestions?

I want to break 20k in 3dmark so bad

[Buggalugs]

I can definitely live with it. My memory latency/bandwidth is only slightly worse.. but my dpc latency is so much better. They should do something about allowing tRead phase adjust work with this bios, and then it'd be the best bios out for the board. I still think its the best bios out just because of the dpc latency fix.

Ya, i agree.

@Lighning98, yours is one of the better ones i've seen with this board you should be fine.

@Dakkahun, the occasional spike isnt gonna matter too much but if they come fairly regular over 5 minutes or so you might wanna try the beta.

Anyhow this bios fix (or half fix) will no doubt be in the next final bios release anyway so you can try the beta or wait for the next final.

[Dakkahun]

Buggalugs, the last screenshot is what I normally get during normal operation: music player, Firefox, antivirus, etc. Even with those big spikes in UT2004 I don't perceive any stutter. So i think I'm ok for now. I'll try the final BIOS when it appears. Best regards.

[REVHEAD]

Richard how is the Q9450 going ? I just ordered myself one today, to replace my Q6600.

[dinos22]

I've done some testing last night with a new CPU i bought
E7300

i first played with the first edition bios which was awesome for me in the PAST

380MHz FSB stable max on the bios >> not cool at all

updated to F9b or something and managed roughtly 500MHz FSB with it..................after a bit of tuning i found that GTL REF +6% helps with FSB and i managed to bump FSB to 520MHz

this chip has 10xmulti so with better cooling i could be able to get some half decent benchmarks



loving my 9800GX2 >>> 783/1944/1188 nature stable in '01 ...just air cooling with ~26C ambient

[truehighroller]

What is the GTL REF setting?

[Nuckin_Futs]

Hey, i just started reading about this... and just wondering,



Here's my screenshot while running Adobe Audition (playing) , winamp (playing) and BSPlayer (some movie...)

Now, is that a reliable test to judge if i don't have any issues, or is there a certain group of programs i can test to be 100% sure.

Also i'm running F6b BIOS (downloaded from Gigabyte)

Oh well,
Thanx

You can all them synthetic benchmarks and till not truely be 100% stable cause a lot of them dont test the storage sub system so if you test w/ adobe like Audition, or premiere and especially AutoGK and Cucusoft, among other transcoding apps, you will get a better real world sence of how stable it is for what you intend to use iot for. I had seeral many long hr stressed Primed rigs fail something real world, even in gaming.

So yes, it's a good refference to do the benchmarks, but add to it as you did the real world apps that actuall mean something for daily use.