RD600 first look and general questions

[kimandsally]

Good luck, I think you'll be real happy with your results on the Maximus. That DFI RD600 bios was a good learning experience I guess, but after working so hard for every extra 5mhz on that board the nice, easy, blow-and-go Asus bios is a nice break.

Update got the Maximus and I'm @ 405 X 9 13 hours Othos stable already, with no throttling at all and with 0.1v less, as you said it's sooo easy compared to the DFI can't believe how stable it is I can throw anything at it and even if it fails just a restart and I'm back running again.

[marauder16]

that's true, I got to 3.7GHz with my E6600 with no trouble, but getting it to do 3.83GHz orthos stable is taking me days, and it's so inconsistent, same settings sometimes give me almost 5hrs orthos and sometimes it blocks after 17-20min, strange

that throttling is (probably) caused by the power management ICs being @ 33C or more, but keeping it under that temp doesn't. Despite that you can handle it by installing the Rightmark cpu clock utility and turning off anything that has to do with EIST (CPU advanced settings tab -> untick everything), the problem with this board is that there is no BIOS option for turning it off, can't do it any other way except with this program.

[GenTarkin]

So, I have a few questions about this board, as its only 79$ on ebay now and I see its track history has been very good and I am looking for good deal on a nice DFI LP board.....
Is this board a still viable option for OC'in a kentsfield X3210, I read this board can take it fairly high after tweaking all the GTL settings.

My BIG main concern is WILL the PCIE slots run anything other than video cards?
I have a MegaRaid SCSI 320-2E PCIE controller currently running happily in my DFI LP NF4 Expert in the 2nd SLI PCIE slot.
I would need it to run in this board also.

Has anyone put anything other than graphics card in any of its 3 PCIE slots?
Thanks

[d50man]

DFI has released a beta bios for the RD600 and wolfdale 45nm cpus

from here:
http://www.csd.dficlub.org/forum/sho...?t=5314&page=4

bios is on dfi's server
http://us.dfi.com.tw/Support/Downloa...FLAG=B&SITE=US

Date Code 2008/04/24
File R6TD424.zip
Size 539,595 bytes

Major Reasons of Change:
1. Support Intel 45nm Wolfdale family CPU

[marauder16]

I just saw this thread and I can't find the bios there anymore, can please someone give me another link, or upload it somewhere, thnx

[linczs2000]

I just saw this thread and I can't find the bios there anymore, can please someone give me another link, or upload it somewhere, thnx

They had moved it to the official zone.

http://tw.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/R6TD424.zip

[marauder16]

They had moved it to the official zone.

http://tw.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/R6TD424.zip

yep, found it eventually, thnx anyway

[RGone]

Major changes had to be made to that bios to allow a wolfdale, 45nm processor to function. I would only depend on that later bios if you have a dual core, 45nm, wolfdale processor.

[irev210]

still, the board is 80 bucks brand new from newegg...

really tempting to test out with wolfdale if it works

[The Nemesis]

still, the board is 80 bucks brand new from newegg...

really tempting to test out with wolfdale if it works

Since I have experience with both the RD600 & P965-S Dark. And they are both $80, I'd go with the P965-S Dark.

[marauder16]

Major changes had to be made to that bios to allow a wolfdale, 45nm processor to function. I would only depend on that later bios if you have a dual core, 45nm, wolfdale processor.

of course, I won't use it with my present chip, just wanted to have it in case...

[mrcape]

How is this board and also the Dark doing with high FSB using wolfdale?

[Praz]

How is this board and also the Dark doing with high FSB using wolfdale?

24/7 voltages (NB at 1.50V) the ICFX3200 will do right at 400MHz FSB running the memory at 1000MHz. Nothing to write home about but it needs to be remembered that AMD said this couldn't even be done. And as RGone has already wrote, do not use this BIOS if not running a Wolfdale processor.

[Miwo]

still, the board is 80 bucks brand new from newegg...

really tempting to test out with wolfdale if it works

The Gigabyte EP35 DS3L is $89. 9 bucks more......so why spend the hassle on the RD600 and flakey unproven bios....

[Praz]

The Gigabyte EP35 DS3L is $89. 9 bucks more......so why spend the hassle on the RD600 and flakey unproven bios....

For $89.00 you make a good point. However, the BIOS is not unproven. I had already posted what expectations one should have if the decision was made to go with the board.

[Miwo]

For $89.00 you make a good point. However, the BIOS is not unproven. I had already posted what expectations one should have if the decision was made to go with the board.

Actually they are about the same price because there is free shipping on the EP35 DS3L

TBH, I was actually considering trying out the RD600. If you are on the budget end, pairing this up with an E7200 is perfect because of the high multiplier. Getting close to 4GHz on a $80 board along with the mem clocking options isn't too shabby. Not to mention better phase power, crossfire support compared to other super budget boards.... but also heard this board has problems running Vista?

[Praz]

but also heard this board has problems running Vista?

The issue is when using a quad core with Vista. And AMD has yet to release a chipset driver that fixes it.