**Official ABIT IX38 QuadGT Review/Overclock/Guide Thread**

[Razer]

What settings were you using? I could 555MHz on stock air with mine E8400. It seems that this board doent like cold too much.

I remeber that zbogi had problems with NB on LN2 (IIRC) on this board. His BIOS was all messed up, that he could only use uGuru (but still ge managed 600MHz.)

[rockfella]

Whats the best BIOS for ABIT Quad GT X38 mobo?????????

[g0dM@n]

Quick question:
I've got the Abit IX38 QuadGT brand new and haven't used it yet. I currently also have a DFI T2R P35 that I'm using. I'm wondering if I should swap out and go with this Abit IX38 board, but not if it's truly not worth it. I have an 8800gtx and thinking of selling it to go with the HD4850 (and maybe xfire) in the future.

Any input? Should I swap my board? I'm just afraid that the P35 may not hold me down as far as xfire and the X38 is better... or should I go with a diff chipset? Thx in advance.

[hokiealumnus]

Whats the best BIOS for ABIT Quad GT X38 mobo?????????

Most would say v.13 official, available here.

Quick question:
I've got the Abit IX38 QuadGT brand new and haven't used it yet. I currently also have a DFI T2R P35 that I'm using. I'm wondering if I should swap out and go with this Abit IX38 board, but not if it's truly not worth it. I have an 8800gtx and thinking of selling it to go with the HD4850 (and maybe xfire) in the future.

Any input? Should I swap my board? I'm just afraid that the P35 may not hold me down as far as xfire and the X38 is better... or should I go with a diff chipset? Thx in advance.

Depends on what you're going for. I doubt it will overclock much farther that the P35 chipset, but it might do it with slightly less voltage (I mean a tiny bit if at all). I guess it's up to you whether you think it's worth the difference between PCIe 1.0/1.0a & PCIe 2.0. If you feel like playing with your system just to see the difference, go for it. If not, leave well enough alone, sell the new IX38 and get the IP45 Pro when it comes out next month.

[Heidfirst]

Quick question:
I've got the Abit IX38 QuadGT brand new and haven't used it yet. I currently also have a DFI T2R P35 that I'm using. I'm wondering if I should swap out and go with this Abit IX38 board, but not if it's truly not worth it. I have an 8800gtx and thinking of selling it to go with the HD4850 (and maybe xfire) in the future.

I would just stick with the P35 until you are sure that you are going Crossfire & buy an appropriate board then.

[Nelly]

I'm in the middle of updating the original thread.

If you can see any coolers or ram that are not on the list that are compatable, can you please post here?


Thanks.

[XCheater]

Hey all
I'm completely new at Intel chipset like this one and I just bought this motherboard for CF, yeah it rocks! 200% from single card solution
But does anyone can share their voltage settings? I'm wondering the voltage for 3.4GHz and 3.6GHz Q6600
Thanks in advance

[Supershanks]

try some of the settings here see Overclocking, Bios Settings & Benches

luck

[XCheater]

try some of the settings here see Overclocking, Bios Settings & Benches

luck

I try some, none applicable here
Anyway I implements uGuru Turbo mode volotages with more voltages
I think I have a bad chip here
Yeah now I barely made it to 3.6GHz
But not 3.8GHz as you

[XCheater]

try some of the settings here see Overclocking, Bios Settings & Benches

luck

I can't get 3.8ghz like you
and even I have to set vcore to fairly high

[Supershanks]

I try some, none applicable here

Well give us a clue what components your running & ppl may be able to help All we know at the minute is your mobo

luck

[g0dM@n]

Depends on what you're going for. I doubt it will overclock much farther that the P35 chipset, but it might do it with slightly less voltage (I mean a tiny bit if at all). I guess it's up to you whether you think it's worth the difference between PCIe 1.0/1.0a & PCIe 2.0. If you feel like playing with your system just to see the difference, go for it. If not, leave well enough alone, sell the new IX38 and get the IP45 Pro when it comes out next month.

I would just stick with the P35 until you are sure that you are going Crossfire & buy an appropriate board then.

Thanks for the input guys. I recently purchased 2x 4850s to replace my 8800gtx, so I think I'm going to swap out my DFI T2R P35 board with the IX38 QuadGT... but before I do so, I'm trying to ask around to see if a different board is much better... such as the Asus X48 board and whatnot... I definitely don't want a $300+ board, but there are some in the low $200s that I was eyeing:
ASUS P5E Deluxe LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
DFI LANPARTY DK X48-T2RS LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

or thix 38:
ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2R LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

I mean, if I was to buy a different board I feel like I might as well go with X48...

It seems like many of you are happy with the Abit IX38... I just hate changing motherboards (takes half a day with my setup between wire management, watercooling, re-installation of software) so I always like to make the right choice in the beginning...

[Nanok]

What is the pll for clockgen ?

[g0dM@n]

I implemented the Abit IX38 QuadGT into my system yesterday and have been having nothing but problems. BIOS decides to sometimes lose cmos memory (if I said that correctly), and often I have to load a profile again or manually.
The biggest problem that I can't figure out is how to boot from a damn CD ROM!!! I have dual 74gig 16mb raptors in raid0 on sata ports 3/4, a hitachi 400gb on sata 1, and my two Samsung DVD Burners on sata 5 and 6. RAID is enabled b/c of my raptors. Even when I set 1st, 2nd, and 3rd boot device to SATA CDROM it still won't boot my damn WinXP CD. *edit* NVM, there seems to be an option on the boot choices that gives the specific name to the DVD drives... the "SATA CD ROM" really tricked me!!

Oh, and another stupid, stupid problem. The half multi was JAMMED after I did a bios update to the latest one I found on abit-usa. I think that was version 12. The half multi, even when I changed it in bios and saved, would ALWAYS be at the HALF multi. When I go back into bios, the half multi is BACK! It was haunting me!! The only way to fix it was to come here and download BIOS 13 and flash to that.

[Heidfirst]

scroll right down through the list of boot devices (the list will extend past the window) & probably about 2nd or 3rd last you will find your ODD listed by specific device ID rather than a generic CD/DVD label.

edit: oops, see that you worked it out.

[g0dM@n]

scroll right down through the list of boot devices (the list will extend past the window) & probably about 2nd or 3rd last you will find your ODD listed by specific device ID rather than a generic CD/DVD label.

edit: oops, see that you worked it out.

amazing how the tiniest switch was all it took. i've been doing IT for yrs, and i was still tricked!! live and learn. It's just another lesson and I'll never repeat the mistake again.

Installed a fresh copy of XP in < 10min. gotta love raid0 raptors!

[Heidfirst]

BIOS release V14 for IX38 QuadGT

Release information:

[ENGLISH]

1. Update CPU Micro code to support Intel QX9770 CPU.
2. Fixed the power-on switch unable shut down when to set "Password¨ to shut down..
3. BIOS compiled date: 07/01/2008



ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/download/b...gt/m704d14.zip

[Gamergod]

This is a great bios, shaved 0.01 off my voltages for a stable 3.2ghz @ 1.21!

Still cant get 3.6ghz with anything less than 1.33 Any suggestions on getting it this high with less voltage? ( using mch 1.30 )

[g0dM@n]

To this day I've never had to really tweak CPU VTT. It looks like this IX38 QuadGT truly needs a rise in VTT when pushing ~1.28vcore and more. It's funny b/c I was losing my mind for about 45min until I figured out that was all it took. I went from 1.10v to 1.15v and it helps, but still BSOD... then pumped to 1.20v and viola!!

Now, I still have to mess with GTL, but this is a start... just had to get a feel of this mobo. I'm coming from a DFI T2R P35 and needed this board for xfire dual x16 lanes.

[Jura55ic]

Ok i need some advice plz. Im running Vista x64 can i use a ms dos boot disc i used to use when i had xp installed to start in Dos? if not how do i do it as i want to update my BIOS to 14

[Supershanks]

yes your dos floppy should work ok. Or you can use a usb drive Ace's Bios Flashing Procedure tells you the how.

[shaithis]

Just to add to this thread that BIOSes 13 and 14 are incompatible with the PowerColor 4870x2 (and possibly all 4870x2 boards), resulting in a black screen and post code 7F.

I certainly hope we see BIOS 15 some time soon.......

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Just to add to this thread that BIOSes 13 and 14 are incompatible with the PowerColor 4870x2 (and possibly all 4870x2 boards), resulting in a black screen and post code 7F.

I certainly hope we see BIOS 15 some time soon.......

BIOS 12 works with the X2s...but has it's own share of issues with other things like the 45nm processors. As for version 15, I really wouldn't hold my breath, given Abit's current situation.

[shaithis]

Yes, I downgraded to 12 to get system stability but now have lost x.5 multipliers. Seeing as my CPU is 8.5x, its a bit of a pain and I am holding out hope!

I emailed ABit support with an extensive list of what I tested and what conclusions I came to, so hope they will re-produce and fix the issue.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Yes, I downgraded to 12 to get system stability but now have lost x.5 multipliers. Seeing as my CPU is 8.5x, its a bit of a pain and I am holding out hope!

I emailed ABit support with an extensive list of what I tested and what conclusions I came to, so hope they will re-produce and fix the issue.

They have reproduced it. The question is whether or not they actually have staff left working on bios updates or not. Time will tell.