Gigabyte EX58-UD5/Extreme Discussion Thread

[Andrea deluxe]

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Gigabyte Readies GA-EX58-Extreme2, Jumps the USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s Bandwagon



The inclusion of USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s into the feature-sets of mid-thru-high end motherboards, have sparked off a mini wave of motherboard SKUs carved out on the basis of these features alone. Gigabyte, which recently unveiled its P55A family of socket LGA-1156 motherboards, has just done the same for its high-end socket LGA-1366 motherboard, with the introduction of the GA-EX58-Extreme2. Unlike other motherboards by the company that simply slipped in USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s while retaining essentially the same component layout, the GA-EX58-Extreme2 is a completely new design, that does not look similar to that of its predecessor, the GA-EX58-Extreme.

Gigabyte made use of not one, but two Marvell 88SE9123 2-port 6 Gb/s controllers, to give out four 6 Gb/s ports (color-coded white), all internal. Furthermore, two USB 3.0 controllers have been included to provide four ports. Unlike its predecessor, the GA-EX58-Extreme2 provides four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrical x16, NC, x16, NC; x16, NC, x8, x8; or x8, x8, x8, x8, depending on how they're populated.) The CPU is powered by a 24-phase circuit, and is wired to six DDR3 DIMM slots to support up to 24 GB of memory across a triple-channel interface. The chipset and VRM cooler supports water-cooling. The rest of its feature-set remains in tune with its predecessor: six SATA 3 Gb/s ports, dual gigabit Ethernet, 8-channel audio, and support for both ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI technologies. Gigabyte may include this into the wave of products it plans to launch ahead of the winter shopping season. A video preview can be watched at the source.

[IanB]

@ DavyBoy

Here's a link to pics of my EK loop on the UD5. http://i-asm.com/IanB_EX-58-UD5_cooling.zip

There's an EK Supreme LT and a 4870 block there as well. It's a homebuilt case with a non-standard layout for the PSU, so not the best angles to see, but the link from 4870 block to the mainboard cooling goes fine in 7/8" without a kink. I just have one at the top of the loop I have to deal with now, I notice, sneaked in while I had the lid on... I guess I could do with some bracing to support the video card too, I'll get right on that!

HTH.

[xzulu]

I raised the BCLK to 213...so far so good. Looks like this will be my new setting for everyday use.

[Carfax]

Is anyone using SLI/Crossfire on the UD5 and having problems with fitting every thing on the board?

I can no longer fit my sound card, due to the GTS 250 taking up too much space

[Carfax]

I raised the BCLK to 213...so far so good. Looks like this will be my new setting for everyday use.

Hey dude, you and I have almost the same set up. Could you help me out a bit?

I just put this rig together today, and it's the first time I've ever built a computer based on the Core i7 platform so I'm a bit of a n00b on this one...

I have a d0 chip, and I thought I could hit 4.2ghz easily, but I was wrong, or maybe my settings are screwed up, or the Prolimatech can't handle 4.2ghz.

When I run Prime, my temp sky rockets to 74c, which promptly crashes my computer..

I couldn't believe the temps would be that high, because from the reviews I've read, the Prolimatech Megahalems is supposed to be in the top three best heatsinks.

Anyway, I checked to see if it was mounted right, and it was.

Help would be much appreciated!

[Salamndar]

Hmm, 74c shouldn't crash the system, in fact it is reasonable temperature when using this high overclocking and air cooling, with my old EX58-Extreme and c0 920 CPU I could reach 85c @ 3.8GHz when using prime95 and coolermaster V8, the system was rock stable.

[Carfax]

Hmm, 74c shouldn't crash the system, in fact it is reasonable temperature when using this high overclocking and air cooling, with my old EX58-Extreme and c0 920 CPU I could reach 85c @ 3.8GHz when using prime95 and coolermaster V8, the system was rock stable.

Do you think it could be because I have some kind of failure protection enabled or something?

[Hornet331]

Gigabyte Readies GA-EX58-Extreme2, Jumps the USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s Bandwagon

As long as there are only 3rd party usb/sata controllers this is nogo for me... marvell ... no thx.

[Carfax]

Hmm, 74c shouldn't crash the system, in fact it is reasonable temperature when using this high overclocking and air cooling, with my old EX58-Extreme and c0 920 CPU I could reach 85c @ 3.8GHz when using prime95 and coolermaster V8, the system was rock stable.

OK I found the problem! It was the "Performance Enhance" option. I had it on extreme, and after I changed it to turbo, I can now run at 4ghz with stability

One strange thing though, is that unless my Vcore and VTT are in automatic mode, I can't even boot up. I've tried almost every setting, and I could never boot up until I put both in automatic.

[Andrea deluxe]

As long as there are only 3rd party usb/sata controllers this is nogo for me... marvell ... no thx.

i know..... is not a best solution, specially for multiple ssd raid....

[xzulu]

OK I found the problem! It was the "Performance Enhance" option. I had it on extreme, and after I changed it to turbo, I can now run at 4ghz with stability

One strange thing though, is that unless my Vcore and VTT are in automatic mode, I can't even boot up. I've tried almost every setting, and I could never boot up until I put both in automatic.

Could you post you the voltages you set in the BIOS? Thanks

[Carfax]

Could you post you the voltages you set in the BIOS? Thanks

Yeah, I used 1.4v on the Vcore and 1.37 VTT. I also played with the IOH setting, though I have no clue what it does. I used 1.26v for that one..

At the time, I was just trying to get it to boot, but every time it would reboot during the boot up process, or BSOD.

Putting my voltages to auto fixed everything though.. Still, I'd like to get my voltages as low as possible.

BTW, I've got turbo enabled now. Running at 4.2ghz with no crashes or lock ups. It was that damn performance enhancement that messed me up!

[Carfax]

Bleh, I think I'm sending this board back and exchanging it for a Classified.

4ghz is rock steady, but with turbo on, I run into issues..

And I still can't figure out why manually setting the voltages causes my computer to crash or reset upon boot up.

Maybe I should flash to F9 bios, but I've heard bad things about it.

[Carfax]

Scratch the above. I'm going to keep this board 4ghz, DDR3-2000 8-9-8-21 turbo should be good enough for most people..

I'm convinced the reason I can't break 4ghz is due to a thermal wall. My chip is hitting 81c load temps (1.31v), which is pretty damn high. I think I'm going to order another fan to put on my Megahalems to reduce the temps a bit, then I might try for 4.2ghz again..

[javaneze]

You are wrong about those chip temps mate. Thas is not what is holding you back or rebooting your pc.
Even if you reach the max safe temp, your mobo will just throttle down your multi/bclk and not reboot.

You might want to check your gtx285's temp though.
You run a pretty high clock, and i m guessing you have the gts250 installed on the second pci-express slot (since that is 16x too and not the third one which is 8x).
With the two cards so close though, your 285 will not be able to be properly cooled. Its a known issue for ud5's sli setups ...

[nugzo]

Hey dude, you and I have almost the same set up. Could you help me out a bit?

I just put this rig together today, and it's the first time I've ever built a computer based on the Core i7 platform so I'm a bit of a n00b on this one...

I have a d0 chip, and I thought I could hit 4.2ghz easily, but I was wrong, or maybe my settings are screwed up, or the Prolimatech can't handle 4.2ghz.

When I run Prime, my temp sky rockets to 74c, which promptly crashes my computer..

I couldn't believe the temps would be that high, because from the reviews I've read, the Prolimatech Megahalems is supposed to be in the top three best heatsinks.

Anyway, I checked to see if it was mounted right, and it was.

Help would be much appreciated!

Do you think it could be because I have some kind of failure protection enabled or something?

Yeah, I used 1.4v on the Vcore and 1.37 VTT. I also played with the IOH setting, though I have no clue what it does. I used 1.26v for that one..

At the time, I was just trying to get it to boot, but every time it would reboot during the boot up process, or BSOD.

Putting my voltages to auto fixed everything though.. Still, I'd like to get my voltages as low as possible.

BTW, I've got turbo enabled now. Running at 4.2ghz with no crashes or lock ups. It was that damn performance enhancement that messed me up!

Bleh, I think I'm sending this board back and exchanging it for a Classified.

4ghz is rock steady, but with turbo on, I run into issues..

And I still can't figure out why manually setting the voltages causes my computer to crash or reset upon boot up.

Maybe I should flash to F9 bios, but I've heard bad things about it.

Scratch the above. I'm going to keep this board 4ghz, DDR3-2000 8-9-8-21 turbo should be good enough for most people..

I'm convinced the reason I can't break 4ghz is due to a thermal wall. My chip is hitting 81c load temps (1.31v), which is pretty damn high. I think I'm going to order another fan to put on my Megahalems to reduce the temps a bit, then I might try for 4.2ghz again..

Slow down. You said you were new to this platform. I'm pretty sure you don't have it whooped in a day. You'll be learning and tweaking 6 months from now. Your CPU temps are not out of line. 1 day of tweaking and running most settings on auto is your weakness. Just hang in there my friend. the Gigabyte is an awesome board, once you figure it out. The classified is great as well, but you'll have to learn it too. You cant expect a max stable overclock 1 day after putting together a completely new platform. You shouldn't even expect a max stable overclock any sooner than a week or two on a platform you completely understand. tweaking takes time, no way around it.

[Fr33dom]

Omg i just found a modded bios that took me above 235bclk :o or not but i need advice on what bios to run. And i haven had any luck asking so thought this might get some attention , sorry


Still on F4J and really need some help on what bios is good for what. Cant test them all = )

Any help would be appriciated.

[xzulu]

running most settings on auto is your weakness.

Agreed. Auto sometimes runs voltages way too high. That's why it's best to always set them manually.

the Gigabyte is an awesome board, once you figure it out.

[CryptiK]

@CryptiK

I just couldn't wait...LOL!! I tried running them at DDR3-1600 6-7-6-20 1T on 1.535v no go....QPI/VTT at 1.30v, vDimm at 1.56v....

By the way I tried running it before I go to bed at a lower multiplier and higher BCLK...18x212 DDR3-1700.... Here's what I got....will do more testing maybe tomorrow....

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...21700CAS81.jpg

Hey mate, yeah I'm still alive and kicking. Perhaps it's board/IMC limited? Eva has the same kit and his did it at 1.66v on an Asus workstation board but he didn't try lower.

Maybe try 1 stick at a time could be one of them holding it back. BBSE *should* do 1600 6-7-6-X at <1.65v from everything I've seen but of course nothing is guaranteed. Perhaps try tweaking the RTL's or secondary timings? Good luck with them.

[Carfax]

Slow down. You said you were new to this platform. I'm pretty sure you don't have it whooped in a day. You'll be learning and tweaking 6 months from now. Your CPU temps are not out of line. 1 day of tweaking and running most settings on auto is your weakness. Just hang in there my friend. the Gigabyte is an awesome board, once you figure it out. The classified is great as well, but you'll have to learn it too. You cant expect a max stable overclock 1 day after putting together a completely new platform. You shouldn't even expect a max stable overclock any sooner than a week or two on a platform you completely understand. tweaking takes time, no way around it.

Hehehe, I did say I was going to keep it

But you're right. I was getting frustrated for a while, but after messing with things, I think I'm getting the hang of it.

First off, I figured out the reason why my computer wouldn't boot up no matter what voltages I set it to.

It was the QPI VTT that was causing it to crash. I had NO IDEA how important that voltage was to stability!

Due to the fact that my memory is running at 2ghz and with aggressive timings (or so I believe), the board will accept nothing less than 1.55v for QPI VTT to run Prime with stability.

Also, I set my Vcore to 1.36 (LLC disabled) which corresponds to 1.28v on loads and my load temps dropped by 5 > 6 degrees celsius, and idle temps dropped by 3c!

Considering my max load was at 81c before on auto, I'm quite happy about this..

You think I should enable LLC though? I'm sure my temps would drop even further.

I also set my CPU Pll to 1.4v, down from 1.8v which is the default, and set my IOH to 1.26v.

So this is how it looks right now:

Vcore - 1.36v (LLC disabled)
CPU Pll - 1.4v
QPI VTT - 1.55v
IOH - 1.26v

The QPI VTT is the only thing thats a bit high, which had me worried a bit, but after googling, I found that it's quite common when you run your memory at very high speeds ie 1800 > 2000 +.

For instance, I read on the Corsair forum that the Dominator 1866 memory kits needs the QPI VTT set to 1.6v to run.

Still, if any one has any tips that could help me lower it, I'd be much obliged.

[Sparda]

*snip*

I can seem to make them even boot at CAS7-7-7-18 at the setting I have posted above. Well, I'll try them out at DDR3-1600 6-7-6-20 1T on 1.535v this weekend. Hopefully it will work out fine.

Which bios did you use? afaik trident sticks issues was fixed at bios F8f and later.

Here the changelogs for all the bios(btw you need a translator)
http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/board...ze=1&suchwort=

[safan80]

For some reason I absolutely cannot get my FSB or whatever its called on these boards over 180 Mhz.

Currently I have 1.275v on both the CPU and QPI, default on IOH, 1.6v on the ram.

CPU is running at 3780 Mhz, ram at 1440 Mhz, which I know is not stable at 1600 due to having 6 sticks.

When I try to increase the motherboard to 185 Mhz with 1.3v on the CPU and QPI volts, plus 1.18v on the IOH, it BSODs within 5 minutes of a quad orthos stress test of each CPU core.

Well you need to up the VTT big time to get 180 stable and I'm not willing to past 1.41v. Here is what i have stable so far using 6 sticks.
I'm using bois F9e.

my suggestion to you is to drop your multi all the way down and see what your chip needs to do 200fsb if it can reach it.

[DavyBoy]

@ DavyBoy

Here's a link to pics of my EK loop on the UD5. http://i-asm.com/IanB_EX-58-UD5_cooling.zip

There's an EK Supreme LT and a 4870 block there as well. It's a homebuilt case with a non-standard layout for the PSU, so not the best angles to see, but the link from 4870 block to the mainboard cooling goes fine in 7/8" without a kink. I just have one at the top of the loop I have to deal with now, I notice, sneaked in while I had the lid on... I guess I could do with some bracing to support the video card too, I'll get right on that!

HTH.

Thanks for posting those pics mate, although it is kinda difficult to get an idea of your loop layout because of the angles of the pics!

I was wondering, is that black tape you have on the fitting nearest the IOH?

[nugzo]

is this giga the best x58 board out? Better than the ASUS and EVGA?


@safan80 off topic here but how do you like the 960? I'm thinkin bout ordering one next week. as soon as i sell my sig system.. http://fayetteville.craigslist.org/sys/1442058790.html

[jacek]

beta bios f9h and max bclk.