GA-P35-DS3L OC Time!

[Prof. Dr. Silver]

Well, here it is. Ordered the GigaByte GA-P35-DS3L from DC and got it in two days! I have to tell you though that is has been a long time(almost two years) since I've messed around with other mobo's than my good old 680i.

First off let me mention a few of my findings here... This BIOS seems weird to me. I plugged in all my equipment and it started up without any issues! It noticed everything properly right away. Now upon entering the BIOS(version F7) I begin to ask myself...where are all the options???

No memory tweaking options? Strange memory divider system? Voltages are hard to read, besides the fact that they have a HUGE droop!!! If I set my vCore to 1.45...I end up getting 1.41....and that will go down to 1.39 under load! I just hope it's not the same with the other voltages setting options! And hot....no I must say HOT that the NB gets....I burned myself! And that was on standard settings....nothing OC'ed yet!

So then the overclocking part starts... The E6850 I have is not a real good one...it will run up to 3.850GHz on this board but is not real stable at that point. On my old 680i it did the same...but that boards is now on its way for a RMA session. 3.6GHz so far is stable but what I don't understand is, my temps remain nice and low...28C idle and 48C under Orthos load, so how come if it gets any higher than that it will not remain stable?

And what should I do to make my RAM run as fast as possible eg. 1150MHz under 5-4-4-8 timings without taking away from the CPU overclock?

Did anybody use EasyTune 5 Pro? Works rather well I must say. Actually in general the board works rather well....but it just seems strange to me after using my 680i for such a long time. If someone with a similar board could post some OC settings than that would be helpful!

THX Guys!

[sswilson]

Heh.....

First off... Ctrl-F1 from the main bios page will unlock all of your advanced memory settings..... :)

[BALISTX]

I plugged in all my equipement and it started up without any issues! Now upon entering the BIOS(version F7) I begin to ask myself...where are all the options???

Press Ctrl+F1 at the main BIOS page. This will give you all the memory options.

No memory tweaking options? Stupid memory divider system? Voltages are hard to read, besides the fact that they have a HUGE droop!!! If I set my vCore to 1.45...I end up getting 1.41....and that will go down to 1.39 under load! So lets not

You may have the PC Health stuff enabled. You will want to go in a disable the following:
- Disable the CPU Smart Fan Control so your fan is running at max.
even discuss the other voltages setting options! And hot....no I must say HOT that the NB gets....I burned myself! And that was on standard settings....nothing OC'ed yet!

This is normal. Get yourself either a aftermarket NB heatsink or a 40mm fan.

So then the overclocking part starts... The E6850 I have is not a real good one...it will run up to 3.850GHz on this board but is not real stable at that point. On my old 680i it did the same...but that boards is now on its way for a RMA session. 3.6GHz so far is stable but what I don't understand is, my temps remain nice and low...28C idle and 48C under Orthos load, so how come if it gets any higher than that it will not remain stable?

And what should I do to make my RAM run as fast as possible eg. 1150MHz under 5-4-4-8 timings without taking away from the CPU overclock?

If you want to run your memory above the rated speed of 1066 then if you set the memory multiplier to 2.5 which wiould give you 1125MHz with a 450 FSB or drop your FSB down to 400 set your CPU multi back to 9 and set your Memory multiplier to 3 which would give you 1200MHz for your memory.

Here are the rest of the settings.

Robust Graphics Booster: Turbo
CPU Clock Ratio: Default setting
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Clock Frequency (Mhz): Set to your desired FSB
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz): 100
C.I.A.2: Disable
System Memormy Multiplier (SPD) 2.5 or 3 depending if you have your FSB at 450 or 400.
High Speed DRAM DLL Settings - Option 2
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD): Manual.

************** Standard Timing Control ******************
CAS Latency Time: 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 4
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 4
Precharge delay (tras) 8

Keep in mind you may have to loosen your timings if it is not stable since you plan on OCing your memory.

The rest of the memory settings leave on Auto.

DDR2 Overvoltage Control
- This works on +0.1 for 1.9v, +0.2 for 2.0v, +0.3 for 2.2v, etc....

[3.0charlie]

Jeez.. step back, relax, take a breather...

1. Flash to BIOS F8a.
2. Like Mr. Wilson and Balistx wrote, CTRL+F1 on the main page will show advanced settings.
3. Yes, the board has a vdroop, like many other boards.
4. Members don't believe me when I say that the board runs hot. Either change the NB block or slap a Spot Cool on top of it. Keep a close eye also on the SB block.
5. With BIOS F8a, a new Ram multi of 2.0 is shown - this will allow you to run 1:1. No more Ram problems.
6. I never use software for oc'ing. Ever.

On my DS3L, I can push my Q6600 to 4.2GHz, unstable. ATM, I managed 3.7GHz, folding 24/7. Next step will be 3.8. Yes the board droops, but it's not too bad - heck this is a 90$ board, not a 250$ monster...

[donimo]

What they said...

The scythe mini kaze is like 4 bux and silent as a mouse fart, screws right to the NB sink and brings my temps from 45 to 32, done. I have a Noctua NB HS on another one, gets me to 29 with a kaze on it, not worth it IMO.

I can post at 4.2 on a 6750, but thats all, but yes, the droop is huge, just compensate I guess...

[Prof. Dr. Silver]

LOL guys! THX a lot for your tips....See what happens if you don't read the manual first? They call that being an eager beaver as well....LOL

I'll report back a little later how things are going! Lets see how the BIOS flash goes on these boards....

[3.0charlie]

It's a good board, with plenty of settings but with a budget price. My main concern is the vdroop, but you sure can compensate. Next is the very-high NB temp, but then again this also can be taken care of.

[donimo]

Originally Posted by Prof. Dr. Silver

LOL guys! THX a lot for your tips....See what happens if you don't read the manual first? They call that being an eager beaver as well....LOL

I'll report back a little later how things are going! Lets see how the BIOS flash goes on these boards....

I call that being a nurse...

if you look at the rest of the gigabyte line, there really isnt a whole lot different all the way up, unless you need xfire or raid that is, pretty much the same board...

[SugarJ]

Originally Posted by 3.0charlie

It's a good board, with plenty of settings but with a budget price. My main concern is the vdroop, but you sure can compensate. Next is the very-high NB temp, but then again this also can be taken care of.

Am I right in thinking I should disable the CIA2? This is my first Gigabyte board, all new terms and options in the BIOS from my ASUS stuff.

BTW, I was able to boot the E8400 to windows with the F7 Bios, then upgrade it with the @BIOS s/w. This was a concern for me before I installed, wasn't sure if I'd have to boot with my E6400 first. Glad it worked, should also work for those of you thinking about this combo.

Suggestions for software for monitoring NB temp? I like Coretemp but it only shows CPU temps.

[BALISTX]

Yes disable the CIA2 feature. I had this enabled when I had my DS3L and it was wrecking havoc on my OC.

So you are saying with the F7 BIOS the E8400 boots. Did you have any issues with using the @BIOS software?