Abit IX38 Quad GT - Living Review II

[BUFF]

Originally Posted by michaeld

Though I don't have two graphics cards, but I've heard that sometimes there are problems running a non-graphics card in the second PCI-E 16x slot.

I would be putting a SATA RAID card in the Abit's 3rd PCI-E slot (16x physical/4x electrical).

I would be running a 8800GT in the first PCI-E slot. Do you see any possible problems or issues with this setup?

abits seem to be a bit better about this than some other manufacturers e.g. there were plenty of people that reported it working on IP35 Pros when the same setup wouldn't work on other P35 chipset mobos.
Similarly it used to work on mobos like the KN9 SLI when again it didn't on some other manufacturers' equivalent mobos.
Bottom line though is that it's just too new & with too little feedback so far to say for certain.

[supershanks]

There does seem to be an issue with this board & Enermax Galaxy Ademcg post#73, in the same way that Clunk had issues with his on the Maximus, it might also explain some of his issues with his board.

It may be linked with the 8800GT Glowball has had similar issues

I think that's the real problem 8800's with Enermax Galaxy's on X38... in that order

.

[michaeld]

Originally Posted by BUFF

abits seem to be a bit better about this than some other manufacturers e.g. there were plenty of people that reported it working on IP35 Pros when the same setup wouldn't work on other P35 chipset mobos.
Similarly it used to work on mobos like the KN9 SLI when again it didn't on some other manufacturers' equivalent mobos.
Bottom line though is that it's just too new & with too little feedback so far to say for certain.

Thanks, BUFF. It's always scary being an early adopter, but I think that's what I'm going to have to do. I'm sort of hedging my bets on the fact that the IX38 does have that 3rd slot and it's a 4x electrical. You would think that it's specifically designed for a RAID card/NIC/firewire/whatever. So that you could have your SLI or two videocards AND whatever else you wanted.

I'm thinking it's a safer bet than trying to use the second 16x PCI-E slot on a Gigabyte DQ6 for the same purpose...though I'd actually like to buy the GB board as I really like their MBs and support.

[michaeld]

Does anyone have the IX38 User Manual? I've checked all over Abit's sites, including their FTP site and it's not there.

If you could email it to me, that would be swell.

OR, if you could please check in there to see if it says anything about the 3rd PCI-E slot. Specifically if it mentions anything about RAID cards or non-graphics cards. Thanks very much!

[Tomsen]

Hi,

I have a problem with Crossfire (2xHD 3870) on the IX QuadGT Board.

Cat 7.11 is installed, WinXP Pro SP2 DX9, and in many tools i can see that CF ist activated.

But in 3Dmark06 1.1.0 i have this score:

3DMark Score 10794 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4563 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 5028 Marks
CPU Score 2760 Marks

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 34.932 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 41.112 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.876 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 1.392 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 45.719 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 54.847 FPS

I think there is only one Card working maybe. Cause i had a 2900XT before and the score was little bit higher with ONE card.
So, is there a Bios setting to activate CF?

[BUFF]

shouldn't be, it's all supposed to be done by the gfx driver/control app.

[Tomsen]

Yeah it has something to do with the Catalyst Driver Maybe. Sometimes the CF is working in 3Dmark06 and sometimes not. Dont know why.

[supershanks]

Manuals

1) IX 38 QUADGT
2) Uguru Manual 4200-0394-06 Rev. 4.00
3) The one that didn't make itIX38-MAX

[Ademcg]

Hey Supershanks nice final score last night, but we were a bit shakey at times...roll on the French

Finally up and running, but having a little difficulty getting any time prime stable at pretty much stock.

If I list my Bios settings could you pick over them and maybe suggest one or two things...I am not looking for 500 FSB a nice 3 GHz would be a great start

Any advice / help as always much appreciated

[supershanks]

Hi M8,
Welcome
Yep way they started feared the worst

If I list my Bios settings could you pick over them and maybe suggest one or two things

Yep no worries, use the Bios Template