Gigabyte GA X38 DQ6 Blog

[supershanks]

Cheers glad you like the reviews

I know it's early but any idea what's a better board GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 or the Maximus Formula "SE" for gaming & editing?
ThankS

Bit hard to say really I've not tried him next door's board
Gigabyte:-
The build quality & layout of the gigabyte is awesome. Bios is not as fearure rich as Asus, no damper might bother some though it's very steady.

I'm still learning how to tweak this, at the monment i'm struggling to maximise fsb just got to 465 though not to stable, that seems common the maximus I think clunk was topping out at 470.

[tataraperz]

the only bad thing about this mobo is the lack of CMOS clear jumper or button or switch or whatever :\

[supershanks]

the only bad thing about this mobo is the lack of CMOS clear jumper or button or switch or whatever :\

Yep though i think the failed overclock recovery is great , i've only cleared cmos once, after flashing when i first got it. How about you??

[NOVA]

thanks supershanks got mine more stable with a mild overclock on air useing your settings

e6850 3ghz at 3.6 1600 fsb
GA X38 DQ6
crucial ballistix DDR2 8500
8800 ultra

[supershanks]

Hi Nova , welcome to the forum.
Good going glad the settings helped.

What do you reckon to the board, what did you have before??

luck

[NOVA]

I had a asus P5N32-E sli

The ga X38 DQ6 well at first i was getting a few memory errors when i had ram timing set to 5,5,5,15 so i stumbled around in the bios for a while trying this and that with no success updated bios from F4 to F6b and then came across your posts used your setting and all good so far ran ortho's for few hours no errors will let run over nite and see how it goes

[supershanks]

That's good i've found the key timing is TRD needs to be 7, with these Ballistix 85000 modules Auto doesn't seem to always work.

Have found i can tighten timings a bit from those i posted earlier.
Though i've turned vdimm up a notch

MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT)
Robust Graphics Booster:Turbo
CPU Clock Ratio: 9x
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) : 400
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) : 105
C.I.A.2: Disabled
Performance Enhance : Extreme
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) : 2.66D
Memory Frequency(Mhz): 1064
DRAM Timing Selectable : Manual
Standard Timing ControlCAS Latency Time: : 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# : 5 
DRAM RAS# Precharge : 5
Precharge Delay(tRAS) : 10
Advanced Timing Control
ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD) : 4
Rank Write to READ Delay : 4
Write To Precharge Delay : 6
Refresh to ACT Delay : 30 
Read To Precharge Delay : 4 
tRD : 7
tRD Phase Adjustment : Auto
Command to #CS Timing: : 2T

Clock Driving and Skew Control
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control : 1000
CPU Clock Skew Control : Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control : Normal
System Voltage Control
DDR2 OverVoltage Control : 0.40 <---up from 0.35v = should 2.2v but i think that it might overvolt so it's up to you
PCI-E OverVoltage Control : 0.35 
FSB OverVoltage Control : 0.2
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control : 0.175
MCH Reference Voltage Control : Normal
DDR Reference Voltage Control : Normal
DDR Termination Voltage Control : Normal
CPU GTLREF1 Voltage* : Normal
CPU GTLREF2 Voltage* : Normal
CPU Voltage Control : 1.40
Normal CPU Vcore :  1.2625

Advanced Bios Features
CPU Multi-Threading
Limit CPUID Max to 3
No-Execute Memory Protect
CPU Enhanced Halt(CIE)
CPU Thermal Monitor 2
CPU EIST Function
Virtuaalization Technology

Note: * Items are Hidden press [CTRL] + [F1] from the bios main menu to access.

[chotto69]

So far I'm puzzled (and quite disappointed) with the results I'm having with this mobo: with my E6600 and Corsair PC2-6400, the best i could achieve is a "mere" FSB 400x8=3,200 Ghz, but i had to feed the Vcore with 1.480. Any suggestion on how to improve? I'm using Thermaltake Mini Typhoon air cooler and the bios revision is F5h.
Any advice welcome. Thanks

[supershanks]

Hi chotto69
Reading around most people with dual cores seem to rate F3 & F4 better. Bios Downloads

What setiings are you using grab the template from Gigabyte Gs X38 Pq6 & put your settings in perhaps I or someone can help.

I found that increasing PCI-E overvoltage control to 0.35v seemed to let me drop the vcore a notch, it might be worth a try.

luck

[chotto69]

Hi Supershanks and thanks for the advice. I've downgraded my bios to F4 and i could boot Vista at FSB 350 (i haven't tested the stability because this is not my target). I haven't been able to reach FSB 400, which is my aim, considering the PC2-6400 i have.
I have to say that the SPD Multiplier is something still obscure to me: i don't understand the difference between 2.00A, B, C or D. For example, with FSB 350, to run my mem at 700, which 2.00x should i set?
I am adding the setting i used with latest OC I attempted:

[b]MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT)[/b]
Robust Graphics Booster: auto
CPU Clock Ratio: 9x
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) : 350
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) : auto
C.I.A.2: Disabled
Performance Enhance : standard
System Memory Multiplier (SPD)
Memory Frequency(Mhz): 700
DRAM Timing Selectable :
[b]Standard Timing Control[/b]CAS Latency Time: 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# : 5
DRAM RAS# Precharge : 5
Precharge Delay(tRAS) : 12
[b]Advanced Timing Control[/b]
ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD) : auto
Rank Write to READ Delay : auto
Write To Precharge Delay : auto
Refresh to ACT Delay : auto
Read To Precharge Delay : auto
tRD : auto
tRD Phase Adjustment : auto
Command to #CS Timing: auto
[b]Clock Driving and Skew Control[/b]
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control : 800mV
CPU Clock Skew Control : Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control : Normal
[b]System Voltage Control[/b]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control : +0.10
PCI-E OverVoltage Control : +0.35
FSB OverVoltage Control : normal
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control : normal
MCH Reference Voltage Control : Normal
DDR Reference Voltage Control : Normal
DDR Termination Voltage Control : Normal
CPU GTLREF1 Voltage* : normal
CPU GTLREF2 Voltage* : normal
CPU Voltage Control : 1.4875
Normal CPU Vcore : 1.325

[b]Advanced Bios Features[/b]
CPU Multi-Threading: Enabled
Limit CPUID Max to 3: Disabled
No-Execute Memory Protect: Disabled
CPU Enhanced Halt(CIE): Disabled
CPU Thermal Monitor 2: Enabled
CPU EIST Function: Disabled
Virtuaalization Technology: Disabled

Note: * Items are Hidden press [CTRL] + [F1] from the bios main menu to access. 

Thanks you for any advice you may have.