Gigabyte GA X38 DQ6 Blog

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I'm looking at 3 firsts today:-
My first x38
My first Gigabyte Board.
First time I've used Yoyotech, after seeing my order sit 36hrs waiting to be picked at Scan.

Please feel free to join in with any observations, contributions or questions
Index:
If you rate it please :-
Thanks.
Bios
Gigabyte Official Site + F5G & F5H BTA
The Blurb & Specs

Motherboard & Package
The Box

Open The Box
Mobo Layout Detail
Default Mobo Layout Detail Cont'd
Crazy Cool Heatsinks
The Rest of the package
Components & Testing Setup

Key Posts
Removing Crazy Cool CPU/NB Heatsink
Check out those Heatpipes
Bios - General
Bios - MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.)
1st Stability Shot - 13Hr Stable at 9x400 & settings
The Blurb & Mobo Specs
9x450@2.4B(5:6) 1080 vcore = 1.525v (bios) Bios F5H BETA
8x465 Stable
480FSB 8x480@2 4,4,4,12
Bios Template
Zenoth's 19hr Stable E8400 416x9 & Bios Settings
Overview
After market Cooling & Compatibility

Tuning & Tweaking
GTL Ref translation from FORUM HardWare.fr
FSB Overvoltage Control
TRD & Performance Enhance
Memset to Bios Memory Timing translation


Summary:-
Good Points
Heatpipes
Layout
Overclocking Recovery
Good Solid Feel and finish. Small details like printed I/O shield. No gilt and flash like some mobo packages (Striker comes to mind & general Asus ROG range) just solid.
Bad Points
No Clear Cmos Jumper - Minor gripe as i had plenty spare, but if your a newby just starting out, you fancy poking a screwdriver around instead
Location of Clear Cmos header if using Crossfire
See
Overview for more detail

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Package arrived about 11:30am.



Very impressed with quality of packing about the best packed mobo i've had



Got about 2~3 Metres extra wrap now



10/10::

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Front

Rear

Cut Out

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The Board Blurb
GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6

1. Supports Intel® Core 2™ multi-core and upcoming 45nm processors
2. Support for 1600 MHz FSB.
3. Dual Channel DDR2 1066 memory support for outstanding system performance.
4. High quality CPU power module with Ferrite Core Chokes, Lower RDS (on) MOSFETs and Lower ESR Solid Capacitors.
5. Re-engineered Thermal Design featuring All Copper Silent-Pipe and Crazy Cool.
6. Japanese manufactured SMD All Solid Capacitor motherboard design.
7. Supports CrossFire™ with Dual PCI-E 2.0 x16 graphics for extreme gaming performance.
8. Features SATA 3Gb/s with Quad eSATA 2 interface .
9. ALC889A with DTS Connect enables high quality Full Rate Lossless Audio and support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD.
10. Quad BIOS for an extended level of protection.
11. Quad-Triple Phase Power Design for ultimate system stability.
12. Dual Gigabit Ethernet LAN with Teaming functionality.
13. Certified for Microsoft VISTA™ systems

Specifications

CPU

1. Support for an Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor/ Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor/ Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor/ Intel® Pentium processor Extreme Edition/ Intel® Pentium D processor/ Intel® Pentium 4 processor Extreme Edition/ Intel® Pentium 4 processor in the LGA 775 package
2. Support for Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology
3. Support 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz FSB

Chipset

1. Northbridge: Intel® X38 Express Chipset
2. Southbridge: Intel® ICH9R
3. T.I IEEE 1394 Controller
4. Gigabit Lan Controller
5. 8 Channels ALC889A Audio controller

Memory

1. 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 8 GB of system memory
2. Dual channel memory architecture
3. Support for DDR2 1066/800/667 MHz memory modules
4. * Please refer "Memory Support List" for memory support information

.
Expansion Slots

1. 2 PCI Express x16 slot (Support PCI Express 2.0)
2. 3 PCI Express x1 slots
3. 2 PCI slots

Form Factor

1. ATX form factor, 305 x 244mm

Internal I/O Connectors

1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
3. 1 x 4-pin PCIe 12V power connector
4. 1 x floppy disk drive connector
5. 1 x IDE connector
6. 8 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
7. 1 x CPU fan header
8. 2 x system fan headers
9. 1 x power fan header
10. 1 x North Bridge fan header
11. 1 x front panel header
12. 1 x front panel audio header
13. 1 x CD In connector
14. 1 x S/PDIF In header
15. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
16. 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
17. 1 x IEEE 1394a headers
18. 1 x parallel port header
19. 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
20. 1 x serial port header
21. 1 x power LED header
22. 1 x chassis intrusion header

Back Panel Connectors

1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
2. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
3. 1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
4. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5. 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
6. 2 x IEEE 1394a ports
7. 2 x RJ-45 port
8. 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

BIOS

1. 2 x 8 Mbit flash
2. Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
3. Support for Dual BIOSTM
4. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 1.0b

Other Features

1. Ultra Durable 2 Motherboard
2. All copper Silent Pipe and Crazy Cool
3. All Japanese manufactured solid capacitors with SMD (Surface Mount Device)
4. Over-clocking Enhanced
5. Support for @BIOS
6. Support for Download Center
7. Support for Q-Flash
8. Support for EasyTune
9. Support for Xpress Install
10. Support for Xpress Recovery2

Remark

1. Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors' website or 3rd party website.
2. Due to most hardware/software vendors no longer offer support for Win9X/ME. If some vendors still has Win9X/ME drivers available, we will publish on website.
3. Duo to chipset limitation, Intel ICH9R RAID driver does not support Windows 2000 operating system

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Mobo


CPU Socket


Memory Slots


Sata, IDE & SouthBridge Don't see any problem plugging in here Purple Socket = Jmicron branded as Gigabyte Sata


PCI & PCI-E(v2) slots

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Unlike Most boards there is no top Mossfet
This brings good news & bad.
Good News - More room for other components as cpu socket is closer to the top edge of the mobo.
Bad News - If your using a large Air Cooler, there will be more overlap over the top side of the board, which may restrict your choice of cooler.


Single Mossfet area. Compared with other boards this area looks like it's on steroids


I'm getting quite impressed with the layout of this board. I love the way the 12v cpu socket is located. Very tidy


Extra Power Socket - This extra molex is for crossfire, but i'llprobably plug a molex in anyway.

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Front Panel Connectors & Headers - Are nearly all located along bottom edge of board
Left to Right:

1. LPT Header
2. SPDIF_IN
3. TPM Header (Trusted Platform Module Header)
4. Com Port Header
5. Sys Fan 2
6. Front 1394 Header
7. Front USB Header (x2)
8. Front USB Header (x2)
9. PWR LEd
10. Front Panel Connects

Only mian one not in above is Audio header (green Header)


More Good & Bad

I like the looks of the PCI-E Graphics card lock.
(Test coming up Do you notice anything odd/different in this pic)


I hate the clips on Asus Boards, these look a lot better
Open to insert/remove


However 2 bad points, only real ones so far.
1) Location of Cmos jumper , it's not exactly in a prime position, especially if your running crossfire with 2x dual slot cards. It's still better than the location on my Asus p5k
2) Observation Test Result :: :- Gigabyte have a 2 pin rather than 3 pin clr cmos header, fine no problem with that, but where's my jumper

Had to dig one out myself, what a colour clash - Clear Cmos.


Parked Jumper over single Pin. Why couldn't they do that

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Interesting development, am a bit disappointed I won't be able to use the CPU/NB part. This is due to needing to connect backplate to support water cooling or the Thermalright Ultima 90. The manual has instructions on how to remove the heatsink, 2 bolts are also provided to secure the heatpipes without the heatsink



It's a pity the NB & CPU aren't 2 interlocking plates rather than 1


At least Southbridge will be staying

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Lastly the rest of the kit

I really fancy these E-Sata connections.
Comes with 2x sets of these. with sata leads plugging into the mobos gigabyte or Intel Sata header ports (2x External to a single mobo port. giving a total capacity of 10 drives :

The bit I really like is here. There are 2x data plugs
There is an external molex plug. This means that you can just hot plug a bare harddrive into the pc, without opening the case. So that's a few £ saved on buying an external HD Enclosure.

The normal stuff:-

1. Nice rear IO Panel
2. Driver / Utility CD
3. Ide, Floppy & Sata Cables (Colour matched to External sata leeds)
4. Manual
5. Screws for Crazy Cool
6. CPU Installtion Guide
7. General Hardware Inatallation guide
8. Gigabyte Self Adhesive Badge

.



The general quality seems a bit higher standard than i've got used to. Small things Like the rear IO Panel :-
It's Pre-Printed & Coloured

It's also seems to have a lower quantity of the naff metal sprigs, that i usually have to cut off to prevent shorts

[supershanks]

My Components :-

CPU: Q6600 Go L730B292
Memory: 2x1gb Crucial Ballistix DDR2 8500 5,5,5,15 2.2v
GFX:BFG 8800GTS OC Clock 580 mem 1700
PSU:Thermaltake ToughPower 1200 W0133
SATA HD:Hitachi II 4x80Gb Raid 0 + 500gb+320GB
Opical:
Case Lian Li V2000+

Was originally planning to try Air cooling 1st barebones using Thermalright Ultima-90 , but the package is still in the postal system somewhere, so I might not get round to it, so apologies to those Air heads out there , if I don't manage it.

So will be running on water
Initially with:-
D-TEK FuZion CPU Block
EK 8800GTS GPU Ful block
Swiftech MCP655 12v DC Pump
Alphacool Black Ice GT Stealth III
1/2" Tubing

May add , Swiftech MCW30 NB Block , to loop later, but want to see how stock heatpipes & blocks perform 1st.