Gigabyte GA-EP45-EXTREME Living Review

[supershanks]

Well why not try 3.9 in the middle.

[bst]

Hehe, well I did try that, but it seems as soon as I start to go much above 3.8 I need an exponential amount of voltage to keep it stable ah well. I'm not much of an overclocker I have to admit, I tend to just get an easy-ish stable overclock and leave it.

The only gripe I have with this board, is that I have to use the 8x PCIe slot because my graphics cards block off at least two of the SATA ports, and I need use of five of them. I don't think I'm losing any noticeable performance from it though. I might give it a benchmark comparison soon and see if theres any difference. If there is I might invest in a PCI SATA controller. Ah well, theres ALWAYS a trade off it seems, if I had got another board, I wouldn't have all that bling bling copper would I? heheh

[supershanks]

I need an exponential amount of voltage to keep it stable

Yes most CPU's have similar curves You can sometimes offset this effect by playing with:-
CPU Clock Drine & CPU Clock Skew.
CPU Termination (vtt)
CPU Reference & CPU Reference2 (gtl ref 1 & 2)
MCH Core & MCH Reference

It can be a long job , particularly tuning GTLref

The only gripe I have with this board, is that I have to use the 8x PCIe slot because my graphics cards block off at least two of the SATA ports, and I need use of five of them. I don't think I'm losing any noticeable performance from it though. I might give it a benchmark comparison soon and see if theres any difference.

Yes that is a bit of a bummer , I'm using all 6 ports, but fortunately I have a short card.

[bst]

Thanks for the advice! I'll give it a go when I've got a bit more time to play around, I know what you mean about it being a long job, ends up like the lottery doesn't it, with all those different combinations xD

[almedia]

Hi,

I am new to this forum, but after reading this post about my new Gigabyte motherboard, I am certain that you are the best resource available online to answer some basic questions about RAM choice and settings.

I have the GA-EP45-extreme motherboard and Q9550 (x8.5) , and I have to order 4 GB of RAM. ( no WC for the moment , but later)
Other compoents are P182 + Enermax 525W* Modu 82+ + 8800gt.
Will use for music + video + compression.

Are you able to provide the choice and settings that I will need to have DDR2 to function at optimal settings with P45-extreme + q9550 ?

I would be most appreciative if you are able to help out.

Thanks,

almedia

[supershanks]

Hi almedia,
Welcome to the forum

Are you able to provide the choice and settings that I will need to have DDR2

Not without knowing something about what your using . What memory have you on order ?

Be great if you could add your specs as shown here please How To Add Your System Specs To Your Profile!

Your overclock will most likely be limited to what temps you get on your CPU. So it's really a question of suck it and see.

[almedia]

Hi Supershanks
Thanks for your answer.
I build a new config and the memory is not ordered yet.
I will beging with aircooling,(Noctua NH-U12P) first - And try to progress with wc later, with the same memory kit if possible.

[supershanks]

yep Noctua NH-U12P will be ok, maybe try 3200~3400 first with memory running to it's trated speed , wjatever that is You should find yyou can get stable at those clock , with pretty low temps. You can then see about going further if you can, with a better feel for your rig.

[Jor3lBR]

Hey guys!

Superhanks nice review!

I was wondering if you figured where are the voltage reading points on this board? I saw somewhere in the thread you had a DMM coming but never saw the follow up on this.

Thanks.

[supershanks]

Hi Jor3lBR,
Welcome to the forum, no sorry never did get around to doing that on this board.