Associate
Thought i'd start this thread for all the people who own or are thinking of owning the Gigabyte DS3, DS4 or DQ6 boards......
The biggest issue with these boards is ram and booting problems. It is very common to have one of these boards that will simply cycle boot without posting and unable to reach bios or anything else for that matter. This is either a ram issue or a faulty board!
Ram issues
The first batch of boards were released with the F1 bios, which has issues with numerous ram types. The most common bios on boards being shipped currently is F2. The F2 bios cures a lot of the ram incompatibility but some ram like the Gskill for example still remains troublesome. See below for a list of compatible ram, but IMO the Geil ram is by far the least troublesome and the best option:
Corsair
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
Geil
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
Adata
Adata 512mb Vitesta ddr2-800 (pc6400) Elpida modules cas5 5-5-15 1.8v
Elixir
Elixir PC2-5300U-5-5-5-12-D1
GSkill
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) - with F3 bios
I would strongly reccommend that you download the latest bios here: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx
Booting Issues
A percentage of these boards are still on the shelves that have a problem with fast ram and Core2Duo chips. The first board I recieved did't work and when I rma'd it the board was returned to me a few days later with a report claiming that it worked without problem. It was tested with a celeron and some PC5300 ram.
After rma'ing the board again and demanding that it was tested with a Core2Duo and 800mhz ram, they reported that there was some problem with the board running Core2 and that they would replace it.
With the first board after building the rig it would simply just cycle without posting and would just continue. The fans would spin up but no beeps or anything else! With the replacement board it worked first time proving my first instincts right, that the first board was knackered!
Other issues
There are some driver issues with the installation CD that comes with the board. After about a week you may find that your LAN connection dissappears and you are unable to connect to the internet. This is caused by a bad Marvell Yukon driver that degrades the registry to the point where the LAN port is disabled.
The solution to this problem is to download the updated Marvell Yukon drivers from Gigabytes website.... I would also reccommend that you keep the chipset drivers updated as often as possible. All updates available here: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx
Clocking
1. Make sure that you have the latest chipset drivers and flash the board to the most recent bios version
2. On the main bios screen press Ctrl+F1 to open the advanced options within the menus
3. In the Advanced Bios Features Menu, Disable all of the following: CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E), CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2), CPU EIST Function
4. In the PC Health Status menu, set the FAN Speed Control Method to "Legacy" & FAN Speed Control Mode to "PWM" to maintain highest speed
5. Go into the MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) menu at the bottom of the page, set the System voltage control to "Manual"
6. These boards have a default VDIMM of 1.8v, set the VDIMM to co-ordinate with your ram. The Geil I have is specced as 2.1v so I have mine set to +0.3v
7. Set the MCH Voltage to +0.1v
8. Set the FSB Voltage to +0.1v
9. Set the VCORE to 1.45v - Please be aware that this will increase temps!
10. Set the CPU Host Clock Control to "Enable"
11. Set the System Memory Multiplier to "2x"
12. You're set to go, just increase the System bus Frequency to Overclock
13. I would reccommend that you use Intels TAT to monitor temps
Crossfire/Quad Core
You may have noticed that the DS4 & DQ6 boards have 2 x PCI-E x16 slots... Well Gigabyte have now released the updated bios to enable Crossfire and Quad Core compliance for these 2 boards. However the 2nd PCI-E slot maybe 16x physical but is apparently only 4x electronically enabled so it won't be fantastic, but a great free upgrade none the less.... Here:http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/News/Motherboard/News_List.aspx?NewsID=1295
The biggest issue with these boards is ram and booting problems. It is very common to have one of these boards that will simply cycle boot without posting and unable to reach bios or anything else for that matter. This is either a ram issue or a faulty board!
Ram issues
The first batch of boards were released with the F1 bios, which has issues with numerous ram types. The most common bios on boards being shipped currently is F2. The F2 bios cures a lot of the ram incompatibility but some ram like the Gskill for example still remains troublesome. See below for a list of compatible ram, but IMO the Geil ram is by far the least troublesome and the best option:
Corsair
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
Geil
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
Adata
Adata 512mb Vitesta ddr2-800 (pc6400) Elpida modules cas5 5-5-15 1.8v
Elixir
Elixir PC2-5300U-5-5-5-12-D1
GSkill
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) - with F3 bios
I would strongly reccommend that you download the latest bios here: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx
Booting Issues
A percentage of these boards are still on the shelves that have a problem with fast ram and Core2Duo chips. The first board I recieved did't work and when I rma'd it the board was returned to me a few days later with a report claiming that it worked without problem. It was tested with a celeron and some PC5300 ram.
After rma'ing the board again and demanding that it was tested with a Core2Duo and 800mhz ram, they reported that there was some problem with the board running Core2 and that they would replace it.
With the first board after building the rig it would simply just cycle without posting and would just continue. The fans would spin up but no beeps or anything else! With the replacement board it worked first time proving my first instincts right, that the first board was knackered!
Other issues
There are some driver issues with the installation CD that comes with the board. After about a week you may find that your LAN connection dissappears and you are unable to connect to the internet. This is caused by a bad Marvell Yukon driver that degrades the registry to the point where the LAN port is disabled.
The solution to this problem is to download the updated Marvell Yukon drivers from Gigabytes website.... I would also reccommend that you keep the chipset drivers updated as often as possible. All updates available here: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx
Clocking
1. Make sure that you have the latest chipset drivers and flash the board to the most recent bios version
2. On the main bios screen press Ctrl+F1 to open the advanced options within the menus
3. In the Advanced Bios Features Menu, Disable all of the following: CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E), CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2), CPU EIST Function
4. In the PC Health Status menu, set the FAN Speed Control Method to "Legacy" & FAN Speed Control Mode to "PWM" to maintain highest speed
5. Go into the MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) menu at the bottom of the page, set the System voltage control to "Manual"
6. These boards have a default VDIMM of 1.8v, set the VDIMM to co-ordinate with your ram. The Geil I have is specced as 2.1v so I have mine set to +0.3v
7. Set the MCH Voltage to +0.1v
8. Set the FSB Voltage to +0.1v
9. Set the VCORE to 1.45v - Please be aware that this will increase temps!
10. Set the CPU Host Clock Control to "Enable"
11. Set the System Memory Multiplier to "2x"
12. You're set to go, just increase the System bus Frequency to Overclock
13. I would reccommend that you use Intels TAT to monitor temps
Crossfire/Quad Core
You may have noticed that the DS4 & DQ6 boards have 2 x PCI-E x16 slots... Well Gigabyte have now released the updated bios to enable Crossfire and Quad Core compliance for these 2 boards. However the 2nd PCI-E slot maybe 16x physical but is apparently only 4x electronically enabled so it won't be fantastic, but a great free upgrade none the less.... Here:http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/News/Motherboard/News_List.aspx?NewsID=1295
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