Beginner Z68AP-D3 guide for Intel i5 2500k

[huzidada]

Im on the Revision2 Board and my BIOS is on F3c . If I have a powercut or have to hard switch off the machine( push power button till system switches off) due to bad overclock, is the only time I get bootloops. Usually a 5-15min battery reset fixes it.

 

[varkanoid]

Latest BIOS for 2.0 shows FCC which contains their Beta BIOS for the boot issue fix.

Where did you get F3c from ? Its not listed under 2.0 BIOS whats the date ?

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

Has anyone used a PWM splitter cable on this mobo ? If so, which fans are in use ? Can't find any reference to the max power draw on the CPU fan header.

 

[huzidada]

Latest BIOS for 2.0 shows FCC which contains their Beta BIOS for the boot issue fix.

Where did you get F3c from ? Its not listed under 2.0 BIOS whats the date ?

Whoa sorry! Definite typo! But Im sure you figured that out

I do not like this BIOS at all(FCc)..I prefer FB...The cold boot issue is somewhat worse with this BIOS(FCc).

 

[petridish]

Ah this thread should be perfect, hoping to overclock my AP-D3 and 2500k sometime in the near future and I'll definitely be coming back here. Thanks a lot sieze!

 

[sidethink]

Has anyone used a PWM splitter cable on this mobo ? If so, which fans are in use ? Can't find any reference to the max power draw on the CPU fan header.

I use an Akasa splitter to power three Vipers using the header on the opposite end from the CPU.

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

I use an Akasa splitter to power three Vipers using the header on the opposite end from the CPU.

The four pin SYS_FAN2 header ? According to the manual the fourth pin on that header is RESERVED and not used for PWM speed control. Maybe they are using BIOS voltage control ?

 

[huzidada]

Bios Version FC release today for Revission2 boards...Support for Ivy Bridge included...I can safely say that after a whole days worth of testing, this bios is so much more stable than all previos versions.

 

[sieze2]

Bios Version FC release today for Revission2 boards...Support for Ivy Bridge included...I can safely say that after a whole days worth of testing, this bios is so much more stable than all previos versions.

Cool thanks for that I will give it a try.

I am finding after putting the computer to sleep, the bios forgets the x44 overclock and reverts back to a x34 multiplier (even in performance mode in the control panel). Its only fixed by restarting. Is the odds good the new bios patch will fix this? I think I am using the F3 bios currently.

 

[FiXiT]

@ huzidada, are you getting mixed-up with another Gigabyte motherboard model?. I've get the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 and it's not got Multi Stepping Load Line capabilities that you mention you like to manually set. Mine is the Rev 1 board, so is this a feature they added to the Rev 2 version? If so that sucks for all us Rev 1 users

 

[huzidada]

Im using same board Revision FC turned out being a "buggy" and Gigabyte have dropped it and put FCc back up. My overclock was superstable but all of a sudden at random intervals the display would switch off and my graphics card would spin its fans at the highest speeds ( Bios FC ).

 

[huzidada]

Sorry the Noctua blocks like...everything!!!

 

[hash70]

n

bn

 

[FiXiT]

Thanks for the screen shots huzidada, there's a couple of things I've noticed that's missing in my Rev 1 board to yours, Load line multi stepping and being able to manually set the CPU Vcore without having to use Dynamic Vcore. Do you live in the UK? because I read in one of the posts on these forums that Gigabyte confirmed that they was not going to release the Rev 2 in the UK and I believe Europe.

 

[huzidada]

No mate I stay in a little country called Swaziland , Africa..picked up my motherboard in South Africa . I wonder why the Revision1 boards dont have that feature as I found that I was only "fully" stable once I used the load line settings. Maybe you should contact Gigabyte and find out about this setting and the possibility of adding it in a future bios update

 

[vkd]

Super, smashing, great! Thanks sieze2 for this, I've been wanting to get 45x on my rig for over 6 months now and absolutely nobody posted the right info until now. Really happy.

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

Case arrived Friday All set up smoothly and booting faster than I would ever have thought possible on the old P4 My overclocking goals are:

1. A good everyday setup at 4.2 - 4.5 (depending on voltages) with a modest iGPU oc

2. Push a little harder to see who bottles it first, the CPU or me

3. Get RAM command rate down to 1T (from 2) without upping voltage

 

[varkanoid]

Quite a tidy case there huzidada wish mine was as tidy but then I realised looks like I have twice as many hard drives as you and also your DVD does not appear to be connected up.

Wow just realised the 1.0 board which I have has all horizontal SATA but the 2.0 only has SATA III horizontal the SATA II are vertical ! Also the 2.0 has one less SATA port too.

Also the VRM heatsink is larger on the 2.0 than the 1.0 but the chipset heatsink is larger on 1.0 than 2.0

 

[huzidada]

Quite a tidy case there huzidada wish mine was as tidy but then I realised looks like I have twice as many hard drives as you and also your DVD does not appear to be connected up.

Wow just realised the 1.0 board which I have has all horizontal SATA but the 2.0 only has SATA III horizontal the SATA II are vertical ! Also the 2.0 has one less SATA port too.

Also the VRM heatsink is larger on the 2.0 than the 1.0 but the chipset heatsink is larger on 1.0 than 2.0

Thanks mate! Hahahahahahah the DVD drive is just there to fill the gap! I really dont know whens the last time I ever used a DVD drive I always laugh and tell my friends, we in 2012, discs should be obsolete

I have a old Core 2 Duo filled with HDDs just so my case stays nice and clean...although I do have 3 in this machine!

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

Got here by just upping the turbo multipliers:

The power draw got as high as 102w so if I go further I'll need to up the TDP.