Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme Appreciation Society

smids · 26 Nov 2008 at 22:08

[timko];12970470 said:
Are those chips present on the UD3P version as well? I'm considering a UD3P and have a TRUE that has the same backing plate.

I don't recall seeing anything on the underside of the board. I'm pretty sure there is nothing. I recall this purely because I have never seen such a bare underside of a board (even few soldering 'mounds').

Here you go from a review site:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...te-ga-ep45-ud3p-p45-motherboard-review-6.html

[timko] · 27 Nov 2008 at 21:17

smids said:
Here you go from a review site:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...te-ga-ep45-ud3p-p45-motherboard-review-6.html

Thanks, here's a mirror of one of their shots...

...looks clean from what I can see

I'm currently waiting for the board to come down slightly "elsewhere" before I nab one and really push this Q9550. After looking through all those links you gave me it really does look like 500fsb is as easy as falling off a log

smids · 27 Nov 2008 at 22:40

Yeah, I haven't needed it yet as I'm running 3.6ghz @ 1.33v (9 x 400) on this Q6600, but I'm sure in a while when I want to I will push further and need to come closer to 500mhz.

Josh107 · 28 Nov 2008 at 09:48

Got one of these a week or so ago, having problems getting it to boot. It just turns on, turns off. The CPU fan doesn't really spin and there arn't any BIOS beeps or anything. The LCD screen thingy just displays FF then turns off. Anyone got any ideas what I can do?

Specs are Q6600 (B3), 2x1gb OCZ PC6400, HD2900XT, Gigabyte ODIN 800W and a Zalman CP9500ish CPU cooler.

surge · 28 Nov 2008 at 10:10

Josh107 said:
Got one of these a week or so ago, having problems getting it to boot. It just turns on, turns off. The CPU fan doesn't really spin and there arn't any BIOS beeps or anything. The LCD screen thingy just displays FF then turns off. Anyone got any ideas what I can do?

Specs are Q6600 (B3), 2x1gb OCZ PC6400, HD2900XT, Gigabyte ODIN 800W and a Zalman CP9500ish CPU cooler.

I had the same problem. You may have tried this already, but use a single stick of ram in the yellow slot nearest the CPU. That should get you in to the BIOS so you can check RAM voltage and timings. You'll also need to update the shipping BIOS to F8 ASAP

BusError · 28 Nov 2008 at 10:39

Whats the rating of that ram ? I use OCZ that is rated V2.0/2.1 and it boots just fine at 1.8; even the 8GB of it!

Josh107 · 28 Nov 2008 at 18:01

1.8v I'm pretty sure, thats what it runs at in my other mobo at stock, it's the ATI branded fanboy edition RAM if that helps?

Thanks for the reply though, I'll try that when I get some bits together for this computer

COYS · 30 Nov 2008 at 15:11

Got one of these now but couldnt install by Tuniq Tower due to the chips on the back.

Would any HSF with backplate spacer be OK? Looking at the Thermalright True Black. Anyone tried it or got any recommendations for heatsinks that wont destroy these VRM chips please?

Griff7520 · 30 Nov 2008 at 16:07

Josh107 said:
Got one of these a week or so ago, having problems getting it to boot. It just turns on, turns off. The CPU fan doesn't really spin and there arn't any BIOS beeps or anything. The LCD screen thingy just displays FF then turns off. Anyone got any ideas what I can do?

Specs are Q6600 (B3), 2x1gb OCZ PC6400, HD2900XT, Gigabyte ODIN 800W and a Zalman CP9500ish CPU cooler.

this happened to me the other day when i was messing about with a graphics card. In the end i removed the battery for a min. The it started up as normal. Hope this helps.

BusError · 30 Nov 2008 at 17:10

The "CMOS" clear button at the back does the equivalent of the battery trick; it's quite handy to recover from a "slightly optimistic" overclock

Alex R · 3 Dec 2008 at 08:54

DJ_Switch said:
I'm not sure where they got that from. I had no issues at all in installing it and can thoroughly recommend it for the silence. They may have originally tried it on the earlier model of the board which you'll be able to see the difference between the coolers in that and the picture a few posts down on the first page of this thread. The way it is in the picture on the site here is a bit misleading in that way. I can only assume that the problems they encountered with the cooler were for the early revision.

I believe your OCZ might have the edge on mine as far as cooling goes although I've not had any concerns with the Noctua and it is very quiet.

Just to check, which Noctua have you got? Is it the NH-U12P? This one?

DJ_Switch · 4 Dec 2008 at 17:59

Alex R said:
Just to check, which Noctua have you got? Is it the NH-U12P? This one?

Sorry for the delay, Alex. Yeah..that's the one. I tried mounting it both ways and there were no problems at all with either the fitting or the clearance.

Alex R · 4 Dec 2008 at 18:09

Cheers mate - got it in the past about 30 minutes ago!

DJ_Switch · 4 Dec 2008 at 18:54

Nice! Good luck with the build.

1kiwi · 5 Dec 2008 at 14:46

w3bbo said:
Just yanking your chain DJ. It was me who took that photo and me who wrote the review. Would have been nice not to crop the review sites name from it tho - give credit when using other peoples photos tbh .

EP45 Extreme review

Lol busted!

COYS · 8 Dec 2008 at 17:34

Can i just clarify that the NH-U12P is Ok on this board, despite the chips on the underside near one of the mounting holes?

Alex R · 8 Dec 2008 at 18:46

mikewebb said:
Can i just clarify that the NH-U12P is Ok on this board, despite the chips on the underside near one of the mounting holes?

Thanks chaps.

I was a bit concerned. But after DJ said it was OK Iwent ahead a got one. I really fancied something a bit quieter this time. haven't got the board yet (XMas), but I got 3 plain Noctua fans and they have made huge difference to my Antec 900 noisewise (temps too).

COYS · 8 Dec 2008 at 20:31

Thanks Alex. Think I'll order one.

Good luck with the xmas build.

BusError · 10 Dec 2008 at 22:42

I finally spent a bit of time pushing the q9650 on the -Extreme. It's now stable at 4.0Ghz (FSB 445), 1.30V (idle 1.26, full load 1.22) temps are 54-48 at full load. It's surprisingly easy to push that thing...

DJ_Switch · 11 Dec 2008 at 22:41

Your volts and temps are looking good for the clock there.

Yeah. It does seem to clock very easily.

I might have another blast at mine soon. I'm quite happy with the 4.1 although I'd be interested to see how far it can go...with safe volts and temps of course.