Official Gigabyte DS3 Owners Thread

Scoobie Dave · 28 Nov 2006 at 16:17

Ordered a DS3 in the end. Fingers crossed for 500fsb

I take it the GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 is a good choice for this mobo. What memory timings does it need to be set at if I can get to 1:1 500fsb?

Cuchulain · 28 Nov 2006 at 16:23

Scoobie Dave said:
Another quick question for you all. Is there any performance advantage with DS3 vs DS4?

I like the cooler on the DS4 that's all.

I don't think there's any performance advantage and the cooler is a pain in the arse when you're trying to fit your fingers round it to get a decent sized heatsink on

Scoobie Dave · 28 Nov 2006 at 16:35

Cuchulain said:
I don't think there's any performance advantage and the cooler is a pain in the arse when you're trying to fit your fingers round it to get a decent sized heatsink on

TBH that's why I decided in the DS3 in the end, it's less restrictive for my waterblock (not that it's massive) just makes things easier to work with.

Just looking forward to playing with it.

illumin · 28 Nov 2006 at 17:29

Hi guys i asked this in the other thread which was prolly not really the place for it so ill ask in here too:

I recently purchased ds3 with c2d 6600 and giel 6400 ultra low latency ram. Im having a problem as the bios is reporting that the cpu is 128c all the time. If i run intel thermal tool it reports the cpu is 30-40c, 55c on full load of both cores. Ive a tuniq tower installed and im wondering if maybe its covering some temperature sensor on the motherboard with it.

I dont know if this is related but when i received the mobo the northbridge heat sink was hanging off. I cleaned it up, applied some artic silver and put it back on. However it seems to be too loose as i can pull the northbridge cooler up from its socket. the bios and other monitoring tools report that the system temp is 35c

when the reports 128c it only gives a temp for system and the cpu. Yet when it sometimes reports what i think is the correct temp i.e. 30-40 i get temps for a MCH and a GMCH, whatever they are. Ill reflash the board and will reseat the tuniq tower but im pretty sure its on ok. Btw this tuniq tower is far from budget and is recommended by loads of sites for what they are worth

Also im not overclocking.

The only thing i can think of that could be causing problems is a mounting plate for the heatsink which is stuck onto the back of the board. Maybe its covering some sensor. Tho i think theres only one way of mounting it. Does anyone think its dangerous running it when its reporting 128C and that i should rma?

FatRakoon · 28 Nov 2006 at 18:14

Cuchulain said:
I don't think there's any performance advantage and the cooler is a pain in the arse when you're trying to fit your fingers round it to get a decent sized heatsink on

I think the DS3 is bad enough... I got an Artic Freezer and its a real pain to fit.

It can be done with the Mobo fitted in the case, but really needs to be removed for a proper job, and the NB cooler is massive and awful too!

jNive · 28 Nov 2006 at 23:54

sounds like a dodgy board/bios , nothing to worry about as they are purely monitoring functions anyways.

Also, if you have that hardware, you'd be crazy not to overclock to be honest, your 2.4GHz E6600 could easily go to 3.6GHz running at 450FSB with 1:1 memory ( 900 MHz )

Scoobie Dave · 1 Dec 2006 at 10:06

Well my new DS3/6300/Geil 6400 setup has been priming away for hours now @470x7. I went by the guide at the start of this thread and put the cpu on 1.45v in the bios. I updated to the F7 bios, I take it that's the better bios to use? Set my memory timings to 5-5-5-15 but everything else is on default settings. If anyone knows what other memory settings would be suitable for my memory type please let me know and if there are any other tips for getting higher overclocks.

I think thats a good start though, much faster than my Opty :cool:

FatRakoon · 1 Dec 2006 at 12:01

Scoobie Dave said:
I think thats a good start though, much faster than my Opty

Yes, it will leave ANY AMD standing.

One thing though, I am hoping that some others could shed light on this, and that is, that I run many tasks at once...

I have done a comparison here with my 2 main PCS

E6300 @ 2.8 - DS3 - Corsair 6400

X2 4200 @ 2.5 - MSI NF4F - Corsair 4400

Now, a simple basic setup of XP, and all the updates etc, and latest drivers of everything.

Folding @ Home installed to both cores.
DVDSanta converting an AVI File to DVD ( DVD Santa uses both cores )

Now, with nothing playing, SuperPI gives me 19 seconds on the Intel, and 36 on the AMD... Not a milion miles off twice as fast yes?

Now, with Folding going on, on the AMD, the Folding almost stops, its drops to 0% anyway, on both cores, and DVD Santa gets to run at 98 or 999%, while on the Intel, the Fodling stays at the mid-20's and DVD Santa is lucky to get 70% of the CPU time.

If, while doing this, I try to do anything else such as check my EMails, then Outlook Express runs like a dog. ( The Emails with pics can take up to 2 seconds to display each one? - the AMD its instant )

The AMD however, hardly makes any change at all, running everythign without any slowdown what-so-ever!

I have come to the conclusion, that the Intel, is a lightning quick CPU for single tasking, and the AMD is quite simply a speed demon. Even though they are both dual-cores.

I have run the very same tests, with my Opty144 @ 2.48 and I am finding that although the Conroe does finish its tasks quicker, as expected, when jumping in and out of apps when I have a fair num,ber all running, is simply too slow on the conroe, and the Operon just whizzes in and out as if nothing is going on in the background.

So, try it... If oyu have an AMD and a Conroe, runa load of apps... The same apps on both PCs and then tell me which one is the quicker.

I have my conroe and yet, after just a few days, it has been moved back into my LAN Room as a simple PC and my AMD has been moved back into main slot as my No.1 cos the conroe just isnt all its cracked up to be when it comes to real multi-tasking.

fat_wife · 1 Dec 2006 at 14:35

I don't understand where people are coming from here when they say fitting an AC7 pro is a problem. I'm currently building my first ever rig, every other PC i've bought has been pre-built. Maybe I'm lucky but I had absolutely no problems fitting my AC7 Pro to my S3 (which is meant to be harder to fit than it is on the DS3) and I have fingers like cumberland sausages.

Are you guys using your elbows to fit it? I could see that being pretty hard.

Scoobie Dave · 1 Dec 2006 at 14:56

FatRakoon said:
Yes, it will leave ANY AMD standing.

Sure does when you overclock it.

I was getting similar performance to my overclocked opty with the conroe running @1.8GHz. Could not believe the difference when I cranked up the conroe, really compliments my 8800GTX :cool:

FatRakoon · 1 Dec 2006 at 18:04

Yeah... I got properly into Intels not that long ago... I got a Prescott 660 3.6Ghz HT CPU in a quite frankly crappy system, and I saw that it had potential, but failed to acheive it.

I recently got a DS3 for it, and by fluke, some time ago, I bought some kingston DDR2 by mistake and threw that in, and lo and behold I clocked the arse off it and I got to 4.7Ghz... Temps kept me keeping to a sensible rate and I settled on 4.3 which was a nice figure I recon.

Then of course, everything got the better of me, cos well... I got the DS3 and the RAM will do 266 so I could get a connie and at least have a look at what the fuss is all about and sod me... Even at stock, the conroe is on-par with the P4 clocked up, so nuff said, another purchase of a DS3 came round in a few days and I was waiting around for xmas cos the missus has got me new RAM, but stuff that, I couldnt wait, so she got me 2x512MB corsair 6400 and so I got the same to match up at xmas.

Larverly.

Not at all impressed however when I run a few apps... I find it lacking compared to my AMDs, but one job, its a monster.

doodah · 3 Dec 2006 at 18:48

Im always so unlucky with overclocking. Most people seem to be getting good speeds on default voltages. Got my 6300/DS3/Geil 6400 and followed this guide as follows:

Updated to F7
Set VDIMM to 2.1v
Disabled 'Legacy usb support' can help OCing.
Turned off all unnecessary items in Integrated Peripherals
Increased the VCore (cpu voltage) to 1.45v.
Increase the chipset voltage up a notch (+0.1v).
Set PCI-Express freqency to 100 (default Auto).
Set DRAM Timings to your rated speed. E.G 4-4-4-12.
Enabled CPU Host Clock Control and increased the FSB to 400.

Wouldnt POST. Anything i missed?

Duke · 3 Dec 2006 at 19:09

Is that running stock or overclocked? You may have to loosen the ram timings.

FatRakoon · 3 Dec 2006 at 19:38

The CPU will do 400FSB on stock volts...( Probably ) Take it back.

The RAM, leave at stock... Perhaps up it to 2.1v but forget about timings for now.

In fact, for my system to go to 400FSB , all I need to do, is set the FSB to 400 ( RAM Divider to 2 ) and the PCIE to 100 and everythign else just works fine.

Im using Corsair 6400 RAM however, and thats not as fussy as the GEIL it seems.

Nutbusta · 3 Dec 2006 at 20:22

dbappa said:
Im always so unlucky with overclocking. Most people seem to be getting good speeds on default voltages. Got my 6300/DS3/Geil 6400 and followed this guide as follows:

Updated to F7
Set VDIMM to 2.1v
Disabled 'Legacy usb support' can help OCing.
Turned off all unnecessary items in Integrated Peripherals
Increased the VCore (cpu voltage) to 1.45v.
Increase the chipset voltage up a notch (+0.1v).
Set PCI-Express freqency to 100 (default Auto).
Set DRAM Timings to your rated speed. E.G 4-4-4-12.
Enabled CPU Host Clock Control and increased the FSB to 400.

Wouldnt POST. Anything i missed?

I think you may want to drop the RAM multiplier down to 2 as the default id higher although I can't remember what and I'm not sure it the auto setting reads SPD info.

Give if a try

tonyyeb · 4 Dec 2006 at 08:42

Hi all

Got my DS3 and an e6300. Over clocked to 2.65ghz (with ram at 2.0 / 1:1) but now im stuck at this as my RAM wont go any higher. When I overclocked my Athlon 64 3200 I used a ram divider to get higher without the RAM causing the pc to crash.

I cannot find the setting in the BIOS to do this, can someone point me in the right driection please?

FatRakoon · 4 Dec 2006 at 09:17

The way AMD and Intels use the RAM is different.

You are not going to find this anywhere in the BIOS sorry mate.

So, just get faster RAM if you need faster CPU

Shame though isnt it?

easyrider · 4 Dec 2006 at 09:21

tonyyeb said:
Hi all

Got my DS3 and an e6300. Over clocked to 2.65ghz (with ram at 2.0 / 1:1) but now im stuck at this as my RAM wont go any higher. When I overclocked my Athlon 64 3200 I used a ram divider to get higher without the RAM causing the pc to crash.

I cannot find the setting in the BIOS to do this, can someone point me in the right driection please?

Yeah on investigating this further there is no option for this.The only option is 2.0.

You have reached hardware limitation.

You need some faster ram.

easyrider · 4 Dec 2006 at 09:22

FatRakoon said:
The way AMD and Intels use the RAM is different.

You are not going to find this anywhere in the BIOS sorry mate.

So, just get faster RAM if you need faster CPU

Shame though isnt it?

There are plenty of mobos out there that allow this option.

tonyyeb · 4 Dec 2006 at 09:40

FatRakoon said:
The way AMD and Intels use the RAM is different.

You are not going to find this anywhere in the BIOS sorry mate.

So, just get faster RAM if you need faster CPU

Shame though isnt it?

Thanks for that. Looks like ill have to shift my RAM if i want a better overclock.