EX58-Extreme. 10 bioses later...

[LeeKay]

I7 965 Extreme, coolit freezone elite
Gigabyte EX58 Extreme,
12GB Ram *6x2 Patriot PVS34G1600LLK, 6x2GB Mushkin PC12800 7-8-7-20*
2X 280GTX with Coolit dbl drivebay refrence coolers
2x 300GB Velociraptors,
2x 1TB Seagate
X-Fi Fatality with Drive Bay PCI soundcard,
LG HD,Bluray burner.
HX1000 Watt PSU
Cool master Stacker 830 SE

OK so the motherboard is awesome when it works. I am fed up with Gigabyte they don't want to work with you directly they tell you to work with forums. Which just blows. FIrst off I wish i could post everything that was wrong with each bios release but I would be here all day.

Right now with F4j the following issues plague me.

12GB will only run at 1333 at cls 7
Nero 9 will not install at all with any of the power saving provisions turned on in the Bios,
X-FI will not work at all in the slot under the 2nd PCI_E 16_2.

F2 is the only bios that allowed my patriot ram to work at 1.9v in all slots.

F4h Allowed for the cpu to run at 1.4v 30x133 without crashing but 12GB has to run at 1333MHz since this release.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

well since you are boasting about your system, i hope someone helps you = lol

 

[LeeKay]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
well since you are boasting about your system, i hope someone helps you = lol

Boasting? I am trying to give an idea whats installed. Why would I boast about 5k pc thats got more problems than the US goverment.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Keep trying, you'll figure it out. And sorry, you just put more information in the post than necessary.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

You don't want to run your RAM above 1.65V. You will burn out your CPU. Second of all, choosing two different types/brands of RAM is a big mistake in an enthusiast system. I suggest you get RAM designed for Core i7 if you want to keep your $5,000 investment functioning.

 

[LeeKay]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
You don't want to run your RAM above 1.65V. You will burn out your CPU. Second of all, choosing two different types/brands of RAM is a big mistake in an enthusiast system. I suggest you get RAM designed for Core i7 if you want to keep your $5,000 investment functioning.

I am using one set of tam in this case mushkin 1.65v 7-8-7-20 6x2GB dimms sold for but not programmed for I7 boards. The patriot is 7-7-7-20 1.9v.

IMO 1.9v will not kill your processor. Gigabyte have certified the board to run with 1.9v vdimm (check out the recommended memory guide on the website for the extreme).

I have posted my thoughts on the stated intel limited on the vdimm voltage over on tweektown. Its nothing more than an effort to keep the runaway memory companies from overclocking the ram to extremes.

 

[ghost recon88]

Easy fix, get a different board :roll: If you can afford that setup, you can afford to float $350 to buy a new board.

 

[LeeKay]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
Easy fix, get a different board :roll: If you can afford that setup, you can afford to float $350 to buy a new board.

If you read the article on the front page of anandtech you will realise that its not a one manufacturing problem its all of them. They take the rip.

Spend your hard earned cash with us now and we promise to make your board work in 6 months time. But by then we will have used your money to make a better boards. Thanks...

I am happy to say this is the last debugging I will do out of my pocket. To hell with them they can find someone else. I have been doing this for 14 years and its getting worse. Its like they read a circuit diagramm make the board put something that makes it post as a bios and ships it to the poor gets who just paid 2k for a new backbone to there pc.

I have been around since a friends dads comadore 286 8mhz when south on him and I built a 486 sx25. Then there was 10 cpu makers and several video card companies. And Connor hard drives 340mb hard drive cost almost $700.

I never encountered a bios problem untill Pentium 4 days. That was a gigabyte board too. Since then bios updates have been needed as often as video card drivers. Its sad time. They could say that they never had onboard crap before then but when pentium 60 came out the first boards with onboard I/O started to appear and motherboard makers killed the addon market. You could pick and choose everything from floppy controller to ethernet cards including firewire cards if you wanted them. It probably costs as much for them chips as it does for slots to allow them to be added. But onboard soundcards had been an option till Socket A came out. then the market stopped doing 2 sku's for boards with or without audio.

We all know we would sooner go without for the highend market but they still force us.

 

[Quiksilver]

Wait, is all this stuff at stock? Also IIRC Coolit sucks when it comes to well... actual cooling.

 

[LeeKay]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Wait, is all this stuff at stock? Also IIRC Coolit sucks when it comes to well... actual cooling.

For the issues of energy saving, ram, sound card issues yes its at stock settings.

I do test CPU ratio increase too and up the CPU Voltage as well.

As for cooling you say it sucks. What are you using as a bench mark?

The actual setup is 75% better cooling solution than stock cooling both cpu and video cards.

And it only fails when compared to water cooling when you reach the and exceed the cooling capacity of the pilters.

 

[ghost recon88]

Honestly, the P6T Deluxe is the most solid X58 board out there at the moment. Their BIOS releases are making very good overclocking increases and performance increases over previous releases. Asus isn't BSing around with their X58 products

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
Honestly, the P6T Deluxe is the most solid X58 board out there at the moment. Their BIOS releases are making very good overclocking increases and performance increases over previous releases. Asus isn't BSing around with their X58 products

This or eVGA IMO. Asus has been rock solid with their boards as far as I can remember and eVGA's customer support cannot be matched.

EDIT: That being said, I won't be touching gigabyte with a 10 foot pole given the mobo roundup and this users experiences.

 

[shempf]

I was considering the cheaper Gigabyte until I read this.....

This is the first report of any issues I've read, besides nit-picking.

As far as bloating, sounds like someone's jealous. Personally, I'd rather have too much info than too little (seems most people are too vague and provide wholly inadequate info now-a-days)

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: LeeKay
If you read the article on the front page of anandtech you will realise that its not a one manufacturing problem its all of them.
...
I have been doing this for 14 years and its getting worse.

If you had been doing this for 14 years, you should have known that early adoptors suffer. Sorry man, but that's the truth! I see this kind of complaint just about EVERY time a new product comes out, whether due to design or drivers or firmware.

FWIW I've seen similar RAM issues with the MSI board, and to a much lesser extent the Intel board. The Intel board may be the most stable memory-wise out of all the x58 boards due to the PCB trace design, but unfortunately you lose RAM slots and SLI capabilities.

 

[Blazer7]

Zap is right. It is known that the X58 boards have a lot of problems with many of the mems out there. I do not want to sound rude or something but why on earth would someone spend 5k on a system based on a completely new platform and decide to go with mems that are outside of the manufacturer's QVL? This doesn't make sense especially after all the fuss created around the X58 and its mem compatibility/voltage issues.

 

[LeeKay]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Zap is right. It is known that the X58 boards have a lot of problems with many of the mems out there. I do not want to sound rude or something but why on earth would someone spend 5k on a system based on a completely new platform and decide to go with mems that are outside of the manufacturer's QVL? This doesn't make sense especially after all the fuss created around the X58 and its mem compatibility/voltage issues.

umm i bought it launch day. the only memory was 3gb kits so i called gigabyte. I asked and they said the patriot should not be an issue. And to be honest there is probaby 405 types of ddr3 chips.

 

[LeeKay]

Well on tweaktown they finaly come across the problem and multiple people are complaining about the time it takes to install vista. The issue with the powersaving effecting alot of people. Lucky I spent the time to find the issues for them..

 

[LeeKay]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: LeeKay
If you read the article on the front page of anandtech you will realise that its not a one manufacturing problem its all of them.
...
I have been doing this for 14 years and its getting worse.

If you had been doing this for 14 years, you should have known that early adoptors suffer. Sorry man, but that's the truth! I see this kind of complaint just about EVERY time a new product comes out, whether due to design or drivers or firmware.

FWIW I've seen similar RAM issues with the MSI board, and to a much lesser extent the Intel board. The Intel board may be the most stable memory-wise out of all the x58 boards due to the PCB trace design, but unfortunately you lose RAM slots and SLI capabilities.

Yes but my point is its getting worse with each hardware revision end users are having to do more and more debugging.

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: LeeKay

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Zap is right. It is known that the X58 boards have a lot of problems with many of the mems out there. I do not want to sound rude or something but why on earth would someone spend 5k on a system based on a completely new platform and decide to go with mems that are outside of the manufacturer's QVL? This doesn't make sense especially after all the fuss created around the X58 and its mem compatibility/voltage issues.

umm i bought it launch day. the only memory was 3gb kits so i called gigabyte. I asked and they said the patriot should not be an issue. And to be honest there is probaby 405 types of ddr3 chips.

I'm also considering a move to the X58 and GB's EX58-Extreme is one of the boards that I am considering. One of the things that stopped me so far is all these memory issues. Another thing is that I'm not playing guinea pig any more. Not for GB or anyone else for that matter.

I must say though that I am surprised that GB told you that it would be ok to run 6 sticks of Patriot mems. There 're only 2 Patriot p/nos listed in GB's QVL and both are certified only for 3 DIMMs. If they've indeed told you that it is ok to use 6 then I can understand why you're upset.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

I don't have a problem with my GIGABYTE board but then again I don't overclock. BTW, take a look at ASUS P6T newegg's reviews, there are tons of users complaining about the memory compatiblity.

 

[Blazer7]

Sadly enough X58 mobos with mem issues are pretty much the norm nowadays but the issue the OP is having is a bit different as he claims that he called GB and asked before he purchased the mems.

After a closer look I've noticed that both Patriot p/nos included in GB's QVL are 3GB kits. Furthermore there's not a single p/no in that list that's certified to be able to run @1600MHz in a 6x2GB config on that mobo. If GB indeed told the OP that he could use 6x2GB sticks of 1600MHz mems, Patriot or other, then this sucks.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: LeeKay
Yes but my point is its getting worse with each hardware revision end users are having to do more and more debugging.

You do have a valid point, and in fact Anand himself agrees with you.

Intel X58 Motherboard Roundup

This year was especially bad as Gary spent more time helping manufacturers fix their BIOSes and compatibility problems than actually writing motherboard reviews.
...
The point being is that we feel the lack of quality assurance before a product hits the market has now reached an all time high.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
You don't want to run your RAM above 1.65V. You will burn out your CPU. Second of all, choosing two different types/brands of RAM is a big mistake in an enthusiast system. I suggest you get RAM designed for Core i7 if you want to keep your $5,000 investment functioning.

This isn't exactly true; you want to be within 0.5v of the cpu voltage. If your CPU voltage is 1.35, you would be fine up to 1.85 or so. It is the DIFFERENCE in voltage that can cause problems for your processor.

More people getting screwed by Gigabyte with a new socket/CPU? What a suprise....

P.S. Have you looked at a 2004-2008 BIOS and compared it to a 1994 BIOS? My last DFI board had more memory settings than EVERY setting combined on the old machines. The complexity of a modern BIOS is on a much higher magnitude than it ever was before. The modern motherboard also does a heck of a lot more (onboard network, sound, sometimes video, etc...). Get used to it or wait for a platform to mature and then jump on it.

 

[Scottae]

The trials and tribulations of early adopters... Ill be waiting till 32nm process is out... thanks.. good luck fixing the issues...