GigaByte GA-8IHXP/feedback Please

[x1xBugsBunnyx1x]

i was all set to buy a asus p4t533c when i noticed some sweet options on this board over the asus model, anyone have anything bad to say before i plunk down almost 2 bills for it? i see alot on the abit & asus rdram boards but this one not much on? any feedback welcomed..Thanks

 

[Skysailor]

Well, I am waiting for my 500MB of RAMBUS toarrive tomorrow so I can fire my GA-IHXP up and see how it is. In the mean time Ican say the manual(s) one for the MB and one for the RAID set up ... appear to be comprehensive. The overall quality of the board looks good but what do I know...this is the first build from scratch for me!! Sorry! I will let you know whay happens with me (a newbie) and I am certainly hoping it will be a good experience

I watched all the discussion on this board and others like the Asus for weeks and months so I hope I made a good descision,

 

[galtsfan]

THG had a review that listed the GA-8IHXP as the best choice. You may have already read this I put it in another thread.

 

[x1xBugsBunnyx1x]

Thanks guys, i read that at TH when it first appeared..so i plunked down the cash for this board & a new antec case from staples, someone has to be the test dummies "laughs" be here next week so i will watch to see if theirs any problems..
Skysailor would appreciate any feedback you have on it..
Thanks

 

[Vidcutter]

Here are 8ihxp questions... What's the exact best kind of RDRAM to buy?

Eventually I want to max out the 4 rambus slots to 2 gigabytes. But right now modules are only available at 128MB and 256MB, and you have to use pairs of whatever you get.

So I should get 2 x 128MB, right? I'm willing to do that and then swap them out for 4 x 512MB later when those are available. Is that workable?

Is Kingston better than Samsung?

Am I right that bigger modules, eventually 512MB ones, will be available which fit in the slots of the 8ihxp?

I'm newby and your thoughts are appreciated (first-time PC builder).

 

[cobrasvt]

Samsung PC1066 is not available at the present time. I know there are a few sites around claiming to be selling Samsung PC1066, but it reality, it is just remarked PC800. Avoid it like the plague I personally would go for as much as you could afford. I chose the Kingston 256mb PC1066 modules. They were $128 a piece, and gave 512mb of memory. I personally don't see no need of 2gb of system memory, but hey, if it floats your boat, then go to it I am sure that 512mb modules will be available soon. All depends on the yields the memory chip manufactures are hitting. And yes, you do need "2" of the same size and speed chips.

The 8IHXP is a SWEET motherboard! Yes it is limited to only 156 on the FSB, but this thing smokes! I am running a 1.8A @ 2.4 and its happy as can be! Ran Prime95 for a little over a day with no errors. I wish the bios would have been an Award, but I am use to the AMI bios' back from the MSI KT266 days. It has been rock solid, without any issues to date. Everything installed without a hitch (WinXP Home), including all the devices and drivers....

 

[Zer0Dvide]

i got my GA-8IHXP board last saturday and i have to be honest. I've been plagued by blue screens of death ever since. Seems to be a different error each time. I've been getting alot of IRQL_LESS_OR_NOT_EQUAL errors and some others. It's probably being caused by some hardware or bad memory, i have no idea. I looked for others having these problems but there seem to be none. odd...

 

[cobrasvt]

Did you do a fresh install of the operating system? Most errors can be avoided by doing that. My 8IHXP has been rock solid!

 

[Zer0Dvide]

after i set up the system, i tried installing a fresh copy of WinXP pro which failed (blue screens during install) then i went on to installing Win2k pro, this has succeeded but i still get a blue screen every now and then. i got 2x128mb rdram pc800 and a 1.8aGHz p4. at the moment i'm looking for memory testing software.

 

[cobrasvt]

Are you running at stock speed? If you are overclocking, try turning the RAM multiplier to 3 instead of 4. See if that helps (select PC800 or 600, not Auto.

 

[Bellyofthebeast]

Did you do a clean install on a reformatted hd? If not, then that's the best way to go & XPpro.

After clean install with XPpro + all updates, very important to install: 1. Intel chipset drivers 2. Intel Application Accelerator drivers 3. usb drivers, & finally audio/network/promise drvs if needed.

Look at Gigabyte website for latest versions. This will insure all your hardware is being recognized properly with the 8IHXP board.

First, I tried the shortcut of reinstalling XPpro & updating drivers, after building system with new 8IHXP mobo. Nothing but PROBLEMS. It is well worth the effort to reformat/clean install OS when rebuilding system.

 

[Vidcutter]

 

[Vidcutter]

Thanks for your help cobrasvt. All my parts are on order now except for the rdram. Does the 8ihxp use ecc or non-ecc?

 

[Bingo13]

The 8IHXP will take ecc as an option. My 8IHXP sytems have been very solid with all of the systems running at 156fsb now. The latest batch of Kingston PC1066 has been overclocking very well without using the overvoltage option. Gigabyte released bios F4 today for USB 2.0 issues in some systems. I know there has been discussion about the merits of RDRAM but overall I can "feel" the difference in daily usage with RDRAM compared to DDR. In most benchmarks there is a 10% overall improvement with PC1066 over DDR which at times does not sound like much but at least my systems are more responsive than my DDR based P4 systems. In Sandra you can expect this if you overclock-

8IHXP156fsb

 

[Vidcutter]

Thanks Bingo13. This is the first PC I've assembled. I'm really grateful for the advice and thoughts from people on Anandtech.

Intel will be selling a 2.8ghz P4 soon. Will the the 8ihxp run it? Will Rambus keep up with it, or are we back at the limit?

 

[Bingo13]

My 2.4bs are running at 2.8 and there is no issue with memory bandwidth.

 

[PhaZe]

Greetings.

I have had this motherboard and an Intel 2.26 up for a solid week since I bought it.
The only thing is that there is no program that seems to be reading the CPU temps. I installed Hmonitor and MBM5 and none will give me a direct CPU1 temp. Hmonitor gave me 3 readings, the board at 36c, cpu1 at n/a, cpu2 at 69C.
Now, I know that my cpu isn't running at 69C because when I check it in the bios , its at ~41c.
That and I have 3 case fans :>

Anyone have a program that can read the temps? I know have the cpu fan plugged in the right pins for the cpu fan for sure.

 

[PhaZe]

Nevermind, I found EZTune 4 from the Gigabyte site. It let me overclock my 2.26 to 2.515 and my cpu stayed at 41c.

 

[Vidcutter]

I need to know if I bought the right kind of power supply for the 8ihxp. (The rdram doesn't arrive for another week, so testing is not possible.)

The name is JGE A+GPB ATX P4-12V. It's a 400watt supply, costing $79. It has six conenctors that look like they'd fit on a hard drive, which is about two more than I''ll need. And it DOES have P4-style connections and an Intel Approved sticker on the box. It has two fans, in-and-out.

Related question: The case, a cooler master atx210, has a blowhole fan on the top panel with a hard-disk-size connector on it. Could the fan really need as much juice as a drive does?

Any advice appreciated. If I didn't spend enough money I'll return the unit now instead of trying to install it later.

THE ANANDTECH FORUM HAS BEEN A REAL BLESSING DURING THIS PROJECT. Thanks.

 

[LavrentiBeria]

Interesting discussion, comrades.

Intel may have missed the boat by giving up on RDRAM too soon. Someone with a bit more vision, guts and persistence may gain the prize here; perhaps Gigabyte. I bought the Intel D850EMV2 with P4 2.26 Ghz and 256 MG RDRAM, PC1066. But the Gigabyte board under consideration here is better featured and obviously more courageous about its support for 1066PC. I certainly like the idea of having a sixth PCI slot instead of the five I've got with the D850EMV2. I'll be keeping an eye on the comments here.

Yours in the joy of socialist labor,

LavrentiBeria

 

[4dm]

A few questions about this mobo, if someone wouldnt mind answering. . .

what exactly does the dual bios do?
does it increase performance or stability in any way?

and how reliable are gigabytes mobos?



Vidcutter: That PSU should be fine. Intel is great about approving PSU's, and 400watts is plenty of juice. It just may not last as long as an enermax one.

and as to the fan, the 4 pin molex connector (the thing that looks like it connects to a hard drive) is there in case you need it. You probably dont need it unless you get a high current fan. a typical 80mm fan doesnt draw much current, and its safe to use the 3 pin connectors on the mobo. If you use the 4 pin molex connector, you cant use the rpm detectors for the fan without a special connector.

 

[LavrentiBeria]

Comrade 4dm,

A published hardware expert whose opinions I respect and whose sympathies are decidedly Intel has had some very positive things to say about Gigabyte and Asus lately. The sense of things that I get is it that Gigabyte has made substantial strides recently and with this particular board has really established itself. And the support is reputedly excellent.

I first learned about and became interested in this board here:
Text

I, too, would like to know more about the dual BIOS business. So would comrade Stalin.

LavrentiBeria

 

[LavrentiBeria]

 

[maverick24]

for what its worth - i just got a gigabyte GA-8IEXP (845E) chipset and i have been having a lot of stability problems...
i am not overclocking - just running standard stock board with win xp - i get these random reboots...
no blue screen of death - just *plink* reboot
cpu core temp looks fine - and everything else on the board is tested (i used an intel board to verify the rest of the components)
right now im not too happy - maybe its just bad luck with the board.....
im planning to rma the board and consider either the asus or abit it7....any feedback on either of these boards ???

 

[CoolRadiation]

cobravst & bingo13, could u guys tell me the what are the tweakings needed in bios to o/c the board?? or did u used the Eztune4 software provided by gigabyte to do the o/c?

My system consists of GA-8IHXP, P4 1.8A, 2 x 128mb 1066 kingston RDRAM, asus geforce 3 Ti 200. i raised the fsb to 118 in bios but found my 3DMark score to be lower after o/c.