***Gigabyte GA-8SQ800(SiS655)***

[Jayczar]

just picked up this SiS 655 mobo from Newegg for $112 shipped.
I could not pass it up, I am not interested in the RAID, SATA etc
right now that the deluxe version ships with for $220.
Hopefully it will satisfy, wish me luck.

 

[frangus]

I just got in on this board (Gigabyte GA-8SQ800) too. Hopefully this board from newegg comes with the rev B0 SIS655 chipset instead of the rev A0. But I have a feeling that it will be the rev A0 since this is one of the earlier samples that hit retail.

For those who are wondering the difference between rev A0 and B0 of the SIS655, the B0's officially support P4 Hyperthreading. But it looks like Gigabyte has a bios "hack/fix" for the rev A0 users. BIOS

Here is what the bios description says:
1. Fix display broken after run 3D mark 2001SE for 1 hour(Display NV18 chipset)
2. Fix FSB400/DDR400 unstable on SIS655
3. Support Hyper-Threading function on non-HT compliant NBs

Look at #3

This gives me the feeling the B0 revisions of SIS655 boards are just started being manufactured and the ones sold now (via newegg) are A0 revisions.

I will confirm this when I receive the board probably next week sometime.

 

[neilm]

Is there much difference between that board and the ULTRA2?

 

[KidChaos]

Report back your experiences with the motherboard if it's not too much trouble.

 

[Jayczar]

Originally posted by: frangus
I just got in on this board (Gigabyte GA-8SQ800) too. Hopefully this board from newegg comes with the rev B0 SIS655 chipset instead of the rev A0. But I have a feeling that it will be the rev A0 since this is one of the earlier samples that hit retail.

here is a quote from the Anand review about the SiS 655's from Gigabyte:

"With the SINXP1394, Gigabyte has certainly produced one of the nicest and fastest feature-filled Pentium 4 motherboards on the market. Loaded with onboard Serial ATA and IDE RAID, FireWire, USB 2.0, dual channel DDR400 and Hyper Threading support among other nice features, the Gigabyte SINXP1394 is quite the all-in-one wonder. And in case you're curious, even though we used the A0 stepping Gigabyte SINXP1394 for this review, all of Gigabyte's SiS 655 boards will ship with a B0 stepping North Bridge that adds Hyper Threading support"

Hopefully this proves to be true and we get BO's, even though I don't have a Hyper threading
CPU it would be nice to have the feature.

 

[poMONKey]

"...right now that the deluxe version ships with for $220..."

your board is a nice price...

keep us posted

 

[AlienX]

If anyone living in CA wants to get 8SQ800, go to this one
http://www.essencompu.com/nupplysingar.asp?ID=3496
then u don't have to pay for the tax, and get 2nd day shipping =)
hope no one considers this as an ads. lol

 

[frangus]

Originally posted by: Jayczar

Originally posted by: frangus
I just got in on this board (Gigabyte GA-8SQ800) too. Hopefully this board from newegg comes with the rev B0 SIS655 chipset instead of the rev A0. But I have a feeling that it will be the rev A0 since this is one of the earlier samples that hit retail.

here is a quote from the Anand review about the SiS 655's from Gigabyte:

"With the SINXP1394, Gigabyte has certainly produced one of the nicest and fastest feature-filled Pentium 4 motherboards on the market. Loaded with onboard Serial ATA and IDE RAID, FireWire, USB 2.0, dual channel DDR400 and Hyper Threading support among other nice features, the Gigabyte SINXP1394 is quite the all-in-one wonder. And in case you're curious, even though we used the A0 stepping Gigabyte SINXP1394 for this review, all of Gigabyte's SiS 655 boards will ship with a B0 stepping North Bridge that adds Hyper Threading support"

Hopefully this proves to be true and we get BO's, even though I don't have a Hyper threading
CPU it would be nice to have the feature.

Look at this link of the same review. Link

"2-12-2003 UDPATE: Gigabyte sends word that, even though the vast majority of SINXP1394 motherboards will be B0 stepping, there will be a small amount of A0 stepping SINXP1394 motherboards sold too. Gigabyte says they have made a particular modification to the BIOS of A0 stepping motherboards that allows full support for Hyper Threading (all B0 SINXP1394 boards support Hyper Threading of course). We have also received information that, while the SINXP1394 is capable of 800MHz FSB support through overclocking, Gigabyte cannot guarantee that the upcoming 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 processors will operate correctly in Gigabyte SINXP1394 motherboards until they find out exactly what changes Intel makes to mass production 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 silicon. "

So there is a possibility that we may get a A0 rev.

 

[Jayczar]

keyword is SINXP1394 that they refer to but we will know
for sure later this week whether it applies to ours.

 

[frangus]

yeah! lets hope for the best

 

[cpars]

Just ordered me one also, we will see what happens when they arrive

 

[NFS4]

I'm thinking of getting one as well. Does it come with a Firewire card like pictured from NewEgg?

 

[Jayczar]

Originally posted by: NFS4
I'm thinking of getting one as well. Does it come with a Firewire card like pictured from NewEgg?

Gigabytes website does not mention it as
being optional so I hope so.

 

[frangus]

I wonder what exactly is the difference between rev A0 and B0 chips. If you look at Anand's motherboard review of the MSI 655 max and the Gigabyte's 655 board SINXP1394 (essentially the GA-8SQ800 Ultra2), you will see that in the MSI review sample the rev B0 was used and in the Gigabyte the rev A0 was used. Looking at the performance graphs, the MSI was a tad noticable faster. Could it be that on top of officially Hyperthreading support, the B0 also was a tad faster than the A0?

 

[First]

Originally posted by: frangus
I wonder what exactly is the difference between rev A0 and B0 chips. If you look at Anand's motherboard review of the MSI 655 max and the Gigabyte's 655 board SINXP1394 (essentially the GA-8SQ800 Ultra2), you will see that in the MSI review sample the rev B0 was used and in the Gigabyte the rev A0 was used. Looking at the performance graphs, the MSI was a tad noticable faster. Could it be that on top of officially Hyperthreading support, the B0 also was a tad faster than the A0?

Both the MSI 655 Max and Gigabyte SINXP1394 (aka 8SQ800 Ultra2) we tested used A0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridges. I have heard reports that B0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridges are slightly faster, but I haven't been able to confirm that information yet. I'll let you guys know in our 800MHz FSB CPU/Motherboard article soon.

 

[frangus]

Evan: this is a quote from your MSI SIS655 board review in which I presumed you reviewed the newly recieved board instead:

"2-8-2003 UDPATE Within the last 24 hours we have received the latest revision of the MSI 655 Max-FISR. While the MSI 655 Max-FISR motherboard tested in this review uses an A0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridge and A2 stepping SiS 963 South Bridge, the new MSI 655 Max-FISR we just received uses a B0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridge and B1 stepping SiS 963UA South Bridge. According to MSI, the new B-stepping 655 Max-FISR fully supports Intel?s Hyper Threading technology. We were quickly able to confirm this claim by checking the BIOS, which clearly illustrated an option for enabling or disabling "HT" (Hyper Threading). SiS has also confirmed to us that all motherboards with B0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridges fully support Hyper Threading."

 

[shootinyou]

Has anyones board arrived yet?? Please post your impressions
when possible.

 

[ToBeMe]

Posting this in both threads.......................

I have a friend whom called and spoke with someone at Essential Comp. whom is one of the vendors with this board. He was told that these boards are in fact "AO" stepping boards...................................

Just an FYI!

 

[NFS4]

Mine just came in today!! I can't belive that gigabyte doesn't put an I/O shield in their though!! BOOOOO

The shield from my 4G4A won't fit. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gibabyte, BOOOOOOOOOO



I'll install it later today and report back

 

[kunderian]

I got mine yesterday.

Impressions: Installation was a breeze. Everything is clearly marked and coded. The only problem I had was the Fireware daughter card would not fit properly because the edge was slightly bent. I had to remove my video card to properly seat it. Also, there is no I/O cover plate. Luckily, I still had the old one that came with my case and it fit perfectly.

When I booted up, the CPU temp showed 48C in the BIOS!!! I reseated the HSF to make sure it was on correctly, but it was the same temp. I suspected the monitor was wrong, so I flashed the BIOS from F3 to F4. Bingo, temp went down to 39C. If your came with BIOS F3, note the CPU temp monitor is wrong.

I didn't get a chance to OC too much last night because I got home late, but I managed to get 160FSB stable at 1.55V on a 2.4B with stock HSF. The only problem though is that my CPU temps were reaching 60C, which I think is too hot. My last board, the Asus P4PE, I was only able to get 156FSB, but it would max out at 57C at load. I'll have to play around with it some more tonight

 

[frangus]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Mine just came in today!! I can't belive that gigabyte doesn't put an I/O shield in their though!! BOOOOO

The shield from my 4G4A won't fit. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gibabyte, BOOOOOOOOOO



I'll install it later today and report back

Bummer =(
I should get mine tomorrow.....

 

[First]

Originally posted by: frangus
Evan: this is a quote from your MSI SIS655 board review in which I presumed you reviewed the newly recieved board instead:

"2-8-2003 UDPATE Within the last 24 hours we have received the latest revision of the MSI 655 Max-FISR. While the MSI 655 Max-FISR motherboard tested in this review uses an A0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridge and A2 stepping SiS 963 South Bridge, the new MSI 655 Max-FISR we just received uses a B0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridge and B1 stepping SiS 963UA South Bridge. According to MSI, the new B-stepping 655 Max-FISR fully supports Intel?s Hyper Threading technology. We were quickly able to confirm this claim by checking the BIOS, which clearly illustrated an option for enabling or disabling "HT" (Hyper Threading). SiS has also confirmed to us that all motherboards with B0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridges fully support Hyper Threading."

Did you read that second sentence? It says "While the MSI 655 Max-FISR motherboard tested in this review uses an A0 stepping SiS 655 North Bridge..." I also received a B0 655 Max from MSI, which I haven't tested yet.

 

[frangus]

Ahhhhh......you are right Evan.....my bad

 

[njitkoff]

Does anybody know when (and if) the 8SQ800 Ultra (Not the ultra2) will be available? I haven't been able to find much more than what is on gigabyte's site. Is it newer than the other two?

Link

 

[Jayczar]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Mine just came in today!! I can't belive that gigabyte doesn't put an I/O shield in their though!! BOOOOO

The shield from my 4G4A won't fit. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gibabyte, BOOOOOOOOOO



I'll install it later today and report back

Mine did not come with an I/O shield either, but it is the standard orientation and I
have a few dozen lying around if you need one. Board looks good though but
this thread will probably be dead by the time I get mine installed.