Gigabyte GA-K8NS Pro

[Thelonious]

Yeah, I'm fairly happy with this motherboard also...or maybe I'm content with my o/c .

Can you guys summarize: your setup, your o/c, etc.?
Hardware
Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle C0
512MB Corsair XMS 3200
SLK948U heatsink w/ YS-tech adjustable

Highest stable/usable overclock
F1 bios
~2464MHz - 246 HTT x 10 - 3x HTT
mem at 205MHz 2-3-3-8
vcore @ 1.7 in bios (maxed =()
vdimm(?) +.1V

Currently testing
~2498MHz - 249.8HTT x 10 - 3x HTT
mem at 208MHz 2-3-3-10/11

Other notes:
No go with 4x HTT at that particular speed HTT speed. Just a minor annoyance, the motherboard makes adjustments to CPU fan speed quite often.

I suppose I could get new memory to run it in sync, but is the improvement worth the money?

 

[imported_pentup]

I'm thinkin about purchasing this board, but im a little concerned about the memory problems. what kind of memory do you guys have workin in this board?

 

[nippyjun]

Hi guys,

1. Does this board come with the digital audio out connector or do you have to buy that separately. Its the part that connects to the sp dif header on the mobo.


2. Which SATA header should be used for a single SATA hard drive.

 

[dimasukr]

1. Does this board come with the digital audio out connector or do you have to buy that separately. Its the part that connects to the sp dif header on the mobo.

Yes it does

2. Which SATA header should be used for a single SATA hard drive.

SATA0

 

[nippyjun]

Originally posted by: dimasukr

1. Does this board come with the digital audio out connector or do you have to buy that separately. Its the part that connects to the sp dif header on the mobo.

Yes it does

2. Which SATA header should be used for a single SATA hard drive.

SATA0

Is that the Sata0_SB header? or the SII one?

Thanks.

 

[fLum0x]

I was looking to get this mobo and this is the ram i wanted.

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200PRO - Retail


I am assuming it will work with this gigabyte board or should i look elsewhere for a mobo or ram??

 

[maxxshwagg]

does anyone know if i can use ide 3 or 4 for a zip drive???

thanks

 

[nippyjun]

Ok, My board just arrived:

Some questions:

1. I want to use a single serial ata drive as my main hard drive. There are 2 sets of sata connectors on the mobo... Which one should I use for this drive?

2. When i install windows i'll have to f6 to install sata drivers? Where do i find those drivers? Do i need to make a floppy with those drivers on them (once i find where they are), or do i just install them from the utilities cd (if they are on there)?

3. Once i'm in windows does the utilities cd guide you through installation of all the correct drivers? Are there some choices to be made and if you choose wrong it can get messed up?

4. There is an included connector that has an rca jack and an spdif jack. I use a coaxial cable for my speaker system. Do i use the rca jack for that?

Thanks

 

[nippyjun]

Ok i installed the system with an ide drive for now. I have a sata drive that eventually i'll install as my main drive.

I still would like the answers to the questions in my above post...


Also,

I've connected the coaxial cable from my logitech speakers to the jack on the system, but it only gives my 2 channel sound. It's as if there is not digital output from the computer. Is there a setting that i'm missing somewhere? On the gigabyte web site it shows an older version of the audio setup software that has a picture of the coaxial output. On my software in the speaker setup section there is no coaxial option.

 

[Erehwon]

Originally posted by: dimasukr

1. Does this board come with the digital audio out connector or do you have to buy that separately. Its the part that connects to the sp dif header on the mobo.

Yes it does

2. Which SATA header should be used for a single SATA hard drive.

SATA0

The manual doesnt state that you should use one or the other. It's just one is controlled by the Nvidia controller (SATA0_SB and SATA1_SB and the other is controlled by the Sil3512 controller (SATA0_SII and SATA1_SII).

 

[Erehwon]

Originally posted by: nippyjun
Ok, My board just arrived:

Some questions:

1. I want to use a single serial ata drive as my main hard drive. There are 2 sets of sata connectors on the mobo... Which one should I use for this drive?

---I would use the Nvidia set

2. When i install windows i'll have to f6 to install sata drivers? Where do i find those drivers? Do i need to make a floppy with those drivers on them (once i find where they are), or do i just install them from the utilities cd (if they are on there)?


--I would just do a search on Giga's website for the drivers... .you might not even need them IE windows may pick it up (if your running XP)


3. Once i'm in windows does the utilities cd guide you through installation of all the correct drivers? Are there some choices to be made and if you choose wrong it can get messed up?

--cant help here

4. There is an included connector that has an rca jack and an spdif jack. I use a coaxial cable for my speaker system. Do i use the rca jack for that?


--Never seen a coaxial speaker connector.... I would just find some kind of adapter.

Thanks

 

[nippyjun]

I'm still struggling with hooking up my speakers using a coaxial cable. It still only plays out of the front 2 speakers. If i hook up regular cables (3 cables) sound comes out of all 5 speakers and the sub.

In the sound configuration program there is a section to select how many speakers and then to select the type of speaker hookup. There is also a section to test the speakers. For the hookup it only shows the standard 3 plugs and the surround kit hookup, not the SP-Kit hookup. So it seems that this audio setup program has omitted coaxial hookup.

 

[imported_Keevon]

I've been having issues with the RAID on this board. I have 2 WD Raptors that I connected to the nVidia SATA controller. I can't RAID-0 and install windows XP on it - it always says some files are missing after it formats and copies the files over. I got it working with RAID-1 but that's not really what I want to do. Has anyone gotten this working?

 

[nippyjun]

When you install a single SATA drive as your main drive on the SATAO_SB plug what drivers do you use when you hit F6 during the windows installation? Which drivers and where are they located?

 

[Erehwon]

Check the website for the downloads

 

[nippyjun]

Neither the website nor the manual have specifics on which driver to have on a floppy.

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

Originally posted by: nippyjun
Neither the website nor the manual have specifics on which driver to have on a floppy.

Try page 78 of the manual. It has some stuff about copying raid drivers to a floppy.

-D'oh!

 

[dimasukr]

You don't need ANY driver if you are using just single SATA drive.
Drivers are only needed during Win install (F6 and etc) if you build a RAID on drive on which you are installing Windows.

 

[nippyjun]

Originally posted by: dimasukr
You don't need ANY driver if you are using just single SATA drive.
Drivers are only needed during Win install (F6 and etc) if you build a RAID on drive on which you are installing Windows.

Are you positive of this. In the past for other motherboards I definitely had to use drivers even for a single sata drive.

 

[vicvon]

Here are the drivers. There is even one for XP 64 that works fine. Make sure you put the entire driver on the floppy, as the directions state, or it will not work.


Great board so far. I have had it for about 2hrs now and Win XP64 is running very fast on it.


http://12.24.47.40/display/2/index.asp?c=12&cpc=ULwO0A442oKs512Q04X5i0UupP4SveI6dt2WJi7&cid=2&r=0.6870081

 

[vicvon]

Sorry double post

 

[nippyjun]

Those look to be the drivers for the silicon image ports, not the nvidia ones.

 

[Erehwon]

Originally posted by: nippyjun
Those look to be the drivers for the silicon image ports, not the nvidia ones.

Well I would use these for now at the least, and then get your system up and running. Then find the Nvidia drivers. In the mean time I would like to know the answer to the question about if you need the drivers for a single sata device or not. I have seen to posts each talking about the "correct" way to do it. I would like to know which way actually worked!

 

[MrSamson420]

So has anyone figured out what is going on with the memory timing settings on this MOBO yet. I have had this board for a week now and still can't figure out for the life of me how I cant bring my memory clock speed to 200Mhz in manual, and yet with Easytune4 and everything works fine. Every time I attempt to keep all the changes Easytune makes changing only from auto to manual I get that dreaded long beep and the settings return back to the 166Mhz with original timings. I have 2X512MB of Geil PC3200 Ram which works great and tests well @ 200Mhz when I am under the "special 1 time boot" that easytune4 provides. Is there something else that Easytune is changing besides the timing values that allows the bois to accept this configuration?? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nippyjun]

I have emailed Gigabyte tech support about the memory 200/166 issue. I'll let you know when i hear back.

I too have the same problem....

With one stick of memory it runs fine at 200mhz, but with 2 sticks it drops down to 166. If i manually set it to 200, with 2 sticks it will boot up just fine, but then when i run 3dmark the system crashes.