Gigabyte GA-K8NS Pro

[Savarak]

when do you all suppose F2D will officially come out? does anyone use the Cool n Quiet function?

 

[Erehwon]

Yea good question, one can only hope that Giga is adding some more features to get this next release of the bios working... cross your fingers it's soon.

 

[Erehwon]

I just got off the phone with Giga and they are telling me this:

The memory controller is now on the Processor and not on the motherboard, and AMD specs say that the process will only support 1 stick of 400 or 2 sticks at 333. No matter what the memory type. The tech guy told me that no matter what bios they release it will not fix the issue.

Now this does not take into account overclocking as such, so we will hafta to wait on that.

Thought I would pass along my notes from my Giga Tech call. This guy was actually very helpful, took my email and was going to check into for me.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

That's technically true, but no one would buy an Athlon 64 if you were really limited to one stick of RAM. Most boards are really able to do two sticks.

 

[MrSamson420]

NO, technically it is not true. It is a line of crap. Gigabyte has memory compatibility problems and any technician that tries to tell you it is because of AMD is full of it. There are many other A64 mother board vendors that have absolutely no problem with ANY double sided memory you throw in there. I have talked to the guys at gigabyte also, and they admitted and know that they have a problem which explains why F2D works better for most. Look at this link, read it, and tell me if you still think it is AMD?s problem.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040602/memory_modules-22.html

Also if all I have to do is use the f2d bios to use 2X512 double sided @ DDR400 then it is most defiantly not the processor. Point is a GOOD MAJORITY of these memory incompatibility problems is giga?s problem not AMD?s

 

[Etrnaly]

that's a bunch of crap. my friend has basically the system that I have, except he's using a MSI board and I'm using a gigabyte board (A64 3200+, 2 512mb corsair pc3200, other irrelevant parts). He's running 2 sticks of pc3200 Corsairs at 200mhz (actually...probably OCed it...). It's not an AMD issue, it's a Gigabyte issue. If the other mobo companies can do it, I don't see y gigabyte can't....

 

[nippyjun]

2 new questions:

1. Should the AMD Athlon 64 Processor driver be installed. AMD has a new driver from May on their site?

2. With CPU smart fan control enabled i can hear my cpu fan revving up at times which can be annoying. When I disable this feature there is no revving but the fan doesn't run quite at full speed. Is there a way to have it run at full speed all the time?

 

[Bad Dude]

Not only, the MSI and Chaintech can run 3 sticks and stable at ddr400.

 

[Erehwon]

So your running F2D right now and using 2 sitcks @400mhz ?? Tell me how you have it setup cause I would like to try it.

 

[Savarak]

i've got rev F2d and am running two OCZ 3200 sticks at @ 200mhz.... i'm sorta confused at that HT X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 thing in the bios, but i find i'm very stable at X4 but not too stable at X5

 

[Erehwon]

So the Giga Tech guy came through for me... he just emailed me the F3a Beta Bios.

Note:

THIS IS A BETA BIOS TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK..

The bios can be found here:

http://www.troyandtina.com/giga/k8nsp.F3a

 

[tOiRb]

Erehwon:

How does this new bios work? I'm sure we all want to know! I had to RMA my board because the 5V was way screwed up. My video card would barely run. It was fluctuating down to 1.2V !!! It isn't the power supply because I tried 3 top of the line supplies. Put the CPU in my Foxconn mobo and the rails were all correct. I am contemplating selling the replacement mobo on ebay and getting something else, but want to know if the new bios is any good before I do this.

 

[Erehwon]

Haven't used it yet... maybe will try tonight... I'm always a lil nervous when it comes to a beta bios. LoL

 

[Savarak]

wow, thanks for your help erehwon, i'll be testing it today

 

[poppyq]

If you think about it though, that's where the benefit of the dual bios comes in, if it doesn't work, simply flash the secondary bios back over the bad one

back to my initial question since I never got a detailed response, someone posted that they were able to use a zalman 7000 on this mobo by removing the heatsink/fan bracket. can you explain how? the mounting brackets for the zalman 7000 require the four holes in the mobo and removing the one on the mobo only gives up two in the wrong place, would appreciate some detailed information if anyone has done this.

 

[Erehwon]

Well I took the plunge and tested it. I'm working just fine and here are my notes:

1) Installed new bios via floppy disk
2) backed up current bios (f1 in my case) to floppy
3) updated new bios
4) booted windows; windows detects nvidia nforce controller
5) reboot to take new changes
6) Launch Easy Tune get the follow:
A) system bus = 200mhz
B) clock processor = 2210.75Mhz
C) dram = 166mhz

Notes: 1) Can't make any changes in EasyTune4 cause button won't work.
2) Can't change my CAS
3) EasyTune4 reports my CAS as 2.5 while CPU-Z reports it as 2.0.3.3.7

7) Go back into bios and manully set MaxMemClock (Mhz) to 200Mhz
8) Reboot windows and recheck EasyTune4 and CPU-Z
A) Memory reads as 200 in EasyTune4 with a CAS of 2.5
B) Memory reads as 201.0Mhz in CPU-Z with a CAS of 2.5.4.3.8



Hope this helps some of you guys. So far I'm stable and the memory clock settings are sticking. The buttons in EasyTune arent working to allow me to change CAS or dram clock speed.


And sorry poppyq, I don't have a respons for you on the Zalman

 

[Link]

According to Zalman website, you should be able to install 7000 to A64 system.
I thought only 7000A (more $$) is compatible with A64 system.

 

[poppyq]

Guess I should have been a little more clear, I was generalizing with the "7000" I have the 7000alcu or whatever, aluminum/copper one. Yes, it supports the socket config of the A64, however, the motherboard doesn't have the four standard mounting holes in it that the zalman 7000 brackets need, but someone on here said they're using the 7000 on their k8ns pro. That's what I was inquiring about.

 

[poppyq]

I can confirm with Erehwon

just installed the f3a bios and easytune4, rebooted and all that fun stuff, checked easy tune and it said I was at 166 on my memory (2x512 corsair xms) rebooted into bios, ctrl-f1, max memclock was set to auto and showing 200Mhz, saved, booted into windows, easy tune now reports I'm at 200Mhz on the dram frequency

 

[tOiRb]

200 or 166, what's it gonna be. seems like the same old same old syndrome. You buy PC3200 or 3500 you expect to be able to run it that way. Am I wrong? So far, when I get my replacement MOBO it'll be on EbAY, UNLESS SOMETHING SPECTACULAR HAPPENS..

 

[tOiRb]

Well. I'm back again. We Gigabyte guys shouldn't be too depressed. I have a Foxconn MB that is super stable, lower temps, better rails etc. And guess what? It'll run at high speeds, but wou won't be able to post/boot. I have contacted support and am now running the latest beta bios. It will not let you set memclock to 200. The highest is 166.

So I say, how high can I take it. Well, you can only take it high inside XP, via their version of EZclock called "Superstep". And indeed it does work. I've got higher scores with this mobo than the Gigabyte. But at the same time, the Gigabyte had voltage probs so it hs been RMA'd. I'm running the Foxconn now and it's very stable. Damnit...I don't want stability... I want speed.

My point being that I think that the mobo manufatureres beat the gun when it came to this processor. It is the most picky platform for memory I've ever seen.

Current System
____________________________________________________________________
Athlon 64 3200+ at 228 -- memlock at 166 (latest Foxconn bios only supports that high)
Thermaltake Venus 12, excellent but very heavy
Mushkin PC3500 level 1 at 2-3-3-6, 2x512
Foxconn 755/760A01 mobo, also have Gigabyte K8NS Pro, just RMA'd
Visontek Xtacy X800 w/ Giant III sporting a 92 mm fan
Enermax Noisetaker 470W (excellent) 5 case fans
Nokia 21" 445Xi, (will run 1600x800 at 120mz, not that I do it) Paid 450 refurb at least 5 years ago...a gem, so fast and clean.(but very big).
Logitech MX510, Belkin Nostromo N52,
80GB Samsung Sata
2 x 40 GB WD IDE's
Antec Soho II Server case
Winfast Tuner Card
Asus 52x CD, Optorite 4x dvd burner.
Lian Li Temp monitor
Audigy 2ZS
Logitech Z640 and my backup Creative Inspire 5300 5.1

(this is one of about 8 systems I'm running now -- Barton 2500 at 2.11, 3 Shuttle SSF doing there things and others. I am a reformed water clocker, but with these nifty things they are coming out with today, might get back in.)

***play Team DeathMatch UT04/03 on the usual servers (Rad server is great) you'll see tOiRb there. ***

 

[Link]

What I have is 7000A-ALCU not 7000-ALCU. The 7000A came with backplate with 2 holes.
I also installed F3a bios, and my system is running at 9.5x240mhz (Yes! multiplier selection works!). I've set the memories speed at auto in the bios, which gave me 206mhz(166+40)
According to the MBM cpu is at 39C idle (25C case)

 

[tOiRb]

Originally posted by: Link
What I have is 7000A-ALCU not 7000-ALCU. The 7000A came with backplate with 2 holes.
I also installed F3a bios, and my system is running at 9.5x240mhz (Yes! multiplier selection works!). I've set the memories speed at auto in the bios, which gave me 206mhz(166+40)
According to the MBM cpu is at 39C idle (25C case)

it will clock down but not up

 

[tOiRb]

revision:

What I meant to say is:

You can lower the multiplier, but you can't raise it like the olden days (sharp pencil).

 

[CantThinkOfUsername]

Overall performance improves if you lower the multi and increase the FSB, correct?