Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4

[valgatiag]

Originally posted by: alaricljs
valgatiag: What they mean is that the F7 BIOS *ADDS* support for the 6x50 CPUs. Flash away.

Maybe I wasn't clear: I don't have any other socket 775 CPUs, so how could I flash the BIOS?

 

[marcool]

Originally posted by: valgatiag

Originally posted by: alaricljs
valgatiag: What they mean is that the F7 BIOS *ADDS* support for the 6x50 CPUs. Flash away.

Maybe I wasn't clear: I don't have any other socket 775 CPUs, so how could I flash the BIOS?

Maybe you can get a cheap celeron.

 

[valgatiag]

That's what seems like the best option right now. Order a $40-50 Celeron, install it, flash the BIOS to F7, then either find someone who wants a Celeron or RMA it for partial refund.

 

[Assimilator1]

Personally I wouldn't bother ,if Gigabyte or the resellers can't be bothered to flash the bios so you have a booting mbrd then why should you waste your time & money to fix it? ,I'd buy a different mbrd.
Or borrow a CPU from someone

 

[marcool]

playing with the bios settings... and different speeds, I figure that this board can do 400 Mhz fsb (1600QDR) without any raise of voltage. (southbridge,northbridge,vcc or ht link)
Running stable with 5x for HT.

 

[Assimilator1]

You're guessing it can or you know it can do 400MHz?

 

[marcool]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
You're guessing it can or you know it can do 400MHz?

I know.
The thing is, in every test done before, i raised the chipset voltage, and now i test just at stock voltages, and it can work perfect

 

[Assimilator1]

Nice ,though surely it can go over 400MHz with increased voltage?

 

[cubeless]

anybody having cmos errors at power up? it looks like it's only when you power on, if you reset there not a problem...

i'm going to change the cmos battery and see what happens and do a bit more troubleshooting, but i was just wondering if anyone else had had a problem with this board...

 

[Spaced Cowboy]

Have a strange issue on my new build. After about 5-10 minutes after a cold start the computer locks up and power must be recycled to recover. After that point, the computer runs fine. I got one error report after one of the lock-ups, it and said it was video driver related (STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)).

I have all the updated drivers plus it did it when I ran memtest, but after the reboot, memtest ran for 12 hours straight. In other words, I have no issues except for this lock-up and it only happens within 5-10 minutes of a cold boot.

I've checked my cpu and video card temps they look fine, in fact I can overclock the video card 10-15% with no issues (besides it running a bit hot). The mem timings were changed, but no effect.

Here is my build.

GIGABYTE GA-N650SLI-DS4 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX6400D2LLK2/2GN
EVGA 640-P2-N825-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6850
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
LG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model GSA-H54NK
Hanns·G HG-281DPB Black 28" 3ms Widescreen HDMI LCD Monitor

I still have time to send back the video card since I suspect that this is the issue, any ideas?

I consider myself a pretty good troubleshooter, but this one has me baffled.


Update:

Hmmm.... after 5 days of this behavior, I decided to leave it on the bios screen and watch my cpu temp for 10 minutes....actually I was hoping to see some system voltage readings, but all this bios want to do is say normal, not the actual reading.

No crash, and then went to xp and no crash still after 1.5 hours.

Any mobo voltages I should be tweaking for better stability on boot?

 

[Assimilator1]

Odd!

How long will it run Orthos for?

 

[elmatador]

Hi everyone, Well I decided to oc my E6300 & 650i-DS4. At first I thought I had bought a duff cpu or mobo as I couldn't even oc to 2100 without the computer switching itself off. :shocked: Don't know what would cause that. Anyway I went back down to 2000 and managed to get into Windows XP. First thing I did was check my temps and nearly had a heart attack as the cpu was 60 on idle and the voltage 1.6. So I immediately rebooted and went into the bios and set the voltage manually to 1.325 instead of it being on auto. After messing about for a while I'm currently upto 2450mhz fsb 350x7, idle temp 48-51. I also lowered the cpu voltage to 1.275. My memory I left mostly on default settings but increased the voltage to 2.0. Hopefully I'll be able to go higher, but first I'm running orthos to see if it's stable. How long are you supposed to run orthos for?

Damn Flashget locked up once and I had to reboot. Don't know if that's because of instability due to the overclock. I hope not. Anyone got any tips or advice on how to oc this mobo to atleast 3.0. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. What has got me confused are the memory settings. What's the best settings for this mobo. I've got OCZ (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC. Mem timings are currently 5-5-5-15. 800mhz 3:4

 

[Assimilator1]

Some SPD settings get the RAM timings wrong ,set them manually ,I had to for mine which is the same RAM as yours (though I have the MSI 650 mbrd).

Re Orthos & overclocking etc ,I wouldn't do either until you sort out your idle temps ,~50C is far too high for idle temps.
What HSF & case cooling have you got?

 

[elmatador]

Thanks!, I'll try setting them manually. As for my cooler, it's the Artic freezer 7 Pro.
My case is the Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case. My case was full of dust, so I cleaned it out yesterday and turned all the fans up to medium from low. The temperature of my CPU is now 45 idle, Mobo is 35 idle and my GFX 8800 GTS 640mb is 50 idle. What's your temps and what HSF do you recommend? My temps aren't brilliant but I've seen worse. Plus my HSF isn't spinning at full speed. It's rated at 2500rpm, yet never goes past 1400rpm. Something to do with smartfan monitoring in the BIOS. I turned it off and my HSF ran at 2500rpm and my temps dropped down to 41-42, but it's too noisey running at that speed all the time. My friend has the same processor E6300 and his is 50 idle at default clock speed.:laugh:

 

[Assimilator1]

Ah you didn't mention that smart fan was on ,though your load temps were too high too.
45C idle is fine ,what's your load temps now?

And yea it doesn't matter if idle temps are a bit high to keep the fan slow & quiet as long as it speeds up enough under load to limit CPU temps.

I'm not familiar with most cases ,what case cooling have you got?

I run a Q6600 @ 3GHz @1.3v ,it always runs @100% load running DPAD,SETI or F@H so I don't know idle temps .I've just recently upgraded from my 9yr oldQ) Enlight case (1x92mm fan & 1 80mm) to a Coolermaster case with 2x120mm fans.That dropped temps 5C & made it much quieter too.My Cooler is a Thermalright Ultima 90.

Anyway, current temps (CPU @100%, all 4 cores)
Ambient temp 26C
Case temp 30C
CPU temp, core 1&2 54C ,core 2 47C, core 3 51C (measured with Core temp)
GPU temp 45C (idle)

I hesitate to recommend the Ultima 90 as I've had clamping problems with it, specifically the screws don't clamp the HS down firmly enough on my setup.Before I added washers to the clamping springs I had a temp difference of ~12C between the hottest & coolest core! (far more than my previous HSF).Now it's down ~7C but I'm going to add more washers to see if I can lower that further.

What HSF you want depends on your budget & what size HS you're willing to go upto.

 

[elmatador]

Well I'm happy now. Spent the whole afternoon seeing how far I could push my E6300 CPU. Was at 2450 previously and was trying for atleast 2880 but for some reason my motherboard just wasn't happy with 400x7 fsb. Tried for 5 hours upping the voltages and changing memory settings, but without any success, so I assumed 2660 was the best I could get hope for. Anyway I remembered someone saying on another forum that the Gigabyte 650i ds4 mobo had some kind of fsb hole, so just for the hell of it I tried 430x7 3010mhz and amazingly it worked, and on default voltages. I've been running 3dmark 03 just to make sure my computer is stable. Ran it twice and it seems alright. I will run orthos later just to be on the safe side.

3dmark 03 scores
3010mhz 31505
2650mhz 30883

Slight improvement.

Overclocking my cpu doesn't seem to have any effect in regards to the temps.

Idle GPU 47 core1 39 core 2 36 ambient 27 fan running all the time 2500rpm. It is quite cold today however, which obviously helps with the temps.

I'm very happy with the case I've got. So much better than my last one. When I bought my Geforce 8800gts 640mb it sent my temps through the roof. The gpu was 65 idle and cpu was 55. Just goes to show, a decent case makes all the difference. Can't believe how much difference the new case has made to my temps, especially my hard disks and GPU. I have 4 hard disks. The temps are currently 25, 30, 26,22 with fans set on medium. They were all near 40 or just over before. This case has two 120mm fans at the front for cooling the hard drives. Specs below. I have all the fans on medium settings. High is just too noisey, where as medium is bearable. Also bought a 120mm fan for the side panel, which helps keep the GPU cool. I think I'll just stick with my cooler for the time being. It's not too bad. I was thinking about getting a coolmaster case myself, but they seemed quite expensive, so I went for the cheaper Antec case instead. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

- Unique Top mounted 200mm TriCool exhaust fan to cool the hottest system
- Perforated front bezel for maximum air intake
- Two front loaded HDD cages for up to 6 hard disk drives
- The HDD cages act as air ducts to take air in more efficiently
- Two 120mm TriCool blue LED front fans to cool hard disk drives
- Window side panel comes with an optional 120mm fan mount for maximum VGA cooling
- Top mounted I/O ports for easy access
- Top tray for your MP3 player, digital camera, etc.
- Power supply mounts at the bottom of the case (power supply not included)
- 1 top 200mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 1 rear 120mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
- 2 front 120mm special black TriCool blue LED fans with 3-speed switch control to cool HDDs
- 1 side (optional) 120mm fan to cool graphic cards
- 1 middle (optional) 120mm fan to cool CPU or graphic cards
- External 3 x 5.25"; Internal 6 x 3.5" for HDD, or
- External 6 x 5.25"; Internal 3x 3.5" for HDD, or
- External 9 x 5.25"
- 7 Expansion Slots
- Power & reset button with blue LED
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire®, i.Link®)
- Audio In and Out

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...t.php?prodid=CA-065-AN

I'm also in two minds whether to buy a quad core. I would of thought crysis would of made better use of quad cores, but according to the reviews, there doesn't seem to any difference between a quad core and core duo when running the game. How much better is a quad core compared to a core duo when using Windows Vista. Is Vista more responsive? I hate Vista, there's always some process running in the backround, bringing your system to a crawl. :|

 

[Assimilator1]

Coolermaster case expensive?? mine was ~£30 my case
Nice case you have btw

I wouldn't touch Vista with a barge pole (well not for sometime anyway).

Currently AFAIK ,the vast majority of games don't use more than 2 cores (UT3 is an exception ,quad core gives a whole 15% boost).I suppose this situation might be reversed in 2yrs or so?
Personally speaking I wouldn't bother getting a quad core if I were only gaming.I only bought a quad core for DC apps.

What's your loaded CPU temps? (running Orthos say).

 

[michaelheath]

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding overclocking this motherboard with my current set up. I have had this motherboard since November of 2007, and I really have not had a chance to try overclocking until now. Now that I am, I seem to be hitting a wall at 325 MHz FSB, which I find quite odd considering the following facts: a. I see many people in this thread have had much more success than I have using a variety of CPUs; b. My E6400 can and has overclocked past 400 MHz FSB, so this is not a CPU limitation; c. I have had experience with an Asus P5N-E SLI and overclocking, where I built a system for a friend on a budget, and her E6300 with that motherboard more than happily went to 400 MHz FSB without much alteration (and with cheapo Corsair PC5300 memory, too).

The one oddity I've noticed is that, even when I do establish a stable overclock using tools in Windows (verified by CPU-Z), when I restart or shut down the system all settings are set back to their defaults. The BIOS says the changes are there for whatever reason, which is even more odd. Is the Dual BIOS feature interfering with my overclocking capabilities, is there something I'm completely missing? (BTW: EIST and other such power-saving settings are off, so I have the obvious covered)

With this motherboard and CPU, I am using Corsair DHX PC6400 2x 1 GB with 5-5-5-18 @ 1.8V, if that helps any, and I have indeed tried changing up the voltages to no avail.

Help if you can; I appreciate it.

Mike

 

[Assimilator1]

Your post is confusing, are you o/cing via the bios or via windows?

Which voltages have you changed?

 

[michaelheath]

I'm sorry that wasn't clear, I was in a bit of a rush when I wrote my message. I had tried overclocking through the BIOS first, setting the memory dividers and the FSB frequencies, saving and restarting the computer to see if it would boot into Windows. I would check CPU-Z to verify the overclock, restart the computer, enter the BIOS, and raise the FSB frequency again and repeat the process until something went wrong. When I went to 333 MHz FSB in the BIOS, I restarted the system, and when I logged into Windows and checked CPU-Z, it showed that the CPU frequency had been set back to it's original settings (266x8). I restarted the machine and entered the BIOS again, and I was completely confused when I saw my last changes were still there.

At this point I began trying to use nTune as a control experiment, just so I could see where the system would freeze up before I had to raise voltages. (Yeah, I know how most people feel about Windows programs for overclocking, but they work if you know how to use them.) I began raising the FSB, and everything was running fine up to 325 MHz FSB. One MHz over, and the system would freeze. I restarted the system and entered the BIOS again, and, again I found my old settings I had made directly in the BIOS still there. I changed the settings to what I found worked in nTune, then I raised the voltage slightly on the CPU and the RAM. After restarting and loading up CPU-Z, I found that, again, the system was reporting that the CPU was running at it's default settings.

What's going on here? Why can't I overclock past 325 MHz FSB? What's up with the BIOS saying one thing and CPU-Z saying another? This is my first Gigabyte board, so I am not entirely familiar with how it handles a failed overclock. Does it automatically switch to the secondary BIOS when an overclock fails?

Any suggestions you can offer would be appreciated. Like I said before, I've had no problems overclocking other boards in the past and other people have had no problems overclocking this one, which makes this situation all the more frustrating.

Thank you

 

[Assimilator1]

Hmm ,well I've had no experience of this mbrd myself so I don't know the answer to the bios settings not taking effect.Though that usually happens when the overclock has failed & so the bios reverts to default settings to get it to boot.
Or maybe you have speedstep etc still enabled? does it show the same clock speed if you load the CPU with Prime95?
Also rather than upping the FSB until windows locks up you'd be better off running Prime95 for a quick 5 min test between increasing steps.

As for passing your 325MHz limit ,have you tried increasing the voltage to the Northbridge?
My MSI 650 mbrd needed more NBv roughlg arounf the 350MHz area.
Also what cooling does your mbrd have on the NB? (I can't remember what the DS4 has).

 

[Warn3rv3]

Hello. I've been checking back to these forums quite often since this is the only place i can find info on my board (GA-N650SLI-DS4 ver. 1). Since i do not own the L revision of this board i can't comment as to any specifics other than from what I've seen it is the same thing as the version 1 save a "better" northbridge cooling solution. And by better i mean a revised copper brick. I'm using a q6600 G0 with this board with an Enzotech ultra x and a 900 case (i haven't had time to set up my SIG yet). I've been playing with this board for over a year and have found quite a few things out. The Nvidia chipset is just AWFUL for OC'ing. I can't push over a 305 MHz FSB without a hardlock. Now here's the KICKER. An e6600 will push to 330 MHz but hardlocks after that. I've tried everything for both CPU's (voltage increase/decrease, multiplier to 8x, etc. etc.) and the bottom line is that the board will NOT be pushed beyond these points. Owners of the 680i chipset have the SAME exact problem. Some will boot with 3 or 4 dimms: some with just 2. Mine won't boot with anything above 3 dimms. If you're dead serious about a decent OC you need to find a good after market cooling solution for your NB and jack up the voltage to .35 v. VR-zone had a good article on OC'ing with this board but i'm afraid without some sort of Voltmod: you've hit a wall. Not only that but it appears that Gigabyte is done supporting us owners of these boards. I'm going with DFI next.

 

[Assimilator1]

Welcome to AT

Firstly ,whilst the Nv 650 chipset might not be the best chipset for o/cing it is by no means that bad!.Back when this & the MSI mbrd were released I did some reading up on what FSBs people were hitting ,nearly all IIRC were hitting over 350MHz ,many got upto or near 400MHz & some beyond.

I don't know if you read my earlier posts but I'm running an MSI 650 mbrd ,jacking the NorthBridge v from its def 1.25v upto 1.4v allowed me to take the FSB upto 400MHz with a C2D & so far (still testing) with my C2Q I have now its upto 361MHz.
Though 1 major point is that I only have 2 DIMMs ,does yours go over 305MHz with less DIMMs?

You don't need to volt mod the MSI mbrd to up the NBv & IIRC nor do you with the Gigabyte mbrd.
Did you try increasing voltage to the NB? (you didn't say).

 

[Warn3rv3]

Thanks for the welcome.

I hear good things about the MSI and in retrospect i would have went with the MSI. I'm sure MSI still supports it as opposed to Gigabyte which has all but dropped its equivalence board which is only a year or so old (give or take)... :shocked: I'm not here to complain about that though so onto solutions!!

I have popped my NB voltage up to .35 v (why gigabyte labels like this i don't know) and it had no effect on my OC. I'm running 2 dimms (I've tried different RAM but that never solved the FSB problem) and I've tried with one dimm as well. All others I've seen that own this gigabyte board have the same issue when Oc'ing a quad., however, like myself have, had better success using a dual core. The VR-zone review for this board, if I'm not mistaken, used a volt mod to hit their clocks.

Lately I've been wondering if using SLI has an impact on the OC. Specifically, which video cards are being used in SLI and whether or not they draw all power from the mobo as opposed to a 6 pin connector. This has been a theory of mine for a bit but many have nasayed me on my theory. I'm looking at getting a new video card and mobo next year (when i get back from Afghanistan). When i do, i'm going to try ocing with one card. FYI, I'm using two 8600GT's in SLI OC'd. I'm wondering how many others out there are using something similar to my setup and having the same oc problems. The VR-zone review testbed used a single 8800gts 320 mb (which uses a 6-pin) and had two fans blowing over the NB. I'm sure most of us aren't using this testbed.

At the end of the day, it would seem most have moved on to new boards or have been playing with new gear so feedback lately has been scarce. I know that many boards use the same chipset but with each company building boards differently it's hard to compare to MOBO's that use the same chipset (at least in this instance).

 

[Assimilator1]

Hmm I see ,have you tried increasing the FSB VTT? (I don't know Gigabytes name for it) ,that was crucial for getting my quad over ~2.7GHz ,whereas with my dualie it made no difference.

[btw corrected typo in previous post]