*** Official Giga-byte SINXP1394/8SQ800 Thread ***

[AnandTech Moderator]

In an effort to make finding information about the Giga-byte SINXP1394/8SQ800 boards easier for all forum members, please post and discuss your issues, problems, experiences, rants, raves and FAQs here.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[First]

Just to get things started....

Go to asusboard's Pentium 4 SiS chipset forum for a great database of information on the Gigabyte SINXP1394 and 8SQ800 motherboards. I would also highly recommend reading this Gigabyte SINXP1394/8SQ800 tweaking guide, courtesy of asusboard's forum member Prometheus. Not only is asusboards one of the best online forums for information on the Gigabyte SINXP1394 and 8SQ800, but Pentium 4 SiS chipsets in general. There are several very dedicated forum members there that help out users daily; they even post on the AnandTech forums occasionally. I also post at asusboards by the way.

By visiting these forums you may not even have to post a single word to find what you're looking for regarding the Gigabyte SINXP1394 and 8SQ800 .

 

[ToBeMe]

Just an FYI.............................new 8SQ800's are shipping with the F5 bios. Bigtoe is right now working on modding this new bios to allow more bios options for overclocking as he did with the F4!

Should be available soon he said so check where Even specified above on www.asusboards.com........................

 

[SnowBoarder9455]

I've been trying to find one of these motherboards but as of yesterday NewEgg.com doesn't have them and the only place they can be found is ecost.com, but I've heard they're not a good dealer. I haven't built a computer before and I'm thinking of going with this motherboard, is it a good place to start out? I've read the reviews and it seems pretty good but i'm wondering if it will be able to run the 800mhz FSB P4's that are coming soon. I'm planning to go cheap on a CPU now and get a better later on.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: SnowBoarder9455
I've been trying to find one of these motherboards but as of yesterday NewEgg.com doesn't have them and the only place they can be found is ecost.com, but I've heard they're not a good dealer. I haven't built a computer before and I'm thinking of going with this motherboard, is it a good place to start out? I've read the reviews and it seems pretty good but i'm wondering if it will be able to run the 800mhz FSB P4's that are coming soon. I'm planning to go cheap on a CPU now and get a better later on.

The Gigabyte SiS 655 motherboads (SINXP1394 and 8SQ800) will not support Intel's upcoming 800MHz FSB CPU's. In the near future, Gigabyte will be releasing a motherboard based on a different SiS chipset that supports 800MHz FSB. ASUS and MSI share similar no-support stances on 800MHz FSB support.

 

[AlucardBelmont]

I'm using 8SQ800 Ultra.
I just updated my bios from F3 to F4. and there is radical change on the temperature status.
The F3 bios show +- 10C higher than the F4 .Which one to believe?

 

[cpars]

Originally posted by: SnowBoarder9455
I've been trying to find one of these motherboards but as of yesterday NewEgg.com doesn't have them and the only place they can be found is ecost.com, but I've heard they're not a good dealer. I haven't built a computer before and I'm thinking of going with this motherboard, is it a good place to start out? I've read the reviews and it seems pretty good but i'm wondering if it will be able to run the 800mhz FSB P4's that are coming soon. I'm planning to go cheap on a CPU now and get a better later on.

8SQ800 Non Ultra

8SQ800 Ultra

 

[mattjweb]

I got my 8SQ800 from Google gear. I ordered it on thursday and they said it shipped on friday for monday (tomorow) delivery. Hopefully this is true as I did get some conflicting emails from them on availability. I'll let you know if it shows.
Also, I purchased some memory sticks from Ecost a few months ago with no problems at all.

I'm hoping for a B0 with the F4 bios but I'm not counting on it.

 

My SINXP1394 cant come in the mail fast enough , i cant wait.

 

[happybob]

Hi,

Anyone know where to get the Gigabyte 8SQ800 Ultra? This is not the SINXP1394/8SQ800 Ultra 2. I can't seem to find anyone who carries the 8SQ800 Ultra. Is it even available in the US? Anyone knows?

Thanks.

 

[mcurphy]

Hi,

I have a question about cable length to go with this board. I am getting some rounded ATA133 and floppy cables, but I was unsure of what length to get. From the looks of the board, it appears as though the board plug-ins are right near the front edge / close to where the drives will be mounted.

So will I be OK to go with 18" IDE cables or should I get 24" IDE cables to be on the safe side? And I also thought that an 18" floppy cable would be adequate.

I am hooking up two ATA133 drives in a RAID array, one ATA133 drive to the primary IDE channel, and probably two to three optical drives. Two being on the secondary channel, and possibly one more on the primary.

So what do you guys suggest as far as cable lengths? Will I need longer cables for the RAID hookup? I always thought it was best to have the shortest possible cables, just to reduce clutter in the case. I could be wrong though.

Edit:
Forgot to mention the case I am using. It is a Thermaltake Xaser II A6000 series.

Cheers,

Mcurphy

 

[Poacher]

Originally posted by: mcurphy
Hi,

I have a question about cable length to go with this board. I am getting some rounded ATA133 and floppy cables, but I was unsure of what length to get. From the looks of the board, it appears as though the board plug-ins are right near the front edge / close to where the drives will be mounted.

So will I be OK to go with 18" IDE cables or should I get 24" IDE cables to be on the safe side? And I also thought that an 18" floppy cable would be adequate.

I am hooking up two ATA133 drives in a RAID array, one ATA133 drive to the primary IDE channel, and probably two to three optical drives. Two being on the secondary channel, and possibly one more on the primary.

So what do you guys suggest as far as cable lengths? Will I need longer cables for the RAID hookup? I always thought it was best to have the shortest possible cables, just to reduce clutter in the case. I could be wrong though.

Edit:
Forgot to mention the case I am using. It is a Thermaltake Xaser II A6000 series.

Cheers,

Mcurphy

Mcurphy, I'm using the 5000 case so my layout should be the same. I am using 2 - 12" for my 2 hds' on the array, 1 - 12" for my bottom optical (burner), 1 - 18" 3 conector for my 2 top optical drives (DVD, CDROM) and a 10" for my floppy. All fit nicely. One word though, I wouldn't put your other hd in line with a optical, it will slow the hd down.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: mcurphy
Hi,

I have a question about cable length to go with this board. I am getting some rounded ATA133 and floppy cables, but I was unsure of what length to get. From the looks of the board, it appears as though the board plug-ins are right near the front edge / close to where the drives will be mounted.

So will I be OK to go with 18" IDE cables or should I get 24" IDE cables to be on the safe side? And I also thought that an 18" floppy cable would be adequate.

I am hooking up two ATA133 drives in a RAID array, one ATA133 drive to the primary IDE channel, and probably two to three optical drives. Two being on the secondary channel, and possibly one more on the primary.

So what do you guys suggest as far as cable lengths? Will I need longer cables for the RAID hookup? I always thought it was best to have the shortest possible cables, just to reduce clutter in the case. I could be wrong though.

Edit:
Forgot to mention the case I am using. It is a Thermaltake Xaser II A6000 series.

Cheers,

Mcurphy

I'm using the Antec Performance+ 1080 and 10" rounded cables work just fine for me...in fact, my HDD & floppy cables could be 6" and they would still be long enough.

 

[happybob]

so no one knows anything about 8SQ800 "ultra"?

 

[mcurphy]

Originally posted by: Poacher

Originally posted by: mcurphy
Hi,

I have a question about cable length to go with this board. I am getting some rounded ATA133 and floppy cables, but I was unsure of what length to get. From the looks of the board, it appears as though the board plug-ins are right near the front edge / close to where the drives will be mounted.

So will I be OK to go with 18" IDE cables or should I get 24" IDE cables to be on the safe side? And I also thought that an 18" floppy cable would be adequate.

I am hooking up two ATA133 drives in a RAID array, one ATA133 drive to the primary IDE channel, and probably two to three optical drives. Two being on the secondary channel, and possibly one more on the primary.

So what do you guys suggest as far as cable lengths? Will I need longer cables for the RAID hookup? I always thought it was best to have the shortest possible cables, just to reduce clutter in the case. I could be wrong though.

Edit:
Forgot to mention the case I am using. It is a Thermaltake Xaser II A6000 series.

Cheers,

Mcurphy

Mcurphy, I'm using the 5000 case so my layout should be the same. I am using 2 - 12" for my 2 hds' on the array, 1 - 12" for my bottom optical (burner), 1 - 18" 3 conector for my 2 top optical drives (DVD, CDROM) and a 10" for my floppy. All fit nicely. One word though, I wouldn't put your other hd in line with a optical, it will slow the hd down.

Thank you very much for the info and tip Poacher! I was wondering if there was a disadvantage to running an optical on the same cable as a hd. The reason I was considering this is because I have 2 30GB ATA133 Maxtors to run on the array, and then I have a 120GB ATA133 Maxtor I was going to set up with partions as my boot drive and media storage. I didn't want to boot off the array because I am going to use RAID-0 for performance. I have never set up a RAID array before, and since I am getting this board and have the drives, I thought it would be a fun experiment. The possiblilty of data loss that goes with a RAID-0 array is why I'm not going to boot off of it, or use it for any valuable storage. It will probably be mainly for running games, photoshop, vid editing software, or anything that can easily be replaced / reinstalled. As far as the optic drives go, I just bought a Memorex DVD +RW / +R burner and I wanted to also hook up a a CD burner and DVD ROM for copying purposes. I'll have to figure out how I am going to work that out.

Also a thanks to Feldenak! I really appreciate all you guys taking the time to help a newbie out in making the right decision!

Cheers,

Mcurphy

 

[Booter]

Hi,

Anyone know where to get the Gigabyte 8SQ800 Ultra? This is not the SINXP1394/8SQ800 Ultra 2. I can't seem to find anyone who carries the 8SQ800 Ultra. Is it even available in the US? Anyone knows?

Thanks.

newegg

 

[happybob]

hi booter, newegg? you saw it at newegg? you link goes to a blank page.

 

[cpars]

Try this one happybob

 

[happybob]

hi cpars, thanks for your link, but that's not the one!!!

please go here: Gigabyte 8SQ800 Ultra

Gigabyte has a total of 3 SIS 655 mobos: 8SQ800, 8SQ800 Ultra, and 8SQ800 Ultra 2 (SINXP1394), a lot of places carry 8SQ800 and 8SQ800 Ultra 2, but no one seems to have the 8SQ800 Ultra. it doesn't have all the fancy features of the SINXP1394, but it does add Raid and 2 extra IDE ports to the 8SQ800. that's something i need since i have quite a few hard drives. anyone has or knows where to get this mobo? so far i haven't seen another SIS 655 mobo with the extra 2 IDE/Raid ports like the Gigabyte ones, but i don't want to pay the over $200 price tag of the SINXP1394.

any suggestions? i guess i can always just settle for a 845PE board, but i would hate to do that with all these faster boards coming out.

 

[ToBeMe]

Don't know if this is an option for you or not, but, tell you what i did, I picked up a Promise controller card and stuck it on my 8SQ800 and had all the options the "Ultra" model apparently has for less money than I've seen the "Ultra" advertised for! I also have the "Ultra 2" or SINXP1394 and to be honest, the overclocking and other aspects are identical to the lesser model without all the extra features...........................for me, if I'd get or build another system with the SiS655 boards and need the extra RAID or controller for more drives, I'd simply get another PCI controller card!

 

[happybob]

but the last time i looked, a decent ata133 raid controller costs $50-80, basically might as well get the more expensive SINXP1394.

 

[Daikaiju]

I'm looking at purchasing an SINXP-1394 but the recent review at Tom's had me wondering. I will be using PC2700 DDR and they had nothing but problems using this on the Gigabyte board. Did they just get a bad board or is there anyone else here who has problems with PC2700 on this board? I can't afford PC3200 as it's double the price here in Atlantic Canada. Can anyone give me some insight into the performance of the SINXP-1394 with PC2700 DDR?

 

[tpcolson]

1. In reply to the PC2700 post: I'm using el-cheapo, and I mean 15$ a stick, pc2700 RAM (512 MB) each, and it runs fine. As a matter of fact, it benchmarked quite well on Sandra.

2. Can someone answer this? When I put 4 sticks of my el-cheapo 2700 ram in this mobo, it actually runs slower than 2 sticks. Huh?

 

[Dicko]

i have the gigabyte 8sq 800 ultra and
im using 2 sticks of 333 ddr ram with no probs at all
in fact i am rapt at how its going

 

[happybob]

hi dicko, where did you get your 8sq800 ultra? i'm guessing you don't live in the US right?