SiS 655 *2-18-03 UPDATE* MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS Done

[Dicko]

i got my 8sq800ultra about two weeks ago with bios f3 it tells me its ready for HT is this correct also with the duel channel ddr on boot up screen it will tell you its in duel channel mode

 

[Agnivarsh]

Is there any way to tell the stepping from the mobo box? i have both the 8SQ800 and the SINXP in sealed boxes here... but I dont want to open them since I am trying to sell them in the FS/FT forum. It would be cool to know what stepping they are. The place i got them from were confident its the new revison.. but i wanted to be certain.

any suggestions?

 

[CrispySilicon]

It's got HT support in the BIOS, but the little insert indicates to me it is not quite perfect yet, that would tell me probly A0. I have now OC'ed the mobo now though, and I am happy with it even though I don't use HT. Pulling a stable 165fsb with my crappy pc2100 ddr, been running folding@home for 23hours now and stable as a rock. So if you want to use HT mobo, yeah you might want to "find" something wrong as I would bet these are A0, also I heard that a0 is supposed to be as good as b0 with the new bios, yet I see no new bios listed on gigabyte's website? Anyone know what the deal is with that?

 

[Technonut]

I recently received an SINXP from Newegg. I have been too busy to test it out, but did pop the Northbridge HSF to find the A0 stepping.... My IT7 is going with a P4 3.06 that I have been testing, and when finished, I will see how the SINXP A0 handles HT. If after a BIOS flash it does not do well, I will raise hell with Gigabyte to have it replaced with the B0.

 

[liveevil]

i read somewhere that they god the epox nforce2 board to overclock higher by increasing the voltage to the northbridge .maybe that could work here since i have heard that the north bridge doesnt get that hot it might be worth trying for you hardcore peeps out there..

 

[Intelligence3]

Originally posted by: memories2002
i was choosing between the 2 platforms, deciding to go for the nforce2 athlon combo..guess i will have to stop and think again...my post:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=28&threadid=955459

I was gonna buy an nForce2/Athlon 2700+ combo until I saw the MSI 655-MAX review. Now I'm waiting for the 655 to hit the market. And waiting, and waiting, etc...

Anyone know when the MSI board is gonna hit the market? How about the ASUS?

 

[mrKH]

Technonut,

When you popped the HSF on the Northbridge, was there thermal goo(TM) underneath?

Did you have to scrape it off, or were you able to read the chip markings straight away?


Ken.

 

[Technonut]

Originally posted by: mrKH
Technonut,

When you popped the HSF on the Northbridge, was there thermal goo(TM) underneath?

Did you have to scrape it off, or were you able to read the chip markings straight away?


Ken.

Yes, there was a thermal pad there. I just used some Citra Solve cleaner (cut through it like butter) followed by alcohol to remove it. It had to be done to read the chip markings.

 

[Intelligence3]

FYI, prices have dropped on the Gigabyte boards today (2/27/03), and the MSI board had had a precipitous drop in price at Atacom, which now lists the board as "in-stock". Now where's the ASUS?

 

[mrKH]

Thanks for the info Technonut.

Pity this seems to be the only way to tell.
I found a retailer who has the Gigabyte boards in stock and actually offered to check whether they were A0 or B0 stepping, if I could tell him how. Unfortunately I don't think he'll be prepared to scrape off the thermal pad though!

Ken.

 

[KrustyKlown]

Calling all the Brits out there - looks like the wait is over.
Insight UK have 40-odd SINXP's in stock today, get 'em while they're hot!

I've only had my processor and memory sitting around doing nothing for about 3 months, when the SIS655 chipsets were "imminent".

Oh well, mine should arrive today


Krusty

 

[Dicko]

good luck crusty i think you will find it a great board



oops Krusty (sorry)

 

[Schneider]

To all you people in Australia, Gigabytes SiS 655 boards have arrived:
8SQ800: $198
8SQ800 Ultra: $282
SINXP-1394:$386
available at computer world
(to find them go to quick search select mainboards and look through the list)
Must get SINXP-1394. How do we know if it is the B0 revision before we buy??

 

[Remedy]

Evan, have you got in contact with Aopen about their 655 board yet?

 

[First]

Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
Evan, have you got in contact with Aopen about their 655 board yet?

I keep asking AOpen and they keep avoiding me for some reason, but yet they send me their nForce2 IGP motherboard.

 

[Remedy]

I think they are waiting to send you a b0 stepping for a better opinion. ES chipsets will/can ruin reputations with an opinion. becareful, 2 aopen employees are registered here.

 

[ArborBarber]

It seems that a software utility...CPU-Z Can identify the version of the SiS655 chipset...it seems that version 0 reveals the chipset to be AO...version 10 suggests the BO chipset. Prometheus over at AsusBoards shared this possible tip with us...

CPU-Z

 

[Schneider]

Hey guys what RAM timings (CAS latency,etc) are available in the SINXP's BIOS??
BIOS update for those people with a SINXP-1394

 

[PowerEngineer]

Originally posted by: Elvis2

Also, if the boot screen say its in single 128-bit channel mode, does that mean dual channel is working? thanks

Yes, that indicates it's in dual channel mode. Just use two of the same color dimms for 2 sticks of identical ram. Can't help you with the stepping question. My SQ800 came with the F3 bios and I flashed to to F4 so HT's enabled I guess.... I'll have to wait for one of the new HT cpu's to come out .
That 3.06's is still a little rich for my blood .

Perhaps this answers at least one of my concerns! I'm just building my first computer from scratch around a GA-SINXP1394 and saw a couple things on the first boot-up screen that I didn't like...

First, was the "single 128-bit mode" message; guess I expected to see "dual" somewhere instead. I hope this does indicate that dual mode is working, but I have my doubts because I shuffled my two sticks (of Crucial 512Mb PC2700) around trying both same and different color combinations and always saw this message (and the full 1024 Mb always showed up in the BIOS). Is there some other way to confirm that it's actually operating in dual mode (short of bench tests).

Second, I get a "DVPRM power failure" message every time. The daughter board is plugged in solidly (and clipped in), and the fan and blue LEDs come on. This doesn't seem to interfere with the operation of the board, but it certainly suggests that it doesn't work.

Any help will be appreciated! Thanks.


Oh...I almost forgot to mention that I also received the same one loose page in the front of my user manual that implies an A0 stepping.

 

[Dicko]

Power Engineer
i have the gigabyte 8sq800 ultra and Evan helped me with the duel channel mode thingo make sure they are both in the orange slot the go into bios enable advanced chipset features then enable duel channel mode
then on boot up screen you should see duel channel enabled aabove where it sais 128 bit mode
hope you understand and it works for you