The Unofficial Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R P35 Board Thread

[garikfox]

Awesome Board !



http://www.tomshardware.com/20...s_compared/page11.html

 

[franjam]

Originally posted by: garikfox
Awesome Board !



http://www.tomshardware.com/20...s_compared/page11.html

Hi, saw your post in the ASUS P5NE-SLI thread , I am also considering moving on; do you have any overclocking figures to share and how does this board compare with the P5NE SLI?
My brother has the DS4 version and is struggling, says there is no command rate option in the bios so he is stuck with 2T timings , is that the case here?
Thanks for all and any info.

 

[Mene]

I just put a PC together and have been impressed thus far with this board running a C2D 6420, a G-Skill 2x1Gb (G.SK F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ) Mem kit and Tuniq Tower 120 cooler.

Using CPU default voltage settings (G-Skill@+0.1v) it's running at 3.4 GHz, idling at 38C CPU temps (shown in BIOS) at this speed and 47C SYS temp. I haven't yet determine the max speed at default settings, but most will probably back down to 3.2 GHz, sense this is home office computer not intended for gaming.

 

[garikfox]

I have not yet attempted to OC this "Monster" yet, But the BIOS looks impressive !

 

[megawzrd]

I just got a new system up and running today with the board. I am very impressed. No problems at all. This is my first C2D build coming from am AMD x2 setup. I have the e4300 at 3ghz easy. I just can't wait until penryns and ddr3 are dirt cheap. Awesome board with long life / upgrade path me thinks.

 

[franjam]

Originally posted by: megawzrd
I just got a new system up and running today with the board. I am very impressed. No problems at all. This is my first C2D build coming from am AMD x2 setup. I have the e4300 at 3ghz easy. I just can't wait until penryns and ddr3 are dirt cheap. Awesome board with long life / upgrade path me thinks.

could you confirm that there is a command rate option in the bios, thanks.

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: megawzrd
I just got a new system up and running today with the board. I am very impressed. No problems at all. This is my first C2D build coming from am AMD x2 setup. I have the e4300 at 3ghz easy. I just can't wait until penryns and ddr3 are dirt cheap. Awesome board with long life / upgrade path me thinks.

Wooo Sweet !, yer gonna be "Amazed!", hehee

 

[franjam]

Anybody like to answer my last post?

 

[MEricksen]

I am having some difficulities with this board.

If I run this board with Vista, using a RAID0 or RAID1 array, and no overclocking of any kind, I get a stutter when I play audio or video files. This occurs using the built in audio or an after market audio card. This is with the array drives (2 drives) connected to the SATA ports on ICH9R. This issue does not appear to be related to network drivers or audio drivers. Disabling the built in ethernet port has no effect.

This problem does not occur if I do not use RAID, just a single hard drive connected to any of the ICH9R ports. I believe that the reason for this has to do with the fact That the Intel driver for RAID is different than the Intel driver for IDE or AHCI. The Intel website does document issues with the Matrix storage drivers and Vista. I bet everything would be fine if I were running XP.

Another interesting point is that I have no problems running RAID0 or RAID1 using the JMicron controller. In fact, Vista's performance measuring tool shows that RAID1 is faster with the JMicron controller over the Intel controller (5.7 vs 5.6). Using the JMicron controller for RAID yeilds clear, crisp audio and video with zero issues. I am using two Samsung 500G drives.

The quality of the board looks good. The position of the SATA connectors as well as the IDE connector is very bad if a larger PCI card is to be used. I sure wish the board had internal Firewire. An aftermarket firewire card works just fine. Other than the RAID/stutter issue the board appears to be rock solid with no overclocking in effect.

 

[garikfox]

You mean setting the MEM manual ?

Yes

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: MEricksen
I am having some difficulities with this board.

If I run this board with Vista, using a RAID0 or RAID1 array, and no overclocking of any kind, I get a stutter when I play audio or video files. This occurs using the built in audio or an after market audio card. This is with the array drives (2 drives) connected to the SATA ports on ICH9R. This issue does not appear to be related to network drivers or audio drivers. Disabling the built in ethernet port has no effect.

This problem does not occur if I do not use RAID, just a single hard drive connected to any of the ICH9R ports. I believe that the reason for this has to do with the fact That the Intel driver for RAID is different than the Intel driver for IDE or AHCI. The Intel website does document issues with the Matrix storage drivers and Vista. I bet everything would be fine if I were running XP.

Another interesting point is that I have no problems running RAID0 or RAID1 using the JMicron controller. In fact, Vista's performance measuring tool shows that RAID1 is faster with the JMicron controller over the Intel controller (5.7 vs 5.6). Using the JMicron controller for RAID yeilds clear, crisp audio and video with zero issues. I am using two Samsung 500G drives.

The quality of the board looks good. The position of the SATA connectors as well as the IDE connector is very bad if a larger PCI card is to be used. I sure wish the board had internal Firewire. An aftermarket firewire card works just fine. Other than the RAID/stutter issue the board appears to be rock solid with no overclocking in effect.

Make sure HPET(PWR Managment) is enabled and at your certain OS, 32-bit or 64-Bit.

i.e: Im running Vista Home Basic x64 = HPET <Enabled> - 64-Bit Mode


Also put the Latency to 64


FYI: while in BIOS Ctrl-F1 enables more settings.

 

[anox3]

I am really torn between 2 boards. This one and the new one from Abit the IP35. It has the same chipset obviously. But does anyone have any advice between the 2? I heard Abit and their bios updates leave something to be desired. How is the Gigabyte people when it comes to bios updates? Also over at the tomshardware guide forums they addressed a memory dimm issue or non-issue. Can a person use 4 1gb dimms of DDR 2 in this board dual channel? They raised a issue about the ddr 3 slots interfering with being able to do that. Or would i have to use 2 2 gb sticks in the Gigabyte board?

 

[Hugenstein]

Board has been great for me so far, with one exception.

When waking up from sleep, the network card is no longer connected to the network (doesn't get IP from router). I am sure its just some power management setting I need to modify, but I haven't had the time to look into it yet.

Otherwise great board.

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: anox3
I am really torn between 2 boards. This one and the new one from Abit the IP35. It has the same chipset obviously. But does anyone have any advice between the 2? I heard Abit and their bios updates leave something to be desired. How is the Gigabyte people when it comes to bios updates? Also over at the tomshardware guide forums they addressed a memory dimm issue or non-issue. Can a person use 4 1gb dimms of DDR 2 in this board dual channel? They raised a issue about the ddr 3 slots interfering with being able to do that. Or would i have to use 2 2 gb sticks in the Gigabyte board?

4 x DDR2

2 x DDR3

 

[franjam]

well thanks for scrambling over yourselves to answer my somewhat easy query.
It would seem from other sources that the P35 chipset does not support 1T timings and that we will have to wait for the X38 chipset at the end of the year for that, so I'll be sticking with my P5-NE-SLI for the moment.
Have fun and thanks again for all your efforts.

 

[Oyeve]

I just ordered the non-DDR3 version of that board. I also ordered 2 gigs of pc8500. I will get a new CPU when the prices drop from intel. Cant wait! My only prob is no firewire, but i'll just pop in a FW card. 8 sata! WooHoo!

 

[garikfox]

PC8500 woo thats Nice ! Your mobo is gonna love you, lol

 

[fr]

Are all 8 SATA ports the same? Do I get better performance from the GSATA2?

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: fr
Are all 8 SATA ports the same? Do I get better performance from the GSATA2?

I was wondering that, But I dont use SATA nor PATA.

 

[Oyeve]

Well, my Gigabyte P35-DS3R just came in! Looks awesome. Got my DDR2 PC8500. But no chip to test with! I am waiting for the price slash, but dont know if I can wait!!!!!

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Well, my Gigabyte P35-DS3R just came in! Looks awesome. Got my DDR2 PC8500. But no chip to test with! I am waiting for the price slash, but dont know if I can wait!!!!!

Wait a min that mobo is DDR3 ?

The updated ver. is my mobo it has both DDR2/3

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: garikfox

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Well, my Gigabyte P35-DS3R just came in! Looks awesome. Got my DDR2 PC8500. But no chip to test with! I am waiting for the price slash, but dont know if I can wait!!!!!

Wait a min that mobo is DDR3 ?

The updated ver. is my mobo it has both DDR2/3

No, this mobo is DDR2 up to 1066.

 

[DAC21]

Howdy,

I'm considering this board, but have loaded up on PC6400 RAM for my build. It's high quality crucial 4 4 4 12 stuff. Most likely going with a 1066 FSB C2D CPU.

I want the future proof of the high FSB and DDr3 and 45nm cpu. Meantime am I boggin down the board with 6400 RAM and a 6420 CPU?

What are the thoughts of this match?

 

[Gsai2912]

For those who have purchased these boards, does it come with eSATA? Someone mention in another thread that the GA-P35-DS3R came with an eSATA bracket. I was just wondering if that is the same case with P35C-DS3R? The article that the original poster linked said that the review board they got didn't come with any, but I was curious if the retail ones did?

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: Gsai2912
For those who have purchased these boards, does it come with eSATA? Someone mention in another thread that the GA-P35-DS3R came with an eSATA bracket. I was just wondering if that is the same case with P35C-DS3R? The article that the original poster linked said that the review board they got didn't come with any, but I was curious if the retail ones did?

Yep Im holding it in my hand as we speak.

http://members.cox.net/garikfox/esata.jpg