The Unofficial Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R P35 Board Thread

[darkenedsoul]

Originally posted by: LilHammer
Okay, here's some more info on me and how I want to use this machine.

I am a High School IT Teacher and I teach everthing from Off2k7 Apps to CAD, Web Design to Hardware, Programming to Digital Audio, and Digital Graphics. This rig is to be primarily a work machine.

My hobby is Digital Graphics using software like Photoshop CS3, Poser 7 and Vue 6 Inf. to create very high res images that look like they were "rendered" on some high end Canon camera. These images can take double-digit hours to render depending on lighting modes and shadows and sheer volume of polygons in the image. For rendering images such as these render times are more dependant on CPU speeds and amount of RAM than a fast graphics card. This is the second intended use for the machine.

Thirdly, games.

Why the RAID5? When you work with as many apps (probably 40+) as I do, I have just come to hate having to reinstall all those apps and their updates just because I lose some sector on a HDD that contained some Uber critical OS file or part of the master boot record. I back up my work regularly, I just have had enough of reinstalling apps.

I also want to run Dual boot either Vista or WinXPProx64, and WinXPPro SP2 as the other OS.

Why 6x80GB HDD? I already have 3 of them running RAID5 on Win Server2K, want to add 3 more. Can buy them through work supplier for $50 each. I hope to have 3 drives dedicated to each OS and their programs.

I understand this thread is for overclocking, I plan on running the CPU et al. at 3.0 maybe even 3.2 GHz if it's stable enough. I just need to know if the components will work together first, and if the memory is a good choice for intended use?

Need to know anything else? Glad to answer your questions. Looking forward to reading responses.

Herm (aka LilHammer)

Hi Herm,

Ok that answers my questions about memory and disk requirements. Looking back at the components they should be fine. How soon were you going to be putting this together. I'd think about the penryn quads coming out I think next month but it depends on their prices. You'd have to flash the BIOS most likely to get them to be recognized unless you get lucky with a newer board that has it updated. Mine came with F2 and I updated to F4 so far only. I like the on-board sound personally, it sounds richer than my other system (non-HD audio) and I'm running it through a Delta66 to M-Audio BX8a powered studio monitors. I'd check the newegg thread for the board to see what memory folks are using. I have 4x1Gb Corsair Dominator 1066 (running at abotu 820) and the E6850 3.0Ghz OC'd to 3.7 and it's been pretty stable. Guild Wars crapped out only once on the many times I've played it on that system but I don't think that was the cause, I think it was something else. So far no problems with it other than that one glitch. I've used it for audio work too (my projects) with no problems.

Running with XP Pro Sp2 you won't see more than maybe 3.5Gb of memory (that's all I see in properties of My Computer). The 64bit versions should see all of it though but I don't run either Vista64 (yet...waiting for SP1 to come out before I start a dual boot setup plus I'm doing a survey for MS to get a free copy of it down the road). I am hoping there will be more driver updates for it soon too. But I think you should be fine there. OC'd to 3.0 or 3.2 shouldn't be an issue. Look for the coolers folks are using. I have the Zalman 9700 NT on my CPU. Still have room to work inside the case and doesn't block access to all memory slots.

Mike

 

[fausto412]

can anyone give me some guidance on how to setup raid on a p35c? i've never done this and the terminology in the manual is new to me? i would like to setup a raid 0 with 2 160 gig drives just so my games load faster. i plan on giving windows it's own drive. it's raid worth it or is it a hassle?

 

[amp5]

fausto412: I am back and have exhausted all the options. Answer to your previous question about overclocking - I am not overclocking anything at all. I would like to run system stable on F7 or F8 bios before I do any overclocking.

Here is my setup:
Intel Q6600 G0 stepping factory clock at 266*9 = 2394MHz ~ 2.4GHz
GA-P35C-DS3R Rev 1.1 Bios F4
2x1GB Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 800MHz - factory clock (factory timing and voltage: 4-4-4-12 timing and 2.2volts)
Antec Nine Hundred Case with 2 intake and (120mm each) and 2 exhaust (200mm and 120mm) fans
Windows Vista Ultimate
Zalman 9700 CPU cooler
Corsair HX620 PSU
EVGA nVidia 8800 GTX 768MB Graphics Card
Seagate 1TB Harddrive
Seagate 320GB Harddrive

When I upgrade bios from F4 to F6, F7 or F8 and load optimize/optimal defaults, bios detects
memory at 5-5-5-16 timming
DIMM voltage at around 1.94~1.96 volts
CPU core voltage at around ~1.15 volts

(I should say regardless of bios version, system detects above settings even when on F2 or F4 with Load-optimize/optimal defaults)

however system keeps rebooting or I should say keeps crashing on F6, F7 and F8.

I increased DDR2/3 voltage to +0.3 (2.22~2.26 total) while on F6, F7 or F8, opened up the left panel of the case, set all four case fans to HIGH setting but system kept crashing, then lowered the DDR voltage by 0.1 and rebooted but it still kept crashing after i would say anywhere between 2-15 minutes of usage. I took both memory sticks out and reseated them in same slots and different slots but same results.

When I am on F4 I do not have any issues. I leave the DDR voltage to ~1.96ish and set the tighter timing 4-4-4-12 and leave the CPU voltage at 1.15ish and can run the system on for weeks without any issues at all. One thing I haven't tried is increasing CPU voltage, my fear is CPU is undervolted but again it runs fine on F4 then why is it crashing on F6, F7 or F8?

Anything you can suggest would be helpful.

Thanks. -amp5

Originally posted by: fausto412

Originally posted by: amp5
fausto412:

this is what I did:
As I mentioned on my previous post I was back on F4. From F4 I upgraded to F6, did Load-optimize defaults, save, reboot and then went to M.I.T and verified timing set to Auto and also changed the DDR2/3 voltage setting to +0.3, save, reboot, that ran ok for about 15 mins (i tried all kinds of apps but no games though) and i upgraded to F7 (i could have done F8 directly but wanted to eliminate any possibilities) did same thing with F7 (optimize default and then voltage to +0.3) reboot but it crapped out again in 5 mins so went back to bios and changed voltage to +0.2, reboot and it crapped out again. then i took a risk of upgrading bios to F8 (because as I mentioned it could have rebooted itself in the middle of bios flash but fortunately it didn't) and with F8 i tried same thing again - load optimize default, save, reboot, change ddr2/3 voltage to +0.3 booted up the OS but this time it stayed up for good 20-25 mins and crapped out. So i changed the voltage to +0.2 rebooted OS and this time it rebooted automatically after 10-15 mins of very light use so I got sick of it, rebooted and went to back to good ol F4. what do you think i should try now?

i don't think your problems are with the bios software but with a setting not being set correctly. are you overclocking? what's the specs of your ram? cpu?
if ram is too agressively timed or overclocked and cpu undervolted for the speed you have it set at that can cause sudden reboots.

if not overclocking, try setting the timings on your ram to 5-5-5-15 and the rest on auto. make sure the ram multiplier is the one that results in 800 mhz being the speed.
make sure if your cpu is e6000 series that the voltage is set to 1.325 which is stock. ram voltage no more than 2.26 in bios...the least you can get away with. overheating the sticks can cause problems. don't know how good your airflow is. check your bios for the actual voltages if on f7+ bios. post back what results you get.

ps. you can also try reseating your ram in the slots.

 

[fausto412]

that cpu voltage of 1.15sh is too low. are you using speed steep or c1 state? turn them off, your voltage should be 1.28 to 1.325.

all i can say is stick with what works and revisit a bios update later.

 

[amp5]

fausto412: I finally got BIOS Ver F9 successfully installed. I was able to bump up CPU voltage to 1.325 and was able to overclock 333x9 = 2997~3.0Ghz. I am happy. btw my DRAM voltage is +0.3 (2.26 actual) now. my idle temp is ~39 degrees. have been running stable system for almost 32 hrs straight. i downloaded F9 last week from Gigabyte Tiwan site, they had it up there as of 12/22 as far as i can tell (i was monitoring both US and TW sites pretty much everyday for last month or so ..... looking for new bios update)

 

[richardr1]

Hello All: I may be late to this game, as it seems as if the messages on this topic are slowing down. I hope I can still get some help regarding hot swapping. I have read every single message in this topic (all 31 pages so far), and believe I have a much better understanding of hot swapping now than when I began, so I just want to summarize and see if my understanding is correct.

First of all, I don't currently plan to OC anything. While that is certainly tempting, I place a much higher value on stability. I'm more into smooth production ability than tweaking enjoyment. But, I REALLY want to hot swap various JBOD drives -- no RAID at all. The AMS 5-in-3 backplane module (their term -- I would just call it a multi-drive enclosure) has room for 5 drives that can be popped out, and replaced, and it supports hot swapping, IF the operating system does. Since this is new territory for me, I naively installed Win XP Pro SP2 onto the WD Raptor drive, then later inserted the two 500 GB drives and formatted them, thinking all the while that some magic would take hold, and allow me to pull any one of the 500's and re-insert at will. WRONG!

I now realize from earlier posts that I need AHCI mode, rather than IDE mode. And, that it is best if this is done during the OS install. I have read and printed the discussion of making the system AHCI compatible after the fact, and may go that route. However, I am at an early enough stage I would not lose much time if I re-did the whole process.

So, here is my question. Is that all I need to do to hot swap these drives? Invoke AHCI mode, by one of the two methods mentioned, and presto, that's all. Forgive me if I have overlooked something obvious, but reading all these posts has caused much "data ingestion", but in the end, it seems as if that is all one needs to do.

Thanks for your time and help.

Richard

 

[tshannon92]

Hmm, I guess Ill bump this thread instead of starting a new one...

Im using this board Rev.2 with a 6750 2g of DDR2 1000 and Ive had it for a few weeks. Im using stock cooling or was till last nite and after the AS5 breakin I was able to go to 3.0 np at all in fact this is the best board Ive ever owned as far as not having little problems at all.

Ive run ORTHOS for hours on end and never had anything happen, heres where the problem starts...

Last nite I got my AF7 pro and installed it. No problems on the install but the NB seemed to be rubbing and I didn't think it was a problem.

Lower it to 2.66 restart and loaded windows like normal but orthos failed in 5 sec, froze up completely. I checked the BIOS and I had everything on auto but had to bump my RAM up to +3 and even that shows a little low BUT I did read the 20 pages on this thread before I bought the board and I know it overvolts it a bit and with +3 it runs smooth so I leave it.

However it reads 1.78 with the +3 which I know was a hair over 2.0 before...the other day... wierd. I bump it up and run it fails again can't get past 30 secs.

I reinstall the Intel HSF and it doesn't rub and ORTHOS runs again np??? Wierd I had a fan on the Northbridge also but took it off when I reinstalled the Intel HSF. Overall the NB hs felt loose though on inspection it wasn't but the fan on the AF7 may have lifted it up slightly cause heat problems? Even with the fan?

I'm gonna try again after work and may replace the stock AF7 fan with something else just to test it. IM sure that the HSF was on correctly and the temps before AF7 were 30ish Idle and after 27 Idle so Im sure it was on right but this is just odd. I also played with the voltages on the CPU and DIMM a little more attempting to prolong ORTHOS but to no avail. I reset the CMOS and loaded Opt Defaults then installed the Intel and all is well again. Im mad cause I had just broken in that AS5 and now I have to wait agAin!!!!!!

Hehe anyone have similar? Its the NB right it was askew?

 

[Stephenhawking]

Hi Guys,

Bit of a disaster really, I'm running a GA-P35C-DS3R Rev 1.1 Bios F8 and it looks like i've had a bad bios flash. Using the @BIOS app (which i've had no problems with in the past) i've tried to upgrade from f8 to f10. All appeared to run smoothly in xp home and i was prompted to restart.

Now the machine doesn't post, powers on, fans spin thats it. I've tried removing bios battery, using clear cmos, running the machine with various combinations of memory modules. It does still beep when all memory is removed though. I've disconnected harddrives and dvdrom drives also. I've tried connecting a floppy drive and copying a previous bios version to disk and booting from that, but the machine makes no attempt to boot from the disk.

Any advice would be much appreciated... and i think in the future i'll go back to bios flashing in dos where i've never had any problems!

 

[tshannon92]

I figured my problem out, its the AC Freezer Pro, not the NB getting warm. The ACFP7 doesn't make full contact with the CPU. Pretty sad really. It only touches about 30% of the chip, and of course not the middle!!!

SO I decided to try to lap my CPU, came out fantastic but only exacerbated the ACFP7 problem as it only touches about 20% now LOL.

On a happy note the Intel Stock HSF now idles about 3c less and under load at 2.8 it gets to a top temp of 46c... that about 10c better under load than before and before it was at 2.66 not 2.8.

I can't wait to break in the AS5 AGAIN!!! I think I'm gonna RMA the ACFP7 for another but I'm not sure Ill use it yet.

I've read hundreds of reviews and they have a pretty good rep, I got a really really bad one. It wasn't only the fitting, you could see the terrible milling job with your eyes and I don't have a reliable way to lap that with the legs being in the way.

 

[c3ham]

Hi

I built a new system last night and am having a weird problem when i do a cold boot (Mains power turned off) the system does not want to start, fans come on power led comes on but no signal is sent to the monitor, I have to clear the cmos to get it to boot properly but once it boots it seems to startup without a problem as long as i dont disconnect the main power do any you guys know if this is fixable. Im still running the factory bios F4 i think i will try updating this to F10 today


Hiper Type R 580w PSU (Was working fine with my old machine)
Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 (new)
GA-P35C-DS3R v2.0 (new)
2GB OCZ PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC (new)
6800GT (Was working fine with my old machine)
500GB SATA HD
160GB SATA HD
Samsung SATA DVD_RW

Any help would be really appreciated

cheers
Craig

 

[kf4ape]

anyone have a JRAID timeout issue???

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: Stephenhawking
Hi Guys,

Bit of a disaster really, I'm running a GA-P35C-DS3R Rev 1.1 Bios F8 and it looks like i've had a bad bios flash. Using the @BIOS app (which i've had no problems with in the past) i've tried to upgrade from f8 to f10. All appeared to run smoothly in xp home and i was prompted to restart.

Now the machine doesn't post, powers on, fans spin thats it. I've tried removing bios battery, using clear cmos, running the machine with various combinations of memory modules. It does still beep when all memory is removed though. I've disconnected harddrives and dvdrom drives also. I've tried connecting a floppy drive and copying a previous bios version to disk and booting from that, but the machine makes no attempt to boot from the disk.

Any advice would be much appreciated... and i think in the future i'll go back to bios flashing in dos where i've never had any problems!

This is probably a little late, but I ran @Bios to update my board as well last week when I picked up an e8400 chip. When I tried to update the bios using the bios from either of the US server, I got a Bios Flash Error, which totally freaked me out. Eventually I used a bios from the Taiwan server and it worked flawlessly.

 

[Team42]

Originally posted by: tshannon92
I figured my problem out, its the AC Freezer Pro, not the NB getting warm. The ACFP7 doesn't make full contact with the CPU. Pretty sad really. It only touches about 30% of the chip, and of course not the middle!!!

SO I decided to try to lap my CPU, came out fantastic but only exacerbated the ACFP7 problem as it only touches about 20% now LOL.

On a happy note the Intel Stock HSF now idles about 3c less and under load at 2.8 it gets to a top temp of 46c... that about 10c better under load than before and before it was at 2.66 not 2.8.

I can't wait to break in the AS5 AGAIN!!! I think I'm gonna RMA the ACFP7 for another but I'm not sure Ill use it yet.

I've read hundreds of reviews and they have a pretty good rep, I got a really really bad one. It wasn't only the fitting, you could see the terrible milling job with your eyes and I don't have a reliable way to lap that with the legs being in the way.

So, having spotted a potentional cooling problem, you decided to lap the CPU instead of the heatsink? Wow. Is there an IT equivalent of the Darwin Awards...?

ACF7P costs how much?

And an Intel e6750 costs....?

My advice to you....stay away from grassy knolls when the OC police are in town.

T42.

 

[foghorn67]

I bought this board and the E8400 last week. I have been running it on the 8x multiplier until yesterday. I feel like an idiot. I thought it was EIST, C1E or TM2. I disabled everything in site when I noticed it never hit 3ghz. Then I remembered it supposed to be at 9x.
Wow. Oops.

Slightly OT, but I did another dumb thing with this setup. I updated the ATI drivers after running Driver Cleaner (wanted to get rid of any residuals from my interim nv 8500GT card), and my LCD would go blank on Windows loading. It turns out my monitor was plugged into the seconday DVI port the whole time.

Way to read the instructions foghorn.

 

[d2a]

Hi - new to this board but it seems quite helpful - hopefully someone'll know what's going on with my board:

p35c-ds3r rev2.0 bios 10
e6750
sata hard drive
ide dvd
2gb ram
7800gt gpu

i've just got this all together and tried installing XP with no success. with setup above never even gets to blue screen installer - hangs on "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware".

unplugging sata and just running dvd allows setup to run, but then i've got nowehere to install to obviously.
ide HD and dvd - xp setup runs until "Starting Windows..."

i've managed to get Fedora Zod to install quite happily from the original setup (minus network support) so what's up?

i've tried adjusting bios settings but they're all basically at default so...

thinking i might have to return this board and get something less cutting edge!

 

[tshannon92]

@ Team42

I didn't know that at the time. I didn't know which was the problem but in true problem solver way I went step by step and figured it out.

Thanks for the meaningless flame, mommy not put enough bologna in your sandwich that day?

This forum is great info but there are some who want nothing but an opportunity to cut someone down. I hope that gets you what you need to survive in the cold horrible place that you live in IRL.

"My advice to you....stay away from grassy knolls when the OC police are in town. " lol, retarded joke.

They are both lapped now and working fine.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: d2a
Hi - new to this board but it seems quite helpful - hopefully someone'll know what's going on with my board:

p35c-ds3r rev2.0 bios 10
e6750
sata hard drive
ide dvd
2gb ram
7800gt gpu

i've just got this all together and tried installing XP with no success. with setup above never even gets to blue screen installer - hangs on "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware".

unplugging sata and just running dvd allows setup to run, but then i've got nowehere to install to obviously.
ide HD and dvd - xp setup runs until "Starting Windows..."

i've managed to get Fedora Zod to install quite happily from the original setup (minus network support) so what's up?

i've tried adjusting bios settings but they're all basically at default so...

thinking i might have to return this board and get something less cutting edge!

Are you speaking of the first setup screen? The non-GUI one where it loads the RAID and mass storage devices? Or after the reboot once that part is done, and it loads the GUI part of the install?

 

[d2a]

@foghorn67 - yes the very first setup screen, before it gets to the GUI. I've no idea what could be wrong - bios settings? bad ram? any help appreciated...

 

[d2a]

a ha - just sorted it. was a corrupt XP disk - it'd been sitting in the back of a drawer for a while. tried another cleaner one and i've just finished XP install. phew. i was beginning to think this mobo was cursed. thanks... now for osx86

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: d2a
a ha - just sorted it. was a corrupt XP disk - it'd been sitting in the back of a drawer for a while. tried another cleaner one and i've just finished XP install. phew. i was beginning to think this mobo was cursed. thanks... now for osx86

oh nice. I had that happen to me sometime ago.

 

[fritzman]

Hi guys...

Like everyone else, I could be a bit late... I hope not.

I have just got a Rev 1.1 board and set it up with an X3060cpu at stock, 2Gb of Crucial Tracer 8500's and a couple of 36Gb Raptors along with an Asus DVD writer.

Installed Vista Ultimate from the DVD (hit F6 and loaded the GBRaid drivers from the CD) and on, no prob's.

After several Windows Updates, etc I figure it's time to install AVG... pop in the CD and hullo... no drive. Check out Device Manager and the only oddity is under Storage Controllers - Gigabyte GBB36X Controller has an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle (never a good sign).

I've tried letting Vista find a driver for it - no go. I've d/l the driver from Gigabyte's site - upon reboot, I had to repair windows - it appeared to stuff up the Raid0 array (on the GBRaid ports).

Anyway... hoping it's something someone's come across before and is a simple setting in BIOS or something (I've been Asus for years, and the search function for this thread keeps giving an error, so sorry if it's a regular event.)

Thanks

Bruce

 

[tvdang7]

how do you set 1T or 2 T in the board? i dont see anything.

 

[fritzman]

Gave up on the Raid0 on the GBRaid ports... Gone back to single disk for the moment, but have encountered bigger issues...

Very unstable even slightly overclocked with BIOS F10, an E6600 chip, with 2 x 1Gb sticks of Crucial Ballistic Tracer 8500, an Ati 1900XT card, single Raptor, Asus DVD (ata) drive and a Zippy Gamesman 600Wpsu.

I have upped the vDimm to +.4 (2.2v) and have tried the cpu at vCore up to 1.425 (used to run stable up to around 3.0+ at least on my Asus board.

Any ideas???

I can post all my BIOS settings if req'd, oh an btw... there is no way I can get those 'extra' settings to show up when I hit Ctrl+F1.

 

[mrfatboy]

you want +.3v vdimm to get 2.2v actual.

 

[fritzman]

Originally posted by: mrfatboy
you want +.3v vdimm to get 2.2v actual.

Thanks...

Thought it was 1.8 default + .4 to get 2.2 My mistake.

np tho.