X-bit labs

Started by: OldDummy | Date 01/05/08

Comments: 29 | Last Comment:  04/25/08

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1. hmm The board worked as per it's design and then burnt up the 4 pin connector on Quad OC load.

That to me is a design flaw. And should be able to be repeated......

I've got no clue how the wire could have dissipated so much heat to melt the connector, as they've said, this is pretty much a unique occurrence, so I'm guessing that there was some problem with contact which greatly increased resistance and heating in that spot.

A poor connection could explain it.

2. Heh, I have order this board 2 days ago, now read the review. I am pleased with most of it, but the latest info scared me, I am buying this mobo for some serious OC and now i will have to check the temperatures of the power cable...man :-)

Yeah but does anyone know how hot it should be?! I recommended it to a friend about a month ago, so far, it works like a charm (no OC-ing though, but I've also heard people talking very positively from their own experiences about that aspect as well). Good luck.

3. Oh the fate.
I built a new box with this board November with E6750 and 8800GT.
It's been running awesome since day one. Never a hiccup. CPU easy clocked to 3.2Ghz. Zalman coolers on CPU/VGA as well.
Then all of a sudden just a couple days ago it went dead. I wasn't even doing anything, walked up to launch Firefox and got a BSOD. Could'nt read it before it rebooted. Now it just constantly reboots with no POST or anything. I heard 2 beeps once, but never again.
I've tried damn near everything and suspect the BIOS is corrupted somehow. So much for Durable.
I've been googling and reading for 2 days for answers and so far nothing. Sucks to be me.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=5737418b48dd552c47aeb6949cd4f22f&t=1193054

Thanks. Been there though. No joy. RMA# issued, board is outbound. I hope my 2nd DS3L doesn't have this problem.

I will say. Gigabyte USA Support 1-626-854-9338 was speedy and good. The tech flowchart was short (for my problem) and the Case# was issued within 10 minutes. RMA# was issued same day.

4. The Empire Strikes Back

My continued weirdness with these new dang BIOS's that decide to start testing things before VGA is even on.
I, being the evil impatient type, went to a store and picked up a Rev2 DS3L to install last night.

Note to X-Bit, there is actually quite a bit of difference between the 2 boards on a small component level, in addition to the +2USB. When you hold them side by side it's easily seen. Whether it really makes a difference, who knows? Back to my story.

A flurry of tools and the new borad was installed and I was ready for more fate. Sure enough I was distraught with the following sequence.
No Beep/Post/Video, Fast Reboot
No Beep/Post/Video, Fast Reboot
No Beep/Post/Video, Fast Reboot
2 Beeps, No Post/Video, Fast Reboot
1 Beep, No Post/Video, Stays On.

I then went outside and cursed the sky.
A further 3 Post-It notes of trying different configurations and still no luck. Guess I can cancel my RMA. There is something else on the hose here.

Whoever decided to do this with BIOS/POST procedures should be shot, hung, quartered, and electrocuted by the Emperor himself.

I'll be going back to the store today to buy more pieces and my saga continues.

Ugh...

What RAM are you using?
What PSU are you using?
You probably tried the RAM sticks separately?

I have a thread going here with more information
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=49338

I'm down to PSU and CPU
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 650

This whole thing is so f'd it's crazy.

5. Does anyone know if this would be compatible with the brand spancking new Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or E8500? Thats what im looking at getting but want to know compatability?

http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2629

6. I have now changed everything except the CPU and the house I live in. Absolutely disgusting.

Luckily my MicroCenter is out of E6750 so I have a chance at the new Wolfdale C2D which appear to be shipping next week 1/21 to 1/25 depending on vendor.

I have put a question to my Giagbyte contact on motherboard support for these chips. I'll let you know if I get answer.

Did you plug keyboard or mice or speakers out and try?

Nice to see that you still care to post on internet about it, though.

I suppose it's your house after all. =P

Basically I guess :P

Yes, the only thing plugged in is mb & cpu pwr, cpu, mem, video, and keyboard. I even tried other kb's and monitor. I've tried e v e r y t h i n g . . .

7. Reply from Giga about C2D Wolfdale Support

"we need to wait until Intel officially release new cpu to check if current bios can support it to design new bios , will post on web for download when it is ready "

PooPoo ..

8. The review says "and mainboards with the P index and two PCI Express x16 slots also have an 8-pin ATX12V connector."

But looking at the images at GB website, DS3P does seem to have a 4-pin ATX connector, instead of 8-pin?

The only image where I see 8-pin ATX is in DQ6 rev 1.1.

Am I correct?

9. FWIW and FYI
Gigabyte as posted a Beta BIOS for upcoming E8X00 Wolfdales on DS3L Rev1 and Rev2 motherboards.
http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2629

Version F8a 2007/12/06

1. Beta Bios
2. Support Intel 45nm Wolfdale E8xxx series CPU

10. Xbit is my one of my Favorite Sites.

Despite That,
After an incodent like that,
The article is Very Forgiving towards
Gigabyte Mb Frying the connector.

Any Long time system Builder will tell you that Gigabyte have always had the strangest quirks in their stripped down versions,and as you know,
usually their top line versions were never without flaws as well,despite the top dollars paid for it.

This forgiving attitude is by Other hardware sites is the Norm nowadays,
which keeps us from getting quality products.

But a Forgiving attitude from XBit,
is not acceptable.

Al ,an XbitLabs Fan

11. GSUSHCHRIST!! FINALLY!!

Comrades I have finally fixed my system.

To make a long story short.
My 2nd DS3L (Rev2) also did not work right out of the box, and had the same symptoms. After getting a new CPU from Intel, I could only conclude that this 2nd motherboard was also defunct and that my orginial Rev1 board had the same problem.

So I took the 2nd board back to Microcenter and exchanged it for an ASUS P5K. Install my wares and 1st boot was like a ray of light from the gods. Thank Odin for ASUS.

Gigabyte, you can blow me. Never again.

12. I've tried the GA N650SLI DS4 and the GA P35 DS3L. Both are good boards for their price. The NB on the 650 got exceedingly hot and needed a fan for supplemental cooling.

Interestingly it is the SB on the P35 that's getting hot to the touch while the NB on my board at least is staying only warm, not "hot" - well, not too hot to touch anyway.

The mounting position of the SB heatsink vis the PCI-e video card will make it hard to mount an upgraded HSF on the SB.

I would have preferred NO Floppy Drive connection and two IDE connections instead. Failing that, why not mount the IDE connector where the Floppy is and relegate the Floppy connector to the bottom of the drive.

An "ON" light on the motherboard would be a very useful feature and would cost little to add.

I overclocked a E4300 to 3.45Ghz on the N650. It refused to go over 385FSB with a 9x multi and would not overclock above 250FSB with a 6x multi. 400FSB was out of the question no matter what the multi.

Currently overclocking a P4 3.4Ghz "650" processor on the GA P35 DS3L. It's gone to 4.55GHZ which may be the top or close to it.

Overall impression is that the boards perform fairly comparably although the GA P35 is slightly more stable and goes slightly higher while overclocking.

The bios routines on the two boards are similar, but with noticeable differences in the Advanced Overclocking section - particulary with respect to the memory settings.

The multi straps on the P35 DS3L are a major bonus that tip the scales definitely in its favor, in my opinion.

UPDATE on Previous review:

Bios verion F7 is out and is an incremental improvement over the F6 bios.
Overclocking with F7 went to 4.6+Ghz.
NB remains only "warm", SB still runs hotter than the NB.

Problems overclocking due to vcore jumping at 1.6v directly to 1.8v then directly to 2.0v. That makes 1.6vcore a practical maximum for overclocking on plain air.

Very significant vdroop of .06v remains a problem as does a similar vdroop on ram voltage.

Overall, it's still a very fun P35 board for the price.

PS: Anyone with the older F3 bios would be well advised to update to the F6 or F7 bios. The current F8 bios is still in the beta stage.

Update to (2) prior comments on the GA P35 DS3L

The board has problems increasing the memory voltage. Specifications state it allows vdmm to be increased in seven +.1v increments. Stock memory voltage is supposed to be 1.8v.

Here's what happens with my P35 DS3L

Vdmm reported in bios and in software monitoring programs:

Stock = 1.87v
+.1 = 1.89 more or less
+.2 = 1.92 more or less
+.3 = 1.99 more or less
+.4 = 2.02 more or less
+.5 = 2.05 more or less
+.6 = 2.13 more or less
+.7 = 2.15 to 2.20 varies irregularly with other settings in bios

Obviously that's a problem if you are using Performance ram that needs a minimum of 2.2v+ to run at it's rated speeds and timings.

A second problem is my ram passes Memtest in only two of the four dimm slots. When Gigabyte was contacted about the problem with that and with the undervolting of the ram in general, the party contacted indicated this was not a sufficient reason to RMA the board, since admittedly the board does run to some extent.

It's still a fun board, but the performance from it its not all that was expected. The problems encountered attempting to adjust the ram voltage and the difficulties with two of the four dimm slots were certainly disappointing to this user. The board did well at first, but the performance was not quite all that I expected from it. These two problems were not encountered with my previous Gigabyte board based on the n650 chipset.

13. I really appreciate the author's experience comments about the cooling and physical layouts.

There are readers out here that are not into overclocking, but do appreciate a fast and stable platform. Thanks for including the nominal performance results and pointing out the warts.

14. 2x 4mmp Cu conductors soldered on the place of conector(ground and 12V)

15. this is a great article
i currently own a ds3l

the only flaw i found so far is the NB heatsink

16. First-rate review, thanks!

I build business machines for clients and this review answered a lot of questions about suitability for business desktop use.

Other than the JMicron IDE controller, this board looks perfect for business users and others wanting maximum stability.

Thanks for pointing out the heat issue with the NB.

17. Very well

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