Final Thoughts on Overclocking

2GB memory overclocking is still proving unreliable between reboots on this board. We have found the board can run a CAS latency of 6 or 7 between 1600-1800MHz. However, the BIOS can be prone to resetting itself between reboots. A CAS setting of 8 is still where this board seems happy for 24/7 operation on current BIOS releases. Dual-core FSB limits are around 500FSB boot-up from BIOS. Using clockgen we have managed speeds of up to 540FSB for benchmarking the board with water-cooling. For absolute stability, we found 495FSB or so is the maximum limit when using a divider that pegs memory speed to around 1600 MHz.

We fully expect these FSB limits to improve with newer BIOS releases. We also made an attempt at 4GB memory overclocking using Microsoft's Vista 64-bit operating system. Using our QX6800 we managed both 6-6-6-18 1N timings at DDR3-1600 and 450FSB DDR3-1800 1N timings that are shown below (please refer to the BIOS templates for actual BIOS settings).


More BIOS Details 400FSB BIOS Settings
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  • hicookie - Thursday, January 3, 2008 - link

    great oc ability and performance,
    air570fsb with e8400
    http://pic.xfastest.com/hicookie/cpu/e8400/570.png">http://pic.xfastest.com/hicookie/cpu/e8400/570.png

    and great in 3Ds
    http://pic.xfastest.com/hicookie/HD3870/LN2/98223....">http://pic.xfastest.com/hicookie/HD3870/LN2/98223....
  • Rob94hawk - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link

    Giver me a screenie of it being Orthos stable for 8 hours and I might actually be impressed.
  • Gary Key - Thursday, January 3, 2008 - link

    HiCookie,

    We could have posted similar results with the N2 BIOS, the only problem being that this BIOS will never see the light of day and is designed for one thing and one thing only, high FSB rates at the expense of everything else. Hell, we could have posted the same screenshots that Gigabyte engineering sent us, but what fun is that.

    While it is nice to see those results, it is not exactly fair to post such results without notifying a potential buyer as to how and why they were obtained. Retail E8400s and the latest public release BIOS for this board resulted in max "stable" FSB rates around 520, sure we could do suicide shots and run SPi1M at 550, but try playing Crysis or encoding a movie at those settings. ;)
  • Googer - Thursday, January 3, 2008 - link

    I am a Vintage IBM Keyboard fanatic and won't buy a motherboard that does not have PS2 ports, I know there are USB adapters out there but they don't really work as well as a real integrated controller. Gigabyte is my Hero!

    I am not alone. There are many, many more just like me.
  • takumsawsherman - Thursday, January 3, 2008 - link

    Two ports for FW400? No ports for FW 800? I can hear the defense swarming now. No one uses FW800, etc., etc. Fewer people use it, true. Perhaps that is due to the fact that Motherboard manufacturers are refusing to provide it, requiring you to buy an add-on board if you don't buy a Mac.
  • eye smite - Thursday, January 3, 2008 - link

    From 2k2 to 2k4 I had 3 different gigabyte boards literally fail. Cmos would not clear them, they just physically failed. So my experiences with this manufacturer have left me with some disappointing experience, and I won't buy their products again. I'm sure other people have had better experiences, but for me 3 different boards that were 3 different models failing is enough for me to blackflag them on my money expenditures. I hope they've improved in reliability for it lasting more than a year, but from the looks of this review, they're struggling with it just functioning correctly with all of the included features. Personal opinion, asus, abit, even shuttle would be a better spend in the long run.
  • kilkennycat - Thursday, January 3, 2008 - link

    Historically, not exactly the most stellar enthusiast-motherboard vendor in terms of quality or consistent support...my personal opinion of course.
  • Foxy1 - Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - link

    I’m highly disappointed in AnandTech and its blatant disregard of its loyal readers. There is no excuse for the 9-day “holiday” break in which no articles/reviews were posted.

    I can already hear the writers whine in unison: “Are we not entitled to vacation time to enjoy the holidays?” To which I respond: Is everyday not a vacation for the slothful slackers that write for this site?
  • Rob94hawk - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link

    Do you pay for these reviews or are they free? That's right you little twerp, you pay nothing so STFU NOOB!
  • goinginstyle - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link

    Foxy1,

    Why don't you go back to playing your Nintendo 64 and let mommy tuck you in tonight. Every single post you have around here is negative and constantly attacks the editors or readers. If you have that big of a problem, go to another site or start your own. I would love to comment on your first article. Anyway, if they want to take a vacation, so be it, everyone needs one at least once a year.

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