Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6: Quad to the Extreme
by Gary Key on February 24, 2007 1:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Dual Core Overclocking
We were easily able to reach a final benchmark stable setting of 9x440 FSB resulting in a clock speed of 3960MHz. We were able to run our OCZ Flex PC2-9200 and our Corsair PC2-6400C3 at the reported timings with 1T Command Rate enabled. The shipping F2 BIOS limited us to a 9x425 setting and a 2T Command Rate. The latest F3B beta BIOS that greatly improved our quad core overclocks but limited us to a 9x430FSB setting; it also allowed 1T Command Rates at DDR2-860. Vdroop was acceptable on this board during overclocking with an average drop of .02 ~.03V during load testing.
We also tested our new OCZ Flex PC2-6400 and G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK memory based on the ProMOS IC chips with great success. The OCZ Flex PC2-6400 was able to run at DDR2-880 (9x440) speed with timings at 3-4-4-15 2T at 2.275V and the G.Skill F2-6400CL4D at 4-4-4-8 2T at 2.250V. The balance of the memory timings were set to Auto as the BIOS was very temperamental when manually setting the timings.
We dropped the multiplier on our E6600 to seven and were able to reach 490 FSB without issue on the F3A BIOS. We were able to enter XP at 7x510 and the board would POST at 7x514. However, at least with our sample, stability over 500 FSB dropped off quickly and we feel like this BIOS release was designed with a 500FSB in mind but not much more. The F3B BIOS proved to be stable at 503 FSB and would POST at 7x518 but memory timings had to be backed off when compared to the F3A BIOS at both the DDR2-800 unlinked or DDR2-1006 synced speeds. The shipping F2 BIOS limited us to a final 7X468 setting with the same memory timings utilized in our F3A testing.
Quad Core Overclocking
Needless to say, quad core overclocking on the 680i platforms have not been spectacular and downright worrisome, considering that we have not been able to reach a stable 333FSB with any 680i board until ASUS released their 1002 BIOS for the Striker Extreme last week. We understand EVGA will be releasing a fix for their reference board design shortly so maybe the problems will be solved. In the meantime, if you are looking for high FSB overclocks with your quad core then look at the Intel P965 or AMD RD600 chipsets.
We dropped the multiplier on our QX6700 and were unable to improve upon the same 325 FSB level at the stock 10x multiplier. The board would not even POST past a 340FSB and we could enter XP at 332FSB, but it was only good for a screenshot session. We required the F3B BIOS to reach our final benchmark stable 325FSB setting as the F3A was not stable above 312 and the shipping F2 BIOS topped out at 304. Although the board is touted as being "Quad-Core optimized", we did not see it. Gigabyte engineering is working to address this shortcoming, although if it is being caused by the chipset itself they may not have much success. We will continue to monitor the situation for now.
| GIGABYTE GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Dual Core Overclocking Testbed |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core, 2.4GHz, 4MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 9x Multiplier |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.4875V (default 1.3250V) |
| Cooling: | Tuniq 120 Air Cooling |
| Power Supply: | OCZ ProXStream 1000W |
| Memory: | OCZ Flex XLC (2x1GB) (Micron Memory Chips) OCZ Flex XLC PC2-6400 (ProMOS Memory Chips) |
| Video Cards: | 1 x MSI 8800GTX |
| Hard Drive: | Western Digital 150GB 10, 000RPM SATA 16MB Buffer |
| Case: | Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 |
| Maximum CPU OC: | 440x9 (3-4-4-9 1T, 880MHz, 2.375V), CPU 1.4875V 3960MHz (+65%) |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 490x7 (3-4-4-15 2T, 800MHz, 2.275V), CPU 1.4500V 3430MHz (+84% FSB) |
| . | |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
We were easily able to reach a final benchmark stable setting of 9x440 FSB resulting in a clock speed of 3960MHz. We were able to run our OCZ Flex PC2-9200 and our Corsair PC2-6400C3 at the reported timings with 1T Command Rate enabled. The shipping F2 BIOS limited us to a 9x425 setting and a 2T Command Rate. The latest F3B beta BIOS that greatly improved our quad core overclocks but limited us to a 9x430FSB setting; it also allowed 1T Command Rates at DDR2-860. Vdroop was acceptable on this board during overclocking with an average drop of .02 ~.03V during load testing.
We also tested our new OCZ Flex PC2-6400 and G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK memory based on the ProMOS IC chips with great success. The OCZ Flex PC2-6400 was able to run at DDR2-880 (9x440) speed with timings at 3-4-4-15 2T at 2.275V and the G.Skill F2-6400CL4D at 4-4-4-8 2T at 2.250V. The balance of the memory timings were set to Auto as the BIOS was very temperamental when manually setting the timings.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
We dropped the multiplier on our E6600 to seven and were able to reach 490 FSB without issue on the F3A BIOS. We were able to enter XP at 7x510 and the board would POST at 7x514. However, at least with our sample, stability over 500 FSB dropped off quickly and we feel like this BIOS release was designed with a 500FSB in mind but not much more. The F3B BIOS proved to be stable at 503 FSB and would POST at 7x518 but memory timings had to be backed off when compared to the F3A BIOS at both the DDR2-800 unlinked or DDR2-1006 synced speeds. The shipping F2 BIOS limited us to a final 7X468 setting with the same memory timings utilized in our F3A testing.
Quad Core Overclocking
| GIGABYTE GA-N680SLI-DQ6 Quad Core Overclocking Testbed |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad Core, 2.66GHz, 8MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 9x Multiplier |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.3625V (default 1.3500V) |
| Cooling: | Tuniq 120 Air Cooling |
| Power Supply: | OCZ ProXStream 1000W |
| Memory: | OCZ Flex XLC (2x1GB) (Micron Memory Chips) |
| Video Cards: | 1 x MSI 8800GTX |
| Hard Drive: | Western Digital 150GB 10, 000RPM SATA 16MB Buffer |
| Case: | Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 |
| Maximum OC: | 325x10 (3-3-3-9 2T, 800MHz, 2.325V), CPU 1.3625V 3250MHz (+22%) |
| . | |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Needless to say, quad core overclocking on the 680i platforms have not been spectacular and downright worrisome, considering that we have not been able to reach a stable 333FSB with any 680i board until ASUS released their 1002 BIOS for the Striker Extreme last week. We understand EVGA will be releasing a fix for their reference board design shortly so maybe the problems will be solved. In the meantime, if you are looking for high FSB overclocks with your quad core then look at the Intel P965 or AMD RD600 chipsets.
We dropped the multiplier on our QX6700 and were unable to improve upon the same 325 FSB level at the stock 10x multiplier. The board would not even POST past a 340FSB and we could enter XP at 332FSB, but it was only good for a screenshot session. We required the F3B BIOS to reach our final benchmark stable 325FSB setting as the F3A was not stable above 312 and the shipping F2 BIOS topped out at 304. Although the board is touted as being "Quad-Core optimized", we did not see it. Gigabyte engineering is working to address this shortcoming, although if it is being caused by the chipset itself they may not have much success. We will continue to monitor the situation for now.
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tuteja1986 - Sunday, February 25, 2007 - link
ahh... english."Well Gigabyte GA-N680SL-DQ6 isn't even selling it. It will sale next month. They still have time to fix the bugs. Anyways i say buying the striker at launch for $400 was a foolish thing to do since it was buggy as hell. It took for them months to fix the problem."
correct :
Gigabyte GA-N680SL-DQ6 isn't even coming out untill next month so i think gigabyte has some time to address the issue and release an bios update for it.
tuteja1986 - Saturday, February 24, 2007 - link
If this board sell for $250 then i would buy it without a second thought. Much cheaper than Striker ; )