Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6: DDR3 comes a knocking, again
by Gary Key on May 30, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
QX6700 Quad Core Overclocking
Needless to say, quad core overclocking on the P35 platforms has been an unknown to some extent due to the limited availability of boards. Our board reached a final 365FSB that we found to be extremely stable during testing and exceeded the 361FSB we have reached on the ASUS DDR3 board. Of note is that our processor will actually do 3920MHz but we had to run slightly higher voltages on this board and reached the limits of air-cooling at 3650MHz. Our memory timings had to be relaxed slightly with CAS being set to 9 and voltages increased to 1.60V for 2GB and 1.70V for 4GB configuration.
We dropped the multiplier on our QX6700 to eight and were rewarded with a final 8x457FSB setting that was limited to air-cooling. However, even with some quick test runs with water cooling we found our final FSB would not exceed 470MHz due to problems with our memory running stable once we neared the 1600MHz mark with it. Gigabyte is currently working on this problem and we hope to have an update shortly. We see the 8x457 setting offering the best write and copy scores with read and latency performance just trailing the 10x365 settings. In preliminary testing, our 8x457 setting generally scored about 1% better in most of our application and game benchmarks. We will have overclocked scores in our roundup article.
| Gigabyte P35T-DQ6 Quad Core Overclocking Testbed |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad Core, 2.66GHz, 8MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 10x Multiplier |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.4750V (default 1.3500V) |
| Cooling: | Tuniq 120 Air Cooling |
| Power Supply: | OCZ ProXStream 1000W |
| Memory: | Corsair DDR3 CM3X1024-1333C9DHX (2x1GB, 4x1GB) 9-7-7-20 |
| Video Cards: | 1 x MSI HD 2900XT |
| Hard Drive: | Western Digital 150GB 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Buffer |
| Case: | Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 |
| Maximum CPU OC: | 365x10 (9-7-7-20, 1460MHz, 1.60V), CPU 1.4750V 3650MHz (+37%) |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 457x8 (9-7-7-20, 1462MHz, 1.60V), CPU 1.4750V 3656MHz (+72% FSB) |
| . | |
Needless to say, quad core overclocking on the P35 platforms has been an unknown to some extent due to the limited availability of boards. Our board reached a final 365FSB that we found to be extremely stable during testing and exceeded the 361FSB we have reached on the ASUS DDR3 board. Of note is that our processor will actually do 3920MHz but we had to run slightly higher voltages on this board and reached the limits of air-cooling at 3650MHz. Our memory timings had to be relaxed slightly with CAS being set to 9 and voltages increased to 1.60V for 2GB and 1.70V for 4GB configuration.
We dropped the multiplier on our QX6700 to eight and were rewarded with a final 8x457FSB setting that was limited to air-cooling. However, even with some quick test runs with water cooling we found our final FSB would not exceed 470MHz due to problems with our memory running stable once we neared the 1600MHz mark with it. Gigabyte is currently working on this problem and we hope to have an update shortly. We see the 8x457 setting offering the best write and copy scores with read and latency performance just trailing the 10x365 settings. In preliminary testing, our 8x457 setting generally scored about 1% better in most of our application and game benchmarks. We will have overclocked scores in our roundup article.
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SirJoe - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link
this is cool for you computer buffsGooger - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link
I just did a google search for XMS3 and the only merchant to have it in stock at the bargain price of $599 is Tiger Direct! Yikes, I think I will wait a while untill the price of DDR3 becomes competitive with DDR2.AdamK47 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
Sorry Gigabyte, I just can't see myself ever buying a board with pink memory slots. Shoulda stuck with the blue.Stele - Friday, June 1, 2007 - link
"Pink it's my new obsessionPink it's not even a question..."
:D Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation :P
yacoub - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
Thank you especially for the note about larger heatsinks being very difficult to mount and the associated image of the back of the motherboard so folks can see what they face if they have a heatsink that requires connecting a backing plate (as most of the larger ones do).yyrkoon - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
What annoys me, is that every Gigabyte motherbord review has this same 'annoyance' written in. Come now fellas, you can only say it about 500 times, beore it starts getting old, and how hard is it really to press two keys in combination ? Gigabyte obviously is doing this for a reason, and if it takes me writting this comment to point that out, well, I just dont know . . .
Saying something like: 'You will need to press cntl + F1 to access the 'protected' portion of the BIOS . . .' Would sounds less critical, would not come off as negativity, and would keep you guys from sounding lazy . . .
TA152H - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
It's not hitting the keys that is the problem, it's remembering to do it. When you have loads of computers with motherboards, it's nice if they have a standard way to access features, instead of adding an inane key sequence like CTRL-F1. It is annoying, because four years down the road if you have to work on this motherboard, for whatever reason, you have to try to remember this bizarre and otherwise trivial detail. Standards are nice, especially when following them doesn't involve a tradeoff.yyrkoon - Thursday, May 31, 2007 - link
Yeah, well I personally have a bad memory, but after reading countless Gigabyte motherboard reviews from AT here, I do not think I will ever forget this key combination.Anyhow, this is one reason why when given the chance I always opt for ABIT boards, while other may opt for Asus, Gigabyte, whatever. Once you become used to a given OEM BIOS Layout, it is hard to make a change in OEMs without suffering a bit in the knowledge department(at least temporarily).
*yyrkoon hugs his NF-M2 nView . . .
TA152H - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - link
Keep in mind, not everyone buying a motherboard from Gigabyte is going to be reading these articles, and proper journalism dictates they don't depend on people knowing every previous article, so they appropriately bring it up. Before you remark what's the point in them mentioning it for people that don't read it, it's certainly going to be read by Gigabyte and by complaining enough times, they may take notice.I agree that it is often best to just buy from one maker, or limit the number. Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and I end up with stuff from too many makers. I try to buy only Intel and Supermicro, but they are too expensive sometimes, so I've ended up buying a lot of Taiwanese junk before finally finding a company from there I have had success with (don't ask me why, but Epox seems to work best for me). So, I've got all this Asus, Soyo, Aopen, MSI, Gigabyte, Tyan and a few I don't even remember running and it's difficult to deal with all the different BIOS settings when they get cute and try to be different. On the plus side, these motherboards tend to break pretty regularly so I have less and less of the inferior brands. Well, except for Epox. I have no idea why these things never break on me, but I have a feeling it's just random luck :P .
Frumious1 - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - link
I won't forget, but I'm still annoyed by this, just like I'm annoyed by a BIOS that moves certain features into odd areas. I hate that there are about 20 ways to manage memory timings, voltages, bus speeds, etc. (and that's just picking either an AMD or an Intel platform). What's really stupid about Gigabyte's method of hiding settings is that it's not even all of the settings that get hidden. The major area lately that doesn't show up is memory timings. You can tweak voltages and fry your RAM, but GOD FORBID you play with memory timings! (There are some other things that get hidden as well, but I don't recall exactly what. I base this off my DS3 system.)