Overclocking GA-EP35-DS3L

I don't want to start a rummor just need the facts.

The GA-P35-DS3L is a great MB. I understand that it has now been discontinued and replaced by GA-EP35-DS3L. What I am concerned with is that reports indicate the DES, (Dynamic Energy Saver), can not be disabled thus limiting the CPU voltage to the default voltage of the installed CPU. Overclock limited to stock voltage.

Can we verify this? Does anyone have this board (GA-EP35-DS3L) up and working so we can have solid answers to this issue?

I Second this.

Hey, I just want to let you know that I was the one who wrote the review on Newegg. This is another thread that has the same problem that I faced:

http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index [...] t_id=29705

After the first 3 days of trying to overclock the board, I've stopped messing with it. I've been searching the web for ANY and I mean ANY Type of reviewers, like Tom's or Anandtech to see if they've replicated my problem. So far the only reviewers, reviewed the board for the DES function and not it's overclockability.

I'm more disappointed now, as the 3.5ghz E6850 is not stable. I've backed it down to 3.42ghz, ran Prime95 blend for 8 hours and have no errors. My kid plays WoW on it for about 4 hours a night for the last 3 nights now and hasn't reported any lock ups, shut downs, BSOD etc.

I did find out that to make the voltage increase stick, I would also have to + or - 1mhz to the FSB. The way to tell if the Mobo took the change, is it will shut down for a 1-2 sec, the power up again after you save the BIOS. You will also see a message at the boot screen that the update was successful.

I've done the ctrl + F1, and could not find any settings for DES in the BIOS.

At this point like I said, Im ok with the stock voltage at 3.42ghz. Im almost positive it's a BIOS issue that can probably be fixed in a future update if enough people request it.

My advice, If you're not overclocking, you're fine with this board. If you plan on overclocking it beyond it's stock voltage, find something else.

The max FSB on that new egg review may have been related to a cpu limit. they do not even mention dropping the multi to rule that out. not do they mention increasing the north bridge voltage. They may have just had a bad board, My asus P5W could never get past 325 even though many did(well past), was just a bad(but you cant rma for poor overclocking) board.

I am not ruling the energy saver out, but i wish someone had it to test.

You would have to adjust the FSB voltage or preq or what? I am not clear as to how you made it "stick".
Thanks

I'm using the ep35p ds3l with:
e2180
4x1 Gb ddr2 800 OCZ plat. rev. 2
bios version f4

I've found that to go above 3 Ghz, the FSB voltage is limiting. I couldn't get it to boot at 3.1 Ghz --no matter the voltage on the cpu or ram-- until I upped the FSB voltage by .1

I've decided to be happy with 3.00. Right now I'm testing whether it's stable at 3.0 with the core voltage at 1.375/1.344 (MB/cpu-Z). Bad v-droop?

For the original poster's question: if you do no install DES, the bios will allow you to change and save all voltages to CMOS. No worries there. I've also turned off EIST in the bios. It was possible to OC with EIST on but now I can get higher clock speeds at lower voltage.

Is your higher vcore holding???

I have this board as well and the most it remembered was 2 days, then the only way i could increase it again was to clear the cmos, but now it won't remember even if it's only off like 3 hours, this is a real pain in the butt.

I never installed the DES, disabled EIST an C1E, have memory +2v, rest at +1v with vcore 1.44v with vdroop to 1.41v.

I'm running a E2200@3ghz x9 multi, 1333 buss, 2x1 gig DDR2 800 Super Talent x2.5 multi

I got the same setup, i looked at the energy saver and the regular board and opted for the regular one. It had way better reviews and if the only big improvement was the energy saver function, who cares... a Energy efficient PSU will do you better good.

GA-P35-DS3L rev.2

E2180 2.0 @ 3.0Ghz (8x375fsb) (had to bump vcor to 1.45 in bios to stabilize, lots of vdroop) (stock HSF) (temps: 35~37 idle, 65~69 under orthos overnite, mobo hits 74c)

Crucial Ballistix (4x1gb) Dual Channel DDR2-800 @ 1000 (5-5-5-18) (bumped voltage +0.4v in bios to get it to ~2.2v which is stock)

8800GT OC 512 (700/1700/900 stock) @ (770/1900/960 gpu core 1.2v) (yay for gfx overvolt chip!)

3dmark06 score: 11589 (8486 stock, 36.5% increase!)


(Ram109.98)(Mobo109.99)(Gfx179.99)(cpu69.99)(shipping7)
Total cost before rebates/discounts: 476.95
after:346.95

Cpu is my bottleneck. ; ; overclocking the Gfx card did not improve my 3dmark score. Cant OC more untill I either Lap HSF or redo my H2O system. A little afraid to push the vcore anymore

I was referring only to the vcore, not the entire bios settings, i believe the vcore is all i mentioned in my post

Anywho, many are complaining now, gigabyte should release a updated bios soon hopefully.

I have the same problem. Can't get it to overclock worth crap. Have an e2160 which already overclocked to 3.2 ghz, and held strong on the original p35-ds3l, but now can't reach diddly with the ep35-ds3l. It's definitely something with the motherboard. Check the newegg reviews. The only consistent overclock you see is when the people aren't touching the vcore. Very dissapointing. Was going to RMA because I'm within the time frame, but am holding out hope for an update.

I would recommend everyone contact gigabyte and complain/request for update.

It's interesting to see people say that the ep35-ds3l overclocks at all. My beloved p5b is not in computer heaven and was replaced by this, and I cannot for the life of me get this board to show any overclock at all. I can set a speed and save it in the bios but it always reverts back to the factory speeds. Voltages, minus the vdroop seem to change as does changing the multiplier affect the clock but nothing else does. C1e EIST and all other crap is disabled as is uneeded onboard peripherals. Hopefully a bios update will help...

This is a beta BIOS that someone linked. He mentions that is has helped his voltage sticking and voltage reset after shut down. Use at your own risk.

Thread link: http://www.overclock.net/intel-mot [...] -read.html

BIOS link: http://rs219.rapidshare.com/files/ [...] 35ds3l.zip

I'll check my bios version when I get home, but I've had mine oc'ed since the day I got it (about 3 weeks ago) and its been nothing but rock solid. I have it running @ 9x400 and its been great.