overclocking a Gigabyte EX38-DS4?

[alpine18]

I've been having issues overclocking my Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4. Has anyone else had problems/issues with this board?

Here are are my specs:

Intel Xeon E3110 Wolfdale 3.0 GHz cpu (on the supported list for this board)
OCZ Platinum DDR2-800 Rev2
EX38-DS4 (of course)
Tuniq Tower 120 HSF
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 250GB SATA drive
OCZ SilentXStream 500W PSU

I have overclocked Gigabyte boards in the past, including my E6400 on a GA-965P-DS3 and a E6750 on a GA-P35-S3G. I'm fairly comfortable at overclocking. The problem with this system is that it fails to overclock at all, even by 1Mhz on the FSB. I can manually set all my voltages, spd, etc. and the system runs fine with FSB at 333, passes 5 hr Prime95, etc. As soon as I set the clock control to manual, and change the FSB to anything other than the default 333Mhz, the system fails post and resets to clock control auto. I've tried FSB settings of 332,334, 340,350 - all fail.
Any thoughts?

 

[xpoc]

try resetting the cmos, using a jumper. you might have to remove battery as well.

 

[makotech222]

hmmm update bios? i have same board and it works fine for me

 

[Soul59]

I have the same board and it overclocks better than any Asus or Gigabyte board that I've owned in the past.

 

[xpoc]

I have same board to. lol

 

[alpine18]

Thanks for the help. I think I may have got a bad board. About 50% of the time on reboot it would lose all CMOS settings or go into BIOS recovery mode, rebooting endlessly (and this was at default optimal settings), requiring CMOS reset.

I swapped out the RAM for some Corsair XMS2 that I had running stable for over a year in another system - this was no help.

The backplate on the Tuniq 120 HSF is made of metal, and there are metal contacts on the back of the board, so just in case that may have been a problem, I installed the stock boxed fan. Of course, this made no difference.

The bios was at F2 revision already (the latest), but I tried flashing it again and that was no help. It has been sent back to NewEgg for an exchange.

 

[jay_l_a]

The backplate on the Tuniq 120 HSF is made of metal, and there are metal contacts on the back of the board, so just in case that may have been a problem, I installed the stock boxed fan. Of course, this made no difference.

Yep, probably already fried something.

 

[alpine18]

OK, so I got my new EX38-DS4 back and rebuilt my system: but with stock fan to take the Tuniq out of the equation, and a new OCZ 700W power supply - same issue - no overclock - the minute I set my board to manual clock control the system fails to post. The system runs fine otherwise. Upgrading the BIOS to F3 was no help either.
I wonder if maybe my CPU is the problem?

 

[jay_l_a]

How much RAM is in there?
How many Sticks?

 

[alpine18]

Two 1GB sticks of OCZ Platinum Rev2 DDR2-800 @ the spec timings of 4-4-4-15 2T - I've tried 5-5-5-15, 5-5-5-18 also. I also tried two 1GB modules of Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 with the same results.

 

[alpine18]

One other throught, I noticed that the memory multiplier has different settings with A, B, C, D, after the multiplier - I'm using the multiplier with B suffixes (which the legend says is for 333 FSB).

 

[jay_l_a]

Which multiplier though?
Let's start with your Clock at 333Mhz. Set the Memory multiplier to 2.00B.
This will run your ram at 666-7Mhz.
An UNDERCLOCK I know, but lets try to eliminate one thing at a time.

What does your CPU temp read in BIOS?

 

[jay_l_a]

Oh yes.
Turn all the performance enhance stuff OFF. Leave everything on STANDARD, none of this turbo junk.
There are at least 2 places I recall.
OFF. OFF I say.

 

[alpine18]

I had all the EIST, CIA2, virtualization, and other junk off/disabled, and all the performance enhance stuff set to standard/auto. PCI bus set to auto. CPU temp in bios is typically about 25C.

Multiplier I was using was 2.00B at 333 - memory speed reads 667. If I change the 333 at all, my system fails post, and reboots with default settings in the overclock control area.

I have tried 350, 340, 334, 332 - all yield the same results.

I can set the memory speed to manual (333*2.0B) and leave cpu clock speed set to auto, the system boots fine.
Whenever I set the cpu clock speed to manual, the system fails to boot... the post screen shows up showing the new CPU speed, but it hangs at the memory detection. Then it just reboots itself with the cpu clock speed and memory settings set back to auto.

 

[alpine18]

Over the weekend I tried:

1. Changing Memory - I tried 3 brands of DDR2-800 memory: Adata, Corsair, OCZ.
2. Tried different memory slots - I have been using 1 & 3 and then tried sticks in 2 & 4.
3. My 700W OCZ power supply has the extra 4-pin P4 power connector (8 pin total), so I connected it and now I have 8 pins total connected.
4. I tried underclocking with a lower multiplier - same problem.

So far I have changed out the motherboard, memory, and psu - but still have the same problem. At this point I only have 2 components that have never been swapped out: the video card and the CPU. The bios has been flashed to the latest (F3) revision for this board.

This is really frustrating - my cpu is sitting at 25-26C idle. With the X38 , Tuniq HSF, and OCZ memory I should be able to get a decent overclock.

Maybe the CPU is the problem. Maybe I should just get a Q9550 or X3350 and put this E3110 in my secondary computer.

 

[jay_l_a]

>>My 700W OCZ power supply has the extra 4-pin P4 power connector (8 pin total), so I connected it and now I have 8 pins total connected.

???

You either connect the 2x4 connector or the 2x2 connector. You haven't plugged in TWO 2x2 connectors have you?

 

[alpine18]

>>My 700W OCZ power supply has the extra 4-pin P4 power connector (8 pin total), so I connected it and now I have 8 pins total connected.

???

You either connect the 2x4 connector or the 2x2 connector. You haven't plugged in TWO 2x2 connectors have you?

On this PSU it is basically the 2x4 connector split in half - so you can use it on boards with 2x2 connectors.

 

[jay_l_a]

Have you got onboard GFX? if so pull the PCIe card and try that.

Have you re-read the manual and understood EVERY setting in the bios? There may be something you missed first time through.....

 

[alpine18]

No onboard graphics on my EX38-DS4.

I have overclocked my E6400, E6750s on 965P-DS3, P35-S3G, and P35-DS3L. I feel like I have a good grasp of Gigabyte bios settings. Everything is set how I would normally O/C a board. The only thing that has not changed in this setup is the CPU and graphics.

Maybe I'll try moving the 8800GT to the other PCIe 2.0 slot, try my 8800GTS instead of the 8800GT, and if there is no change swap in a E6750.

 

[ShadyAchmed]

I just got a EX38-DS4. I had some issues w/ stability and looked on the internet for some advise. I'm running Patriot DDR2 (PC8500) 1066Mhz, w/ Crossfire Sapphire Toxic 3870's.

The following review set off light bulbs for me:
http://www.pro-clockers.com/review.php?id=332&page=1

I was running my mobo FSB@333Mhz, 10.5X w/ a FSB/DDR2 ratio of 5:8 w/ horrible stability issues.

Notice in the review above they recommend a 5:6 ratio.

I'm running @1066 - i.e. 533.3 DDR2 freq... (533.3/6)*5 = 444.4 Mhz (what I need to set my FSB to.)

Set CPU clock control to - 'enable'. Set timing on the DDR2 to 'auto', but set the DDR2 multiplier accordingly (i.e. 2.4XXB).

U'll need to mess w/ it a little - ultimately U need to get the reported memory clock speed @ OC to be match your DDR2 speed, i.e. I had to get the new FSB and memory multiplier to match my DDR2 1066 speed.

For OC CPU voltages I ran the BIOS controlled voltage control (auto) first - checked CPU-z after successful boot - noted the CPU voltage at OC, then re-booted and re-set the BIOS voltage control to 'manual' w/ the noted CPU voltage.

Also get CPU-z - it'll make this effort a lot easier to check and verify.
http://www.download.com/CPU-Z/3000-2086_4-10050423.html

After I got all this sorted out I am running a QX9650 @3.77Ghz w/ a stock Intel air cooler - a little warm, but manageable (cooling project next) - ROCK SOLID and faster than hell.

3D Marks 06 - 19250 (I'm sure w/ some serious cooling & further tweaking I'll get this a lot higher).

Hope that helps - I lost a lot of hair figuring this out...

ShadyAchmed - llebbor@comcast.net

BTW - not impressed w/ Vista x64... Thank U Bill Gates!!

 

[maniacdrums]

I am having exact same problem with my EX38-DS4 F3BIOS using Q9450CPU and 2x1GB PC8500 C5 Corsair Dominators.
I had to +.25v my memory to get it to its rated 2.2v, then it only got me 5-5-5-18 so I manually set the 18 to 15 and now that is at its rated speed. I used the help in this thread. I too do not even need to change the clock cycle ±1 to make it fail the next boot. Simply changing the clock control from auto to manual kills the system on reboot.
I have spent the last week googling and testing, I swear I've had to set my CMOS jumpers 10x since then. No matter what I try its the same thing, even if everything is set at default.
This is my first post in these forums, I joined specifically to further this thread.

 

[enginuity]

I had this problem, too. I found that if I overclocked the board just slightly and put the voltage control on auto then it would let me overclock.

Once I had done this, then I changed the voltage control back to manual and it let me overclock...strange, I know, but it worked.

 

[maniacdrums]

Thanks for the response enginuity!I'm glad you found something that worked. I admit I'm no expert, have only built a few machines and this my first Gigabyte board. Problem is I'd like to overclock something but I cant even run stock speeds if I turn my CPU clock control from auto to manual. I can adjust everything else except that. I dont understand, and I'm about ready to send it back. I'm gonna steal a CPU out of a friends machine for a day to check and make sure the Q9450 isnt the problem other than that I believe I've tried everything else.

 

[spaztic7]

Whats the difference between teh ds4 and the dq6? Why did you pick the ds4 over the dq6?

 

[Crazy-PC]

You may provide the BIOS data so we can estimate what is the difference between the default that worked stable and the setting that you overclocked unstable. As I know Xeon E3110 is the server version of E8400 with lesser ability for overclocking so there will be many E8400 overclocker that using Gigabyte Mobo can help you.