EP45-DS3R Ram Memory type?

godofsharing

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Greetings tom's hardware:

I am honored to be a member. This is my first post.

I have ordered a GA-EP45-DS3R motherboard, Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550, and I need a set of 2gb (4-sticks 8GB total).

I read the board is best designed for DDR2 1200 ram. Which is hard to find and high priced.

I have my eye on OCZ Technology Gold Edition 2GB DDR2-1066 (PC-8500) Memory Kit, due to the pricing. Is the 2.1 voltage an issue or is it best to get 1.8 voltage ram?

What is the simplest memory set-up?

I do not intend to overclock at this initial set-up, maybe a few months later I will consider overclocking?

Also I will be posting for suggestions on a graphic card and CPU cooler later.

I would appreciate if anyone could help me with these decisions.

GOS
 

bilbat

Splendid
Repost:

My experience with 'GB-friendliness' by manufacturer has been: mushkin - GBs love mushkin, but it's pricey, and the speed selection is limited; G.Skill - works well, has a functional EPP, and will usually also run at 'auto' settings, unless you run four sticks; OCZ - likewise; Kingston, Crucial, & Corsair - seem to account for most of the problems I see here with RAM (wich, of course, could possibly be due to the fact that more people buy them, as they're generally cheap), with Crucial having a few times had problems with apparent 'degrading' over time, i.e., a previously working OC simply 'goes bad', and MemTest86+ shows it to be RAM...
 

godofsharing

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Thanks bilbat:

Bro. that's a good deal on the ram, I will grab 4 sticks soon.

I am reading the link to the GA-EP45-UD3P Bios thread now.

I do have a question. Should a video cards DDR type match the ram. Example: if the system ram is ddr2 would a video card with ddr2 be optimal or is ddr3 better?
 

bilbat

Splendid
Nope - they've got nothing to do with each other; the graphics card's RAM only 'talks to' the GPU. The graphics card will map an area of main RAM that it will use to share info with the CPU, but that's done via a different bus structure.
 

godofsharing

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Thanks for the info bilbat.

I will keep you informed as I complete the build. I should have all the parts in about three weeks.
 

godofsharing

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Hi bilbat:

The board arrived. It was a bad 'open box'.

I am returning it for a refund and am going to cop a new GA-EP45-UD3P.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

After this experience I wish to be use the best compatible stuff anyway. I will be going with the mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146785

I will get two sticks now and two more later. I heard its best to set up the board with one stick initially and then install the rest afterwards.

What would be the best ati video card 4870 or 4850 series in the $160 range? I am running 20"HD HP 2009m & 22 Acer X223w monitors

I multi task, watch videos, type documents, desktop publishing, Photoshop, plan on editing video and the only gaming is plane and car simulator-sometimes and dabble in one person shooter games. I don't intend to use CrossFire due to the 8x limitation on on the second PCI-E slot.

I looked at a review on NewEgg and it stated Sapphire 1GB GDDR5 would be overkill also on this type of board.

I would appreciate any help you could offer.

Thank you.

GOS
 

bilbat

Splendid
That's really good RAM - you should be able to get 1066 without adjustments by simply doing a "Load Optimized Defaults' at startup - which you need to do anyways... If it doesn't 'hook up' automatically, we'll be able to do it in one tweaking session - the P45 NBs have excellent clocking adjustments!

I heard its best to set up the board with one stick initially and then install the rest afterwards.

Actually, the best procedure is to test all your RAM, one stick at a time, when you start-up. I bought six sticks, and then did my own 'speed bin' to pick the fastest four pieces... Out of six nominally 1066 parts, got one that would do 1200, one that would do over 1150, two that would do 1120, one that topped out at 1100, and one that stumbled at anything much above the rated 1066. Needless to say, the two slower ones are sitting on a shelf awaiting my next HTPC build.

The whole 'which video' card thing is kind of like 'how high is up'... It all depends on your aims; I run a pair of 3850s for four monitors, as: they were cheap; I don't game; they have plenty 'guts' to run WinAero (get 5.9 in Vista, 6.2 in Win7); they have a relatively low current draw/heat dissipation; and, did I mention, they were cheap? If you want a 4850 or better card, the least expensive ones I could find @ NewEgg are these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102824
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770
both Sapphires, both 512s; I have some Sapphire cards and they work fine for me - my only complaint is that they don't seem to understand the meaning of 'reference design' (ATI cards are supposed to be made to an exemplar design, which guarantees driver and accessory function); I water cool mine, and had to machine the cooling blocks and omit the Vref coolers because they felt like sticking in some oversized capacitors in the power section of the board. I would recommend sticking with 512 cards unless you have a real 'need for speed'; I've given up trying to quantify this, as I can never get anyone to respond who is willing and able to post a memory map, but I suspect, for people using a 32 bit OS, that 1G cards 'vanish' more main memory than 512s. They do not 'map' the whole video memory; my 512s take up one chunk per card of 256M each, and then a few much smaller 'dribs and drabs' here and there... If you're running a 64 bit OS, the issue is moot - doesn't matter what's 'mapped', 64 allows it to be 'moved out of the way'...
 

godofsharing

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Thanks for the insightful info bilbat:

I like the cards you suggest. Though, I wanted to be safe with editing video with a card of more power or speed. I am very interested in this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810

 

bilbat

Splendid
That thing should kick butt! But, as usual, finding actual specifications is damned near impossible; Saphire recommends: "500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX technology in dual mode)"; my own poking around suggests a 600 for one, and a 750 for two... I think that thing is gonna pull more than ten amps a card at 12V...
 

godofsharing

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I will go with one 4870 and a 600 watt supply with the adequate 6-pin connectors. I will get the PSU locally (MicroCenter). The reviews of the 4870 state when pushed with power-demanding gaming the card runs hot and fan gets noisy. I just ordered an almost new full Zalman GS100 case, it has great cooling capability.
 

godofsharing

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Hi bilbat:

Everything else arrived the other day.

I am almost finish reading the manuals.

I will be assembling the unit next week.

Here are the items:

1) ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
2) OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI 80 PLUS Modular Active Power Supply
3) Sunbeam RHK-BA Rheobus 5.25" Bay 4 Channel 20W Fan Controller Panel (Black)
4) SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card
5) GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
6) mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
7) Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
8) ZALMAN ZM - F3 120mm Case Fan: Quantity 5, (2 intakes & 3 exhaust)
9) Scythe Kaze Jyu Slim 100mm 1,000RPM Case Fan (Modded to fit as Intake under Hard Drives)
10) Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
11) Zalman GS1000 Full Tower ATX Case Black
12) Super-WriteMaster Dual/Double Layer 22x DVD±RW Burner OEM

After a few weeks I will get two more sticks of mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) and a 1TB Sata HD.

The Zalman GS1000 case is huge with plenty of space and cooling options.

This will be my personal build so I want to over-clock it while considering keeping down excessive heat and noise levels. I desire a longer life span of the equipment instead of short range higher performance. I wanted to OC the processor to about 3.2GHZ or a speed that will be easiest to adjust with the mushkin ram.

I do not desire to over-clock the Sapphire video card. I read on reviews that it is already a heater and dumps half of it's exhaust back into the case. Which is why I went with the full capacity of 6 case fans, which I would ideally like to run in silent mode 900-1,000 RPM @ 20db (they max at 1,800 @ 34db), via Sunbeam fan controller. I wanted to leave the rear case fan to be directly linked into the motherboard to correspond or sync with cpu heat level.

But, there are three board fan sockets PWR_FAN, SYS_FAN1 & SYS_FAN2, which one would I use for the rear exhaust?

Also is the stock Super Thermal Grease ZM-STG2 that comes with ZALMAN CNPS9900LED good enough for my cooling needs? I only have a budget of $10 for T.I.M. I can only locally get

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0280314

my choices are:

http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?sortby=pricehigh&coordinate_group_list=+HJ1J&category=HJ1&subcategory=HJ1J

and I would have to wait and order

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

I would appreciate your expertise in this matter.
 

bilbat

Splendid
I, personally, use TIM Consultants' TC0098:
http://www.tim-consultants.com/index.html
it's cheap, it gives you a really good 'spread' if you kind of 'wiggle' your HSF down onto it, as it lowers its viscosity when shear force is applied to it, and, if I remember, the shipping was unbelievably low - they actually mailed it in an envelope (not a bubble pack, on a cardboard insert, in a display box, in a cubic foot box full of 'ghost farts'), and it was, like a buck or two; I use Arctic Silver on MOSFETs, as it's nigh unto impossible to apply any paste in small enough 'globs' to not make a mess under the MOSFET sink, and it's non-conductive, so if some slops on the board, it's no sweat - it is slightly capacitative, but, at the frequencies the MOSFETs 'chop' at, that's no problem - I wouldn't want to slop it on CPU or MCH traces, though...

The fact of the matter is, though, for a moderate overclock (which is pretty much what I 'hand out' here - I, too, believe in 'going easy' on the hardware; mostly, I try to offer people a 20-25% OC at not over a tenth overvolt of anything), so long as you've got any HSF, other than the Intel junk, and a decent 'spread' of any commercially available TIM - you're fine. People obsess about this, and the HSF manufacturers love it, all the way to the bank! If you're gonna 'crank it', put it under water; if you're really nuts, go to phase change (I ran into someone while researching water who had a CAD station with a quad on phase change running over 5GHz, if he was to be believed...); for anything within reason - anything properly installed will work!

I do not desire to over-clock the Sapphire video card. I read on reviews that it is already a heater and dumps half of it's exhaust back into the case.

This is true - I have lousy 3850s (OC'd though), and besides an atrocious heat dump into the room (which is why I took 'em to water - into the basement) the fans really howled...

I would ideally like to run in silent mode 900-1,000 RPM @ 20db (they max at 1,800 @ 34db), via Sunbeam fan controller. I wanted to leave the rear case fan to be directly linked into the motherboard to correspond or sync with cpu heat level.

We think alike - I have a SilverStone ESA fan controller, with a half-dozen case fans, but it requires the use of CPUID's Hardware Monitor Pro to control them, as nVidia refuses to release any information on the ESA so-called 'open standard' - you either have an nVidia chipset, or you're screwed. Many utility programmers, liek SpeedFan's have tried to get the requisite info - but nVidia flatly refuses

hwmonitor.jpg


But, there are three board fan sockets PWR_FAN, SYS_FAN1 & SYS_FAN2, which one would I use for the rear exhaust?

In theory (i.e., what we think we've 'pried out of' Gigabyte) the SYS_FAN2 does link to the MCH temp, and will run either a 4-pin PWM, or 3-pin standard DC fan; the rest just supply a steady 12V




 

godofsharing

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Hi Bilbat:

Thanks for the info.

I will get the TIM Consultants' TC0098 and use the SYS_FAN2 for the rear case fan.

When overclocking the Q9550 to 3.2GHZ, will I have to additionally cool the northbridge, southbridge and MOSFETs and ram Memory?

What are good and easy to install chipset coolers?

I have read in an OCers' forum that the blue shield/tops of the rear MOSFETS & Northbridge are held on with double sided tape and can be carefully pluck off and a cooling fan can be aimed at the Northbridge.

http://www.overclock.net/air-cooling/445728-need-sb-nb-cooler-will-fit.html

Can I attach a metal cooling fan to the top of the (blue shield/top removed) Northbridge stock heatsink, with some conductive adhesive element, to cool the Northbridge?

Are these better than stock?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708011

Or if I have to replace the stock chipset heatsinks will a hair blow dryer blown on the tops of the heatsinks to soften the adhesive be safe to the board and components? I read about this technique in a forum.

In the User Manual pg.60 CPU SMART FAN CONTROL, Is the default 'Auto' or 'CPU SMART FAN MODE' (PWM) setting best for the ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 4-pin fan?

I would appreciate your expertise and help.

GOS
 

bilbat

Splendid
When overclocking the Q9550 to 3.2GHZ, will I have to additionally cool the northbridge, southbridge and MOSFETs and ram Memory?

I'm obsessive - I cool everything out of habit, as I normally do indutrial equipment that's expected to run for literally decades (have some thirty year old jobs out there - still working hard every day...) #.2 is not a hefty OC for a 9550; if you're goint to run four sticks of fast RAM, you might benefit from air on the northbridge

I have read in an OCers' forum that the blue shield/tops of the rear MOSFETS & Northbridge are held on with double sided tape and can be carefully pluck off and a cooling fan can be aimed at the Northbridge.

Yeah - the shields are pretty useless - lot of people like 'em as 'case badges' though, if you can get 'em off w/o kinking 'em too bad...

For the small sinks, I just used a little blob of silicone glue (tried, like, five brands - applied blobs to aluminum strips, bent 'em in a u & hung in kettle of boiling water for a hour - tested bond - had high hopes for a Permatex product with copper particulates in it, plain old WalMart 'DAP' 100% silicone household adhesive worked best) in each corner of the sink - made little 'dams' out of dividers from craft/tackle boxes - it's really 'slippery' plastic, & won't bond to the silicone, so you can get 'em back out - to limit the area of the fins covered by adhesive - cut 'em into narrow strips, drilled about a 5/16 hole in 'em, split 'em in half to make u shaped dam - stuck in between fins and applied base layer of glue; trimmed flat with xacto knife, trimmed back screw mounts, put 1/16 tubing on sink to space away (minimize noise transfer to fins) then forced glue through screw holes in fans to bond to base layer in sink...

Got really crappy pictures of most of it (new to digital camera - old & shakey - hadn't yet learned to take six of everything in hopes of one good one...)

40s.jpg
43s.jpg


44s.jpg
45s.jpg


46srsm.jpg


finaltidy015s.jpg


In the User Manual pg.60 CPU SMART FAN CONTROL, Is the default 'Auto' or 'CPU SMART FAN MODE' (PWM) setting best for the ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 4-pin fan?

You've got it - you want "SMART FAN MODE' (PWM)"
 

godofsharing

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Hey bilbat:

I had a 50mm pentium III CPU cooler fan on hand and it fit mostly perfect over most of the NB chipset heat sink. I used DAP Household Sealant 100% silicone. It holds fine and is removable. The fan is very close to the CPU Clip Support but it does not touch. I ran the fan at 12v it has a good push of air and isn't too loud, but the air flow is downward unto the heat sink instead of upward and away. I don't know if this will be an issue. I guess I have to check the temps after the install. I used one of the resistor silent mode adapters from a Zalman 120mm ZM-F3 case cooling fan and it runs silent in the slower mode. When this is installed I will check the temps in regular and slow silent modes. Here are pics.

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/43jcknpe4n2pn2i74n_50mm-top-oblique.jpg

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/viqrbrgceo29gaw5ur8s_50mm-side.jpg

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/xcagpetpp4ox4odu3y_50mm-rear-tab.jpg

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/7wvkhe53e78musswoy9q_50mm-front.jpg

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/61js6c3ccpjf4sbiebuk_50mm-close-to-cpu-support.jpg

I also have pics of the fan uninstalled, GA-EP45-UD3P board with a Mosfet Heat sink I received that looks different than the one advertised and on online stock pics of the board.

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/l5arr8i7wl5k5u2atke_CPU-Fan.jpg

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/u6n1sq4i1eub61w3n0rs_GAEP45UD3P-Mosfet-Heat-sink-I-.jpg

http://www.imageurlhost.com/images/c11p34pjmsqc8d050my_GAEP45UD3P-Stock-photo-Heat-si.jpg
 

godofsharing

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Hey bilbat:

Everything is installed. I am just waiting for:

Arctic Cooling ACF12PWM Arctic Fan 12 120mm Case Fan

(Lot of 10) 3-pin 12 inch Fan CPU Cooler Extension Cable 12"

The case is more spacey than I expected. I had to use the case's CPU 8-pin 12v extension cable and I need six 3-pin fan cable extensions. The case has excellent cable management and rerouting. I am going to use the Arctic fan instead of the Zalman as the PWM controlled rear exhaust on SYS_FAN2.

I made a mistake in my listing. The DVD DL burner is an IDE PATA not a SATA.

I will take some more pics and detail the case's internal connections after I complete all the connections.

Is it better to over-clock this unit to 3.2Ghz from the BIOS or through Gigabyte's utilities like EasyTune 6? I would prefer to over-clock it from the bios. I am concerned that if I changed operating systems I will lose the over clock settings.

Thanks
 

bilbat

Splendid
The case is more spacey than I expected.
Big cases are great! I've a Cosmos 1000, and when the box came I thought about renting it out to a family of illegals, or using it as a garage; and I freaked 'cause I figured I was going to need a crane to move it around the house! Now that I've filled it, all that space is much appreciated, even if it takes a lot of cable extensions...

Is it better to over-clock this unit to 3.2Ghz from the BIOS or through Gigabyte's utilities like EasyTune 6? I would prefer to over-clock it from the bios. I am concerned that if I changed operating systems I will lose the over clock settings.
Always from the BIOS! GB's EasyTune stuff is buggy and ill-conceived. When we do the OC, I will teach you how to save all your OC settings, both to the CMOS, and to another storage media, so if you get 'em blown away, it's a ten minute job to recover...

Just let me know when you're ready!

Bill
 

godofsharing

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The Cosmos is a huge! I have checked it out at Microcenter.

The fan just arrived I should have the extensions in a few days.

Thanks

GOS
 

bilbat

Splendid
The Cosmos is a huge! I have checked it out at Microcenter.

Huge indeed! I laughed my ass off when I ordered it from NewEgg; somebody there's wife took delivery of the box his Cosmos came in, and assumed it was a 'StairMaster' for her - he said he had to go out and buy her a damned StairMaster, just to shut her up!
 

godofsharing

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Hi bilbat:

I hope you had a great day.

Everything has arrived and assembled. I hope I didn't make a mess.

Here are updates of the items for the build:

1) ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
2) OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI 80 PLUS Modular Active Power Supply
3) Sunbeam RHK-BA Rheobus 5.25" Bay 4 Channel 20W Fan Controller Panel (Black)
4) SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card
5) GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
6) mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
7) Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
8) ZALMAN ZM - F3 120mm Case Fan: Quantity 5, (2 intakes, 2 exhaust, 1 internal 5.25 bay cooler)
10) Arctic Cooling ACF12PWM Arctic Fan 12 120mm Case Fan (Rear Exhaust connected via SYS_FAN2, with a (top-rear exhaust mounted)Zalman ZM-FS wired through the Artic's piggy back connector) The 3 pin plug to send fan RPM signal to motherboard is left unplugged due to no more open sockets on the motherboard.
10) Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
11) Zalman GS1000 Full Tower ATX Case Black
12) Super-WriteMaster Dual/Double Layer 22x DVD±RW Burner OEM SATA

MODIFICATIONS:

1. Scythe Bay Rafter 3.5" to 5.25" Drive Bay Adapter
2. Scythe Kaze Jyu Slim 100mm 1,000RPM Case Fan (Modded to fit as Intake at bottom of front 3.5 bays under Hard Drives) connected to UD3P's PWR_FAN,
3. 50mm 12v pentium III CPU cooler fan on NB chipset heat sink. Attached with DAP Household Sealant 100% silicone. Connected to SYS_FAN1.

After a few weeks I will get two more sticks of mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) and a sata 1TB Sata HD.

The WD 320GB sata is (hot swap) connected to the UD3P's SATA2_1 via the ZM-HS100's PCB SATA2_1 port. The ZM-HS100 Hot Swap PCB board is powered by two 4-pin 12v molex power connectors and the UD3P's SATA2_1, SATA2_2 are linked to the PCB's SATA2_1 and SATA2_2 accordingly. When the other sata 1TB Sata HD is installed, it will be (hot swap) connected to the UD3P's SATA2_2 via the ZM-HS100's PCB SATA2_2 port. The ZM-HS100's PCB SATA2_3 port is left unoccupied for space for the Scythe Kaze Jyu Slim 100mm 1,000RPM Case Fan to cool the bottom drives. Any additional sata HDs will be direct linked to the UD3P's SATA2_4 and SATA2_5 ports. SATA2_3 is reserved for an additional Optical SATA when it is added on.

Super-WriteMaster Dual/Double Layer 22x DVD±RW Burner OEM SATA directly connected to UD3P's SATA2_0

The Sunbeam RHK-BA Rheobus 5.25" Bay 4 Channel 20W Fan Controller, has four Zalman ZM-F3 120mm fans connected: (1) Top-front exhaust. (2) Bottom-rear intake. (3) Bottom-front intake. (4) Scythe Bay Rafter 3.5" to 5.25" Drive Bay Adapter.

1 x Dual eSATA PCI Expansion Bracket are connected to UD3P's (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1) and powered by a 4-pin molex connection from PSU.

Zalman GS1000 Full Tower ATX Case (Front I/O port):
USB x 2 (connected to UD3P's F_USB_1 header)
IEEE 1394a firewire (connected to UD3P's IEEE F1_1394 header)
AUDIO AZAZLIA(HD) (connected to UD3P's F_AUDIO header)
(Power Button) POWER_LED 3-pin (connected to UD3P's PWR_LED header)
(Power Button) POWER_SW (connected to UD3P's PW [power switch] F_PANEL header)

The cables are left loosely tied with temporary tie wraps and paint tape until a stable set up is maintained and they can be secured with cable ties for a more long term placement.

Here are the pics:

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9801/img3005t.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8603/img3004b.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/2254/img3003.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8953/img3001.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/7189/img3000r.jpg
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/886/img2999d.jpg
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/5501/img2998u.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9394/img2997z.jpg
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/7019/img2995n.jpg
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4947/img2992l.jpg
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/5001/img2991t.jpg
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2889/img2990y.jpg
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9456/img2989.jpg

I was hoping to OC the processor to about 3.2GHZ or a speed that will be easiest to adjust with the mushkin ram.

I don't think over-clocking is needed for the Sapphire video card.

Thank you for your time and help.

I would appreciate your expertise in this matter.

GOS
 

bilbat

Splendid
I'll work you up a set of BIOS parameters, hopefully this evening; I'd suggest a 3.4 overclock, as it allows use of one of the 'Intel standard' FSBs - 400 (x 8.5 = 3.4); I run mine at 450 x 8.5, at a fairly low voltage, and I think your MOBO is likely a better, more stable overclocker than mine (DS5)...
 

bilbat

Splendid
A lot of this is 'canned' - so if you've seen parts of it before, skip ahead!

GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel Q9550 1333FSB x8.5mult 2.83GHz .85-1.3625V
mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 memory: 5-5-5-15-2t 2.0-2.1v

If you haven't yet done it, start with a BIOS' "Load Optimized Defaults"

Before we start ramping things up, I want to teach you a new skill involving the BIOS: Do the <DEL> at the boot to enter the BIOS; notice, at the bottom, the <F11> "Save CMOS to BIOS" - hit this, and you should get a menu that will show a number (the count varies by BIOS) of empty 'slots', each of which will store an entire set of BIOS parameters, to be re-loaded from the corresponding <F12> "Load CMOS from BIOS"; this is a wonderful overclocker's feature. What I do with it, is to save my 'baseline' working parameters, so if I change something that 'irritates' the board, and forces a reset of all the parameters to defaults, or, even worse, get so screwed up I need to do a 'clear CMOS', I can get back to my starting point with no effort, and without having to remember 85 separate settings! Another thing it prevents is two hours' troubleshooting, having forgotten a change to a crucial parameter - like, "wait a minute - didn't I have the Trd at seven?!" It's pretty self-explanatory, and I alway urge people to start right away by taking the time to give the 'slots' names that mean something: in two hours, "Try2" and "Try3" will not be very helpful, but "450@+10MCH" and "450@+15MCH" will! Another use is for 'green' settings; overclocks, as a rule, do not 'play well' with green features, such as 'down-clocking' and 'down-volting'; with the storage slots, you can set up one profile, say "Green", with all the settings at 'stock' values, and all the 'green' features enabled; another, say "Balls2Wall" with a full overclock, and all the 'green' stuff turned off... Another neat feature of this 'slot' system is, for most BIOS, the mechanism itself will keep track of which ones have booted successfully, and how many times (up to, I believe, a max of five)!


On the "Advanced BIOS Features" page:

"CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)" to "Disabled"
"C2/C2E State Support" to "Disabled"
"C4/C4E State Support" to "Disabled"
"CPU Thermal Monitor 2 (TM2)" to "Enabled"
"CPU EIST Function" to "Disabled"
"Virtualization Technology" to "Enabled" - this allows use of Win7's fantastic VirtualXp feature...
"Full Screen LOGO Show" to "Disabled"

On the "Integrated Peripherals" page:

Your manual shows "Legacy USB storage detect", but later BIOS say "USB Storage Function" - either way, set to "Disabled"

On the "Power Management Setup" page:

"ACPI Suspend Type" to "S1(POS)" (for now...)
"HPET Support" to "Enabled"
"HPET Mode" to whichever OS type you're running - "32-bit" if an x86 version, "64-bit" if an x64 version...

On the "MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)" page:

"Robust Graphics Booster" to "Auto"
"CPU Clock Ratio" to "8"
"Fine CPU Clock Ratio" to ".5"
"CPU Frequency" - this one can't be set, it's calculated, and will change when we set the next few items...

******** Clock Chip Control ********
>>>>> Standard Clock Control

"CPU Host Clock Control" to "Enabled"
"CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)" to "401"
"PCI Express Frequency (Mhz)" to "100" (not auto...)
"C.I.A.2" to "Disabled"

******** DRAM Performance Control ********
"Performance Enhance" to "Standard"
"Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.)" to "Disabled"
"(G)MCH Frequency Latch" to "400"
"System Memory Multiplier (SPD)" to "2.66" (may have a 'D' after it...)

I think your separate "(G)MCH Frequency Latch" which we mostly refer to as a 'strap', and "Memory Multiplier" may relieve you of having to keep track of these by a cryptic letter or symbol in the multiplier table; with yours, you just tell it 'this one'! The strap is the reason we used a 401 clock instead of a nice even 400: the 'straps' are sets of northbridge timings - much like memory latencies, the faster you go, the 'looser' the timings have to be... There are four straps, corresponding to the Intel FSB ratings: 200 (800FSB), 266 (1066FSB), 333 (1333FSB), and 400 (1600FSB - Intel actually does make a 1600 FSB CPU - the QX9775 - but, I think, it's over $1500 a pop!); each strap has it's own set of available memory multipliers (ratios). The 2.66 we used (which is actually a 4:3 bus to bus ratio) is available only on the 400 strap. Anyway, the strap latencies, for some northbridges, don't 'kick in' until one over the selected strap; so, in other words, setting the clock to 401 guarantees that we're getting the 400 latencies/timings...

"Memory Frequency (Mhz)" - again, can't be set, it's calculated...
"DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD)" to "Manual"
You should be able to leave the rest of the memory settings alone; we haven't changed its actual speed, so it should keep working: We simply took it from a system clock of 333 (1333FSB) times a three point two multiplier (333 x 3.2 = 1066), to a system clock of 400 (1600FSB) times a two point six six multiplier (400 x 2.66 = 1066)

"Load-Line Calibration" to "Disabled" (this works differently on different boards - on mine, it's worse "enabled" than "disabled" - the function is supposed to cure a phenomenon called Vdroop - the CPU voltage regulation circuit causes the CPU core voltage to sag, or 'droop' under high loadings; hopefullt, we're going to be at a low enough voltage to just ignore this...)

"CPU Vcore" to "1.2500V"
& "MCH Core" to 1.200V" if you intend to add more than two sticks of ram...

And that should do it!

I should point out that getting two reboots in a row here is perfectly normal behavior; it seems that, when you change certain settings (and we don't exactly know which ones - the only sure one I know is Trd - if you change it, I think you get the 'twin' reboot) it boots once to 'see where it's at', recalculates its remaining 'auto' settings, saves them, and then boots again. Three reboots in a row, however, usually indicates that the board was 'given indigestion' by your settings, and is going back to defaults. This sometimes goes astray, and it doesn't get back into proper operation - for example, at this point, mine will sometimes 'lock' itself into 111MHz x a six multiplier - and take a week to do a whole boot - that's time to do a CMOS reset, and use your 'stored' <F12> profile to get back to where you were...

Good luck!

Bill