Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 slow install

[Clint501]

I just got this combo from EggHead


RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Modular LED Power Supply

Western Digital Caviar Green WD15EADS 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - (DOA return for refund)

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750

RAIDMAX Quantum ATX-798WB Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 (got 8 gig total)

GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

First off - the hard drive was DOA - so I sent it back for refund (bad reviews on this drive) using another I had.

Everything else seems OK but when I start to install Win 7 Home Prem - it is slooowww!

I've read some about setting the memory speed to 1.65 but not sure if I have setup the BIOS correctly. I have it set on Optimum Performance and have flashed the BIOS to F4 (most recent). I also want to install Win 7 in 64 bit.
Do I need to change any setting in the BIOS to do this. I had to change my Asus P5N32 SLI SE Deluxe to Extended Memory Mapping before the 64 bit took effect? Do I have to do something similar in the Gigabyte BIOS?

Any help would be appreciated

 

[masterasia]

Windows 7 is searching for all your components and installing drivers, that's why it's slow. I've noticed that if I disabled the floppy completely, the install will come up faster.

I have experienced the slow install of Windows 7 several times already. It's normal.

 

[Clint501]

Thanks, I guess I was just impatient. After waiting long enough it installed OK. Eveything is pretty fast now after the final install process. I get a bit confused about messing with the BIOS and over clocking so I'm staying pretty much in the "stock" settings but I wanted to be sure my RAM was being used at the proper voltage and speed. It's being detected at 1333 so I think I manually need to set it to 1600 and 1.65 volts

 

[masterasia]

Thanks, I guess I was just impatient. After waiting long enough it installed OK. Eveything is pretty fast now after the final install process. I get a bit confused about messing with the BIOS and over clocking so I'm staying pretty much in the "stock" settings but I wanted to be sure my RAM was being used at the proper voltage and speed. It's being detected at 1333 so I think I manually need to set it to 1600 and 1.65 volts

Yes, Most ram need to be set manually. Set it to the specification of that ram. Voltage, speed, and timing.
You can check it using CPU-Z or Everest

 

[newbie123]

So how do you like this build? I've got it sitting in my shopping cart with newegg. Would love the feedback. The price is right.

 

[ekoostik]

With an i5 750 in that motherboard you're limited to a max memory multiplier of 10 - unless that option has changed with the most recent BIOS. If it has changed and you can select x12 please let me know.

Assuming the max you can select is 10, to get your memory to run at 1600 you'll have to raise your bclk to 160, and will be OCing your CPU in the process. You could turn on XMP if your RAM supports it, but that will end up doing the same thing.

Of course since you'll be OCing your CPU to get to 1600MHz you'll want to test for stability. This article shows they were able to run at bclk of 160 (I'm linking the relevant page but the entire article is a good read): http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=18
But you'll want to verify your own system.

Here's another article on OCing the 750: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-750-overclock,2438.html

Alternatively, you could leave your RAM at 1333MHz and try to tighten up the timings. There's an arguement to be made that the performance bump in going to 1600MHz is not noticeable in the real world and tighter timings would be just as good if not better.

Another thing I should mention: When I started playing around my RAM settings, I discovered that I 'lost' the ability to idle at low speeds and more importantly I lost the turbo. Turbo was one of the main reasons I chose the new 1156 chips so I was not willing to let this happen just to get a marginal bump in RAM speed. After investigating the BIOS I discovered that a number of settings that were set to "Auto" were treated as Enabled if I left the BIOS alone, but were treated as Disabled as soon as I started tweaking things such as my RAM. So changing some settings from Auto to Enabled returned my low idle and high Turbo.

The changes I had to make in the BIOS were on the Advanced CPU Core Features page:
Intel Turbo Boost Tech. - changed from Auto to Enabled
CPU Cores Enabled - left as All
CPU Multi-Threading - left as Enabled
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) - changed from Auto to Enabled
C3/C6/C7 State Support - changed from Auto to Enabled
CPU Thermal Monitor - changed from Auto to Enabled
CPU EIST Function - changed from Auto to Enabled
Bi-Directional PROCHOT - changed from Auto to Enabled

 

[Clint501]

So how do you like this build? I've got it sitting in my shopping cart with newegg. Would love the feedback. The price is right.

I like it as a whole. I had to give up my HDTV card because the GeForce 260 covered up a PCI slot. So I had it to do over again I think I'd look at a different layout on the motherboard. It all seems fast. The hard drive was bad but NewEgg refunded the money. Plenty of room in the case. I could do without all the blue lights but that's OK. Longer cables on the power supply would be nice but they are sufficient.