EX58-UD3R v1.6 Easy Q's

[gofasterstripes]

Hi guys - three short questions if you have a minute:

1) Does my board [V 1.6 with BIOS 'FI'] support SLI? It's not the SLI version of the board - but I thought they added support nonetheless? Anyone done it? I have a GTX 470 and adding another is a handy way to boost performance is few years!


2) My build took to crashing after I'd had it a few weeks and after some head-scratching I seem to have fixed it by bumping a couple of bus voltages.
QPI/Vtt is now 1.275, was 1.175
IOH Core is now 1.3, was 1.1
[These were the voltages I used to overclock to 3.6GHz [with a core bump] so I knew they were safe enough.

= No more crashes. Is this normal? - The V's were auto detected before to the values given. Do I need IOH this high? And Vtt? I can test but I don't really want to - might take ages!
My cooler is a CNPS-10X Extreme, and my ram is at 1.66V
CPU Only just hits 65 with Prime95, and chipset is up to 60C [too hot to touch!]


3) Is it me or is the Chipset heatsink cover with Gigabyte written on it a stoopid idea? Does it not prevent air getting to the heatsink as well - it sure doesn't line up with my processor fan!

Thanks a load in advance.

GfS

 

[bilbat]

1 - it does, indeed, support both Xfire and SLI... Seems to me I read in a letter of explanation from GB tech on NweEgg, that there are some kind of voodoo marketing regulations (from nVidia, I believe...) about never mentioning them both in the same breath!

2 - IOH isn't particularly fussy, it no longer contains the memory controller like the 775 MCH's did; QPI/Vtt want's to be within a half volt of Vdimm, so for the more or less 'normal' 1.65V for most fast RAM, it 'wants to be' at least 1.15 at the very minimum, more makes for more stability, and 'big' (4G DIMMs) or 'wide' (more than one DIMM per channel often takes sizeably more for stabiliity - 1.30 is a good starting point; in addition, the other 'rule' is that the uncore mutiplier must be at least two times the RAM multiplier, and, for some peculiar reasons, odd uncores work best, so U = 2R +1, i.e., if you want to run a x10 RAM mult, uncore will be 'happiest' at x21...

3 - nah, it's not just you - they are stuuupid! People tell me that, if you're careful when prying off, to not kink them, they make excellent case badges, though [:bilbat:5] Only thing I'd advise is: let it 'percolate for a while before you yank 'em - I'm thinking GB will not take kindly to an RMA'd board minus their glitzy advertising junque... My understanding is that they will not even accept a board back whose CPU socket cover you've lost or misplaced!

 

[gofasterstripes]

That's a pretty damn comprehensive answer! Brill!

Though I am still a little unsure about IOH - I need the computer to last for many years [hence no overclock 24/7] is IOH [x58 chipset?] voltage of 1.3 still within standard spec? Can I leave it there forever or should I try to get it back down? Maybe heat is the deciding factor and I know a chipset temp of 60ish is fine according to Intel.

Awesome....

 

[bilbat]

Always

!

The IOH just isn't doing all that much - I think it should be stable at stock - 1.1V; the only time I've heard of folks raising its voltage is the 'really extreme' guys, who've found one of the keys to outrageous OCs is to bump up the PCIe frequency (BTW - you have what I consider to be GB's best x58 board; the 'first-gen' boards had a bus termination problem that required hardware modding to get PCIe's beyond, say, 104; the 1.6 rev is really the first 'second-gen' board, with this problem fixed, but doesn't have a lot of 'experimental crap' [USB3, SATA3] hung off it!), but aside from that, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone boosting the Vioh past stock... I think it's likely your stability came from the QPI/Vtt 'bump', and little else. The X58 only has a TDP of 24W, and, like all the MCHs/ICHs, has a Tcase_max of 100°C (some of 'em are even higher )!

As for OCing, I OC everything - but I do it 'gently'! The thing that 'kills' chips in the long haul is not really heat (but you do want decent cooling - my 775 workstation is on water, and still has nine fans in it, not counting the PSU's fan), but electromigration from a combination of high temps and, mainly, excessive voltages... I have found that every Intel chip I've 'fiddled with' can do an easy 20-25% 'speed bump' at either stock, or very slightly increased drive voltage - all you really need is 'other than stock' CPU cooling. The provided Intel 'rotary postage stamps' are marginal, and are intended for design TDP with all the 'green/downclock/downvolt' features enabled. People go nuts with the cooling, and spend way too much on getting out that 'last erg' of heat, but, really, any aftermarket cooler will move two to three times the heat of the stock junque!

 

[gofasterstripes]

That's great - have turned vIOH down to just over 1.1, chipset temp is lower as a result too. No problems as of yet.

How do I mark the thread as 'solved', and yours as the best answer?

 

[bilbat]

Think this thread was started as a 'discussion', so I believe it won't allow that... If you look at the list of threads, you'll note that some have a sort of red 'caption mark' with a quote mark in them ('discussion' threads), while most have the same red 'caption mark' or box, with a question mark inside ('question' threads), and only those allow selection of best answer. So far as I know, only a moderator can change one, and if I'm not mistaken, the 'transformation' only works one way - either they can change a question to a discussion, or vice-versa, but not both!

Anyhow:

Always

!