7NNXP gen questions

Just got a barebone refurb 7NNXP from newegg.com (only $108, can't go wrong I figured) and a 2500+. Love it so far, running 11x200 def. vcore for 3200+ speeds right now. Just a few q's...

1) Is there a specific BIOS that's better than the rest? I have the newest one (f13).
2) Does the DPS module help/hurt OCing or performance? I don't have one but if I should get it I can contact GB for one, correct?
3) Anything I should know about best performance settings?

TIA - Tom, AKA Axia.

Whats up Guy Named Tom and welcome to the infamous Overclockers.com forums. I want to also welcome you to the GA7NNXP owners club. HAHA

I think that I can answer some of your questions. If you take a look at my sig you will see that our rigs are fairly similar and I've logged about 2 months with this board. I ended up having to rma the first board that i had to newegg for stability issues, however the second one that i got has been a dream.

As for bioses im running a modded F12 bios built by a guy named -=PR3ACH3R=- (plug) that is sweet. Ive found that it was just plain more stable then the regular f12 so i am waiting for his version of the f13 until i switch. Honestly I really think that as long as you are running anything newer then the f11 you are fine.

As far as the DPS thing im running it right now. It doesn't seem to make too much of a noticeable difference. I definatly can get my barton to boot and run some benchies @ 2.4 - 2.5 with 1.7 vcore with decent temps, but i think that is preaty universal for people with similar setups. It does however raise my temps by about 1deg C. I think it might have to do with the fan from the dps either stealing some air from the proc fan or just simply running warm in so close of proximity to the proc.

In terms of performance settings. If u are new the gigabyte camp make sure that you hit ctrl+f1 upon entering the bios. This just unlocks the advanced settings in terms of ram timings etc. So just set you settings to expert and go for it. Every thing is kinda self explanitory after that. If u have further questions just post em.

A couple of things to note about this board... In earlier bioses it seems to report temps too low, however in the later bioses it seems to report just a touch high. Im not to sure about this fact but thats the word on the street. Also some people are having probs with the dps and some of the raid features on this board. I havent experienced these probs but i know that they are infact out there. so just watch out i guess, but it sounds like that you stuff is working alright.

If you have any further questions just feel free to ask. Im working fevershly on mine and right now im trying to eek every last inch out of it just to see how far i can go on less then a .2 vcore increase with air cooling (this is kinda my overclocking nitch) I just replaced all my case fns with 55 cfm fans and im going to replace my north bridge with one of those swiftech combos even though my sys temps are 27. If your interested in hearing of my saga just say something and u and i can keep posting here or u can just aim me at fulloferik to talk real time.

OptPrime