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Sluggish i7-920 on Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME

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ahmad.obay

Registered
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Location
Dubai
Hello All,

I built a new system but it's not running as it should and I'm having a very hard time figuring out what is wrong with it :confused::bang head.

The configuration is as follows:



Basically what I'm facing is a sluggish/choppy/laggy (somtimes freezing) running performance when doing any multi-tasking/multi-threading action like staring more than one application at the same time or

switching between running apps. I'm getting used to the choppy sound of Windows login wave file as all other processes are loading at the same time.


The same behaviour is consistent across Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 2008 32-bit, and Windows 2008 64-bit. But it's much more obvious in Windows 2008 64-bit.

Following are my observations... hope they would make sense to anyone:
  • POST takes much longer than it should be. Specially before showing the memory count. Sometimes for as long as 20 seconds
  • Playing Company of Heroes (on maximum resolution & AA) is very smoth and lagg free
  • Playing Crysis Warhead also doesn't suffer any problems
  • CPU Temprature is between 43 when idle to 80 when in heavy load for a long time (Prime95 for 8 hours)...
  • Enabling/Disabling EIST & C1E doesn't seem to make any difference
  • Changing memory settings (enable XMP, set latency values manualy, etc..) doesn't seem to make any difference
  • Simply loading optimized settings from BIOS also doesn't seem to make any difference
  • As I'm writing this now in notepad, and posting it on the post page back, it takes a fraction of a second to switch between Chrome & Notepad and I can see Notepad flickering while listing the text lines.
  • Once switched for another app for a while, and long as I'm not doing anything else, the app works ok

Time taken to Boot to Windows 2008 64x
  • Power Botton --> POST OK beep (00:10 Min) <-- is 10 seocnds normal? is it because of the graphics card booting?
  • POST OK beep --> Looking for boot device (00:16 Min) <-- Long delay between shwoing the motherboard model number to listing memory & SATA devices
  • Windows Boot Menu --> Windows Progress bar (00:34 Min)
  • Windows Progress bar --> Black Screen (00:00 Min)
  • Black Screen --> Applying Computer Settings (01:10 Min) <-- This is over 1 min of windows doing nothing / locked somewhere
  • Applying Computer Settings --> Login Window (00:29 Min)
  • Login Window --> System Ready to Use (00:50 Min)
  • Total System boot time from power to ready system (02:29 Min)


I've been trying to troubleshoot this system for a couple of weeks now with no success. I checked every single component and all components seem to have good reviews and no known issues. I don't think I'm

alone though, Googling for i7/sluggish/slow returned similar cases but no real solution.

Appreciate if anyone can share his ideas on what the problem could be.

TIA
Obay
 
Have you tried stripping down to bare minimum needed to boot? No DVD, 1 HD, etc
With no storage devices attached at all, do you still see the same delay before
memory count in POST? Do you have another video card you can try? Elimination
and substitution are probabily your best bets to determine what device
is causing the delays. Strip down to motherboard, CPU and 1 stick of RAM
if you have to, and observe the POST delay.

My guess is that you have a device which is not initializing properly, hence
the longer POST and long black screen delay during boot. Also, don't rule out
the monitor, during the black screen is usually the time when the video card is
being initialized and that includes monitor detection.
 
Thanks for your reply. I'll be very surprised if it's the graphics card given that both the MB & the VGA are from Gigabyte.

1 memory stick vs. 3 didn't make a difference. That was one of the first things i tried.

I'm suspecting the HDDs & the DVD though like you mentioned... will disconnect them and see how it goes.
 
Ok... 1 mem vs 3 makes no difference... confirmed.. just tested it again.

Disconnecting the DVD makes POST faster but doesn't resolve the hanging issue in Windows.

I avoided using the main SATA ports for the HDDs and used Gigabyte SATA port instead and that also didn't make any difference.

Running with only 1 HDD connected while 2nd HDD and DVD disconnected... gives same results
 
it has to be a setting or something else with the bios. have you updated the bios and/or reflashed (if already on the latest one)?
 
Updated the BIOS after i bought from F4 to F5 (released 26-Feb-2009).

No difference before & after updating.
 
I want to say it's a memory issue but it could be the memory or the motherboard.
 
Wireless internet maybe? My machine would hang while searching for a network if one wasn't immediately detected.

Plus, I've heard the gigabyte boards and some other ex58 boards just flat out boot slow.
 
Do you, or anyone you know have some 1Gb sticks you could try ? even 2 X 1Gb set would be fine for testing.
Make sure if you change the ram, clear cmos before you test.

Could you also list, or better yet take screen shots of you bios settings.

Multi, mem, volts, qpi, uncore etc etc don't leave anything out even if it's only on Auto.
 
Hi Obay,

Really interested in you problem as I've built a similar system and can't put my finger on what the issue is... would be really interested in whether you manage to find a solution.

My configuration is as follows:

s * Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME Motherboard
s * Intel Core i7-920 Processor + stock heat sink fan
s * Corsair Dominator 6GB DD3 1833Mhz Memory Kit
d * 2GB Sapphire HD 4870 X2, PCI-E 2.0
d * 2 X 1TB Western Digital WD10EADS Green (RIAD & AHCI disabled)
d * MSI 22x IDE DVD Burner
d * 1100W Coolermaster UCP1100 PSU
d * Front and rear fans fitted for airflow (recycled from old system)
* OS Windows Vista 64

Best of luck,

David
 
also after you flashed did you run setup defaults in bios, then reconfigure
 
Obay, on April 1, my rig was behaving just like yours. I first thought I had the confliker virus that was so publicized. In my case it was: my SATA optical drive (pioneer), it shows up in the systray (lower right) as a USB device and all runs well when that little icon is there. I or someone in my family clicked on that icon and shut it down as if removing a USB flash drive. Everything slowed down exactly as you describe. Solution: I removed the drive in "Device Manager" shut down, opened up the case and switched the data cable to another sata port on the mobo (probably un-necessary), and rebooted and let Vista Ultimate 64/sp1 re-install the drive (USB icon back in the systray) everything was back to normal again.
 
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