Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 loves the FSB!

[6spdkeg]

Another update: I discovered late last night that, if you're watercooling and thus do not have a CPU fan to supply the NB and Mosfet sinks with some breeze, then you will likely have problems with uber-FSB at stock voltage.

The heatsink on this board is very large and quite adequate, but obviously it needs at least a little airflow to work. I'll be hitting Radio Snack at lunch today to source a 40mm fan to tide me over until I feel like ordering a better / prettier one from the Egg.

Further, this may be the underlying issue with my CPU clocking problems. Here's hoping

This is why I am ording a xclio case that comes with 2 HUGE 25cm sidemount fans that blow on the Motherboard.

Also this is why I'm buying a CPU fan that doesn't just push air out the back of the computer and actually pulls the air from the side/spreads the air out all around it.. .

 

[Brolloks]

This is why I am ording a xclio case that comes with 2 HUGE 25cm sidemount fans that blow on the Motherboard.

Also this is why I'm buying a CPU fan that doesn't just push air out the back of the computer and actually pulls the air from the side/spreads the air out all around it.. .

That would help, though I found the best is to actually have a little (40 mm) fan mounted onto the NB sink to drive any heat away, or get a HSF combo.... this is what I have and works like a champ.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835116018

 

[Albuquerque]

I'm not entirely sure about that cooler, it might fit, but it's gonna be a close call with the stock NB and MOSFET heatsinks on this board. I can't tell how tall it gets over the board; it just might angle up enough to be out of the way.

I think any sort of CPU fan would be fine for keeping the NB and MOSFETs cool; I just happen to not have one And while I good have airflow through the case (radiator has two 120mm pulling from the lower-front to a 120mm and 150mm in the upper-rear), that still doesn't get it through all the tiny little fins in the NB sink.

$5 at the Shack should fix it. If the Shack even still carries those kinds of parts any more. Total side tangent: I hate what Radio Shack has become

 

[6spdkeg]

I'm not entirely sure about that cooler, it might fit, but it's gonna be a close call with the stock NB and MOSFET heatsinks on this board. I can't tell how tall it gets over the board; it just might angle up enough to be out of the way.

I think any sort of CPU fan would be fine for keeping the NB and MOSFETs cool; I just happen to not have one And while I good have airflow through the case (radiator has two 120mm pulling from the lower-front to a 120mm and 150mm in the upper-rear), that still doesn't get it through all the tiny little fins in the NB sink.

$5 at the Shack should fix it. If the Shack even still carries those kinds of parts any more. Total side tangent: I hate what Radio Shack has become

heh.. . well from http://www.zalmanusa.com/ it says I need this clearance for running that fan:
1.) No motherboard components such as the PSU, disk drives, VGA card, and RAM with a height greater than 39mm
** With the ram I should be fine b/c I'm not using ones with a tall heatsink.
2.) edge of fins = 61.5mm from center of CPU

If you feel nice today are playin around and want to take a measurement of how tall your ram and the Mobo's nb heatsinks are, that'd be GREAT!!

Brolloks, I'll just depend on my 2qty 25cm fans to blow the bageebas out of the Motherboard.. . Not to worried about air flow over the mobo components

With the Xclio case I'm trying to keep the number of fans I use to a minimum. 2x25cm case, 2xPSU (pull from within/push out backside), CPU, GPUx2 the case > http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811103011

I hate those cases that have 4+ case fans alone

I'm going to run a 10,000rpm raptor HDD so that is going to add to the noise as well.. .

 

[Coreyhm1]

this is the board i plan on getting within the next week.

How do you think it will OC paird with a E8400 and 4x1gb of Corsair XMS2 DDR2800 (5-5-5-12)

I hope my ram doesn't have problems with it..



Outside of the cooling problems your having, would you recommend it after using it?

 

[Albuquerque]

I didn't get a chance to go play with the 'puter last night, so my apologies to 6spdkeg for not having measurements yet.

As for this board? Oh hell yeah, definitely keeping it. Any motherboard can have NB heat problems when you're watercooling, because the manufacturers (correctly) assume that 99.9% of the public is going to have a fan over the CPU anyway. I'm waiting for a 50mm to come back into stock at NewEgg (along with the 3870X2's ) so I can order one of each and start cruising.

I also have a feeling that my CPU clocking issues are related to the hot NB. If the NB is Orthos stable for 14 hours at 550FSB with zero additional voltage and no cooling, then I'm assuming it's either just heat or the CPU that's keeping me from getting well past 4Ghz.

So yeah, this board rocks hard. Oh, and CF scores are fantastic, but i don't have a non-X38 chipset to compare against in order to say it's all because of the dual PCI-E 2.0 x16 lanes or not.

 

[6spdkeg]

I didn't get a chance to go play with the 'puter last night, so my apologies to 6spdkeg for not having measurements yet.

I'm waiting for a 50mm to come back into stock at NewEgg (along with the 3870X2's ) so I can order one of each and start cruising.

No prob on not getting the measurements.. . It's kind of a bit much to ask of someone I don't even know but hey, cheers if you go the extra mile for me and the community! Knowing the measurements will further insure that others wont order a fan set that wont fit.

3870x2s? hmm.. . too much for my blood. I'll stick with getting a single 3870 and then add one if it can't do the job for me.

 

[Albuquerque]

3870x2s? hmm.. . too much for my blood. I'll stick with getting a single 3870 and then add one if it can't do the job for me.

I've already got a pair; nowhere to go but up!

 

[Maverick0984]

The board booted and passed memtest at 550 same specs as above, except the memory needed 2.2v to run stable. I'm weary of leaving the ram at those settings without some extra cooling, so I'm letting it run Orthos overnight at 525 x 6.

Why only 525? Because tomorrow, so long as Orthos has behaved, I'll kick 'er up to 525 x 8

I wouldn't be worried with feeding the Ballistix 2.2v...that's stock for them.

 

[Albuquerque]

It was more a heat decision than a stability decision, and I was running them at 2.0v and not 2.2 (my bad on the incorrect info)

 

[6spdkeg]

I might have sold a $1200 Fiberglass front end conversion kit for a car this weekend! This board and all components might be hitting my door step here real soon!! YAHOO!!

 

[Albuquerque]

6spdkeg: If you do decide to get this board, I don't know that you should get that CPU cooler or you may not make it over the northbridge sink. By my rough handheld ruler calculation (which only has individual centimeter markings) the NB sits about 4.5cm off the board. I don't know if Zalman starts counting from the base of their heatsink (meaning you'd get a little extra clearance since the CPU assembly all sits up off the board by a small amount) or if they start counting from where the motherboard should be.

I still haven't found a proper 50mm fan for that northbridge yet, but I did a bunch of testing last night with an 80mm fan blowing straight onto the NB. This board loves FSB, but for some reason I can't match the CPU clocking that Brolloks was able to get. I might sell the CPU again and try my luck with an E8400 since I have so much FSB headroom to play with.

 

[th3]

Nice board, i will try a Gigabyte X38 then maybe. But, DS4 not yet available here, is DS5 as good as DS4 for high FSB?

 

[Albuquerque]

Can't speak for the DS5; kinda wish we had that one here as I might've bought it instead

 

[6spdkeg]

6spdkeg: If you do decide to get this board, I don't know that you should get that CPU cooler or you may not make it over the northbridge sink. By my rough handheld ruler calculation (which only has individual centimeter markings) the NB sits about 4.5cm off the board. I don't know if Zalman starts counting from the base of their heatsink (meaning you'd get a little extra clearance since the CPU assembly all sits up off the board by a small amount) or if they start counting from where the motherboard should be.

I still haven't found a proper 50mm fan for that northbridge yet, but I did a bunch of testing last night with an 80mm fan blowing straight onto the NB. This board loves FSB, but for some reason I can't match the CPU clocking that Brolloks was able to get. I might sell the CPU again and try my luck with an E8400 since I have so much FSB headroom to play with.

yeah, at the height of 4.5 CM, that Zalman wont fit.. . I'm pretty sure they figure that you need to measure ONLY from the base of the mobo to the top of the RAM and NB.

I'm thinking this is my next best option for a fan that blows straight at the mobo. I'd like to get better dimensions on it before I buy though
Thermaltake CL-P0310 120mm CPU Cooling Fan - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835106080

I'm pretty set that the best cooler for the CPU in conjuction with my case is going to be one that blows on the mobo. If I can't fit one I guess I might just go with a Water Cooling system for just the CPU.

If I go water cooling, Ithis changes the PSU that I will get so that has a bottom mount 120mm+ fan so that will suck air from the NB/CPU area pretty good. Before I was going to rely on just the CPU fan and side fans to cool the mobo but with water cooling it would be good to have a PSU pulling air up to the top of the case .

As an engineer that has designed plant cooling systems, I'm probably getting a little too caught up on the details here but I feel it is really important to have all the fans flowing in a manor that wont impeed eachother or effect another fan's efficiency.

 

[Albuquerque]

Yeah, my case is one of those massive TT Armor models, except when I bought mine, they didn't have the killer 25cm fan on the side. My 250x120mm radiator stands up in the front of the case taking up the bottom like seven or eight drive bays.

120mm fans draw through the rad, air flows up to the sideways-mounted PSU with it's 140mm fan and out. I also have another 120mm fan on the rear for further exhaust. Cool air comes in low, hot air exhausts up high. Love it

Loudest thing in the whole case is the damned PowerColor fans on the pair of 3870's. Wish there was a way to modify those fan speeds without having to get phyiscal with them. PowerColor did something dumb in the BIOS where you can no longer control the fanspeed with software

 

[th3]

Picked up a GA-X38-DS5 today, nice price, results with my week 31 3060 will follow, tomorrow i hope.

 

[th3]

Took too long to change the MB, followed by lots of Kernel Panic trying to use the old Debian4 installation, then a good while messing with bios settings before i had any success in reinstalling debian (setting Native IDE for sata 0-3 to Enabled fixed it.

Currently running dual Mprime at FSB500, that was too easy. Now i just hope my CPU will not wall out on me too early. Btw, am locked into using Bios F2, would like to update to F5 but cant find any way to do it without installing Windows Had enough installing for today so that will have to wait.

 

[th3]

FSB 550, dual prime ~9 minutes and counting. vMCH is at +0.3v. Nice board i think, im feeling ready for E8500 to hit the streets.

 

[Albuquerque]

You might try backing the MCH voltage to stock; I don't need ANY extra MCH or FSB voltage to get 550FSB. I did need an extra fan though