Gigabyte X38-DS5 (X38s/DS4s/DQ6s) BIOS settings for overclocking

[mdamda]

Hey all,

I've been searching around many forums looking for what various X38 BIOS settings actually do (My last system was a s939 AMD64 that had less than half the current motherboard's complexity)

So, would anyone care to explain the ff and how these can affect overclocking?

1. Loadline calibration - I've read about this in some motherboard reviews but they only mentioned what setting they had on.

2. FSB & MCH voltage - from what I've read, FSB is the northbridge and the MCH is the southbridge. So I take it that the FSB voltage usually is upped more?

3. MCH reference voltage control (Options: NORMAL, +10%, -10%) - ?

4. DDR reference voltage control (Options: NORMAL, +10%, -10%) - ?

5. DDR termination voltage (Options: NORMAL, +50mV, -50mV) - ?

6. CPU GTLREF1 (Options: NORMAL, +3%, -3%, -6%)

7. CPU GTLREF2 (Options: NORMAL, -3%, -6%, -9%)

The latter five just seem like jargon to me.

*Oh, would anyone care to explain/point me in the direction of the differences between vdrop and vdroop as well as what VID is? :/

Thank you!

-mdamda

 

[mdamda]

Anyone ?

 

[Hajimesaito]

I would also like to work out what these BIOS settings mean? also including the

DDR OverVoltage Control (technically it would mean pumping extra juice(voltage) into your DDR memory right? but the crappy thing is nowhere in the BIOS settings lets u set your memory "voltage" so how do you know how much to add?)

good luck getting an answer mdamda

cheers
Haji

 

[mdamda]

Yup. I know the default voltage should be 1.8v on the DDR2 overvoltage settings.

I'm running my 1.9v DDR2 sticks at +.1v (memtest starts popping errors at default).

 

[Ceegar]

I would also like to work out what these BIOS settings mean? also including the

DDR OverVoltage Control (technically it would mean pumping extra juice(voltage) into your DDR memory right? but the crappy thing is nowhere in the BIOS settings lets u set your memory "voltage" so how do you know how much to add?)

Haji,

I have the same board. I've dabbled a little in overclocking before, mainly just the CPU and vcore settings, but I haven't done a whole lot of playing with memory settings. From what I see go to the PC Health section in your BIOS and it will show you what your current value is for your memory voltage. Then go into the MIT section in the BIOS, set System Voltage Control to manual, then make your adjustments in the DDR2 Overvoltage Control menu.

In my case my RAM is supposed to run at stock 2.1v but this board was only feeding it 1.8v so I bumped up the Overvoltage Control setting by +.30 to get it up to 2.1v.

I'm not quite finished with this build yet. I just put it together the other night and I'm still trying to learn some of the other tweaking techniques I can apply to this thing that I've never quite dabbled with before, so I'm still learning, mainly trying to tighten up the memory timings to get it at 4-4-4-12 like it's supposed to be.

 

[munkman]

i could also do with some information abiout these settings, i've just built a new system, e8400,x38 ds4,2x1gb giel ull.

trying to get stable at 4ghz (445x9) atm but not having much luck. i can boot int owindows but orthos fails after 18mins of blend test.

vcore 1.375
ddr +0.40v (2.1v)
mch ?
fsb +0.15 (does his need to be higher?
ce1 disabled etc.

any help would be much apprieciated!

cheers
munk

 

[Ceegar]

i could also do with some information abiout these settings, i've just built a new system, e8400,x38 ds4,2x1gb giel ull.

trying to get stable at 4ghz (445x9) atm but not having much luck. i can boot int owindows but orthos fails after 18mins of blend test.

vcore 1.375
ddr +0.40v (2.1v)
mch ?
fsb +0.15 (does his need to be higher?
ce1 disabled etc.

any help would be much apprieciated!

cheers
munk

I'm no expert but I'm GUESSING you might have to start playing with your memory dividers now to lower your memory frequency - it's probably getting close to being maxed out. I don't know the RAM you're using but I imagine that's what's holding you back right now with the 1780 fsb you're at. Have you tried loosening up your timings just a bit? What are your current timings settings at and your RAM frequency readings?

Someone in an earlier post a bit back had that chip a touch past 4GHz I think I saw and his RAM frequency was at 890 - he couldn't have achieved that on 800 MHz RAM on that overclock without using the divider.

 

[munkman]

hey thanks for replying

i'm curreltny using 2.00d divider(1:1 400mhz) 2.2v 4,4,4,12 with geil ultra low latency(2.1v...max 2.3v) @ 890mhz.

i'm currently trying to work out how to get memtest working from a usb drive!

do you recomend i change this divider, i was under the impression its easy to get 900mhz with this ram

 

[munkman]

doesnt seem that many people have these boards?

could do with some additonal bios infomration/settings!

 

[mdamda]

I suppose most P35s with decent overclocking options should have similar settings as well. Most likely with different names though.

I wish motherboard manufacturers would not give manual descriptions of:

Option X
Allows the changing of option X.

I got that on my old A64 A8V too :/

 

[th3]

So, would anyone care to explain the ff and how these can affect overclocking?

1. Loadline calibration - I've read about this in some motherboard reviews but they only mentioned what setting they had on.

2. FSB & MCH voltage - from what I've read, FSB is the northbridge and the MCH is the southbridge. So I take it that the FSB voltage usually is upped more?

3. MCH reference voltage control (Options: NORMAL, +10%, -10%) - ?

4. DDR reference voltage control (Options: NORMAL, +10%, -10%) - ?

5. DDR termination voltage (Options: NORMAL, +50mV, -50mV) - ?

6. CPU GTLREF1 (Options: NORMAL, +3%, -3%, -6%)

7. CPU GTLREF2 (Options: NORMAL, -3%, -6%, -9%)

The latter five just seem like jargon to me.

2. MCH Is the northbridge, FSB is the FSB. You will need to mess with both when you OC above FSB ~450, MCH being the most important. The other voltages mentioned you can ignore for now.

1. The Loadline Calibration is pure crap on my DS5, didnt always work, upping the vcore instead made a serious improvement in stability. Loadline Calibration is for those who think low vcore is the holy grail of OC, it gives you slightly lower idle temps (if its working 100%) and bragging rights among the "OMG above 1.4v will kill your chip" noobs and not much more.

 

[mdamda]

Interesting note about the MCH/NB.

I noticed (via CPU-Z) that having loadline calibration enabled keeps the load/idle voltages closer to the one set in the BIOS.

 

[th3]

I noticed (via CPU-Z) that having loadline calibration enabled keeps the load/idle voltages closer to the one set in the BIOS.

Thats what its supposed to do, but it didnt do it all the time. Maybe it was only my board, will try to get a new DS5 tomorrow and then maybe test again when a new Bios is out.

 

[Monty_Python]

Welcome Manda

Lots of people here use Gigabyte boards, give them a bit of time to respond.

 

[cw823]

vcore 1.375
ddr +0.40v (2.1v)
mch ?
fsb +0.15 (does his need to be higher?
ce1 disabled etc.

any help would be much apprieciated!

cheers
munk

+0.40v is 2.2v for your DDR2, not 2.1

 

[munkman]

yeah man sorry, i made a mistake

running at 2.2v @ 445

 

[veryhumid]

1. load line calibration

When you CPU does work, the voltage to the chip drops. This is sometimes called vDroop. Load line calibration keeps the vCore close to what you have set in the BIOS to avoid this droop. I'm using it with good results since my board droops quite a lot without it. Anandtech had some issues, but as long as you keep an eye on how high it actually goes, you should be fine.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3184&p=6

I found some more info about why eliminating vDroop might be bad at Tom's:

from: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245981-29-vcore-vdroop-questions
There are two things.

vDrop (vOffset) which is BIOS (BIOS is also the VID setting) to Windows Idle
vDroop which is Windows Idle to Windows Load

Excessive vDrop can make it harder to achieve a high overclock (if the max Voltage in the BIOS is 1.7v and you have a .1v vOffset than the max voltage you can achieve is 1.6v Real). Some people want to eliminate it for that reason.

vDroop is there to prevent a voltage spike above VID. If you have a power circuit under full load and switch to completely idle it will spike the voltage for a second. vDroop prevents this spike from exceeding VID. It's not a bad thing or a good thing, it's just there.

Removing vDroop can also potentially put too much of a strain on the power circuit and cause burned out MOSFETs if the board was designed with vDroop in mind (which most are).

The reason people remove vDroop is that if you need 1.4v at full load to be stable would it be better (for temperatures) to have a 1.408v Idle or 1.5v Idle? The latter has more vDroop.

Message edited by cnumartyr on 02-06-2008 at 06:18:05 PM

 

[AnWAr]

Hi!

Im new, and i have question i have got E8400 and i overclocked maximum 4Ghz i cant go forward! Can give me someone settings for bios?

I have:

Corsair Hx 750W
Gigabyte X38-Ds5 (bios Version f6)
E8400
Muskin "redline" 1000Mhz 5-5-5-15

Thank u!

i hope u understand.

 

[AnWAr]

Anyone??

 

[AnWAr]

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