FRONTPAGE Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3-B3 Review & Intel SRT Analysis

[Overclockers.com]

Gigabyte motherboards are well known for their quality, features, and innovation. The GA-Z68A-D3-B3 is one of the products that has the quality, but is a little lacking on the features and innovations. However, the price point at $100 more than makes up for those deficiencies.

Intel's Smart Response Technology allows users who want speed and capacity from their storage solutions to use a solid state drive as cache for a mechanical...

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[EarthDog]

Excellent information on the SRT technology on this mobo archer!!!

 

[Archer0915]

Excellent information on the SRT technology on this mobo archer!!!

Thanks. I honestly expected better benches and less feel. I am more than happy that the numbers made a liar of me.

 

[koovoodoo]

Hello Archer0915,
Thanks for the review. I got this board a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to OC. I was wondering if you could share with me your settings for when you OC stably to 4.5? I've been reading and I don't know how to change the vcore for this board. Thank you

 

[Archer0915]

Hello Archer0915,
Thanks for the review. I got this board a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to OC. I was wondering if you could share with me your settings for when you OC stably to 4.5? I've been reading and I don't know how to change the vcore for this board. Thank you

If you are using a K CPU the inital OC is simple.

Go to M.I.T. in BIOS (DEL at startup) and set your cpu ratio to 45 and set bclock to 100. Because of the low OC that I used I left everything in AUTO under Advanced Voltage Settings but they are rather easy to change.

I would suggest starting a thread in the Intel CPU section after you read this: http://www.techreaction.net/2011/01/04/3-step-overclocking-guide-–-sandy-bridge-v0-1beta/

Evert CPU is diffrent so I cant give you exact settings but the guide will get you started.

 

[koovoodoo]

If you are using a K CPU the inital OC is simple.

Go to M.I.T. in BIOS (DEL at startup) and set your cpu ratio to 45 and set bclock to 100. Because of the low OC that I used I left everything in AUTO under Advanced Voltage Settings but they are rather easy to change.

I would suggest starting a thread in the Intel CPU section after you read this: http://www.techreaction.net/2011/01/04/3-step-overclocking-guide-–-sandy-bridge-v0-1beta/

Evert CPU is diffrent so I cant give you exact settings but the guide will get you started.

Thanks. I have the i2500k and I've been OCing with multiplier at 43, but when I puss to 45 (and even 44) it would BSOD on stress test. Everything was in auto. I know that every processor is different and every MB is different. I was just wondering if your board showed anything that meant "vcore" so that I can start tweaking that setting. My board doesn't seem to have any setting for vcore that I know of. Again, thanks and thanks for the links.

 

[Archer0915]

Thanks. I have the i2500k and I've been OCing with multiplier at 43, but when I puss to 45 (and even 44) it would BSOD on stress test. Everything was in auto. I know that every processor is different and every MB is different. I was just wondering if your board showed anything that meant "vcore" so that I can start tweaking that setting. My board doesn't seem to have any setting for vcore that I know of. Again, thanks and thanks for the links.

I am using a 600w 80+ PSU and a decent tower cooler as well.

There is a chance that your memory or even the QPi link is having issues but I seriously doubt it is the board. My board was purchased (not a review sample) so I consider it normal (average). If you cant OC it in AUTO by simply adjusting the multi you may have a CPU limitation.
If you have a good PSU and good cooling you can try running on one stick of memory and seeing where that gets you.

AUTO usually gives you more voltage than you need and going higher than Auto with voltage could cause issues.

 

[koovoodoo]

I am using a 600w 80+ PSU and a decent tower cooler as well.

There is a chance that your memory or even the QPi link is having issues but I seriously doubt it is the board. My board was purchased (not a review sample) so I consider it normal (average). If you cant OC it in AUTO by simply adjusting the multi you may have a CPU limitation.
If you have a good PSU and good cooling you can try running on one stick of memory and seeing where that gets you.

AUTO usually gives you more voltage than you need and going higher than Auto with voltage could cause issues.

I have a 650w earthwatt and a the corsair cafa70 tower cooler. As for temperatures, the highest I seen is 67. I will be testing it out with different memory as you have recommended. Thanks again

 

[Archer0915]

NP. Hopefully everything levels out sooner than later.