GIGABYTE DS3 FAQ by CrazyJohn /FAQ on 1st page/

[SEONKYO]

I'm successful below spec Overclocking.

CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo E6300@2.8G (Stepping 6, Revision B2)
Mainboard : GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 (Bios F4)
RAM : Samsung DDR2 667@800 512M X 2 (5-5-5-13)

But I'm reached my samsung memory's limition (Can't pass over FSB420)..So I want to change memory.

I'm placed an order CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM.
This memory spec :

Series XMS2
Model TWIN2X1024A-6400
Type 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
Capacity 1GB (2 x 512MB)
Speed DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Cas Latency 5
Timing 5-5-5-15
Voltage 1.9V
ECC No
Buffered/Registered Unbuffered
Heat Spreader Yes

Is is Compatible With GA-965P-DS3..? How about Overclocking..? Good..? or Bad.?

How News : In Korea, Samsung's DDR2 6400 System Memory is released today. DDR2 6400 512M's Price is $69. I think A little expensive. But Pass the time, It Price is stable..Maybe...

[boblemagnifique]

/!\

Gigabyte 965P-DS3 is Not Compatible with Fotron 350w Aurora & Fortron 500w BlueStorm (i think all Fortron )

/!\

[dogsx2]

I just got my 4th DS3 MB and got one that is good this time.
One board would not post. Two other boards would boot and work but not let me change the fsb 1 MHz in the bios and boot. This one is good, 5 mins into it and at 8 x 430 @ 1.4v. This is all with the same hardware so it wasn't the hw. I got it cheap used or else I would not have tried another. F4 bios works great.

Just wish I'd have gotten this mb first instead of last.

[towwel]

-Hook up a floppy drive to your DS3
-Copy the official BIOS file to a floppy
-Insert floppy
-Boot PC
-Hit "Del" to enter BIOS
-Hit "F8" to enter Qflash.
-Select "Flash from floppy"
-Follow onscreen prompts to flash.
-Reboot when complete
-Enter BIOS, load fail-safe
-Reset CMOS.

Done.

Are these last 2 steps really necessary? I flashed my ds3 twice since I've bought it, but I never loaded fail-safe settings and I never cleared CMOS.
This doesn't mean I'm still on F1 bios, does it?
Any idea what happens if you just flash bios and reboot?

[CrazyJohn]

/!\

Gigabyte 965P-DS3 is Not Compatible with Fotron 350w Aurora & Fortron 500w BlueStorm (i think all Fortron )

/!\

it's in the faq!

[Ribbon]

Sounds like a few possibilities:

Your board doesn't like the 9x multi.

Your board hits the FSB wall.

You have bad RAM that can't do it's rated spec.

What kinda Power Supply? Did you disable all of the things suggested on page 1? (assuming you have, but checking for clarity's sake) What voltage settings you have on RAM and Vmch? Also, the dividers are really flaky. I just stick with 1:1 since half of them crap out under any sort of adjustments.

My PSU is the Antec TPII 550W. I don't know how to change the dividers on my RAM, so they should be default (hope that's 1:1 =x). Vcore is 1.475v and Vdimm is default or +0.1v (tried both, no change).

Edit: I'm trying 1.5v Vcore and +0.2v on my Vdimm now. CPU-Z says my RAM is doing 1:1, BUT the frequency is 356 (x2 = 712, instead of 800...) and the timings are 5-5-5-17 (should be 5-5-5-12...).. so it's possible you're right and my RAM isn't able to do its rated spec? I have +0.1v on my PCI-e frequency, FSB voltage and GMCH voltage, but I didn't have all those things on between limit CPUID max to 3 <--> virtualization tech... we'll see if it's any better now (can't disable USB legacy storage, I have an external USB hard drive =x).

Also, how would I up the MHz of my RAM and should I try to do that and lower the timings on my RAM?

[darkandlong]

/!\

Gigabyte 965P-DS3 is Not Compatible with Fotron 350w Aurora & Fortron 500w BlueStorm (i think all Fortron )

/!\

OCZ GamerXStream 700W (Fortron Epsilon) works fine.

[darkandlong]

Are these last 2 steps really necessary? I flashed my ds3 twice since I've bought it, but I never loaded fail-safe settings and I never cleared CMOS.
This doesn't mean I'm still on F1 bios, does it?
Any idea what happens if you just flash bios and reboot?

Some people recommend it. I do remember my DFI would act screwy between BIOS flashes if you didn't clear the CMOS - a couple settings wouldn't show up.

I'd recommend it.

[darkandlong]

My PSU is the Antec TPII 550W. I don't know how to change the dividers on my RAM, so they should be default (hope that's 1:1 =x). Vcore is 1.475v and Vdimm is default or +0.1v (tried both, no change).

Ribbon, is that a retail 6600 in your sig, or an ES?

[Ribbon]

Ribbon, is that a retail 6600 in your sig, or an ES?

It's a retail E6600, it says this on it:

INTEL '85
INTEL CORE 2 DUO
6600 SL958 MALAY
2.40GHz / 4M / 1066 / 06
L625A209

CPU-Z says stepping is B2.

[kiwi]

Guys if you hit the limit and don't what it is I can tell you, it it FSB wall

And ofcourse don't forget that DS3 + retail 4MB conroe is crap at the moment



I've tested 2 cpus so far, same settings same board, same bioses (f4c, f4e, F4):

e6300
497 air
518 vapo

e6400
430 air
460 vapo


I can't believe 6400 is worse than 6300

[Ribbon]

Still won't post 400x9, or 378x9 either.. /sigh (still running 356x9 = 3.2GHz...)

Guys if you hit the limit and don't what it is I can tell you, it it FSB wall

And ofcourse don't forget that DS3 + retail 4MB conroe is crap at the moment



I've tested 2 cpus so far, same settings same board, same bioses (f4c, f4e, F4):

e6300
497 air
518 vapo

e6400
430 air
460 vapo


I can't believe 6400 is worse than 6300

How can my FSB wall be so low though? Can't even reach my RAM's stock speed >_<

[kiwi]

Retail 4MB chips have oc problems with DS3 and generally any 965 board. Not sure why yet, maybe something to do with strap setting.

[Ruhnie]

Fantastic thread, thanks to everyone who contributed. I wouldn't have been able to put together the system I have w/o you guys. Let me say that I'm not a professional OC'er by any means, this will only be the second system I've tried to OC. I currently am running everything at stock settings (except Vdimm), to make sure I've got my setup done correctly and it's stable. That said, I have a few newbie questions, I hope you don't mind

specs: E6400 - DS3 - 2GB OCZ EL Plat 6400 @ +0.3v

1) Easy Tune is reporting that my CPU fan is running between 700-1000 rpm, and has a warning/alert next to it. Is this normal, or is there a problem with my fan?
2) I connected the CPU fan to the CPU Fan connector on the mobo, and put nothing on the SYS Fan connector. Should I put another case fan on the SYS connector?
3) Both my BIOS and Easy Tune report my idle temps hovering around 29-32 degrees. But Core Temp is reporting a steady 50 degrees at idle. Which one is more reliable, and should I be concerned with these temps?
4) I left my RAM settings on By SPD, but I don't think they are set right. Should I just assume SPD is incorrect and set them manually?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[Dominus]

Just updated to F4 bios, as the system temp is about 10C lower, and the CPU temp says 25 when Core Temp Beta says 40. Used to have the temps of about 47 System, 40-45 CPU.

[CrazyJohn]

1) Easy Tune is reporting that my CPU fan is running between 700-1000 rpm, and has a warning/alert next to it. Is this normal, or is there a problem with my fan?
2) I connected the CPU fan to the CPU Fan connector on the mobo, and put nothing on the SYS Fan connector. Should I put another case fan on the SYS connector?
3) Both my BIOS and Easy Tune report my idle temps hovering around 29-32 degrees. But Core Temp is reporting a steady 50 degrees at idle. Which one is more reliable, and should I be concerned with these temps?
4) I left my RAM settings on By SPD, but I don't think they are set right. Should I just assume SPD is incorrect and set them manually?

1. u can change the warning levels (rpms) at the settings menu, they are just set like that by GBs team. my fan spins (?) even at 700rpm, so i have lovered the warning level

2. u don't have to connect anything to system fan nor cpu fan but be preparied to get warning signs in programs and or bios - check their settings.
i've connected cpu fan to CPU and psu fan to SYS fan and enabled the beeping option in bios so to know when anything fails.

3. Core Temp shows the difference in temps (cpu die temp - cpu current temp) so it's like 85-30 = 50*

4. what bios do u have? F1, F2, F3 had problems with showing timings in a proper way, maybe upgrade?

[korruptedone]

Ribbon have you tried lowering your multiplier to 8x, just to see what happens?

You can change the divider in the same section where you change your multiplier, vcore, and all that jazz. It's probably set to auto. You'll know when you find it because when you toggle it, your memory speed in that same screen will change (sorry I'm being lazy but I know it's there). Also of course make sure that PCI-E is set to 100 and not auto.

I really think that its your board being finicky. I'm not running at 400 FSB and my timings are 5-5-5-18, but I wouldn't worry too much about that last timing being a bit high since Conroe doesn't seem to respond too much to lower timings anyways. Also, make sure you are running at least +.1v on the RAM, since the board defaults to 1.8 and that RAM is 1.9.

[korruptedone]

Just updated to F4 bios, as the system temp is about 10C lower, and the CPU temp says 25 when Core Temp Beta says 40. Used to have the temps of about 47 System, 40-45 CPU.

I really don't trust any of the temp readings atm. My Core Temp temps stay the same, 40-45 idle/load, no matter what settings I use.

And my BIOS reports that my temp is 15C at idle. Which basically is impossible.

[Cranox]

DS3 + Teamgroup PC5300 DDR2 667MHz 2*1GB 3-4-4-8 64*8 16 Chips TXDD1024M667HC3 boots fine with 1.8v ( with celeron 336 atm , waiting 4 E6700 )

[importpsycho]

team group 2gig kit with Micron D9GMH
wouldn't even boot over 360FSB at cas 3
but when loosen it up to cas 4, I was able to boot to windows at 460+
but aircooling was not enough for that high speed so ended up dual prime stable at 450x8

DS3 does not NOT like D9, it just doesn't like tight timings

[norse]

Anyone have any idea if that new zalman passive northbridge hs will be an improvement over the stock one....

ZM-NBF47 - that one.

[Dazog]

team group 2gig kit with Micron D9GMH
wouldn't even boot over 360FSB at cas 3
but when loosen it up to cas 4, I was able to boot to windows at 460+
but aircooling was not enough for that high speed so ended up dual prime stable at 450x8

DS3 does not NOT like D9, it just doesn't like tight timings

I have the same setup post your bios settings please.

I have a hard time booting above 667 mhz with my set unless I am missing something.

[importpsycho]

I have the same setup post your bios settings please.

I have a hard time booting above 667 mhz with my set unless I am missing something.

8x
enabled
450
100
diabled
2.00
900
manual
4
4
4
8
auto
auto
auto
0
auto
normal
+0.4 vdimm
+0.1
+0.1
+0.2 MCH
1.5000
1.325
auto

[Dazog]

8x
enabled
450
100
diabled
2.00
900
manual
4
4
4
8
auto
auto
auto
0
auto
normal
+0.4 vdimm
+0.1
+0.1
+0.2 MCH
1.5000
1.325
auto

thank you sir

[importpsycho]

thank you sir

by the way, it's on F4 offical BIOS
if it makes any difference... good luck