EasyTune and GA-P35C-DS3R

[neilgl]

Hi all,
for my GA-P35C-DS3R should I use EasyTune 5 or Easy Tune 6 ?

Confusingly, the Gigabyte wesbite for the board has an EasyTune 5 section and in that an "introduction"  link that takes you to some details about EasyTune5, then when you click File Downlaod from that page it takes you to a page that has EasyTune6 at the top.

EasyTune 6 notes say it supports Intel X58/P45/P43 etc. but it does not say if it also works with the P35 chipset ?

Regards,
Neil

[neilgl]

Hi all,
ok, so I got Easy Tune 6 (even though the download page says v5) and it is working with the P35 chipset.

Question: it is showing memory DIMM voltage of 1.900V for both "Power On" and "Target" even though I have not increased the DDR2 voltage in the BIOS or in EasyTune - is that normal?

I thought it should be 1.8V as standard ?

Regards,
Neil

[runn3R]

Hi

try to upgrade BIOS to the latest one ver F12e and then load optimized defaults.
do you use EasyTune 6 ver B8.1224.1 ?
what is memory vendor / model / part number which you use ?

yes for DDR2 standard is 1.8V.

[neilgl]

Hi,
updated BIOS to f12e, loaded optimized Defaults, Save & Exit
Using EasyTune6 v6.B08.0908.1
which was the version that the Gigabyte website gave me for my board (though link says v5)

Memory is : OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM
which can run at 2.1V

The DIMM voltage is shown as: 1.900V

Ok, so went to downlaod latest Easy Tune6
Website says it is B8.1224.1
Click Download
Coose Europe, click Download
save motherboard_utilityt....exe OK
It downloads it
Click that exe
It creates a directory called Easytune6. Run Setup.exe in that directory
Oh dear, it says Welcome .....Easy Tune 6 B08.090.1

So it is an old version?
Any ideas?

Regards,
Neil

[runn3R]

the memory you use works from 1.9 V (minimum) and that's the reason, see here:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_platinum_revision_2_dual_channel

so everything is correct with your PC.

and about the link to easytune which you mentioned it will be corrected.

[neilgl]

Hi Andrew,
yes it does say 1.9V on that link. How does the board know what voltage to use by default, becasue the SPD settings in the RAM (as shown by CPU-Z, not EasyTune) show Voltage 1.8V and e.g. 5-5-5-15 at 400MHz

Is there some other data in the SPD area of the RAM that we mortals can't see?

Regards,
Neil

[neilgl]

Hi again,
yes the kind chap at the OCZ support forum said it may be the voltage that Gigabyte has chosen by default.
That seems strange to me as it should be 1.8V

I'm looking at this because the mobo has voltage increments of +0.1, 0.2 etc., but if you don't know what the voltage is to start with you might fry your chips.

Strangely, Gigabyte BIOS is showing voltage at 1.984V just now...

What controls that voltage  ? (given that I have not set any increase voltage in M.I.T.
i.e. M.I.T. with system Voltage Control set to Auto, shows 1.984V DDR2/DDR3 Voltage


Regards,
Neil

Regards,
Neil

[neilgl]

Hi,
does anyone have the answer?
Regards,
Neil

[runn3R]

Hi Neil

bios reads SPD and if it runs as DDR2 800 MHz, then it adds automatically the memory voltage by 0.1V. The reason for auto adding memory voltage is to make the board more stable and have better compatibility.

 

[neilgl]

Hi Andrew,
that sort of makes sense.
It reads SPD and that shows 400Mhz 5-5-5-15, so it sets the voltage to 1.8V + 0.1v = 1.9V
(n.b. for DDR2 400Mhz =800 MHz hehe)

So that is sort of correct, but does not explain why it is at 1.984V, nor why it has to add any volts for stability. I thought DDR2 at 1.8V was the standard ?

I want to set it to 4-4-4-12, so what voltage would I add?  (BIOS seems lame with +0.1 etc.)
(that Ram is rated  4-4-4-12 at 2.1V)

Regards,
Neil

[runn3R]

Hello

Did you overclock the CPU or other components? Please load optimized default and re-check it.
The memory voltage that we tested with DDR2 800 was shown as 1.920V.

If you want to run this RAM at 4-4-4-12 then try adding around 0.1 V or 0.2 V.  Always check hardware monitoring results in bios setup of your RAM voltage before you proceed to any longer work, to keep it not higher than OCZ recommends.

[neilgl]

Hi Andrew,
nothing was overclocked

On the MIT page in BIOS,
I set F7: Optimized defaults
It set System Voltage Control to Manual
I set DDR2/DDR3 OverVoltage Control to +0.1V, rather than [Normal]

Result: PC Health Status still shows DDR2/DDR3 Voltage = 1.984V

It stayed like that even though I loaded Fail-Safe defaults and/or Optimized Defaults on that page and on MIT page

So I must be doing something wrong or the PC Health Status is not actually showing the correct voltage ?

Regards,
Neil

[runn3R]

Hi Neil

we did the test with P35C-DS3R and different DDR2 modules. The voltage noticed when using DDR2-800 was 1.937V or 1.924V. If we used DDR2-1066, it was shown as 1.984V. Please tell me what CPU you used. What is the DDR2 voltage on easy tune? Please take a screenshot of CPUz and show to me. And what is reversion of your P35C-DS3R?

Pls notice that we are talking about only 3 or 4 % difference in reading.

[neilgl]

Hi Andrew,
motherboard is a Rev 1.1, BIOS F12e

CPU is an Intel Core2 Duo E6300

CPU-z screens attached. Note mult is shown as 6 rather than 7 as it is lightly loaded.

Regards,
Neil

[runn3R]

Hi neilgl

we checked another mobo Rev.1.1, CPU 6300, bios F12e and it showed DDR voltage = 1.936 V, see attached picture. Anyway, as i already mentioned, the difference is too small to discuss it further imho.