Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Excessive DPC Latency

[buzzard]

I have the same problem with my X58A-UD3R.  Our values are almost exactly the same as well.  I just got done trying a clean install on a spare hard drive.  I am currently using Win 7 64 bit and experiencing this problem.  I tried a test install with Vista 64 bit, just as an experiment.  It does not matter which OS I install, I get these spikes either way.  It will stay spiked for an extended time and then it might just go back to normal.  It does this randomly at any given time.  I attached a screen shot of my readings.  I believe this to be a problem with the motherboard, as proof by my testing with fresh installs of operating systems.

[buzzard]

I just found out exactly when mine spikes.  It is 100% correlated to the temperature LED's on the motherboard.  When the north bridge LED is off (normal), then my DPC latency is normal.  As soon as the north bridge LED begins to flash green (higher temps), then the DPC latency spikes and remains spiked until the LED stops flashing again.  I am glad I found the direct culprit as to why this is happening.  It is not a driver issue at all, it is a temperature issue.  Now maybe I can figure out how to mount a fan on the north bridge heat sink.  It is quite warm here in south Florida summer and I do have the system overclocked. 

[Balthazor]

Interesting... I ran this DPC latency checker, and got a latency spike every 60 seconds - just one bar's worth of a spike.

Coincidentally, my Easy tune is set to update itself every 60 seconds.  If I close Easy Tune, the DPC spikes go away.

Not sure if this actually affects anything; I leave Easytune running because I use it to control my PWM fan, but... maybe I'll run some benchmarks and see if there is actually any negative effects to the DPC spike.

[eastley]

I just found out exactly when mine spikes.  It is 100% correlated to the temperature LED's on the motherboard.  When the north bridge LED is off (normal), then my DPC latency is normal.  As soon as the north bridge LED begins to flash green (higher temps), then the DPC latency spikes and remains spiked until the LED stops flashing again.  I am glad I found the direct culprit as to why this is happening.  It is not a driver issue at all, it is a temperature issue.  Now maybe I can figure out how to mount a fan on the north bridge heat sink.  It is quite warm here in south Florida summer and I do have the system overclocked. 

Interesting and a great find, as you issue seems to be exact same as me.

So if this is the case, how do we fix this issue?

My PC temps are quite good,  29°c Mainboard temp, 32-33°c Core temp. graphics cards keep cool as well. 2 x 5850's 46-47°c Idle.

So air flow is good in deed.

What bios version you using?

[buzzard]

Interesting and a great find, as you issue seems to be exact same as me.

So if this is the case, how do we fix this issue?

My PC temps are quite good,  29°c Mainboard temp, 32-33°c Core temp. graphics cards keep cool as well. 2 x 5850's 46-47°c Idle.

So air flow is good in deed.

What bios version you using?

I have a rev 2.0 board with the first release bios (FA).

I have good temps as well, but maybe we need to install an active fan to cool the north bridge heat sink.  I have a Corsair H50 cpu cooler, so there is space to mount a north bridge fan.  The trick will be finding a way to attach the fan.  Maybe have to make a bracket or something.

It seems to me that it is a fault in bios programming.  When there is an LED indication of elevated temp, the latency freaks out and spikes with a huge delay.  I don't know if this is Gigabyte's way of reducing temps, but it cripples the machine.

[Balthazor]

Interesting... I ran this DPC latency checker, and got a latency spike every 60 seconds - just one bar's worth of a spike.

Coincidentally, my Easy tune is set to update itself every 60 seconds.  If I close Easy Tune, the DPC spikes go away.

Not sure if this actually affects anything; I leave Easytune running because I use it to control my PWM fan, but... maybe I'll run some benchmarks and see if there is actually any negative effects to the DPC spike.

For those who are curious, the sporadic DPC latency spike caused by EasyTune doesn't appear to have an effect on gaming benchmarks. 

As far as the temp-related DPCs - it is possible it is the temps causing the high DPCs, and not the LED indicators.  Hard to tell which is the real problem.  Personally I'm using an EK full-cover MB block for cooling the MB, but this is understandbly a lot to do for MB cooling.

[Dark Mantis]

Well the updates are very interesting. At least there is significant headway being made. Now if you all move to the nice cool UK there shouldn't be a problem any more
On a more serious note my board is watercooled but not by a complete mb block just the cpu, nb,gfx, etc and even though my southbridge gets fairly warm at times I don't seem to have this problem.
I have always recommended against installing these Gigabyte programs such as Easy Tunes etc because they are not well written in my view. They are more of a quick fix(or not). You can't rely on them.

[buzzard]

Well the updates are very interesting. At least there is significant headway being made. Now if you all move to the nice cool UK there shouldn't be a problem any more
On a more serious note my board is watercooled but not by a complete mb block just the cpu, nb,gfx, etc and even though my southbridge gets fairly warm at times I don't seem to have this problem.
I have always recommended against installing these Gigabyte programs such as Easy Tunes etc because they are not well written in my view. They are more of a quick fix(or not). You can't rely on them.

I agree on not installing the utilities.  I install it temporarily for monitoring purposes.  I would never use it for making changes to the system however.  I do it all in the bios directly.  Easy tune has since been uninstalled on my system.

[Balthazor]

Well I was using EasyTune to fine-tune my PWM fan connected to the CPU fan header, but now I'm either just not going to bother or use Speedfan.

Just out of curiosity, I installed Dynamic Energy Saver and played around with it, and that program also causes DPC latency spikes when you are adjusting settings or when it turns off phases for power savings.

[Dark Mantis]

This is the sort of problem that they make, best just not to install them.

[Balthazor]

Speedfan works fine for adjusting the CPU fan speed, so if anyone wants an alternative, I'd recommend that.

[Dark Mantis]

Quite, there are numerous third party programs out there that will do the job better in most cases.

[raestoz]

I'll also pipe up on this issue.

X58-UDR3 Rev 2.0 and I'm spiking the same as you. Contacted Gigabyte who kindly gave me a beta bios for the wrong revision of board....

In my case I've noticed it when theres a fair bit of disk IO happening. Start a game and it'll sound like popcorn till it's all loaded into RAM.

Rather frustrating - even bought a standalone soundcard to try eliminate it to no avail.

[ex58]

GA-X58A-UD7 (Rev.2.0) also coming soon.Here is Manual and first BIOS already released.

[Dark Mantis]

Thanks for that ex58, very interesting, just a shame that I have just RMAd my board and received another v1 as replacement.