Anyone try an Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 build yet?

[soarwitheagles]

Hi all!

I managed to pick up a great deal on this combo:

Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3.

Actually, it is in the mail and on its way to my house at this very moment.

Before beginning this build, I wanted to ask if anyone here has attempted or has already built this specific combo.

I was hoping to find some good advice on RAM, BIOS version, BIOS settings and obtain some answers to general, "How did it go" questions.

If you have built this combo, can you give me some pointers please?

Thanks,

Soar

Here's Gigabyte's info on this MB: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3651#ov

Here's Intel's goodie list on their new i5-2500K: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52210

[The_Soldier]

Look around matey.. Quite a few people having probs with the board but I think due to the bios being in its infancy

[PeterT]

I've done a new build of the 2500K + P67A-UD3.

No real issues yet. Some minor issues with DES; still not sure I will leave it in place or not.

Currently using Bios F4.

RAM is G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1333MHz (PC3-10666) 8GB (2x4GB) Dual Channel Kit (F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

Many of the 3rd party tools such as CPU-Z seem to have problems displaying the voltages etc.

IntelBurnTest is giving me just under 59 GFlops with the overclocking I have done.

[soarwitheagles]

I've done a new build of the 2500K + P67A-UD3.

No real issues yet. Some minor issues with DES; still not sure I will leave it in place or not.

Currently using Bios F4.

RAM is G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1333MHz (PC3-10666) 8GB (2x4GB) Dual Channel Kit (F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

Many of the 3rd party tools such as CPU-Z seem to have problems displaying the voltages etc.

IntelBurnTest is giving me just under 59 GFlops with the overclocking I have done.

Peter,

Thank you very much for providing some insights for this specific new build.  I ordered and paid for this new system and should have it before the end of next week [it was shipped 3 days ago].  I am kind of exciting about putting it all together!

Can you elaborate a little more on the DES [Data Encryption Standard]?  What specifically is not working correctly?

And last, how fast have you cranked CPU up so far or are you running at stock speeds?

It's me,

Soar

[Ziddith]

I have this combination and it doesnt work good at all sadly. Only when nothing is overclocked does it seem to run normally. I overclocked it at 4.7ghz seemingly without a problem, then a few restarts later and it refused to even boot at that setting. Since then no matter what I've done I cant get it to work at that setting again, neither can I overclock it without using Turbo mode cause then it refuses to boot. I tried clearing CMOS, flashing different Bios and tried just about every single setting. Often it copies the backup bios back aswell when it fails to boot, but sometimes it just gets absolutely stuck and the only way to get it to boot again is to clear CMOS.

I cant recommend this card nor any other P67 gigabyte cards from what I read until they sort out their Bios. I feel like a test pilot for an alfa version. This is just unacceptable. I have often had new chipset releases and never before I have seen such unstable motherboards at release. Gigabyte doesnt seem to be only brand that has problem with Sandy Bridge, but I really wanna see em sort out the Bios asap else I'll return this and get another brand.

[Dark Mantis]

@Ziddith

Have you downloaded the new @BIOS program form the website to run the updates. The original version that came with the board is buggy and so you will need this new version. Once you have run the program to update the BIOS you can then revert to the normal QFlash utility as recommended for further finished updates.

[Ziddith]

Ye I'm using newest @Bios. Did try once with the Qflash though just to make sure @Bios wasnt causing any problem. But the flashing seem to work fine and I also get the right version in Bios.

But I just cant figure out why I cant boot at any overclocked setting any more. At least not without using Turbo. I cant boot Turbo higher than 44 either. Doesnt matter which voltage I use either, it just get stuck on the first screen without getting to the identification of IDE. Then I need to clear CMOS to continue.

[PeterT]

I've done a new build of the 2500K + P67A-UD3.

No real issues yet. Some minor issues with DES; still not sure I will leave it in place or not.

Currently using Bios F4.

RAM is G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1333MHz (PC3-10666) 8GB (2x4GB) Dual Channel Kit (F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

Many of the 3rd party tools such as CPU-Z seem to have problems displaying the voltages etc.

IntelBurnTest is giving me just under 59 GFlops with the overclocking I have done.

Peter,

Thank you very much for providing some insights for this specific new build.  I ordered and paid for this new system and should have it before the end of next week [it was shipped 3 days ago].  I am kind of exciting about putting it all together!

Can you elaborate a little more on the DES [Data Encryption Standard]?  What specifically is not working correctly?

And last, how fast have you cranked CPU up so far or are you running at stock speeds?

It's me,

Soar

Sorry.. By DES I meant the Gigabyte supplied Dynamic Energy Saving software; not DES!

My OC'ing has been fairly rudimentary; all I have done is to up the CPU multiplier to 43 I think. 44 was not stable. No changes to voltages.

[Dark Mantis]

Ye I'm using newest @Bios. Did try once with the Qflash though just to make sure @Bios wasnt causing any problem. But the flashing seem to work fine and I also get the right version in Bios.

But I just cant figure out why I cant boot at any overclocked setting any more. At least not without using Turbo. I cant boot Turbo higher than 44 either. Doesnt matter which voltage I use either, it just get stuck on the first screen without getting to the identification of IDE. Then I need to clear CMOS to continue.

Just in case you don't realise that the Sandy Bridge platform overclocks differently to what we are used to check out these threads here:

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/board,49.0.html

[Ziddith]

Yup I know inside out how to overclock Sandy Bridge.

What's weird also is that the bus runs at 99.8mhz for me default and not 100mhz. Even if I chose enabled and change it manually to 100mhz it still only runs at 99.8mhz. Never tried increasing that though to get it to 100mhz, just seems very weird the card would be underclocked. Normally is that some cards run a small overclock.

[Ziddith]

Ok, some updates. I managed to finally get it back working at 4.7ghz.

What I had to do was take it extremely slow with bios. Change 2-3 settings max at a time and then reboot before changing something else. When I turned off Turbo and power saving options it locked in a cold boot a few times before it booted and thankfully it still kept all settings.

I can still get some cold boots when starting up, but so far it just do that 2-3 times and then it boots up normally with all settings saved. Asus seem to have that problem aswell. I just hope this time it will manage to keep settings.

Another thing I noticed is that it often locks up before it loads the ACHI bios. Not sure if it would help running at IDE mode and ACHI bios being a bit buggy and unstable. But I installed Windows with ACHI so wont boot with IDE and I dont feel much like experiementing with it now.

This being a budget board I'm still somewhat disappointed with the LLC on this. Not sure if its cause it lack the VRM, but the vdrop is quite alot even with LLC on. In fact I only got 0.1v higher with LLC activated.

[Ziddith]

Doesnt seem I can edit my last post, but I of course meant 0.01 diff between LLC on and off.

[soarwitheagles]

I've done a new build of the 2500K + P67A-UD3.

No real issues yet. Some minor issues with DES; still not sure I will leave it in place or not.

Currently using Bios F4.

RAM is G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1333MHz (PC3-10666) 8GB (2x4GB) Dual Channel Kit (F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

Many of the 3rd party tools such as CPU-Z seem to have problems displaying the voltages etc.

IntelBurnTest is giving me just under 59 GFlops with the overclocking I have done.

Peter,

Thank you very much for providing some insights for this specific new build.  I ordered and paid for this new system and should have it before the end of next week [it was shipped 3 days ago].  I am kind of exciting about putting it all together!

Can you elaborate a little more on the DES [Data Encryption Standard]?  What specifically is not working correctly?

And last, how fast have you cranked CPU up so far or are you running at stock speeds?

It's me,

Soar

Sorry.. By DES I meant the Gigabyte supplied Dynamic Energy Saving software; not DES!

My OC'ing has been fairly rudimentary; all I have done is to up the CPU multiplier to 43 I think. 44 was not stable. No changes to voltages.

Peter,

Thanks again for the clarification.  Wow!  So are you saying your system is running stable with no problems with CPU multiplier @ 43?  May I ask what CPU speed are you obtaining at the CPU 43 level?

Please help me understand what is working for you.  My main goal is stability not speed, so I am hoping to set up this rig to run stable.  I am feeling a little nervous after reading the posts by Ziddith!

Thanks,

Soar

[soarwitheagles]

I have this combination and it doesnt work good at all sadly. Only when nothing is overclocked does it seem to run normally. I overclocked it at 4.7ghz seemingly without a problem, then a few restarts later and it refused to even boot at that setting. Since then no matter what I've done I cant get it to work at that setting again, neither can I overclock it without using Turbo mode cause then it refuses to boot. I tried clearing CMOS, flashing different Bios and tried just about every single setting. Often it copies the backup bios back aswell when it fails to boot, but sometimes it just gets absolutely stuck and the only way to get it to boot again is to clear CMOS.

I cant recommend this card nor any other P67 gigabyte cards from what I read until they sort out their Bios. I feel like a test pilot for an alfa version. This is just unacceptable. I have often had new chipset releases and never before I have seen such unstable motherboards at release. Gigabyte doesnt seem to be only brand that has problem with Sandy Bridge, but I really wanna see em sort out the Bios asap else I'll return this and get another brand.

Ziddith,

Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us.  I suppose we are in the learning mode because these components are so new to the market.

I hope you wouldn't mind if I asked a couple more questions:

Did the system run stable at stock speeds?
Have you been able to achieve any levels of stability after trying some more tweaking since your last post?

Please continue to share with us your progress so we might obtain a greater understanding of what works and what does not work with this combo.

Thank you very much again,

Soar

[Ziddith]

Dont think you really need to worry much unless you start pushing the overclocking limits. I dont have any problems running it at default settings, either with just overclocking up to 43x multiplier using turbo mode only. Can only get better with coming bios updates aswell. But I recommend taking it easy with bios, change only a few settings at once or even better just one setting at a time and reboot in between to make sure it doesnt bug in some way.