GA-990FXA-UD5 issues (need quick answers)

[zuban]

found this

http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/ASRock-Explains-the-Differences-Between-AM3-and-AM3-Sockets-5.jpg/

so this could be by design, well i have to admit the thought had crossed my mind at one point that perhaps this was a difference in the am3+ boards, but couldnt find anything on it. been extremely frustrating experience if this is the case, the change could have been handled better with more information provided, i'm still not sure why the board is setting the vcore on my cpu so high at 1.52 volts at idle, but i've had a response from gigabyte and they have asked me to the try the f5b bios which i have and nothing has changed, i've asked them about the high idle voltage, if it turns out thats how its meant to be fine, and if they say it wont harm my cpu great, for all intensive purposes the board is running ok, just want to understand the high idle voltage, the voltage still moves around a lot more than i'm used to when the cpu is underload, but again if this turns out to be by design, then fine. I have a slightly better overclock than my previous board, in terms of temps and speed, but i cant seem to push the cpu as far as i could previously, perhaps thats due to my old boards power design, but i never ran those clock speeds anyway due to the temps. I have an rma open with my vendor to send the board back, but i've been holding back with this nagging worry that maybe this is a different way of working, and if i send the board back and they find it works ok, ie this is by design, i will have to pay even more to cover all the postage thats been incurred. Feeling a bit better now, i feel like i need to understand it better still though.

[iSeries]

So, reading that link:

"This will be accompanied by a more advanced load-line design that minimizes vDroop by monitoring the electrical loads placed on the CPU and keeping voltages within a stable range."

Hmm, well I think that we can all agree that vdroop is NOT being minimized on the new Gigabyte 990fx boards. I am still convinced that there is something wrong.

[zuban]

i think there is still something not quite right, hence why gigabyte are releasing new bios's and telling me to update mine, they recognise it isnt right, but perhaps this is a mix of a major design change, and some teething troubles, which makes a lot more sense.

[iSeries]

I've also tried the F5b BIOS, and no change for me either. Behaves in exactly the same way voltage-wise. The only improvement is it no longer occasionally gets stuck when I'm trying to get into the BIOS!

[zuban]

yes i noticed that too! my monitors are quite slow to go on/off and i often press the keys guessing when the bios is on, and it would jam it a lot, hasnt happened on this latest bios!

[gareth170]

 well after talking to a tech guy from the eretailer that i bought it from said the voltage shouldn't be out by that much. he said 0.015-0.20v vdoop is acceptable and 0.020v~ increase....

i admit stock is fine with f5b but when uping the vcore the vdoop gets worse.

so im sending it back tomorrow and i've ordered a different 990fxa board which has LLC option..

[zuban]

interesting you mention is has an llc option? should the gigabyte board also have this?

i've still got some time on my side but i was thinking today that i will let it run for a little more time, things seems like they are starting to make some sense but i'm still a bit clueless as to what to do. I will keep a dialogue open with gigabyte and with my retailer, i would like to know first that i'm not sending back a board that they will claim isnt faulty, so by that i mean something similar to what they have said to you gareth. all through this i have felt like i've been caught between a rock and a hard place. When you hear about asus boards not having more than 0.020v drop and a llc option it isnt helping gigabytes case tbh.

[gareth170]

interesting you mention is has an llc option? should the gigabyte board also have this?

i've still got some time on my side but i was thinking today that i will let it run for a little more time, things seems like they are starting to make some sense but i'm still a bit clueless as to what to do. I will keep a dialogue open with gigabyte and with my retailer, i would like to know first that i'm not sending back a board that they will claim isnt faulty, so by that i mean something similar to what they have said to you gareth. all through this i have felt like i've been caught between a rock and a hard place. When you hear about asus boards not having more than 0.020v drop and a llc option it isnt helping gigabytes case tbh.

gigabyte as never had LLC options on they boards. having LLC option allows u to counteract the vdoop.....

if u want to send it back i would say  put f3 back on which came with the board, and them test it. they'll see straight way that voltage doesn't stay anyway near where u set it at....

[Lordred]

My final decision is to keep the board.

[iSeries]

Red, what are your reasons for keeping? (To help me make my own mind up) 

[Lordred]

The List of things I like outweigh the the one thing I did not like at first.

According to Slides ASRock released, the 9 Series Chipset all have a Load Line Calibration in them that is designed to drop the voltage in proportion to the amperage that the CPU is drawing. I know this is something Intel has been doing for years, at first I did not like this idea. But after researching it more, this is actually a very good thing, as the CPU goes under load the voltage drops so that when you experience power spikes (rise and drop while under load due to the switching nature of the VRM's) the load Voltage will not rise over the chosen voltage in bios at any time. This is a good feature for people who are not expert Overclockers. I suspect that Gigabyte will add the option for use to adjust LLC in the future, so for now. I'm going to stick with the UD5


Now, on to the things that i love about this board already.

*The Onboard sound is fantastic!
*Up to 3-way SLI
*Electric PCI-E x4 (x16) slots for PCI-E x4 SSD's that do not run on the same lanes as the ones for GPU's (Revo Raid much?)
*USB ports everywhere.
*USB 2.0 Power X3, this feature is just great, not only does it help with charging devices, I have picky USB External HD's and with this feature so far every one of them have worked every time rather then having to play around and find the thickest cable which will carry the most current to power the device.
*Tons of Fan Headers
*Tons of Sata 3 Ports
*Split IDE Legacy / AHCI Support

It really is a good board and I was focusing only only the Overclocking end of the spectrum. It has a ton of features my M4N98TD EVO lacks. I think I was being unjustly hard on it.

[zuban]

i'm still curious as to why the voltage, when i set it to 1.475, as it does automatically in the bios, or when i set it manually, i get a voltage of 1.52v at idle, if this is just part of this llc setup then fine but would still like an answer.

[absic]

This is a good question and I have actually asked Gigabyte about it. When I get a reply I will post it here.

[Night Gyr]

So Gigabyte does not have VDroop control on their boards?? Even on the UD5 and UD7 overclocking beasts? Or am I misunderstanding something?

Guess I'm too used to EVGA boards' features...

[Dark Mantis]

The Intel boards do but for some reason the AMD boards do not.