970A-D3 - Some questions

[BreakForMeh]

Hey.

First of all I can't update the BIOS in Q-flash (Im on F6 atm so my Bulldozer AMD is working thankfully, it came out of the box with this BIOS) as soon as I try to update from USB (Tried all the format options...FAT/FAT32/NTFS) it says device not found or something similar.. (I don't have a floppy drive to update from). Is there any gain from F6 to F8d bios?

Secondly my Kingston Hyper-X 1600 rams run on 1333mhz and I can't upgrade them in bios as it just warns me out and wont let me into OS before I change it back to 1333mhz.

Any help is welcome.

[danova]

Answer to your question about RAM speed:

Hi there,

I'm using the 970a-ud3 with a FX-8120  and your problem sounds a bit like the  problem i had with running my memory at 1600mhz.
Though i didn't experienced any BSOD i did have a hard time getting my RAM to run at 1600mhz. But i got it working now.
First of all i did not use FSB to raise speed but only the RAM multiplier.
Also put all auto-settings for your RAM on manual (things like voltage/timings etc) and set them to specs for your RAM.

I found out that somehow the auto-settings were wrong so the BIOS did not accept them and turned the RAM back to 1333mhz.
Putting all settings on manual fixed this and i'm running 1600mhz without any issues now.

About updating BIOS:
The exe file you download is a self-extracting archive.
So after downloading it you run the exe and extract the files on a usb device, restart system and start from usb.
If this still won't work you could also try to do it by @Bios, that is a tool that let you update BIOS while in windows.
You can find this program on the cd that came with your mobo or download it here: http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/121/tech_a_bios.htm

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

I would warn you against using @BIOS if at all possible. It is very unstable and can brick your board very easilly. As danova mentioned use the downl;oaded file to self extract into the three files. You only require the BIOS file itself for what you want to do.  The best thing is to put it onto a USB drive preferably fairly small 1-2GB.  Make sure that you enable Legacy USB options in the BIOS before inserting the drive and then tapping F12 for the boot menu.

[BreakForMeh]

Hi

I would warn you against using @BIOS if at all possible. It is very unstable and can brick your board very easilly. As danova mentioned use the downl;oaded file to self extract into the three files. You only require the BIOS file itself for what you want to do.  The best thing is to put it onto a USB drive preferably fairly small 1-2GB.  Make sure that you enable Legacy USB options in the BIOS before inserting the drive and then tapping F12 for the boot menu.

I've done all that and used an 1GB flashdrive but as soon as I get into the q-flash and press the update from drive button it says no drive found. I tried with all 3 files in the usb and also tried with only the bios update file on the drive, Legacy usb is enabled from bios :S

Also could You be so kind and tell me if I'll even gain anything with it, if not I won't even bother with it anymore.

[Dark Mantis]

I am afraid that the documentation saying what has changed on the various BIOS files is sparse to say the least so as to what you may or may not be gaining is fairly much guesswork.

Some pendrives don't seem to show up readilly so if you have access to a different one try that. Also they often show up as a hard drive in the listing.

[Sol1960]

HI breakformeh,
Dark Mantis advice is right on the money, i too had this same problem  i just changed pen drives used Qflash and it was too easy.
some pen drives work good and some dont.

Rgards, Sol

[BreakForMeh]

Alright. Now I got those problems solved and another one came up.

I just bought two XFX 6790 Cards to put them into crossfire and it comes up that they don't come with a bridge. Neither did my motherboard also the ordinary Bridge doesn't help me as it's too shot because the PCIE slots are too far away from eachother, shouldnt Gigabyte provide CX/SLI bridges with motherboards? I can't find an extended CX bridge anywhere or do I even need one?

Just for information, I don't want to use 2 monitors or anything, just want those two cards to work at one time in my PC and when Im gaming.

Sorry this might sound stupid cause Im new to this.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

It seems stupid to me but it has always been that motherboard manufacturers supply SLI bridges but not Crossfire ones, obviously some tie up with Nvidia I guess. The cards normally come with the Crossfire bridges sometimes of different length.  

I cannot tell you about these specifically as I don't have anything to do with the GPU side of things officially. I would ask your retailer for clarification.

If not I am sure that Gigabyte can help with supplying the bridges. You will just have to request them from the GGTS and I wouldn't think the cost will be much.

Hope this helps somewhat

DM

[BreakForMeh]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I already asked XFX about the bridge and all they told me is to either contact my mobo manufacturer (Gigabyte) or buy one from somewhere. What amazed me was that I was in an IT shop a few days back and they told me they can order one bridge (the shorter one) for €50..I mean c'mon. 50 euros for a bridge? I'll rather buy another Gfx that comes with a bridge already.

Anyway wrote to the GB support, hopefully they can help me

Also what amazes me about XFX, they pack an door hanger saying "Do not disturb, I'm gaming" but don't give an crossfire bridge? I mean..keep the damn hanger and actually send something what I need -.-