Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with Intel processors => Topic started by: soarwitheagles on January 15, 2011, 03:32:30 am
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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
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Look around matey.. Quite a few people having probs with the board but I think due to the bios being in its infancy :o
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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.
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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
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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.
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@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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Doesnt seem I can edit my last post, but I of course meant 0.01 diff between LLC on and off. :)
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
Always good advice...slow but sure.
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I will head down to the machine shortly and get the settings I am using. I have been quite conservative in what has been done; but I did leave it going for a 12 hour run of stress testing overnight.
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I've gone for probably minor (by many standards) over clocking.
CPU Ratio left at 33
Real Time Ratio Change in O/S Disabled
Turbo Boost Tech Enabled
Turbo Ratio 1 & 2 core 45
Turbo Ratio 3 & 4 core 43
Turbo Power Limit 120 watts
Also, I ensured that the Memory was using the XMP profile from the chips.
CPU-Z shows the speed as 4290.48 MHz (99.78 * 43)
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I've gone for probably minor (by many standards) over clocking.
CPU Ratio left at 33
Real Time Ratio Change in O/S Disabled
Turbo Boost Tech Enabled
Turbo Ratio 1 & 2 core 45
Turbo Ratio 3 & 4 core 43
Turbo Power Limit 120 watts
Also, I ensured that the Memory was using the XMP profile from the chips.
CPU-Z shows the speed as 4290.48 MHz (99.78 * 43)
Peter, thanks for the detailed information. I know next to nothing when it comes to over clocking. You have helped me [and probably many others] in getting a jump on this new chip/mb combo.
I'll use your preliminary settings when I set my combo up next week.
Have a wonderful day and thanks again so much!
Soar
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I've gone for probably minor (by many standards) over clocking.
CPU Ratio left at 33
Real Time Ratio Change in O/S Disabled
Turbo Boost Tech Enabled
Turbo Ratio 1 & 2 core 45
Turbo Ratio 3 & 4 core 43
Turbo Power Limit 120 watts
Also, I ensured that the Memory was using the XMP profile from the chips.
CPU-Z shows the speed as 4290.48 MHz (99.78 * 43)
Would following this be okay with the stock cooler that comes with the processor? I'll be receiving this combination as well and don't know anything about overclocking.
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Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.
Although these chips don't suffer with heat in the same way as the previous generation if you are planning to overclock I would still encourage yopu to replace the heatsink with a better after market cooler.
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Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.
Although these chips don't suffer with heat in the same way as the previous generation if you are planning to overclock I would still encourage yopu to replace the heatsink with a better after market cooler.
Thanks DM! I was thinking of going with Corsair's H70 again. Have you any other suggestions?
I was also wondering how expensive is a water cooler set up similar to the one you are using...
Thanks,
Soar
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Hi Soar,
As I said these chips certainly run cooler than the previous generation, but something like the H70 would be fine. I really wouldn't bother with all the trouble and cost of setting up a water cooling loop for this platform as it really doesn't require it. The only benefit would be the noise reduction especially for the GPU when it is wound up hard.
Water cooling is more a calling than a hobby to be honest! It is something that if you are interested in it you will do regardless of cost and trouble. It is a problem though when you upgrade the system as so many parts need replacing each time.
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Hi Soar,
As I said these chips certainly run cooler than the previous generation, but something like the H70 would be fine. I really wouldn't bother with all the trouble and cost of setting up a water cooling loop for this platform as it really doesn't require it. The only benefit would be the noise reduction especially for the GPU when it is wound up hard.
Water cooling is more a calling than a hobby to be honest! It is something that if you are interested in it you will do regardless of cost and trouble. It is a problem though when you upgrade the system as so many parts need replacing each time.
DM,
Thanks for sharing your insights. You probably just saved me hunderds of dollars and lots of unneccessary time!
I will stick with the Corsair H70 and have fun all the way!
Have a good one!
Soar
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Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.
Although these chips don't suffer with heat in the same way as the previous generation if you are planning to overclock I would still encourage yopu to replace the heatsink with a better after market cooler.
Thanks for the welcome and the reply.
What would be a good alternative to the stock cooler that doesn't cost much? Like I said, I know very little about overclocking and only plan to push it somewhere between 4-4.5, I definitely won't be doing anything more than that.
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Of course it all depends on your budget. What I describe as not expensive might not be the same as you. Check out this supplier for prices it will give you an idea.
You didn't put in your profile your location so I don't know if you are UK based.
http://www.candccentral.co.uk/CPU-Heatsinks-And-Fans.html
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Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.
Although these chips don't suffer with heat in the same way as the previous generation if you are planning to overclock I would still encourage yopu to replace the heatsink with a better after market cooler.
Thanks for the welcome and the reply.
What would be a good alternative to the stock cooler that doesn't cost much? Like I said, I know very little about overclocking and only plan to push it somewhere between 4-4.5, I definitely won't be doing anything more than that.
Baha,
Many overclocker's are totally hooked on the Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler. You can find the pricing, specs, and reviews here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018&cm_re=noctua_cpu_cooler-_-35-608-018-_-Product
I do not like the Noctua NH-D14 because I am uncomfortable with so much weight on my motherboard and I also would like more room in my case for airflow [the Noctua NH-D14 is a total monster (as in MASSIVE) when it comes to size and weight].
A lower cost CPU cooler that is effective, well liked and well reviewed is the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1. Thousands of people love this CPU. Here's the url for the specs, reviews. etc.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=hyper_212-_-35-103-065-_-Product
You can find the Hyper 212 plus on sale many times for under $15.
If you would like to go water cooling and do not want to mess with all the connections and set up and expenses, then I heartily recommend Corsair's H70. You can find the specs here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181013&Tpk=corsair%20h70
Personally, I prefer Corsair's H70 because it is so simple to set up and install. It is very, very effective for both stock and over clocking [benchmarks reveal the H70 really kicks in well as you go higher in the over clocking].
The H50 is so-so and I would not recommend it.
Hope this helps!
Soar
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Dark Mantis,
Sorry, I'm located in the US. I updated my profile as well.
soarwitheagles,
Thanks for those recommendations. I think I'm going to go with the Hyper 212. The Corsair H70 seems nice but is unfortunately out of my budget range.
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Dark Mantis,
Sorry, I'm located in the US. I updated my profile as well.
soarwitheagles,
Thanks for those recommendations. I think I'm going to go with the Hyper 212. The Corsair H70 seems nice but is unfortunately out of my budget range.
Baha,
We are glad to help you here! You'll find the people are nice, friendly, and polite and that is why I like it so much here.
New Egg had the Hyper 212 plus on sale for $16 a while back. I am not sure how much it is now.
Amazon had Corsair's H50 for only $12 earlier this month which was a phenomenal deal. For that price it was unbeatable. The H50 is an ok CPU water cooler, but not as good as the H70. I own all three H50, H70, and the Hyper 212 plus. I like each of them. Any of the three would work on your rig.
I just do not like using the air cooled CPU coolers anymore simply because they are so big.
The size of your case may be a decisive factor too. May I ask what case you will be using?
It's me,
Soar
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I'll be using the Antec 300. Again, I'd like to go with something with more space (I really have my eye on the HAF 922) but the 300 is within my budget.
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I'll be using the Antec 300. Again, I'd like to go with something with more space (I really have my eye on the HAF 922) but the 300 is within my budget.
Baha,
That Antec 300 is a very nice mid tower case. I wish some of the more modern mid tower cases were on sale for you now! Every now and then you can find incredible deals on the cases [I was able to purchase Cool Master's Sniper cases last year for around $45 each and this year Fry's had the HAF 932 for $25 after rebate]. These types of deals are rare. Perhaps you could build with the Antec 300 and then when a super deal comes around, upgrade to an even nicer case!
A couple of things about the Antec 300:
1. It does fit Cool Master's Hyper 212 plus
2. Has a limit of 11 inches for length of your GPU
3. More fans can be added if you need them
4. Absolutely stellar reviews!
5. Many, many system builders have used the Antec 300 over the last few years and love em'.
I hope you can find a good deal on the Antec 300 Baha! It is a great mid tower case.
Enjoy!
Soar
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I assembled my PC a few hours ago with this combination along with 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz RAM, 64 GB Crucial Real SSD C300 Sata III Hard drive and Radeon HD 4680 with a 650 W power supply running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Viewed on a 23" ASUS 2MS VH236H RT monitor.
I upgraded from a Core 2 Duo E4400 2.0 Ghz CPU, Gigabyte 81865GME-775-RH motherboard, 1.5 GB DDR PC3200 (400) Mhz RAM, ATI 9600 XT self assembled computer made 4 years ago running Windows XP professional 32 bit edition. My old monitor was a 15" generic cheaply made brand with a max resolution of 1024 x 800.
Obviously thats a huge leap and currently enjoying the upgrade.
I have yet to test it's potential and so far am loving it from what I've seen. Complete Win 7 installation took less than 15 minutes. Shut down time is 4 or 5 seconds. Now the boot time is what is annoying me. Before I installed the Gigabyte drivers after POST it would directly start the windows startup and the whole process would take about 20 secs or so. I should add that the Hard drive light is not on during that time and I doubt it's reading it at that time, hard drive light starts after the windows loading screen starts.
After I installed the drivers and extra software that came with the CD and rebooted there's this annoying line that comes after POST that says "Loading Operating System..........................." and each dot is a second. That stays up for 20 secs or so and then windows loads. I've been racking my head for the past 2 hrs trying to figure out what prompted that screen to load.
Anyone have any ideas? I'll try playing around again tomorrow as it's late right now. I'd appreciate feedback on this.
The Bios version I have is the default one F4. I'll upgrade the BIOS sometime later. Haven't tried any overclocking as yet, will give it a shot later.
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I also got that slow booting thing. It's when you set boot order cd-rom first and dont have a bootable cd in it. Have no idea why it does this, but the temporary solution is to always have hard drive first unless you are booting from cd.
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Holy crap you're right. Thanks a lot. Doing that has made my boot time exactly 30 secs. Now I need to figure out why my crucial ssd c300 is rated 5.9 on windows when almost everywhere I've read its rated much higher.
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Are you running AHCI mode instead of IDE?
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There is really no need to set your optical drive to primary boot device anyway as if you want to boot from DVD you can just press F12 as you are booting and it will take you to a boot option screen.
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Are you running AHCI mode instead of IDE?
Yes I am.
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Your C300 is normally a fast SSD and as such would expect a better report from WEI. However WEI is extremely buggy and nobody takes any real notice of it. Try using a proper benchmarking program like Crystal Disk Mark or AS-SSD to give you an accurate reading.
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Yea I've read other people having the same issue on the same drive and they changed their drivers from the default msahci to some other driver. I haven't done that but might give it a try.
I did a benchmark and got around 330 MB/s
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Well 330 isn't a bad speed. I have a Corsair Performance 256GB SSD and I only get in the mid 200s.
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Oh absolutely, I'm not saying it's a bad speed. Just saying that windows is having trouble rating it higher when it's performing as such.
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Holy crap you're right. Thanks a lot. Doing that has made my boot time exactly 30 secs. Now I need to figure out why my crucial ssd c300 is rated 5.9 on windows when almost everywhere I've read its rated much higher.
Lol
I also get a 5.9 with a WD Caviar Black; a WDC WD6402AEX drive; 640 GB; with a buffer to host rated as 6 Gb/s. And yes... AHCI mode
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Wel it is impossible to get a higher rating than 5.9 for any magnetic disk on WEI. Even two Western Digital Black SATA3 6GBs in a RAID0 configuration only scores 5.9. If you want any more you have to go solid state. ::)
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So after a little digging around I found http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/HELP-Fresh-Build-with-C300-64GB-Low-WEI-Score/m-p/32562 (http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/HELP-Fresh-Build-with-C300-64GB-Low-WEI-Score/m-p/32562)
on the Crucial forums of a person with similar circumstances as me with regards to the C300 rating. They changed the drivers that were the default installation by Win 7 from msahci to intel RST ones.
The link is in the last post of that thread to the Intel drivers. It's made a big differnce as far as I can tell, things seem to be a lot smoother and boot time is now under 25 secs. The Windows rating is 7.8 and I couldnt be happier.
Oh and I've overclocked the CPU to 4.4 Ghz at the moment and this thing is blazing fast even with the stock cooler.
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You sound like one happy bunny now! ;D Definitely seems more like what you would expect to get out of your system.
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So after a little digging around I found http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/HELP-Fresh-Build-with-C300-64GB-Low-WEI-Score/m-p/32562 (http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/HELP-Fresh-Build-with-C300-64GB-Low-WEI-Score/m-p/32562)
on the Crucial forums of a person with similar circumstances as me with regards to the C300 rating. They changed the drivers that were the default installation by Win 7 from msahci to intel RST ones.
The link is in the last post of that thread to the Intel drivers. It's made a big differnce as far as I can tell, things seem to be a lot smoother and boot time is now under 25 secs. The Windows rating is 7.8 and I couldnt be happier.
Oh and I've overclocked the CPU to 4.4 Ghz at the moment and this thing is blazing fast even with the stock cooler.
faizoff, so glad to hear your were able to resolve the Crucial SSD issue! Also glad to hear your processor the MB is overclocking well! My I ask what temps/settings your CPU is running at the 4.4 Ghz on stock cooler?
Thanks,
Soar
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Hey Soar, I used the same settings as suggested by Peter T on the 2nd page of this thread. I have to thank him for those settings.
CPU Ratio left at 33
Real Time Ratio Change in O/S Disabled
Turbo Boost Tech Enabled
Turbo Ratio 1 & 2 core 45
Turbo Ratio 3 & 4 core 43
Turbo Power Limit 120 watts
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I just checked the temps of the OC'd CPU and it looks like it's running a bit hot. The temp went up to 47 C on idle. Looks like I'll have to get a better cooler if I have to OC.
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I would think that would be advisable even though they are much cooler running chips that the previous generation. Thing is that performance of the cooler will only degrade as time goes on anyway because of dust build up, etc.
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I'm a little off topic, but I too am seeing a Windows Performance score of 5.9 on the hard drive scores with my GA-P55A-UD4P based system. With the RAID 0 on the Intel SATA controller using two fast single platter Seagate 500 GB drives I was expecting higher. According to HD Tune, HD Tack, PC Wizard, etc. the average read/write speed is over 245 MB/s (some report as high as 270 MB/s). Timing a large file copy it works out to about 150 MB/s (reading and writing 150 MB/s so about 300 MB/s "in theory" in total). It is running Windows 7 64-bit.
I built two PCs for my children using GA-P55A-UD3R boards with only one hard drive in each (140-155 MB/s read/write speeds - measured) and even though they have 1/2 the speed, Windows still reports a 5.9 for disk performance. There is a huge difference in real world performance and the P55A-UD4P with dual drives in RAID 0 boots and loads programs and games roughly twice as fast.
I also have an extremely fast workstation that I use for finite element analysis using a Tyan motherboard, dual Xeon quad core processors, 64 GB of RAM and 4 of those high speed single platter hard drives in a RAID 0 (measured read/write speeds of about 450-480 MB/s) and that system also reports a 5.9 performance rating. The RAID 0 is configured to only use the first 1/2 of the drives to maximize performance (there is a RAID 10 that I use for hourly archive on the slower back 1/2 of the 4 drives). It also is using two more in a RAID 0 for the boot and to keep the speed maxed the RAID 0 only uses the first 1/2 of the hard drives. This boot drive setup results in a 270-290 MB/s average so they aren't exactly slow either. There are two more slower drives also for longer term storage.
Our Media Center PC (that we use for all of our TV) also has a 5.9 disk score. It has 4 Seagate LP drives in a RAID 0 and produces roughly 320-350 MB/s read/write performance, although the boot drive is just a regular single platter 500 GB drive (around 110-120 MB/s). It is using an older Gigabyte P35-UD4R (if I recall correctly) motherboard and a quad core Q6600 processor.
What does it take to get higher than 5.9? Is the score related to seek time and not throughput or something? From what I can tell, anything from about 130 MB/s to 480 MB/s will get you a 5.9 score with "spinning" hard drives. I don't have any SSD's so I can't comment on the rating, nor how much faster (or slower) they are in the "real world" compared to multiple high speed "spinning" drives.
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It is part of the toy known as WEI. It doesn't matter how fast your hard drive is or even if you have a RAID0 with a couple of WD velociraptors you won't get more than 5.9 awarded. It is the ceiling for magnetic drives. You have to have a SSD to get a score any higher. ::)
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Hi again DM!
I was at our local super computer store tonight and the tech guy told me the GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4's are selling like hotcakes compared to the GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3's. Something about Dual BIOS and a couple of other goodies as well.
I picked the last one up and was walking to the counter to pay for it and I met a guy who wanted the same MB. I gave him mine because I really do not need it immediately whereas he did.
I have some questions on comparing the two:
1. What are the major differences?
2. Why would the P67A-UD4's be outselling the P67A-UD3's on a 10-to1 ratio?
3. I can pick up the P67A-UD4 at a reduced price [nearly the same retail price as the P67A-UD3]. Would you recommend it?
4. Both boards seem to be somewhat limited on how many SATA ports. My two other boards appear to have many more. Can I install more than one SATA device per port?
5. How's the BIOS's been on this P67A-UD4?
6. Will you still be my friend if I sell the P67A-UD3 and pick up the P67A-UD4? :-\
Ok, I am waiting to here from you!
It's me,
Soar
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Hi Soar
There are not many differences between the boards other than hte obvious colour and I think people just like the look of the new black design.
As you say they both seem a little shy on SATA ports but I guess six is enough for most people.
The UD4 boasts support for ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology whereas the UD3 only supports Crossfire.
The UD4 also has two more USB ports bringing it up to 14 in total for the USB2 and 2 USB3.
The UD3 doesn't have any ESATA ports on the back panel but the UD4 has 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports
As far as I know they all suffered with the same glitch at first with the BIOS and upodate procedure but that is all fixed so no problem now.
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Hi Soar
There are not many differences between the boards other than hte obvious colour and I think people just like the look of the new black design.
As you say they both seem a little shy on SATA ports but I guess six is enough for most people.
The UD4 boasts support for ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology whereas the UD3 only supports Crossfire.
The UD4 also has two more USB ports bringing it up to 14 in total for the USB2 and 2 USB3.
The UD3 doesn't have any ESATA ports on the back panel but the UD4 has 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports
As far as I know they all suffered with the same glitch at first with the BIOS and upodate procedure but that is all fixed so no problem now.
DM,
Thanks for the info. The techie at Fry's also mentioned something about the P67A-UD4 having better over clocking abilities. Do you know if this is true?
Geez, for $60 difference in retail price, it sure doesn't seem as if there is all that much of a difference. Why pay so much more for a couple of extra USB ports, ATI crossfire, 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports, and black instead of giggly blue?
I don't mean to sound negative but the additional bells and whistles do not appear to justify the increase in price.
Soar
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Soar I was debating between the UD3 and UD4 as well, here's a comparison list from newegg which DM pretty much listed them all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-128-463^13-128-463-TS%2C13-128-460^13-128-460-TS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-128-463^13-128-463-TS%2C13-128-460^13-128-460-TS)
I couldn't justify the extra $60 for the few features the UD4 offered. I wasn't going for a Nvidia card so I really didn't need SLI. So I opted to save the money towards an SSD.
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Soar I was debating between the UD3 and UD4 as well, here's a comparison list from newegg which DM pretty much listed them all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-128-463^13-128-463-TS%2C13-128-460^13-128-460-TS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600093976%20600008069&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-128-463^13-128-463-TS%2C13-128-460^13-128-460-TS)
I couldn't justify the extra $60 for the few features the UD4 offered. I wasn't going for a Nvidia card so I really didn't need SLI. So I opted to save the money towards an SSD.
faizoff,
That sure is a cool comparison chart. How did you do that? I've shopped using New Egg for years but never saw that utility!
Yes, I hear you on the savings when choosing the UD3. I already got the UD3 for $99. Fry's has the UD4 for $175 AMIR. I suppose it just is not worth it. I had one in my hand, but as I headed to the cash register I met a guy who really wanted it. I gave it to him because he was desperate for it.
I suppose I should be happy with my UD3.
I can't figure out why the UD4's are outselling the UD3's at such a bizarre rate. All the Fry's near me are OOS today on the UD4's and have piles of the UD3's. When I looked at their sales charts, the UD4's are kicking butt on the UD3's. They will have more UD4's later this week for the same sale price.
I too just picked up one more SSD for the OS on this new build.
Which SSD will you select?
I just received my second OCZ Agility 2 60 GB. The price dropped to $90 so I thought it was a good price. The first one I used works well after I flashed the Gigabyte 890XA-UD3 v.1 motherboard BIOS correctly. Until the MB flash, the firmware for the OCZ firmware would not update.
Soar
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In Newegg for the comparison chart just click on the compare button thats below the product that's listed when you search in categories. You'll see almost at the top of the page a box that fills up with the product you just checked, you can compare up to 5 products at a time. Once you've selected them all just click on the compare button beside the 5 products and you'll get that chart.
I am not really sure what the reason is for the popularity of the UD4 board. One reason could be the support for SLI if people are set on buying an Nvidia card. I didn't get the board as cheap as you did but it may have come to the same with the combo offer Newegg has with the i5 2500K + P67 UD3 for $320 + Civilization V for free.
As far as overclocking goes, I think the UD3 offers a really good range of options, I'm sure it must be very close to the BIOS options as the UD4 for OC. I'm not a serious overclocker but with the BIOS settings offered here it's given me tons and tons of things to explore. I found a fairly good guide on OC the Sandy Bridge CPUs and have followed most of the steps. It also helps when they explain what each step does so that makes it easier to experiment.
http://www.techreaction.net/2011/01/04/3-step-overclocking-guide-%E2%80%93-sandy-bridge-v0-1beta/ (http://www.techreaction.net/2011/01/04/3-step-overclocking-guide-%E2%80%93-sandy-bridge-v0-1beta/)
I'm upto 4.2 Ghz on the OC with very decent mid 30s C temp on stock cooler. I'm planning to get the Hyper 212+ soon and once I upgrade the BIOS to a full version of F6 I'll experiment more.
As I explore more and read across forums of many manufacturers I see many higher end mobos that seem to be having issues. Of course my view may be skewed as an owner of a lower end board. I'm glad with the choice I made so far and hopefully things do stay stable and that this build lasts me a very long time.
My SSD purchase was the only component I splurged on without doing adequate research though I'm very happy with the purchase. I didn't think much about it when I chose to buy it other than it supporting SATA III. I figured if I'm buying a board with SATA 6Gbps support I might as well take advantage of it now rather than later.
I got the Crucial 64 GB RealSSD C300. After I bought it the price went up by $20 so I sorta saved some money on it in a way. As you'll see in the previous pages in this thread I had to do some searching for an alternate driver for optimal performance.
The default drivers by Win 7 'msahci' didn't give the smoothest of functionality. Once I got the Intel RST drivers the ratings went up, the drive seemed to work much smoother. Before, the drive would stutter whenever there was a write being performed. I thought it was normal but then it got annoying. Things are a lot better now and have never had the stutter after installing the Intel drivers.
Good luck with your build Soar and post away once it's all built.
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I don't think there is very much difference between the two boards either and apart from the looks and the extra ports there is nothing really that would induce me to pay more for the UD4. If you can get it for a knockdown price then that is different.
I haven't heard anything regarding the overclocking potential of the two boards being different and would have thought it would be negligable.
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Snipped quote
The UD4 boasts support for ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology whereas the UD3 only supports Crossfire, has two more USB ports bringing it up to 14 in total for the USB2 and 2 USB3.
The UD3 doesn't have any ESATA ports on the back panel but the UD4 has 6.2 x ESATA 6Gbs ports
There is another significant (to me at least) difference between the boards and that is the UD4 includes Dolby Home Theater certification which includes Dolby Digital Live (hardware encoding to Dolby Digital 5.1 for any and all audio sources), while the UD3 does not. The on-board analog outputs produce relatively poor audio quality compared to hardware encoded Dolby 5.1 output through an SPDIF port. With the UD3 there is no way to get high quality audio with more than two channels (stereo) unless the source contains Dolby Digital or DTS and it is configured to be passed, unaltered out the SPDIF port. Note I have my computers either connected to Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speaker sets (with SPDIF inputs supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 hardware decoding) or for my Media Center PCs the SPDIF audio currently goes to an older Yamaha V-2400 amplifier (one day I'll replace it with one that supports HDMI audio for 8-channel sound) for the main system and the other uses a Pioneer amplifier (again using SPDIF). Note if you plan to use HDMI audio on a video card, the lack of Dolby Home Theater becomes a non-issue (since HDMI includes support for 8-channels of uncompressed PCM audio which is far superior to Dolby Digital 5.1).
In addition to Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Home Theater also includes other advanced multi-channel up-mixing (converting stereo to 5.1, etc.) as well as numerous other advanced audio features (that I don't tend to use)
For me I would be picking up a decent sound card if I had the UD3 and that alone covers the price difference.
Another option is the P67A-UD3P. The "Plus" includes Dolby Home Theater.
Also the PCIe bandwidth for the second video card slot is much better with the UD4. The UD3 uses a bottlenecked x4 slot for the second video card, while the UD4 provides PCIe 2.0 x8 for each slot (and today's single GPU video cards do require at least a PCIe 2.0 x8 connection in order to get full video performance). To make matters worse, if any other PCIe x1 card (such as an audio card) is used in the UD3, the second video card slot drops down to an almost unusable PCIe x1 speed (and if I'm not mistaken the second video card slot only supports PCIe 1.0, not 2.0 so you lose another 50% of the bandwidth). If you plan to use two video cards, the UD4 will perform MUCH better.
Personally if I was to be building a new system today, I would use the Gigabyte P67A-UD4 motherboard.
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What you have said is perfectly correct and it's really just a matter of "horses for courses". If you cna use the extra features then I suppose the UD4 is worth the extra.
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Hey all,
This is my first post so go easy on me :P
I've always been a fan of Gigabyte, I was confident buying another Gigabyte motherboard for my latest sandybridge i2500k build. So I got the P67-UD3 knowing I was getting a good board.
Now, I went for the 2500k/P67 combo due to the overclocking ability, knowing I want this setup to last me another 2 years of good performance gaming/decoding.
Unfortunately the ability to overclock has somewhat dissapointed me, the vcore drop is terrible under Prime95 loads. I can easily boot into Windows 7 using 44/46x multiplier but when I torture test my overclock the vcore drops considerably and I get either BSOD or Prime95 errors.
My freind also upgraded to sandycore i2500k but opted for the entry level P67 MSI board, he is rock stable for days at x48 and the only thing I can see different is the vcore drop on my machine vs his.
Questions:-
I understand the BIOS releases are early days, MSI seems to be leading the way with BIOS and Asus/Gigabyte seem to be having difficulties making a good BIOS for us. Do you think my system will become better for OC'ing once a good final BIOS is released? I'm currently using the F6c (not available from Gigabyte website yet) and the vcore drop is still bad.....Load Line Calibration doesnt seem to work on the UD3 compaired to the UD4 board. The UD4 board has level 1 and level 2 LLC but the UD3 has either enable or disable options for LLC. Will the different levels of LLC be introduced to the UD3?
I would of thought the UD3 and UD4 would be very similar in performance/BIOS, apart from the obvious extra USB/SATA and added sli slot.
I've done so much research about the vcore drop and because not many people seem to have the UD3 i'm struggling to get answers (hence why i'm here now). I love the fact Gigabyte has opted to keep the old style BIOS look, I want my BIOS to look plain, do a good job, really not bothered about 'all singing all dancing' BIOS's.
My current rig:-
Gigabyte UD3
Intel i2500k
Corsair XMS3 (2x2GB - 1600Mhz)
Titan Fenrir Cooler
580w Hiper PSU
460GTX GFX
Audigy SE
RAID0 OS
SATA Backup
Windows 7
Currently overclocked to 4Ghz, with loaded temps of 46C.
Vcore 1.28v
vDimm 1.40 (I can go as low as 1.35V on the XMS3's :D)
Any views? Cheers,
Chris
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Slider, That is an excellent write up on the differences of the UD3 and UD4. As I said those extra features aren't really for me and for anyone looking for those particular features will greatly appreciate the UD4 more.
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Slider, the only thing that worries me about your setup is your PSU. It is hardly top of the range and has 4 x 12v channels which on something of fairly low power like this is not really a good thing.
Apart from that I would suggest that you take out a ticket with GGTS and see what they have to say.
Just enter your email address and click on the language of choice.
GGTS http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/Default.aspx
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CrisGTL, Slider, DM, Faizoff and friends,
Thank you so much for posting your discoveries, suggestions, challenges and victories. With all this input many people will be helped in choosing the MB that best suites their needs.
Chris, you have some very interesting comments and I am looking forward to seeing how your overclocking turns out.
Slider, thanks for helping me discover and consider the pros and cons of each board.
DM, thanks for chipping in your trustworthy advice and good suggestions.
Fiazoff, thanks for showing us the UD3 combo does work and is a worthy set up.
Have a great day everyone!
Soar
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Slider, That is an excellent write up on the differences of the UD3 and UD4. As I said those extra features aren't really for me and for anyone looking for those particular features will greatly appreciate the UD4 more.
I expect the UD3 has everything 90% of typical home PC users are looking for. IMO, it is only if you have a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio/speaker setup (with a digital DD5.1 input to the speaker or amplifier) that you want to use or if you want to be able to use dual video cards that the UD4 (or UD3P for just the DD5.1) makes sense. For everyone else, the UD3 makes more sense (although based on some of the recent comments by chrisgtl, there may be some additional overclocking features in the way of controlling vdroop on the UD4 vs the UD3; I have not looked into this at all so I can't comment).
chrisgtl, I'm not familiar with the BIOS voltage controls on the P67A-UD3, but I have two P55-UD3R's and one P55-UD4P and both of these motherboards have the ability to not only control and automatically eliminate vdroop (by enabling load-line calibration), but you can actually fine tune the loaded voltage by using a positive or negative value for "Dynamic VCOR (DVID)". For example if I want to use a base voltage of 1.1V when the CPU is not being pushed, but crank it up to 1.5V when running at 100% CPU, I can set the DVID to 0.4V. Is this feature not available in motherboards with the P67 chipset? If it is you should be able to fine tune the CPU voltage as a function of CPU load and fully compensate for any potential voltage droop.
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I chose the UD3P over the UD3 because of better power handling, better heatsinks, dolby digital (since I do output to my HT receiver via digital cable), and USB 3.0 onboard headers. When I look at buying new boards, I compare what my actual needs are and then also look for future use (that would be the USB 3.0).
I did not need SLI nor do I even use Crossfire; eSata (how many people actually use that?)... so no need for a more expensive UD4 board; therefore UD3P was the nice compliment in the middle.
An interesting experience I had with USB 3.0 on this UD3P board, is that it actually made my external USB 2.0 hard drive transfers faster. Usually transfers would start out at 23 MB/s and then steadily drop from there (this was the same on my previous Gigabyte boards too). Yet, when I plugged the same external drive into the USB 3.0 port- it started at 34 MB/s and only dropped down to 29 MB/s. So for someone who does a lot of file backups or transfers- which I do- this was an added bonus. :-)
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Well I have played with the DVID settings and to make my system stable at 4.4Ghz my vcore is reported as 1.39v :'(
I've gone back to 4.0Ghz and reset the DVID settings, 1.39v is too much for my liking.
I really don't like how this board overclocks, I see plenty BIOS releases for the UD4 and up but not for the UD3. I'm in talks with the supplier of my motherboard to try get an upgrade to the UD4 but im outside of their 7 day return window so not sure how I will get on with that one.
Wish I hadn't of gone for the cheapest Gigabyte board, bad overclocking ability and still get the POST freeze sometimes........
Any news on a UD3 BIOS upgrade? Currently running the F6c.
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Well I have played with the DVID settings and to make my system stable at 4.4Ghz my vcore is reported as 1.39v :'(
I've gone back to 4.0Ghz and reset the DVID settings, 1.39v is too much for my liking.
I really don't like how this board overclocks, I see plenty BIOS releases for the UD4 and up but not for the UD3. I'm in talks with the supplier of my motherboard to try get an upgrade to the UD4 but im outside of their 7 day return window so not sure how I will get on with that one.
Wish I hadn't of gone for the cheapest Gigabyte board, bad overclocking ability and still get the POST freeze sometimes........
Any news on a UD3 BIOS upgrade? Currently running the F6c.
CrhisGTL,
Last I heard they were already up into the 7's for the newest BIOS upgrade. Sorry it hasn't worked out so well for you. Any improvements yet?
Soar
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Well I have played with the DVID settings and to make my system stable at 4.4Ghz my vcore is reported as 1.39v :'(
I've gone back to 4.0Ghz and reset the DVID settings, 1.39v is too much for my liking.
I really don't like how this board overclocks, I see plenty BIOS releases for the UD4 and up but not for the UD3. I'm in talks with the supplier of my motherboard to try get an upgrade to the UD4 but im outside of their 7 day return window so not sure how I will get on with that one.
Wish I hadn't of gone for the cheapest Gigabyte board, bad overclocking ability and still get the POST freeze sometimes........
Any news on a UD3 BIOS upgrade? Currently running the F6c.
CrhisGTL,
Last I heard they were already up into the 7's for the newest BIOS upgrade. Sorry it hasn't worked out so well for you. Any improvements yet?
Soar
Still no BIOS releases for the UD3. No improvements at all, never had such a poor motherboard. I'm trying to return the motherboard for a credit note but the supplier is either ignoring me or refusing the RMA request. :(
Just want a proper motherboard. I paid £110 for this and its utter pathetic!!!!!
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Without bulls***ting you I am sure that there will be BIOS updates in the pipeline but bear in mind that this is a new platform and everything to do with it is rather hectic at the moment.
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Still no BIOS releases for the UD3. No improvements at all, never had such a poor motherboard. I'm trying to return the motherboard for a credit note but the supplier is either ignoring me or refusing the RMA request. :(
Just want a proper motherboard. I paid £110 for this and its utter pathetic!!!!!
I am so sorry it hasn't worked out for you. I am hearing mixed reports from a lot of different people. Some are saying it is a fantastic MB while others are struggling with issues related to the BIOS. Hopefully patience will pay off as Gigabyte updates the BIOS and fixes the bugs.
Don't give up hope!
Soar
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It's still early days yet and when you are an frontrunner with these new technologies obviously there are going to be some trials and tribulations along the way. It will all be sorted out shortly and then you will wonder what all the fuss was about. ;)
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It's still early days yet and when you are an frontrunner with these new technologies obviously there are going to be some trials and tribulations along the way. It will all be sorted out shortly and then you will wonder what all the fuss was about. ;)
DM, I totally agree with you! It will be sorted out and hopefully sooner not later. My problem in the past has been that I wanted everything to go together flawlessly on the first pass and to work perfect for the rest of its life! My expectations were extremely high after building approximately 10 builds with literally no major issues at all! Each build went together and ran flawlessly and I suppose that is enough to spoil a person.
On the other hand, I'd rather not constantly be fighting a system that does not do its basic job and crashes with BSOD's.
I understand the frustration of some of these builders.
I am tempted to not even open up my Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 at the moment and simply wait one month for all the dust to settle.
Perhaps giving Gigabyte an extra month will diminish my own frustrations because by then they will have released a BIOS that is well suited for this MB.
Soar
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The real trouble is with being on the forums and seeing all these posts form people with problems. What we mustn't lose sight of is that htere must be countless thousands out there who are quite happily using their systems with no worries whatever. It is easy to forget that when all you see is problem computers. ;)
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The real trouble is with being on the forums and seeing all these posts form people with problems. What we mustn't lose sight of is that htere must be countless thousands out there who are quite happily using their systems with no worries whatever. It is easy to forget that when all you see is problem computers. ;)
Good point DM!
Ok, anyone else out here where your Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 is working and working well?
Soar
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The real trouble is with being on the forums and seeing all these posts form people with problems. What we mustn't lose sight of is that htere must be countless thousands out there who are quite happily using their systems with no worries whatever. It is easy to forget that when all you see is problem computers. ;)
Good point DM!
Ok, anyone else out here where your Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 is working and working well?
Soar
I just built mine today... other than some tweaking over some silly stuff, I am happy so far. I spent a good hour in COD black Ops at 4.1 ghz just using turbo boost, no other tweaking... CPU and case temps didn't go over 57c with a stock fan... So far I would say that is pretty good.
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Certainly sounds like a good build to me! ;)
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That sure is encouraging to hear it is working so well for you!
Thanks for the good news!
Soar
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The real trouble is with being on the forums and seeing all these posts form people with problems. What we mustn't lose sight of is that htere must be countless thousands out there who are quite happily using their systems with no worries whatever. It is easy to forget that when all you see is problem computers. ;)
Good point DM!
Ok, anyone else out here where your Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 is working and working well?
Soar
I currently have the 2500k+ud3, and I can tell you it has been nothing but trouble. vdroop has caused instability and I don't feel safe going past 1.4v despite perfectly fine temperatures... You can read more about my experiences here...
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html (http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html)
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The real trouble is with being on the forums and seeing all these posts form people with problems. What we mustn't lose sight of is that htere must be countless thousands out there who are quite happily using their systems with no worries whatever. It is easy to forget that when all you see is problem computers. ;)
Good point DM!
Ok, anyone else out here where your Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 is working and working well?
Soar
I currently have the 2500k+ud3, and I can tell you it has been nothing but trouble. vdroop has caused instability and I don't feel safe going past 1.4v despite perfectly fine temperatures... You can read more about my experiences here...
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html (http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html)
At 4.2ghz, I was around 1.25v with it set to auto adjust... I'll keep inching up to around 4.5 and see how I do. If you are trying ot be one of those guys breaking the 5ghz barrier, maybe it's not the right MB.
That being said, everyone should be on the lookout now over the P67 recall from Intel over the SATA problems.
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Not wanting to add fuel to the fire but anybody concerned might want to read this thread:
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,4334.new.html#new
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The real trouble is with being on the forums and seeing all these posts form people with problems. What we mustn't lose sight of is that htere must be countless thousands out there who are quite happily using their systems with no worries whatever. It is easy to forget that when all you see is problem computers. ;)
Good point DM!
Ok, anyone else out here where your Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 is working and working well?
Soar
I currently have the 2500k+ud3, and I can tell you it has been nothing but trouble. vdroop has caused instability and I don't feel safe going past 1.4v despite perfectly fine temperatures... You can read more about my experiences here...
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html (http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html)
At 4.2ghz, I was around 1.25v with it set to auto adjust... I'll keep inching up to around 4.5 and see how I do. If you are trying ot be one of those guys breaking the 5ghz barrier, maybe it's not the right MB.
That being said, everyone should be on the lookout now over the P67 recall from Intel over the SATA problems.
To be exact, I am trying to get it stable at 4.5ghz-4.6ghz under 1.4v, but the vdroop is so terrible that 4.5ghz takes a bit more than 1.4v to compensate for a near 0.08v vdroop.
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The Vdroop issue doesn't seem to affect all processors though only certain ones. I must admit it is a big problem if you happen to have one of these CPUs.
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[/quote]
I currently have the 2500k+ud3, and I can tell you it has been nothing but trouble. vdroop has caused instability and I don't feel safe going past 1.4v despite perfectly fine temperatures... You can read more about my experiences here...
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html (http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/923837-p67a-ud3-owners-have-you-experienced.html)
At 4.2ghz, I was around 1.25v with it set to auto adjust... I'll keep inching up to around 4.5 and see how I do. If you are trying ot be one of those guys breaking the 5ghz barrier, maybe it's not the right MB.
That being said, everyone should be on the lookout now over the P67 recall from Intel over the SATA problems.
[/quote]
Sorry to hear about the vdroop instability issue. This issue appears to be plaguing a lot of people. On the other hand it is also good to hear that Clouser has his system stable at 4.2 GHz.
Thanks for the input from both directions gentlemen.
It appears as if this combo is working quite well for some, yet not so well for others.
Let's keep posting here to discover how to resolve the issues!
I hope to start my build soon. The P67A-UD3 should be here by tomorrow!
Soar
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UPDATE: AFTER READING INTEL'S NEWSROOM HERE:
http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/01/31/intel-identifies-chipset-design-error-implementing-solution
I am beginning to think it may be better to wait and NOT build this new rig using the Intel i5-2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3.
Intel and Anandtech are saying the problem causes the chip to degrade with time, so it is a progressive problem [the longer you use the system, the more prone it is to failure].
Supposedly the SATA 6 ports are good to go, but how can I use a system with one small SSD on SATA 6 for the OS and one DVD reader/writer on the other SATA 6? That leaves no room for my data hard drives.
Ouch!
For those interested, here's anandtech's info direct from Intel:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4142/intel-discovers-bug-in-6series-chipset-begins-recall
It does not look good at all!
On the brighter side of things consider these three very important points:
Intel did their very best to put out a very, very good chip
Intel is being totally honest about their mistake and not trying to sweep it under the high tech rug [they actually admitted their mistake to general consumers before they even spilled the beans to the motherboard manufacturers]!
Intel will eventually provide a replacement plan for all the chips. The motherboard manufacturers will follow suite.
Ok, three cheers for Intel!
On the not so brighter side of things:
- Intel has already halted production of its 6-series chipsets and will begin shipping fixed versions of the chipset in late February.
You can expect motherboard shortages through March at least. Intel hopes to be able to meet demand by April.
Well, let's stay positive everyone and be thankful that we even own a computer because most of the people on this planet do not even have a computer, let alone a computer with the newest technological bells and whistles!
Finally, here is some good advice:
What should you do if you are a lucky owner of one of these "defective" chips?
If you’re a current Sandy Bridge user and want to be sure you don’t have any problems until you can get replacement hardware, stick to using the 6Gbps ports on your board (which should be the first two ports).
Soar
PS Hey Absic, now maybe that Bulldozer might do much better in the CPU market after all [AMD stock shares soared 4% after Intel released the info about their defective chip]!
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Soar, I can understand completely your trepidation with building a system with known flaws. If I were in your place I'd most likely do the same and hold off building a PC knowing that it may not work properly.
I'm going to enjoy my ride with my build to the max while I can and when the dust settles will opt to replace the board (Still need to find out what procedures Gigabyte will follow for replacements)
I can finally play Bioshock at full HD resolution with max settings and not see a sec of flinching anywhere.
Now excuse me while I go zap the baby Jesus out of some unfortunate Splicers.
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Hi Soar,
There is a way around the storage problem and that is to use the SATA2 just for the optical drive and keep the SATA3 for your SSD for booting and a large storage drive. That way it shouldn't impact too much on present usage.
Of course there is a second way around it as well and that is to use a OCZ PCIE Revodrive.
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Soar, I can understand completely your trepidation with building a system with known flaws. If I were in your place I'd most likely do the same and hold off building a PC knowing that it may not work properly.
I'm going to enjoy my ride with my build to the max while I can and when the dust settles will opt to replace the board (Still need to find out what procedures Gigabyte will follow for replacements)
I can finally play Bioshock at full HD resolution with max settings and not see a sec of flinching anywhere.
Now excuse me while I go zap the baby Jesus out of some unfortunate Splicers.
Faizoff,
You have an excellent attitude and that is most important when stuff like this happens! Good choice to enjoy your rig while things get sorted out here. I'm still not sure what I will do. My biggest concern is that if I put everything together, then must change out MB, I'd have to reformat and reinstall everything all over again. I would like to avoid that simply because of the time factor involved.
The good news is that it will all work out well one way or another, so I'll not stress about it. My other two computers should hold me over until the Sandy Bridge stuff is resolved.
Enjoy your ride and get the most out of it!
Soar
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Hi Soar,
There is a way around the storage problem and that is to use the SATA2 just for the optical drive and keep the SATA3 for your SSD for booting and a large storage drive. That way it shouldn't impact too much on present usage.
Of course there is a second way around it as well and that is to use a OCZ PCIE Revodrive.
DM,
You have excellent ideas again. Thanks and I am definitely taking it into consideration as I weigh the different options right now.
I do have a question...
Do you think a reformat will be required when the replacement MOBO's arrive?
Soar
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If everything is the same and just the motherboard is changed for a new one the same then you should be able to get away without a format and just do a repair install over the top. You may even get away with it altogether.
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If everything is the same and just the motherboard is changed for a new one the same then you should be able to get away without a format and just do a repair install over the top. You may even get away with it altogether.
That would be sooooooooo nice!
But wouldn't Windows pick up that there has been a hardware change and wouldn't that throw off the OS?
Soar
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But wouldn't Windows pick up that there has been a hardware change and wouldn't that throw off the OS?
Soar
Both Vista and Windows 7 are a lot more resilient with regards to hardware changes. Before xmas my wife's system totally died (still ave no figured out what happened to it). Bought a new mother board / CPU etc (totally totally different hardware platform), did a restore on to new hard drives from my Windows Home Server backups; system was as good as new. Yes... I could have used the old hard drives but I tend to be a belt AND braces type of person and like having multiple levels of recovery.
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But wouldn't Windows pick up that there has been a hardware change and wouldn't that throw off the OS?
Soar
Both Vista and Windows 7 are a lot more resilient with regards to hardware changes. Before xmas my wife's system totally died (still ave no figured out what happened to it). Bought a new mother board / CPU etc (totally totally different hardware platform), did a restore on to new hard drives from my Windows Home Server backups; system was as good as new. Yes... I could have used the old hard drives but I tend to be a belt AND braces type of person and like having multiple levels of recovery.
Peter, thanks for the suggestions and I am considering all options.
I just found this SATA III card and was thinking it may work for my other HD's while I am waiting for the new MOBO's to be shipped.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124037&cm_re=sata_III_card-_-16-124-037-_-Product
I just do not like the idea of pouring more $$$ into my system when someone else made the mistake!
Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!
Soar
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Hi Soar,
Maybe it's time for another class action ?
There must be enough people to participate.
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Hi Soar,
Maybe it's time for another class action ?
There must be enough people to participate.
DM,
I would not join in a class action lawsuit against Intel. They made an honest mistake, openly and instantly admitted it, and have given their word to rectify the problem.
I respect people/companies that have the integrity and courage to freely admit when they have made a mistake and freely offer to rectify the situation.
On the other hand, I must admit, I have been a part of class action lawsuits against people/companies that made major blunders and then did their very best to deceive, cheat, and sweep their dishonesty under the carpet. Most of these companies/people paid dearly for their secrets hidden in the darkness.
For me personally, I do not feel Intel is cheating, deceiving, or lying about anything. On the contrary I see a company that is keeping things upfront, in the open, and doing their very best to make things right...even at great personal expense!
I admire and respect people and companies like this.
Soar
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Hi Soar
No I was only joking. To be honest Intel have handled it all well so far and you couldn't have asked for a more open statement of responsibility.
I agree it does make a change for a company to hold it's hands up and just admit it's error.
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I've also done this build with the 2500k and UD3. Haven't changed the bios yet. Was very happy to see the much improved smoothness in GTA4, compared to my old Q8300 @ 3.2ghz. Video card stayed didn't change, as I have a 6870. Haven't OC'd much at all as the temps hit 80-81 at only 3.5ghz under load on default cooler, so I didn't bother playing any further. Hyper 212 should arrive tomorrow so I'll test it out on the weekend.
Soar, on a side note, I was also very happy that I didn't not need to reformat at all when I completely changed platforms. On my first boot, windows loaded, auto loaded new drivers on its own after a few minutes, then did a restart, installed gigabyte drivers and played games 10 minutes after my first boot!
Hopefully this forum stays active, as there must be and will be many many more UD3 builds coming in the near future...
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I am sure that it won't be allowed to just dissappear because as you say this is going to be an ongoing thing and I am sure more problems will present themselves.
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I've also done this build with the 2500k and UD3. Haven't changed the bios yet. Was very happy to see the much improved smoothness in GTA4, compared to my old Q8300 @ 3.2ghz. Video card stayed didn't change, as I have a 6870. Haven't OC'd much at all as the temps hit 80-81 at only 3.5ghz under load on default cooler, so I didn't bother playing any further. Hyper 212 should arrive tomorrow so I'll test it out on the weekend.
Soar, on a side note, I was also very happy that I didn't not need to reformat at all when I completely changed platforms. On my first boot, windows loaded, auto loaded new drivers on its own after a few minutes, then did a restart, installed gigabyte drivers and played games 10 minutes after my first boot!
Hopefully this forum stays active, as there must be and will be many many more UD3 builds coming in the near future...
Noodletoe,
A big welcome to the forum and thank you for posting such an encouraging note. It's reading posts like yours that makes me want to start immediately!
May I ask which RAM, PSU, and BIOS number you are using?
I hope to finish rebuilding my AMD rig this weekend and then start work on this Intel 2500K + GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 combo shortly afterwards. As you can see, I have chosen to ask a lot of questions and read a lot of people's posts before starting on this new build. People here have helped me learn so much and now I feel I should be able to avoid making lots of mistakes due to my own ignorance and lack of knowledge. This forum is very precious to me as are the people too. Lots of friendly and helpful people!
Your temps seem a bit high...even for the stock cooler. I look foward to seeing what temps you have with the Hyper 212 plus. That is one heck of a good air cooler and the reviews for it are absolutely stellar!
Enjoy your new ride!
Soar
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Thanks alot Soar, really looking forward to seeing what kinda temps I get. I'm only looking for 4.0ghz max for now, but we'll see... need for speed and all... :)
Here's my build:
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16639/
http://www.robotnik.com/product.php?productid=1115&cat=239&page=1
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16581/
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16617/
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16408/
http://www.greenlyph.com/new/product_info.php?cPath=76_79&products_id=1256
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/12490/
Not sure about the bios, but I haven't changed it yet. Thinking of waiting for version 7 to come. I'm really looking forward to see how this will handle crossfire, from what I've been reading, x16/x4 both run at pcie2.0 on the p67 chipset, and seems to perform comparable to the x58 boards. Crossing my fingers anyways.... crossfire is another year away for me at this point though anyways!
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Temps were a bit high, but at 3.3ghz stock, I'm running 24-26C idle, and 60C at load.
New cooler not arriving this weekend :( no testing....
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Thanks alot Soar, really looking forward to seeing what kinda temps I get. I'm only looking for 4.0ghz max for now, but we'll see... need for speed and all... :)
Here's my build:
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16639/
http://www.robotnik.com/product.php?productid=1115&cat=239&page=1
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16581/
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16617/
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/16408/
http://www.greenlyph.com/new/product_info.php?cPath=76_79&products_id=1256
http://www.mysterybyte.com/part/12490/
Not sure about the bios, but I haven't changed it yet. Thinking of waiting for version 7 to come. I'm really looking forward to see how this will handle crossfire, from what I've been reading, x16/x4 both run at pcie2.0 on the p67 chipset, and seems to perform comparable to the x58 boards. Crossing my fingers anyways.... crossfire is another year away for me at this point though anyways!
Noodletoe,
Nice set up! I like your choices of PSU, GPU, Case, MB, Intel CPU, and cooler. I believe you'll be able to crush your opponents and they will recognize their "need for more speed"! :D
Please keep us up-to-date on your temps and settings once you hook up that Hyper 212+. Many of us are curious as to what this Intel/Gigabyte combo can do and still remain stable.
Have a good one!
Soar
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F7a BIOS is out
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/20/2696817/p67aud3.7a.zip
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F7a BIOS is out
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/20/2696817/p67aud3.7a.zip
Thanks for the heads up Lsdmeasap!
Soar
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Anytime man!
How you liking your P67?
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When he finally gets round to building it hopefully we will find out ;D
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Ha, ya I guess that would help ;D
What's the hold up?
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Cougar Point! I think it has hit his confidence!
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Ahh, so not parts at all yet then eh?
No problems here with P67 ;) I just need to find a golden chip is all
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That is always the quest! ;D Trouble is it doesn't seem to matter what search engine you use they never come up with the link ;)
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I've just completed a P67A-UD3 + 2600K build.
It's lovely. Really top drawer, especially with a big cooler like my Coolermaster V6.
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Excellent! I am glad that you are pleased with it. I am sure that Soar will be too. 8)
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I've just completed a P67A-UD3 + 2600K build.
It's lovely. Really top drawer, especially with a big cooler like my Coolermaster V6.
Pauleden,
Congrats on your new build! May I ask what BIOS you are using? Did you have any special challenges besides flashing the BIOS? and what speed are you achieving?
Thanks,
Soar
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Excellent! I am glad that you are pleased with it. I am sure that Soar will be too. 8)
DM,
Now how much did you pay Pauleden to tell everyone that the GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 works well?
You must be quite rich to bribe so many people so many times!
Hey everyone, I think DM owns Gigabyte stock options too!
Someone said he is on the Board of Directors!
Hmmmmmmmm....very interesting!
Soar
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Well Soar you know how it is, you have to look after your interests! Just glad I haven't got shares in Intel at the moment or they might be after my piggy bank! :o
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I've just completed a P67A-UD3 + 2600K build.
It's lovely. Really top drawer, especially with a big cooler like my Coolermaster V6.
Pauleden,
Congrats on your new build! May I ask what BIOS you are using? Did you have any special challenges besides flashing the BIOS? and what speed are you achieving?
Thanks,
Soar
Soar,
Yes, it came with P3, which doesn't support the CPU. I managed to use Qflash to get to P4 where the CPU is supported, then, thanks to advice from Dark Mantis, used @BIOS to get to P6.
He tells me Qflash will work now. I found it didn't work for P5, P6A or P6 - it was reporting bad BIOS image, but it was a bug in qflash, not corrupt BIOS images. As I don't like to routinely flash BIOS, I went straight to P6 using @BIOS and will use qflash for further upgrades if required.
For speed, I assume you mean CPU speed? I'm still at stock. :)
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I've just completed a P67A-UD3 + 2600K build.
It's lovely. Really top drawer, especially with a big cooler like my Coolermaster V6.
Pauleden,
Congrats on your new build! May I ask what BIOS you are using? Did you have any special challenges besides flashing the BIOS? and what speed are you achieving?
Thanks,
Soar
Soar,
Yes, it came with P3, which doesn't support the CPU. I managed to use Qflash to get to P4 where the CPU is supported, then, thanks to advice from Dark Mantis, used @BIOS to get to P6.
He tells me Qflash will work now. I found it didn't work for P5, P6A or P6 - it was reporting bad BIOS image, but it was a bug in qflash, not corrupt BIOS images. As I don't like to routinely flash BIOS, I went straight to P6 using @BIOS and will use qflash for further upgrades if required.
For speed, I assume you mean CPU speed? I'm still at stock. :)
PaulEden,
Thanks for the road map on how to update the BIOS. I appreciate you and the time you have given to help not only myself but potentially many others on how to get these GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3's up and running.
If it were not for people like you, many of us might be doing days and nights of circles in out attempt to simply upgrade to the newer BIOS in this situation.
So thanks for providing excellent clarity and knowledge on how to make it work.
Have a wonderful day!
Soar
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Finally received my Hyper 212+ :)
Looking forward to this evening in seeing what my 2500k + UD3 will do! Local supplier said they are having a tough time getting these coolers in stock as they are in high demand. I wonder if I can get 4.0ghz at stock voltage?
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I recently built a i5-2500K + GA-P67A-UD3 system as well and am very happy with it so far.
I never overclocked any of my older systems, but Sandy Bridge seems to make it really easy to gain some extra performance without a lot of hassle. :)
This whole vdroop-issue doesnt seem to be very healthy for the CPU though, so I'm thinking about switching to another board.
Will there be a BIOS release which fixes that issue or should I look out for another board?
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I've just completed a P67A-UD3 + 2600K build.
It's lovely. Really top drawer, especially with a big cooler like my Coolermaster V6.
Pauleden,
Congrats on your new build! May I ask what BIOS you are using? Did you have any special challenges besides flashing the BIOS? and what speed are you achieving?
Thanks,
Soar
Soar,
Yes, it came with P3, which doesn't support the CPU. I managed to use Qflash to get to P4 where the CPU is supported, then, thanks to advice from Dark Mantis, used @BIOS to get to P6.
He tells me Qflash will work now. I found it didn't work for P5, P6A or P6 - it was reporting bad BIOS image, but it was a bug in qflash, not corrupt BIOS images. As I don't like to routinely flash BIOS, I went straight to P6 using @BIOS and will use qflash for further upgrades if required.
For speed, I assume you mean CPU speed? I'm still at stock. :)
PaulEden,
Thanks for the road map on how to update the BIOS. I appreciate you and the time you have given to help not only myself but potentially many others on how to get these GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3's up and running.
If it were not for people like you, many of us might be doing days and nights of circles in out attempt to simply upgrade to the newer BIOS in this situation.
So thanks for providing excellent clarity and knowledge on how to make it work.
Have a wonderful day!
Soar
You're most welcome. I should say that I was only acting on Mantis' advice.
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I recently built a i5-2500K + GA-P67A-UD3 system as well and am very happy with it so far.
I never overclocked any of my older systems, but Sandy Bridge seems to make it really easy to gain some extra performance without a lot of hassle. :)
This whole vdroop-issue doesnt seem to be very healthy for the CPU though, so I'm thinking about switching to another board.
Will there be a BIOS release which fixes that issue or should I look out for another board?
p1lot,
Welcome to Gigabyte forum and thank you for posting! I am so glad to hear your system is working well for you. Yes, the whole vdroop-issue appears to be more of a problem on the UD3 board than the other boards. Dark Mantis would know much more than I on this issue as well as the BIOS updates. You can count on him coming along and answering your questions. He is really good at that!
Please keep us up to date on how you are coming along with that fantastic new build!
Soar
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You're most welcome. I should say that I was only acting on Mantis' advice.
Pauleden,
Yes, DM is very good at providing good and accurate advice and the best part of all is that the advice is free all the time!
Can't beat that!
Soar
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Just an update. After finally getting my new cooler, I have some temperature readings for those interested:
Stock CPU testing:
1. Stock CPU, stock cooler, ambient 20C
Idle: 25 Load: 56
2. Stock CPU, 212+ cooler
Idle: 25 Load: 45
Overclock testing:
3. CPU @ 3.5ghz, stock cooler (stock voltage)
Idle 30 Load 83 (yikes!)
4. CPU @ 4.0ghz, 212+ cooler (voltage at 1.275)
Idle 29-31 Load 52
I haven't bothered trying any faster than 4.0ghz, as I don't think there would be any noticable benefit for games beyond that point.
Cheers
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Yes it just proves what we have always said that if you want to overclock you need a decent aftermarket cooler.
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Just an update. After finally getting my new cooler, I have some temperature readings for those interested:
Stock CPU testing:
1. Stock CPU, stock cooler, ambient 20C
Idle: 25 Load: 56
2. Stock CPU, 212+ cooler
Idle: 25 Load: 45
Overclock testing:
3. CPU @ 3.5ghz, stock cooler (stock voltage)
Idle 30 Load 83 (yikes!)
4. CPU @ 4.0ghz, 212+ cooler (voltage at 1.275)
Idle 29-31 Load 52
I haven't bothered trying any faster than 4.0ghz, as I don't think there would be any noticable benefit for games beyond that point.
Cheers
Noodletoe,
Thanks for posting your temps with corresponding CPU speeds and voltages. I was pleasantly surprised that your Hyper 212+ had such good results at 4 GHz. Kind of makes me wonder if I should go the Hyper 212+ route rather than the Corsair H70...
I have both CPU coolers on my desk and I keep trying to decide which way to go...
I lost a little confidence in the H70 after it sprung a leak...
Soar
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Thanks Soar. It's been running perfect so far.
It'd be a shame not to use the H70, but I know I couldn't do it unless I had 100% confidence it wasn't gonna leak again, costly risk. If you're mainly concerned with the sound, I was very surprised the Hyper 212+ was not louder than it was. My antec 900 case isn't a quiet case by any means, but the 212+ fan isn't any louder than my case fans (set to medium speed). My previous cooler was a Freezer Pro 7 (for my E2180 @ 3.0ghz), and I could hear that fan over my case fans of the 900. With the Hyper's high RPM fan, I think it will perform adequately with a decrease in speed if you needed to make it more quiet. Also, I've read that some people are upgrading the hyper fan with a differenent two fan set-up running slower rpm, with better cooling, and even quieter. Down the road I'd like to do this, but for now I'm very happy with the system noise level, including the 6870....
Note the 212+ installation could be easier, mostly due to a lack of detailed instructions, but it's not difficult.
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So has soar built his system yet or not? We're dying to hear from you soar.
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No, I think he has been busy with his rebuild of his AMD system recently but hopefully now that is done he will get on with the Sandy Bridge build. ;)