GA-G33M-DS2R

The 8500 Ballistix Tracers I just received did 2.2v DDR1150 5-5-5 timings with no cooling / DDR1180 @ 2.2v with a 92mm Tornado blowing across them. When I started overclocking the FSB, they max out at DDR1135 stable. I have my own little piece of Star Wars in my computer now! :p (Need to find some electrical tape...)

So the max I have been able to take the board is 455fsb. Voltage bumps and cooling would not seem to take me any higher.

This board seems to wildly underclock the VCORE. Gigabyte's attempt to coddle overclockers, I guess. Setting 1.55v in bios gives 1.44v in CPU-Z or 1.46 according to EasyTune.
Don't trust cpuz! It did not display the right value!
Easytune5 is more accurate but in a margin of 0.1v
My ballistix 5300 maxed out around 568mhz [email protected]:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb261/pvhk/455.jpg
 
Man... been so long since I built a machine.

What CPU would you guys recommend for this MB ? I'm looking to put it in a Sugo SG01 Evo... and probably buy some decent memory for it as well -- Crucial Ballistix 8000 or 8500.

The E6600 seems like the best choice, but is there a better one for close to the same price? I'm not sure on what they all have for multipliers, and so therefore what will work best with this MB, especially if I plan to give OC'ing a try.

Suggestions? TIA !

great thread, btw!
 
Final overclock on this board and what I am going to run with:

That's a nice 650MHz, 2MB cache and 275MHz bandwidth bump over what I was capped at before. I admit I was hoping for higher on the chip, but 3.5GHz isn't bad.


Nice clocks Sleepeeg3! :eek:

When you get a chance, can you run a 1M calc on Super PI (mod1.5 XS) ? (I'd like to see how fast that runs with your setup.

Gratz!
 
Thanks! SuperPI is mostly a funky way of testing memory bandwidth. I'd like to see the OC community get away from using it... XS is the source of a lot of good, but a lot of bad changes in the OC community. They help drive changes, but they set many bad examples.
 
I'm so excited to build this tomorrow... I can't really contain it. I will post results on my build and my first ever OCing attempt hopefully by tomorrow night. This is going to be one bad ass system, nothing like OCed SFF that still runs cool!!!!
 
Windows installed, drivers, av, etc.

Having a stuttering problem while gaming, very odd.

Gonna search and see whats up.


Update might be a driver problem as it happens with some games and not with others.
 
The 8500 Ballistix Tracers I just received did 2.2v DDR1150 5-5-5 timings with no cooling / DDR1180 @ 2.2v with a 92mm Tornado blowing across them. When I started overclocking the FSB, they max out at DDR1135 stable. I have my own little piece of Star Wars in my computer now! :p (Need to find some electrical tape...)

So the max I have been able to take the board is 455fsb. Voltage bumps and cooling would not seem to take me any higher.

This board seems to experience a serious amount of VDROOP. Setting 1.55v in bios gives 1.44v under load in CPU-Z or 1.46 according to EasyTune.

Final overclock on this board and what I am going to run with:

That's a nice 650MHz, 2MB cache and 275MHz bandwidth bump over what I was capped at before. I admit I was hoping for higher on the chip, but 3.5GHz isn't bad.

Finally a fully overclocked, quiet and watercooled SFF - I am done! :D

Thats a very nice OC for a mATX mobo. Congrats and enjoy.:D
 
Man... been so long since I built a machine.

What CPU would you guys recommend for this MB ? I'm looking to put it in a Sugo SG01 Evo... and probably buy some decent memory for it as well -- Crucial Ballistix 8000 or 8500.

The E6600 seems like the best choice, but is there a better one for close to the same price? I'm not sure on what they all have for multipliers, and so therefore what will work best with this MB, especially if I plan to give OC'ing a try.

Suggestions? TIA !

great thread, btw!

The E4300 will give you the most bang for the buck due to its lower cost. So far only the E4300, E6600 has been the main chips used. I think one or two used a E6400 with good results as well. I think pretty much any chip will make people happy. I'd give the nod to the lower cost chips though simply because of the price/value factor.
 
Hmmm I'm experiencing major stability issues.....

I built my system two days ago, and I can't seem to get it stable. I'm experiencing a lot of data corruption and graphical issues. Most downloaded files (firefox etc.) seem to be corrupt, automatic updates fail half of the time etc.

Also I'm seeing a lot of graphic error (blinking dots, etc; as if the graphics card is overheating). I've added fans to the NB and SB, but no improvement.

Since the onboard grapics make use of the system ram, and because of the data corruption, I'm suspecting my ram. I'm currently using a-data pc6400 ram. i've tried overvolting (1.8-1.9 is default, went to 2.1) and underclocking it (663mhz instead of 800), but no sucess.

I'm now in the process of running memtest86+ (1.70) but after two passes, still no errors....

Any comments/suggestions?

btw, I know a-data isn't top of the line...hell it's el-chepo, but at least the brand (not my actual sticks) exists on the compatibility list

Also: if it should indeed be the ram, what ram is recommended? (i'm using a e4300, so it should be able to clock high, and preferrable....be affordable ;))
 
I have no problems like yours or what so ever. Mine runs like a charm.

Does anyone know what the setting in the tweakermenu is: CPU GTLREF Ratio Control?? Stock is about 0,636 i guess
 
Hmmm I'm experiencing major stability issues.....

I built my system two days ago, and I can't seem to get it stable. I'm experiencing a lot of data corruption and graphical issues. Most downloaded files (firefox etc.) seem to be corrupt, automatic updates fail half of the time etc.

Also I'm seeing a lot of graphic error (blinking dots, etc; as if the graphics card is overheating). I've added fans to the NB and SB, but no improvement.

Since the onboard grapics make use of the system ram, and because of the data corruption, I'm suspecting my ram. I'm currently using a-data pc6400 ram. i've tried overvolting (1.8-1.9 is default, went to 2.1) and underclocking it (663mhz instead of 800), but no sucess.

I'm now in the process of running memtest86+ (1.70) but after two passes, still no errors....

Any comments/suggestions?

btw, I know a-data isn't top of the line...hell it's el-chepo, but at least the brand (not my actual sticks) exists on the compatibility list

Also: if it should indeed be the ram, what ram is recommended? (i'm using a e4300, so it should be able to clock high, and preferrable....be affordable ;))

Balistix sticks seem to be the most commonly used so far. Posts from users show they do indeed work so we know its a definete 'will work' choice. Have you a video card you could use? I'm curious if that would solve the problem? If it still does it with a video card then that would eliminate a video problem and throw it back onto the RAM as the chief suspect of the problem.
 
Yup I hava a 8600GT...major issues with that as well.

But...

I've tried with a single stick of ram...still same issues. Changed it for the other stick...problem seems solved!! I'm running single channel now, so there's a decrease in performance, but at least my system's stable (AND i'm even able to clock it to 266 (haven't tried higher yet). So i'm convinced it is my ram!

I'm currently looking at some crucial ballistix 6400 sticks ;) Is there any difference between a dual pack and two single sticks? (besides the price tag) Are stick actually 'matched'? The only local vendor seems to be out of the dual packs, but DOES have several single sticks available...
 
The E4300 will give you the most bang for the buck due to its lower cost. So far only the E4300, E6600 has been the main chips used. I think one or two used a E6400 with good results as well. I think pretty much any chip will make people happy. I'd give the nod to the lower cost chips though simply because of the price/value factor.
Actually, with this board I disagree. That is if you want to achive a high oc. Since the available memory dividers are worse with a 800 fsb cpu than with 1066 fsb cpus (3:5 and 4:5 divider, respectively), I would go with the later with this board. That way you can buy cheaper ram and/or oc further. I had originally bought a E4300 and kingston value 5300 ram because I meant to oc on the F-I90HD. With that set-up I most probably would have managed to reach close to 3 GHz without too much trouble. Unfortunately, that board turned out to be a dud, so I exchanged with the G33M and a couple of Corsair 6400 sticks (both of which were considerably more expensive). I kept the cpu (couldn't exchange that part). Even with the somewhat better (and more expensive) ram, it now turns out to be the ram that limits my oc. If I had a 1066 fsb cpu, I would be able to push it higher.

Of course, we can all hope that Gigabyte will get their act together and release the 1:1 divider but till then, I would recommend a E6xxx series cpu for this board. Maybe Gigabyte gets kick-backs from Crusial, Corsair, etc. for not including the 1:1 divider? :cool:



EDIT: the above depends on the relative price between value/fast ram and a E4xx/E6xx cpu. The E4400 would maybe be a better choice since the price difference between the two E4xx cpus is minimal, while the E6600 cost app. the same as two E4300s. It also depends on the speed one wants to reach. 2.7-3 GHz with the el chepo set-up or 3.5+ GHz with a set-up that maybe costs at least twice as much. If the F-I90HD had worked, I would have stayed with my original set-up.

One argument could be that quality ram could be used also after upgrading the cpu, but that's difficult to say. By then selling the old and buying a a new cpu/ddr3/mb combo might be better over-all choice. As much as I dislike paying more the cpu, I dislike even more paying more for ram. I find that the memory companies are milking the oc'ers even more than Intel without necessarily delivering a significantly better product. It is much harder to know if the price one pays is actually worth it. Besides, I much prefer oc only the cpu and not the cpu+ram.
 
Actually, with this board I disagree. That is if you want to achive a high oc. Since the available memory dividers are worse with a 800 fsb cpu than with 1066 fsb cpus (3:5 and 4:5 divider, respectively), I would go with the later with this board. That way you can buy cheaper ram and/or oc further. I had originally bought a E4300 and kingston value 5300 ram because I meant to oc on the F-I90HD. With that set-up I most probably would have managed to reach close to 3 GHz without too much trouble. Unfortunately, that board turned out to be a dud, so I exchanged with the G33M and a couple of Corsair 6400 sticks (both of which were considerably more expensive). I kept the cpu (couldn't exchange that part). Even with the somewhat better (and more expensive) ram, it now turns out to be the ram that limits my oc. If I had a 1066 fsb cpu, I would be able to push it higher.

Thanks for the reply! That's the kind of info I'm after, as I know the CPUs are different.. but I don't know how those differences would translate to OC potential with this MB... and if it's worth buy decent ram, like the Ballistix.

So, do all the E6XXX CPUs have the same multiplier? Actually, I can just google that... =)
 
So far this thing is rock stable.

I had a driver issue. Getting some stuttering in NHL2006.

Stalker, R6Vegas, and GRAW work fine at 1920x1200.

Idle temps for the core vary from 35-43C depending on if the AC is on in the room.

This board is a winner.
 
Well guys... right now I'm SOL. I always seem to be out of luck :(

I can't seem to get the board to boot. It powers on fine, but with only MotherboardPower, CPU Power, RAM, CPU, and VGA (out the onboard) I get no screen (no signal). I tried with my PCIExpressx16 Radeon X1950PRO, without it, and with both PCIEx and Onboard to no avail. Any ideas what's up?

I've put together about 4-5 different computers, and never had this issue. Powering on with no screen signal.

Any chance that this is the PC1066 8500 Ballistix RAM? I was worried that I should get the DDR2-800 not the DDR2-1066... Was I right? I checked both Newegg specs and the Gigabyte website and it says 1066(OC) is supported which to me might mean that the board doesn't support DDR2-1066 RAM, but DDR2-800 overclocked to 1066. Supporting this would be the supported RAM page that lists only DDR2-800 and DDR2-667. Couple this with the fact my board seems DOA but functioning, and I'd say we have no support for 1066.
 
Good news... kinda. Got the system to boot to BIOS, when only 1 stick was in. In other words, I have a DOA 1GB stick of Crucial Ballistix DRR2-1066. Nothing ever seems to go smoothly with my builds... :mad:
 
I wonder what will happen with a 1333 fsb cpu in this mobo? What kind of multipliers will there be? I mean if it is 4:5 then 333:417 so that is actually out of spec for official support of DDR2-800, but would satisfy the 1066 OC spec. I want to get a mATX board that supports Quad Penryn in the future, but I don't OC. Only other option is the Intel board which is a joke. I guess that's why I am waiting till late July/early Aug to see if any other better mobos come out.

They should have tossed the Parallel / serial ports and put the eSATA onboard instead of an add-in.
 
Is it just me or is the RAID/AHCI controller very, very, VERYT slow in reconizing drives? It takes almost a minute to reconize my drives......:confused: :mad:
 
Is it just me or is the RAID/AHCI controller very, very, VERYT slow in reconizing drives? It takes almost a minute to reconize my drives......:confused: :mad:

how did u install windows with AHCI on? I have a blue screen everytime I try to install windows with AHCI mode...:confused:
 
I run my drives in Raid-0, the performance is prtetty good, but they seem to take forever to initialize (as they do when running them in ahci). Only diabling the conroller and running my drives as (native) ide devices seems to skip the controller and thereby saving me a minute in boot time....

Anyone else experiencing this delay?

In't ahci not a vista-only feature? You should use the 'load driver' option to load the ahci drivers when installing vista...
 
I've been reading this thread for a while, and I may have missed this, but I don't remember seeing it. Have they included any more memory ratios in new bios releases or is 667 still the lowest it'll go?

As well I'd love to get this board to replace the one I'm using but I want a bit more OC potential than just 320+ ram ocing.
 
Well, I'm doing the overclocking thing, and I seem to be having pretty good results, kind of. System boots into windows at FSB400 no problem. System shows a 3.2GHz proc.

Now here's what is not right. Problem 1: CPUz seems to be reporting a core speed of 2400MHz and that number jumps to 3200MHz and then back. It seems to be jumping up the 3200 when the system is under load. Is this normal? 'Cause it doesnt seem right to me. Problem 2: Tried to run a Prime95 torture test, and low and behold, I got an error about 1 minute in. What do I do to start troubleshooting?
 
Well, I'm doing the overclocking thing, and I seem to be having pretty good results, kind of. System boots into windows at FSB400 no problem. System shows a 3.2GHz proc.

Now here's what is not right. Problem 1: CPUz seems to be reporting a core speed of 2400MHz and that number jumps to 3200MHz and then back. It seems to be jumping up the 3200 when the system is under load. Is this normal? 'Cause it doesnt seem right to me. Problem 2: Tried to run a Prime95 torture test, and low and behold, I got an error about 1 minute in. What do I do to start troubleshooting?

1) EIST activated! Quite normal, cpu unused: the ratio is lowered to 6x!
2) your cpu has not sufficient juice! Raise the vcore...
 
1) EIST activated! Quite normal, cpu unused: the ratio is lowered to 6x!
2) your has not sufficient juice! Raise the vcore...
Ok. At this point I have left it to <AUTO>, so how high should I raise it? BTW Temps when not under load right now are under 40C.
 
I got this mobo done this weekend with all my computer parts that have been sitting on my desk since my Abit IT-90HD blew on two different boards. I couldnt be happier with this board, better placement for the sata ports and firewire. The only thing that I dont like is that it only has a sys fan and cpu fan and nothing else that I saw. Guess I need to buy a fan controller.
 
Ok. At this point I have left it to <AUTO>, so how high should I raise it? BTW Temps when not under load right now are under 40C.
Try 1.35v , if not sufficient, 1.375v! You can raise the vcore up to 1.45-1.48v with stock cooling...
 
From what little I have heard about people speaking with Gigabyte it doesnt look like they plan on providing a 1:1 divider. Perhaps if the professional reviewers test this mobo and talk to gigabyte there will be something more positive forthcoming. It doesnt make sense to me not to make a 1:1 divider availble but who knows what the Gigabyte developers are thinking. Its still early though so who knows.

Also someone asked about other manufacturers. Both MSI and ASUS have G33 versions planned and even showed some pics. No release dates yet that I know of.
 
I can't seem to get it stable above 376FSB. I had to set the vCore to 1.34 or so. It seems no matter what I increase the vCore to, I get Prime95 errors when above 376FSB. But my goal was always to have a e6400 @ 3GHz Intel Core2Duo... so I'm very happy!!! Now I have to see about RMAing the Ballistix RAM with newegg.

If you do have any other advice for getting the FSB to 400, I'd love to hear it. 3.2GHz would be pretty sweet.

Just to say to anyone looking to jump in to OCing in SFF, this board was VERY EASY to work with. I didn't know what I was doing, but the BIOS and the board stability made it easy.

20070611_systemOC_1181584799482108170.JPG
 
I can't seem to get it stable above 376FSB. I had to set the vCore to 1.34 or so. It seems no matter what I increase the vCore to, I get Prime95 errors when above 376FSB. But my goal was always to have a e6400 @ 3GHz Intel Core2Duo... so I'm very happy!!! Now I have to see about RMAing the Ballistix RAM with newegg.

If you do have any other advice for getting the FSB to 400, I'd love to hear it. 3.2GHz would be pretty sweet.

Just to say to anyone looking to jump in to OCing in SFF, this board was VERY EASY to work with. I didn't know what I was doing, but the BIOS and the board stability made it easy.

Congrats on reaching your oc goal!

If you want to push higher, you might have to raise the vcore. Judging from cpuz it seems that your vcore is actually default. I have mine at default (1.325 in bios) and cpuz shows exactly the same. Just make sure to watch your temps. If you want to push it, you also have to switch of the power-saving features of the cpu and make sure that your fans run at full speed. If you oc the ram, you most probably have to raise the voltage there as well. I didn't see any stability advantage by raising the other voltages, so those two I would leave at stock.

Personally, I wouldn't want to turn of EIST and would rather settle for a bit lower oc while saving power and keeping the cpu much cooler on avarage. If your cpu is stable at 3 GHz at stock voltage, you can most probably turn EIST, etc. on without compromising stability. I leave the computer on most of the time, so I prefer that the speed, power consumption and temps go down when I don't need the full speed anyway (e.g. while sleeping....).
 
Finally received my graphic card, so I could finish my built. My purpose was to built a small, quiet, and fast gaming computer. It has been achived :) :) :)

I used this forum and spcr as inspiration for my built, so I want to thank everybody posting here!!!

Finalbuilt.jpg


(sorry for the bad picture)

It was over 30C in the shadow here today (warmest day this year) so I left it on to stress-test my oc with Orthos while I myself was outside. No crashes.:cool:


So final specs:

- E4300 @ 2.7 GHz, stock voltage, 300 fsb, EIST etc enabled (yes, could have pushed further without eist, higher voltages, etc. but at this setting it is quiet and even with 32C ambient, it didn't go over 64C. Maybe hot for some, but it is basically never that hot here and I would never 100% load the computer on a hot day, anyway ;-)
- 2GB Corsair 6400 5-5-5-12 @ 500 MHz, 5-5-5-12, 2.2v
- GB G33M-DS2R
- 8800GTS with "mini-duct" under-clocked to 260/400 @2D, oc to 600/900 @3D.
- 2 Seagate hdds (the silicone mounts is a nice touch from Antec's side. Works!)
- dvd burner
- all cramped into an Antec 3400 (I can only recommend this case! Good qual, and cable management quite easy: I managed to keep all cables out of the air flow).
- Included Antec psu, 380 W (quiet and do what it is supposed to, built by seasonic). That the psu is sitting in its own compartment (granted very tight fit when having both a hdd and a dvd-drive there as well) is a very smart design feature, so it is kept cooler.

I noticed that all the temps raised after installing the graphic card compared to running with onboard video (well, not surprising at all). That is why I made a "mini-duct" so that more of the hot air is blown outside the case. It leaves a bit less space for the hot air to escape but it is sufficient and importantly: it does seem to help keep the case temps lower. The hdd in the lower compartment which can be seen in the picture is now app. 3C hotter than before which brings its temp to the same level as the hdd in the psu compartment, 15-20C above ambient).

Cooling is done with Scythe Katana II (tight fit, controlled by bios so at max 1200 rpm), Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000@800 rpm and 2x9.2cm fans @5volts (1500 rpm at 12v, now totally silent). When running with onboard video, the loadest were the occational sounds from the hdds and the system exhaust fan. The loudest part is now the graphic card under 3D but not annoying. I most probably will silent it more by lowering the fan speed. At 2D I can only hear a sound from airflow. Since it is constant and quite low, it's fine. It also makes the occasional sounds from the hdds disappear into the background. Under the desk it is hardly noticeable and at >2m it is silent.

Mission accomplished!


PS If anybody know of a good program that can under- and over-clock a 8800GTS, please write here or pm me. If it can control the fan speed as well it would be excellent. I presently use rivatuner but it doesn't seem to be able to lower the mem speed in 2D. In general I find it a bit flaky. The fan speed settings also don't seem to work. Maybe it is just me who have to look more into it... Soemthing to do on a day with bad weather...
 
@matx2007, nice katana2!
What's your cpu temp idle , load?

cooling optimized in my case, home made : heatsink on cpu's mofsets
G7977_2copier.jpg
 
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