Intel DP45SG (Skyburg)

[panzerino]

Take good PSU and spend extra money.
The PSU is crucial for one good system. The question is not only how powerful the PSU is, but how reliable and how well engineering and produced is.
Only two in our days makes really good PSU- Power@Cooling and Seasonic.

Like you know, there is no equality between Sony and QUAD. Because QUAD is QUAD. The same is valid for the PSU market too... .

[cactus]

I would get a ati 4850 (or 4870)

a 4850 will give you better results than 3870 for not so much more...

[Havredave]

Howdy all! I'm a tech in a small computer store, and I've set up a new machine for a customer with the DP45SG motherboard in it, a Q9650 Core 2 Quad, and 8GB of Corsair XMS3 DDR3 (4x2GB sticks).

The motherboard wanted to detect the RAM at 1066MHz, 7 7 7 20. Unfortunately, this left me in a situation where the machine wouldn't reboot properly. It appeared that the board was sticking in fan detection (high fan speed, wouldn't slow down after detection per normal). The only way I could get it to boot was to unplug it for long enough that the motherboard's capacitors would bleed off - say 15 minutes with the PSU connected to the board, or about 2 minutes if I'd unplugged the 24pin connector.

The RAM is rated at 1333MHz, 9 9 9 24. Once I hard-set those (nice little memory manager in BIOS), the machine's reboot issue seemed to clear up.

I still have an odd and probably Vista64 related issue where it won't boot into the operating system without having the Vista DVD in the drive and waiting for the "press any key" prompt to go away. If the disk isn't in the drive, it'll tell me "Boot failure. Press any key to continue...".

Still working on the issue(s), and I'll post if I get around the rest of them. Good, fast board. I hope these little stability issues get resolved with a BIOS update soon.

[lethargy]

UPS man just arrived at work with this board and all of the parts to go into it. Everything brand new, besides my case. I'll post the hardware I used and how it went after I go home and put it together, probably a few hours.

Also, I just wanted to say that I'm really glad I found this thread. I hate online retailers with their google results taking up the first 7 pages. It takes forever to find posts and reviews on new products because there's more people trying to sell them than there are people putting useful information out there.

[Havredave]

While the RAM tweaking helped fix the reboot issue, the machine still won't boot from a shutdown unless power is removed beforehand. Again, unplugging the 24pin connector speeds this process up.

Unfortunately, a different power supply (vastly different) makes no difference. Right now there's a measly 350W PSU in it, but a 600W from a different manufacturer does the same thing.

Fortunately the user knows that it's brand new technology, so I think he'll be able to live with it until a BIOS fix comes out for the memory and reboot/shutdown issues.

Price you pay for living on the edge.

[Havredave]

I'm not sure if it was an anomaly or not, but turning off system fan control in BIOS seems to have rectified the cold-boot (not booting at all from cold-boot) issue.

So far so good!

[Havredave]

Yep, it was an anomaly. Still having bad reboot and shutdown-boot issues, mostly the latter. Once it boots right the first time, it typically reboots without too much trouble.

Going to be honest - I wouldn't recommend anyone buy this board right now. It's a complete hassle unless you're just a geek who wants to play with something new. Great features and all, but the BIOS is just not ready.

[Sandog]

Really sounds like you have memory voltage issues. My sticks will work at 1066 7-7-7-20 or 1333 9-9-9-24 but the key is voltage. You have to set it to 1.9V. Almost all 2GB sticks rated at 1333 and above require 1.9V. Mine said 1.8V but it will not work 100%.

Having a system not install Windows (keeps locking up during various stages of installation) is memory voltage problem. I've seen it a bunch with previous installs. I guarantee you it will work at the above two settings at 1.9V. I bet when your system runs at 1333 9-9-9-24 it is selecting 1.55V's.

Welcome to the DP45SG thread all and good luck with your new board..

[Sandog]

If you have network connection problems with the DP45SG read my previous post. This worked for me two times. I am using all the latest drivers off Intels website. Also if you plan on updating BIOS the best way is a thumbdrive and remove the BIOS jumper for now (Express BIOS doesn't work.)

I would like to hear any issues related to restarting the system that anybody else might be getting who has this board. I am using Vista 64 w/SP1 and also an HDMI video cable.

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by cactus

I personnally would like to run my mem at 1333 in order to get a 1:2 fsb/dram ratio.

I read this post again, I have been meaning to run some benchmark (3DMark Vantage is all I have ATM) and determine which is better 1066 7-7-7-21 1T or 1333 9-9-9-24 2T.

I am also waiting on IDCC to run PassMark and check CPU temperatures.

[Sandog]

Well new BIOS is coming out shortly (by Sept. 23rd) and is called SGP4510H.86A.0088 according to the latest PCN. The board is already up to version 403. These newest versions just mean the board is shipping with the updated BIOS.

Product Change Notification

Change Notification #: 108793 - 00
Change Title: DP45SG, PCN 108793-00, Product Design, BIOS Update
Date of Publication: September 05, 2008

Description of Change to the Customer:
Update BIOS to SGP4510H.86A.0088
Please refer to the release notes posted at Intel Desktop Board DP45SG - Tools & Software

Customer Impact of Change and Recommended Action:
It is recommended that customers evaluate this new BIOS to ensure a smooth transition. This change has been thoroughly evaluated to ensure that there are no quality, reliability or functional implications to our customers. Intel is not recommending additional qualification of this change on platforms received from Intel. This change is not expected to cause a change to the Microsoft* Windows* operating system's software driver stack.

Products Affected / Intel Ordering Codes:
Product Code//MM#//Pre Change AA//Post Change AA
BOXDP45SG//895882//E27733-402//E27733-403

[Havredave]

My memory is marked at 1.6v, which is what I set it at; forgot to mention that part. It's quite possible the issue is memory, but it's hard to say at this point.

I've done a rescue BIOS recovery, and it's booted at least once from cold without issue, but we'll see. I'm doing some Vista updates, then I'll shut it down and see how it goes. The rescue recovery I did with the jumper in the configure position, and the .bio file burned to a CD in the primary drive.

The memory is defaulted back to what the BIOS wanted, which right now is 1066, 7 7 7 20, and for the life of me I can't remember what it chose for voltage. 1.5x I think, but I wouldn't swear to it. I'll look in a bit and post.

[Havredave]

Currently BIOS has memory at 7 7 7 20, 1.6v, 1066MHz. I'm going to leave it for now, at least until new BIOS revisions self-tweak it based on what the memory really is (9 9 9 24, 1.6v, 1333MHz).

It's restarting much better now after the rescue BIOS flash, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Havredave]

Well, good enough. It does boot from cold now, and though the memory is still mis-detected, I can live with it until future BIOS revisions fix the issue.

I'll stand by my "this is a geek's board" assessment, at least for now.

I believe the majority of the issue with my particular board was a bad BIOS flash from the factory. Gotta love recovery mode - saved my butt on other Intel boards as well.

Hopefully folks continue posting about this board, because I'm eager to see how it evolves so I can purchase one for myself when it's more stable.

[Havredave]

Oh, I forgot to mention; when I first installed the board, I believe it did say 1.55v, but that's so long in the post-configured past, I'm not sure. I think you were right on that guess, Sandog.