Intel D975XBX (Bad Axe)

[falcon26]

With my BX2 I was wondering if I put in another 2 gb of ram giving me a total of 4 gb, would that still be dual channel if all 4 slots were used? They would all be 1 gb sticks same maker and model...

[Dandruff]

of course this would still be dualchannel-mode. all explained in the manual.

[RJ]

Originally Posted by S.SubZero

At this point for a new build why not take PATA out of the equation altogether? You can get a SATA DVD+/-RW burner on Newegg for $30. The SATA DVD-ROM is $20.

I was gonna get a BX2, but since those boards have alot of stuff I don't need I decided to spend about half the money and get a DP965LT instead.

Back in December, I was reading reviews on SATA DVD writers with the same thought of bypassing PATA. The vast majority of reviews at Newegg were negative with lots of problems. With your suggestion, I just took another look and I noticed that Lite-On has reversed that trend. The DP965LT has received great reviews, but it has the 4GB limitation in the memory department. After reading how Vista uses memory, I can see that might be an issue for me down the road, just like the 815 chipset's 512MB limitation. Time to get out the Newegg credit card for 6 months of free financing

[falcon26]

If I run 4 sticks will I be able to run 1t command with the BX2at stock settings for the memory and cpu?

[Sunfox]

I'm having a real bear of a time with Intel Viiv stuff on the XBX2 under MCE 2005. Basically, if I have the Viiv service installed, it hangs during startup for 2 minutes, delaying all other services from starting up (and making the computer mostly unusable for those 2 minutes).

Here's the errors in the event log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7022
Date: 03/02/2007
Time: 11:24:10 PM
User: N/A
Computer: SUNFOX
Description:
The Intel(R) Software Services Manager service hung on starting.


...Followed by:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7001
Date: 03/02/2007
Time: 11:24:10 PM
User: N/A
Computer: SUNFOX
Description:
The Intel(R) Viiv(TM) Media Server service depends on the Intel(R) Software Services Manager service which failed to start because of the following error:
After starting, the service hung in a start-pending state.


Now, after these messages appear the system automatically tries to start the services again and this time they *work*. Everything that should be is in the "started" state, it just hangs the first time and makes a really long bootup process.

Any thoughts here? I'm using the Viiv software from the XBX2 CD, which is newer than what's available on Intel's site.

[Supa-Fly]

Hey there fellow Bad Axe users.

Havent posted here in a while, been preocupied with some family matters.

Bit of bad news, my grand mother died on tuesday morning 30 jan 07 and
my grand father followed the next morning 31 jan 07. May God rest their
souls in peace and beauty forever. Lotsa love goes out to them since Im
in South Africa and they were in Portugal so I couldnt attend the funeral.
Please forgive me for that.

OK now back to my reason for posting...

Im planning on upgrading from Bad Axe to Bad Axe II.

My question goes out to those using the new Marvell raid on the Bad Axe II
Im currently using 4 x 80 Gig Raid 5 on the Intel Raid for my boot drive, and
4 x 250 Gig Raid 5 on the Silicon Image Raid for storage.

What Id like to know is how that Marvell Raid performs in Raid 5 as compared
to the Silicon Image Raid 5. I know that in theory it should work better since
the Silicon Image is only SATA1 whlie the Marvell is SATA2, but Id like to hear
from experience on how you find the performance and software usability for
the Marvell raid, this will be my deciding factor on the upgrade so any input
willl be very appreciated.

[Sandog]

Sorry about your loss.

Here's a review done with 2x74GB Raptors. The Marvell controller works well.

Intel D975XBX2 Desktop Motherboard Review :: Introduction :: Motherboards.org

[krkosska]

Specs:
D975XBX2 board
(4GB) Corsair DHX XMS2 Dominator Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800Mhz Memory
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU
Vista 32bit
850W power supply

Problem: When I power down the computer and leave it plugged in, no problem. If I power down and unplug, then plug it back in to boot, the bios gives me the 3 beeps indicating no memory. I remove the DIMMs from channel A or B (same result either way), boot with 2 gigs, then I can shutdown (leaving the power cord in!), and reinstall the other 2.
I've done this four times over the last three days just to be sure. The last thing I've tried is upgrading to the ..2007.0123.0952 bios. No joy. So I'm throwing this out to see if someone can point out something I've missed.

[Sunfox]

That might relate to a minor issue I had, where removing power seemed to cause the BIOS to revert the memory to SPD settings (which, in the case of my memory, are far less than optimal). Happened twice on my new build and the only correlation was I had unplugged the power supply. The BIOS event log logged something related to SPD tolerence or something.

I have 4gb memory as well (4 DIMMS). What's the SPD settings on your memory? Some specify optimal timings in SPD, but by default the BIOS will apply a default DDR2 voltage of 1.84V which isn't enough.

[Sunfox]

Wooo, this puppy is fast. I just did my first website log compile on the new system.

My old PC (P4 EE single core @ 3.73ghz, D955XBK, 4gb DDR2-667, 4-drive 7,200rpm SATA RAID 0) compiled 11.2gb of files totalling 46,000,000 lines in exactly 11 minutes and 15 seconds.

My new PC (Core 2 Quad EE @ 2.93ghz, D975XBX2, 4gb DDR2-800, 4-drive 7200rpm SATA RAID 0) did exactly the same thing in a mere 3 minutes, 4 seconds.

Now that's an amazing improvement!

[krkosska]

Corsair sez:
Tested at EPP SPD settings (4-4-4-12) at 2.1V at800MHz
SPD programmed at:
JEDEC standard 5-5-5-18 values at 800MHz
EPP standard 4-4-4-12 2T, 2.1V values

The bios defaults to 5-5-5-18 @ 1.84V. I thought the safe thing to do is use the defaults for now. It runs with no problems if I leave it plugged in or with only 2 GB's. 1.84V may not be optimal, but it shouldn't be a problem, right? It's worked for five days at that voltage with some fairly heavy movie editing loads (a 90 minute episode of MST3K converted from .avi 2 .mpg).

I had 'upgraded' the bios yesterday. After working awhile, I shut it down (leaving the power cord in) for 5-6 hours. Booted fine, worked some more, then shut it off (power cord in) overnight. This morning...no boot. The fans were spinning, but no beeps, no signal to the monitor, no joy. I depopulated channel B, booted to the 'system memory has decreased' screen, turned it off, (left the power cord in), put the memory back in, and it booted.

Another test I did was to power down, remove channel B, unplug for 10 minutes or so, then boot. No problems. I guess if I don't get any help today, then tonight I will remove channel B and unplug overnight.

[Sunfox]

That's very odd. The memory should indeed be fine at 5-5-5-18 @ 1.84V, but if you tighten the timings you'll need more voltage.

I'm using Kingston HyperX - the SPD is set for 5-5-5-15 @ 667mhz @ 1.84V, however I have it set to the "recommended" timings of 4-4-4-12 @ 800mhz @ 2.0V without issue. However, I never shut my PC off (unless I'm working on it) so it can go months at a time before I actually unplug it. Normal reboots and the occasional "power off" has so far been OK for me.

[LiteBeer]

Hi
I love my Bad Axe and Vista Ultimate oc'd to 3.1 on a 6600. Check out the DreamScene extras for a real WOW

BUT how can we get rid of 94 black screen on boot. Its so ugly. Anyway to replace it. Can live with 0 screen because its only there for a second not like 10 seconds on the 94

[Dandruff]

Originally Posted by LiteBeer

BUT how can we get rid of 94 black screen on boot. Its so ugly. Anyway to replace it.

To get rid of it you have to set "Use Automatic Mode" under "Advanced / Drive Configuration" to "Enable".

I've reported this bug to the Intel support and they could reproduce it at least. So I think it's just a matter of time to get it fixed.



Here the details I've sent them: Intel Releases D975XBX2 BIOS Update 2507

[Sandog]

Intel has all the Vista drivers up for the Executive Series mobo (DQ965WC) so it won't be long before they are up for the D975XBX2. I have already ordered Vista Ultimate which I will be getting soon. Also planning of adding 2 more sticks of Dominators for 4GB's of RAM. By the way, I have tested my RAM at 9-3-4-3 and it works fine. I notice a difference when they are broke in. The same for my CPU. When I first got it it would not do 3.46GHz reliably. Now it does it at default voltage.

Sandog