Intel D975XBX (Bad Axe)

[TQ]

I'm currently running 3DMark06 with my FSB (host burn-in percentage) set at
+11%/266Mhz.
I'll post the results if I complete it.
It might be helpful if I understood the meaning of the PCI express burn-in mode settings. Are these settings relevant to an overclock? I haven't touched them so far.

[TQ]

My score was 10416, way below my stock settings of over 11,000.

[Sandog]

Hey TQ,

I've seen scores drop from OC, it takes the right OC and memory speeds. Mostly for 3d06 it is the video card I believe. I don't agree with OC the video card since it is by such a small amount usually +5% that it does not pay to stress it. Most video cards are already clocked at near max from the factory.

PCI bus is your bus which contains the cards (slots) and I think the secondary controller may be using it as well.

Sandog

[Sandog]

Well I posted a link to the newest WHQL certified Nvidia drivers. Just got through installing them and whamo, I've got aeroglass working finally. Check out this score if you will. Almost all 5.9's which is the highest possible.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Hey TQ,
I've seen scores drop from OC, it takes the right OC and memory speeds. Mostly for 3d06 it is the video card I believe.
Sandog

Yeah...I ran 3DMark06 to see if it would complete all the test suites. Since this is a game machine it seemed logical.
What's interesting is my stock score was way done, too. Down to 10031.
CPU score at +11%@266Mhz was 2290...stock is 2098.
I suspect it's the latest drivers from nVidia for XP that drove the score down. The previous drivers for the 8800x -series were faster, but had visual artifacts with Oblivion.

[gr8nw07]

Is anyone running Vista 32 Premium on the BX2 MB? The Intel Audio Studio and the SigmaTel run fine on XP, but as soon as I try to Load Vista, they go bye bye. Intel has told me that there are no drivers as of yet to support 32 Premium. Can anyone confirm this? Everything else seemed to work fine, except for the audio. Thanks.

[Sandog]

New BIOS.

BIOS Version 2634
About This BIOS:
 February 16, 2007
 BX97520J.86A.2634.2007.0216.1057
 SATA RAID info:
 Intel(R) RAID for SATA - v5.6.2.1002
 Marvell 88SE6145 SATA BIOS – v1.1.0.34
 PXE UNDI: Initializing Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.28
 PXE Base Code: Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.42
 Intel® Active Management Technology info:
 Intel® AMT BX Firmware: v1.2.3
New Fixes/Features:
 Added support for ACPI Serial Port Console Redirection (SPCR)
table for AMT SOL.
 Added support for Windows Vista* Media Center OCUR Host Firmware
Support.
 Added fix for ITK where Parallel Port is always hidden.
 Added fix for Windows Vista* where EBIOSPost.exe had error while
returning EBU status.

Download Search Results

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by gr8nw07

Is anyone running Vista 32 Premium on the BX2 MB? The Intel Audio Studio and the SigmaTel run fine on XP, but as soon as I try to Load Vista, they go bye bye. Intel has told me that there are no drivers as of yet to support 32 Premium. Can anyone confirm this? Everything else seemed to work fine, except for the audio. Thanks.

I've received several PM's on this. IDCC has not been updated in months. It was written for XP and I would not even try installing it on Vista. As for the Sigmatel audio drivers, there is only one set of drivers for Vista that I am aware of. They do not contain Intel Audio Studio which means IAS is not ready for Vista either. The audio drivers do work. There is a newer version of Intel Desktop Utilities (IDU) but again it says it is for XP, not Vista. I have not tried it either for obvious reasons.

For the BA2, Vista32/64bit driver support includes so far:
BIOS
INF
LAN
Sigmatel Audio

For Vista32bit only:
Intel ViiV

It is not clear if Intel will support IDCC, Sonic Focus, or RAID drivers in Vista.

Sandog

[Dandruff]

D975XBX2 BIOS Version 2634 out now!

[Zandramas]

Hey TQ could you post me your bios settings as I have the exact setup as you. I want to try to overclock my cpu to 6800 level as well. Thanks!! Step by step if possible kinda new at this

[TQ]

Originally Posted by Zandramas

Hey TQ could you post me your bios settings as I have the exact setup as you. I want to try to overclock my cpu to 6800 level as well. Thanks!! Step by step if possible kinda new at this

What I confirmed (again) is the total real-world usefulness of overclocking is exactly zero. My system ran like crap when it was overclocked, the benchmarks were unimpressive and my games became slideshows.
I am now back to stock settings and memory SPD and - Merciful God! - my system is back to smooth performance and gameplay is robust.
It's really not worth the bother, Z.

[Zandramas]

Thanks TQ, I will leave it as is then. By the way what are your memory timings set at?Mine are at 4 4 3 10. Does it help any compared to 5 5 5 15 original? Both timings are stable.

[TQ]

Mine are dead stock 5-5-5-15 SPD. When running at tighter timings stability isn't the issue, it's performance. At 4-4-4-14 Oblivion and Gothic 3 ran like a slide show. When I returned the timing to SPD both games ran smoothly again.
I'm a big believer in running stock for real-world smoothness. Other folks have different views, but I've never seen overclocking bring any genuine advantage over stock settings other than benchmarks, which for me are matters of curiosity only.

[MissileMan]

Originally Posted by Sandog

It is not clear if Intel will support IDCC, Sonic Focus, or RAID drivers in Vista.

Sandog

Here's a link to updated RAID drivers for all Vista versions and the BX2 including F6 install floppies:

Download Software, Drivers and Utilities Filters

[stmckin]

IDCC 2.2.0002 definitely works in Vista32
Run both the install and application as an administrator and in XPSP2 compat mode and it works fine... in fact better than XP for me

Intel® Desktop Control Center