Intel DX38BT/DX48BT (Bone Trail)

[ATINUT]

TQ, why yes I am, only thing that's being a pain is the 64bit Zune software for 64bit Vista. I would say 90 percent of my games work on Vista 64, including C&C 3, and Neverwinter Nights 2. Those that don't work are either too old, use a 16bit install routine, or some odball hybrid install routine.

I have an old Win95 game called Golden Nugget, which of all things runs on Vista 64, but I have to put it in to WinXP with SP2 compability mode for it to run.

My sig shows WinXP Pro right now, but I've been forgetting to change it.

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by TQ

I've decided to stick with DDR2 for now. Even if I were to go with DDR3 and the DX48BT it would still be short term, as the X48 won't support Nehalem...

Sounds good. There are a few X48 boards that support DD2. You can get plent of high quality DDR2 at half the cost or less of DDR3 and probably get better performance. I'm going to aim for a stable, reliable board and then make the DDR decision then. If I end up with DDR3 it will have to be only 2Gb cos I'm not paying those prices on principle.

[zapionics<alt>]

btw, if anyone sees an X48 board or a vid card bundled with Crysis would they please let me know

[TQ]

It's pretty much down to the ASUS Rampage Formula X48 and a Gigabyte X48. The boys over at OCZ recommended their ReaperX1000 RAM.
I ordered an E8400 yesterday from Amazon.com through TigerDirect. I had a ton of Amazon gift certificates and it wound up costing less than ten bucks...
Mrs. TQ ordered Vista Business through her employee program so all I need now do is decide on a motherboard.

[ATINUT]

TQ, truthfully, I was running XP for a few weeks, while trying to figure things out with the 64bit Zune software. Reinstalled Vista 64, and then put the 64bit Zune software on, and the software installed perfectly, because there was no antivirus software to interfere.

Just becareful with the ASUS X48 board, a local computer shop told me, some of them ASUS boards, can do some weird things, and I do know this from expierence.

[TQ]

Decision made:
The Gigabyte X48-DQ6, an E8400 and 4GB of OCZ Platinum DDR3-1066.

[ATINUT]

Go for it.

[TQ]

...got a hitch in my giddyup...the RAM is currently out of stock at NewEgg. Restock is scheduled for today, though.

[oldsarge]

New bios 1554 posted.............

[Ford Freak]

Intel® Desktop Board DX38BTÂ*BIOS Update 1554 [BTX3810J.86A]

BIOS Version 1554

About This Release:
- May 01, 2008
- BTX3810J.86A.1554.2008.0501.1628
- SATA RAID info:
Intel(R) RAID for SATA - v7.6.0.1011
- SATA AHCI info:
Version UPSD src 12-03-2007 for ICH9
- PXE Nahum info:
Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.50

New Fixes/Features:
- Fixed HW Watchdog Timer not able to reset system during hang.
- Fixed issue where system continues to boot during fail-safe mode.
- Updated MRC - Update Static tRD adjust to 0.
- Updated Setup options and help text for audio prompt.
- Updated Setup options and help text for C1E prompt.
- Updated Setup options for half ratio prompt.

New Fixes/Features:
- Fixed issue where Intel® Desktop Control Center Memory Page "Restore" button does not restore the default values.
- Added check for BIOS ID during BIOS recovery.
- Update CPU Voltage support for Intel® Desktop Control Center.
- Changed SMBIOS Memory Type from "DDR2" to "Other".
- Fixed issue where all CPUs resume to different multiplier ratio from S3.
- Fixed issue where all underclocked CPUs boot at maximum ratio if EIST is disabled.
- Fixed issue where multiple options changed from Intel® Desktop Control Center did not get saved.
- Fixed Watchdog Timer causing continuous reboot.
- Changed Setup maximum host clock override from 500MHz to 720MHz.
- Added Watchdog Timer options to Setup Performance Page.
- Added Half Ratio support for Half Ratio capable processors.
- Added ability to disable C1E.
- Fixed POST hang if BSEL is changed from default.
- Fixed issue where new BIOS SETUP settings may contain random data when using Flex EFI Variable updates.
- Fixed issue causing Watchdog Timer firing to not be detected.
- Fixed issue preventing the BIOS Setup WDT message after timeout.
- Fixed issue where boot order was not synchronized in Intel® Integrator Assistant when boot order is hidden.
- Fixed issue where the boot order is not synchronized in Intel® Integrator Assistant with F2 setup when boot devices are disabled in Normal mode and re-enabled in Advance mode.
- Added ability for Intel® Integrator Toolkit to choose between black or white badge background and the reporting of max logo resolution support.
- Fixed system hang when user browses to a BIOS setup page that has all text hidden by Intel® Integrator Toolkit.
- Update SPI Flash Descriptor.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

btw, if anyone sees an X48 board or a vid card bundled with Crysis would they please let me know

Here's one...
I thought I'd seen one recently.

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by TQ

Here's one...
I thought I'd seen one recently.

Thanks bud, but I meant bundled by the manufacturer, since Newegg does not offer International/Canadian shipping options at this time and I cant get to California.

[CrushedIce]

Hi all,

First time posting here. I saw this thread dedicated to the dx38bt and figured you guys would know about this.

I'm building a computer right now. The processor is the Q6600 and I'm using 2gigs of Corsiar DD3 1333MHz (XMS3) with an EVGA 8800GT PCI-E video card. I have a WD SATA drive (120G) and an HP 200i IDE DVD+RW.

The problem is that the BIOS won't pick up my CD drive. It gives me the following message:

"Marvel 88SE61xx Adapter Bios 1.1.0L62"
"Initializing";
"...... "(a few mins of this);
"Something wrong with adapter!."

I saw a post earlier in this thread with the same issue. One of the solutions was to "disable Marvell" in the BIOS. Where can I find this setting? The only thing I can see is disabling the Secondary SATA Controller which bypasses this Marvell message but still fails to recognize my CD drive and goes straight to my SATA HDD. Acc. to Intel Tech Support, I need to enable the Secondary SATA Controller since that happens to control the IDE interface.

My hard drive isn't bootable since it has a butchered version of XP in it (blue screens right away).

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers!

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by CrushedIce

Hi all,

First time posting here. I saw this thread dedicated to the dx38bt and figured you guys would know about this.

I'm building a computer right now. The processor is the Q6600 and I'm using 2gigs of Corsiar DD3 1333MHz (XMS3) with an EVGA 8800GT PCI-E video card. I have a WD SATA drive (120G) and an HP 200i IDE DVD+RW.

The problem is that the BIOS won't pick up my CD drive. It gives me the following message:

"Marvel 88SE61xx Adapter Bios 1.1.0L62"
"Initializing";
"...... "(a few mins of this);
"Something wrong with adapter!."

I saw a post earlier in this thread with the same issue. One of the solutions was to "disable Marvell" in the BIOS. Where can I find this setting? The only thing I can see is disabling the Secondary SATA Controller which bypasses this Marvell message but still fails to recognize my CD drive and goes straight to my SATA HDD. Acc. to Intel Tech Support, I need to enable the Secondary SATA Controller since that happens to control the IDE interface.

My hard drive isn't bootable since it has a butchered version of XP in it (blue screens right away).

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers!

You did right in BIOS now you need to plug the CDROM SATA cable into one of the black SATA ports (Intel controller).

I believe the Marvel controller may need drivers first or you may just have to hit CTRL-M when it posts or whatever the key is for the Marvell settup (Intel controller setup is CTRL-I).

[TQ]

Yep...if you didn't install the Marvell drivers you need to do so if you want to use those SATA ports (even if you don't plan to use RAID).