My new game machine...

[traveler]

Originally Posted by ctal

Wow! It certainly is hard to keep up with these things. They still offer the DDR3 version; maybe that tells us something.

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EX38T-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

-- Al

What's with the single channel mode only I read in the review?

[ctal]

Originally Posted by TQ

Yeah, I've seen that one. I've been at this now since early this morning and I'm beginning to feel as though someone's replaced my brain with esoteric nomenclature.
I'm still looking for that particular RAM you used in your build. All I can find on NewEgg is the 2x1GB (2GB) kit. Lots of OCZ, only one entry with your unique string of letters and numbers.

By the way, any second suggestions, since the (here I go again with the alphanumerics) GA-EX38-DQ6? Perhaps one of the X48DDR2 varients...maybe this one...

Yes, that's the one I used (Newegg.com - OCZ Titanium XTC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory). I used 4 sticks to provide 4 gB. In my case I have no plans to "upgrade" to Vista, or to go to a 64-bit os.

Shortly after I made my purchase, the price on that stuff suddenly way more than doubled, and now it's back down to about what I paid for it, including the rebate (which just applies to one of the two kits). Hard to figure.

The mobo you linked to looks like the X48 counterpart to the X38 board I have, so my suspicion is it would be a good choice. But look into DDR2-1066, as I suggested, which may be a better match for an overclocked E8500 than the DDR2-800.

[TQ]

I was wondering about that myself. As far as I understand it, these boards won't work with anything other than two DIMMS.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by ctal

The mobo you linked to looks like the X48 counterpart to the X38 board I have, so my suspicion is it would be a good choice. But look into DDR2-1066, as I suggested, which may be a better match for an overclocked E8500 than the DDR2-800.

Well...I just now ordered an E8400 from Amazon.com. I had a bunch of gift certificates lying around and it wound up costing me less than ten bucks.
Think the DDR-1066 would still be a better choice, or would you stay with DDR-800?

[ctal]

Originally Posted by TQ

Well...I just now ordered an E8400 from Amazon.com. I had a bunch of gift certificates lying around and it wound up costing me less than ten bucks.
Think the DDR-1066 would still be a better choice, or would you stay with DDR-800?

Outstanding!

If you have confidence that the particular DDR2-800 can go to say DDR2-850 speeds with reasonable latencies, at reasonable voltage (as the OCZ kit we have been discussing, that I bought, can do), then go with that because it would probably have less risk of problems than DDR2-1066 would have.

I'm not sure what your previous post about boards not working with more than 2 dimm's refers to. Mine is working fine with 4 sticks, and in my research prior to purchase I saw nothing to indicate that might be a problem.

-- Al

[ctal]

Originally Posted by traveler

What's with the single channel mode only I read in the review?

Not sure what you are referring to. The board can support two Crossfire-compatible video cards; is the review you were looking at referring to using one video card rather than two?

Regards,
-- Al

[TQ]

I was thinking he meant memory channels...

[TQ]

Originally Posted by ctal

If you have confidence that the particular DDR2-800 can go to say DDR2-850 speeds with reasonable latencies, at reasonable voltage (as the OCZ kit we have been discussing, that I bought, can do), then go with that because it would probably have less risk of problems than DDR2-1066 would have.

That begs a question...is it through SPD that a motherboard reads what particular voltage requirement is to be met?

[ctal]

Originally Posted by TQ

That begs a question...is it through SPD that a motherboard reads what particular voltage requirement is to be met?

The SPD can indicate one or several sets of timings, at various voltages and clock rates. But I would think that the default setting in the bios for memory voltage would be a specific value standardized for the memory type (I think 1.8v for DDR2 and 1.5v for ddr3). Of course, that can be changed manually in the bios settings, along with the timings.

Or perhaps I shouldn't say "of course," because Intel boards that can't be overclocked may not provide these kinds of manual settings -- I can't say because I have no experience with Intel boards.

Regards,
-- Al

[TQ]

Intel Extreme series boards can be overclocked and voltage can be changed, just not with the degree of finesse the Taiwanese enthusiast boards can.

I was concerned that a default voltage might be too low and I'd have issues getting a board to post, especially with the OCZ.

[TQ]

I think I understand, though...the OCZ will recognize a standard DDR2 voltage, but to achieve aggressive timings with an overclock one will have to experiment with changing the DIMM's voltage.

[TQ]

The OCZ boys Simon and Steve over at the OCZ forums have suggested I go with their DDR2-1000. I've requested they give me a specific kit number.

[ctal]

Originally Posted by TQ

Intel Extreme series boards can be overclocked and voltage can be changed, just not with the degree of finesse the Taiwanese enthusiast boards can.

I was concerned that a default voltage might be too low and I'd have issues getting a board to post, especially with the OCZ.

I'd be more worried about not posting with manual settings than with defaults! My board defaulted to somewhere between 1.8 and 1.9 volts, iirc, which is fine for any DDR2 memory if the speed and timings aren't pushed. As I said in one of the earlier posts, the default speed was the rated DDR2-800, and the default timings were very conservative (5-5-5-15-2T).

I did have problems posting on a few occasions during my various overclocking experiments. In most cases (when I ran the fsb and cpu up too high) the board then restarted automatically with default settings. In one case (when I tried to run the memory with latencies that were too aggressive), it repeatedly tried to restart but could not. I let it cool off for a while and tried a couple of more times, and I was then able to get into the bios where I could change the settings. A clear cmos I'm sure would have also gotten me out of trouble there, but wasn't necessary in the end.

Regards,
-- Al

[ctal]

Originally Posted by TQ

I think I understand, though...the OCZ will recognize a standard DDR2 voltage, but to achieve aggressive timings with an overclock one will have to experiment with changing the DIMM's voltage.

Yes, per my previous post (no pun on "post" intended).

-- Al

[TQ]

Sorry. New to all this, you know.