Gigabyte and long-term stability...

[DWells]

So after being perfectly stable (18+ hours Prime95) at 3.46GHz, my motherboard decided to throw random stability issues at me and make it so no matter what my clocks were set to in the BIOS, I was stuck at stock speeds (but custom voltage). This was probably about a year ago. So, I knocked it down to 3.4GHz and it's been stable since then. Well, now it's doing the same thing it did before. Have to remove the CMOS battery to get control back.

I've knocked my voltage down to 1.4125v from 1.45v to ease up on my CPU a little (oddly, it did 3.2GHz rock stable at stock voltage and memory timings) and kept my RAM loosened to 5-5-5-15 despite the modest bump from DDR2 800 to DDR2 850. 1.40v resulted in a reboot after five minutes of Prime95, so we'll see how this goes. I don't understand why such a dramatic increase in voltage is needed for such a small bump (from 3.2 GHz at stock voltage), but whatever. GMCH and FSB are also overvolted by .1v. Prime95 is currently running.

I was supposed to be asleep a couple hours ago since I have class at 9:30. However, this crap (froze on me with a blue screen in Win7, followed by attempt to fix via system restore, now freezing right as the Windows flag appears for the loading screen despite CPU setting) has kept me awake and is enough stress that I can't sleep now anyways. Since my Win7 install seems totally broken, I'll likely be backing up my data and doing a fresh install. Huzzah. I'm lucky to have had XP on my alternate hard drive (using its own bootloader and selected via the BIOS, not software dualbooted), or else this would've been a total mess.

I can't wait to ditch this mobo and CPU combo and toss an i5 or i7 in there when I have the cash. I think I'll be avoiding Gigabyte this time around and opting for something like EVGA, even if that means another $100 out of my wallet.

tl;dr - vdroop and stability issues with Gigabyte mobo, loss of sleep results.

[kckyle]

if you going x58 route, go with an asus p6t line up, evga boards are great. but these classified boards are a waste if you don't do dice or ln2 cooling. i currently got a p6x58d premium, clocking at 4.2ghz no air no problem.

[DWells]

4.2 on air?!?! How loud is your system? One of my priorities in system building is low noise levels.

[kckyle]

lol yeah, it's quite loud, then again my case has open vent on top which makes it more obvious, i'm switching to an corsair h50 in the near future and planning on getting two gentle typhoon for push/pull system, that should drop the couple db here and there.

[DWells]

Also, how do you go about stability testing? I don't consider an overclock stable unless it can pass a minimum of 18 hours of Prime95 (usually 24 hours for long-term stability). I've read about Intel Burn Test but haven't tried that one out yet.

[DWells]

Wow this Intel Burn Test is intense. Shot my CPU temps up to 60C (barely break 50C after 18 hours of Prime95), and my CPU fan adjusted itself to what sounds like full speed. Supposedly 10 passes on maximum without errors is considered stable.

[kckyle]

the intel burn test(ibt) and the prime are the primary tools used by the oc community, i think i need to reseat my heatsink or get couple more fans for intake. but the i7 does run pretty hot nevertheless.

[Animegears]

I've not had very good experiences with gigabyte myself. They are ok for low-level "LOL Imma granny" type computing but I don't trust them for anything more.

[DWells]

Their boards got pretty good reviews, particularly mine. Supposedly good for overclocking, plus I wanted a board with the ICH9R chipset that supported AHCI (pretty much crucial for eSATA, helps boost SATA HDD performance as well) back when AHCI was new, so it seemed like a sure thing.

Can't wait to sell it, my CPU, and my RAM and build a new rig this summer.

[Animegears]

I want to rebuild my rig completely. New case and everything. won't be happening for a long time though.

[kckyle]

don't let other forums hear you saying gigabyte is crap, i swear there are couple mean gigabyte loyalist out there.

[Animegears]

I don't care about fanboys :P I'm going off of personal experience and the experience of friends like DWells here. And the verdict is that gigabyte makes some great OK boards. But nothing much better.

[kckyle]

i'm an asus fan and by no means an gigabyte loyalist or extremeist, but i heard alot of people are swearing by their x58 boards. personally i hate them lol, they look absolutely horrid in cpu oc efficiency and not to mention the bad pcie layouts.

[Animegears]

:headbang: Yeah, I'm not sure why people go gonzo over them. But whatever, I suppose it works for some. :)

[DWells]

I'm debating whether I get a new case, CPU, motherboard, RAM, and video card, or if I just sell the whole PC altogether and start from scratch. Might be cheaper that way and more fun. Although I do love my power supply.

[kckyle]

ditch everything but the power supply?

nvm just saw your power supply, you can do better, a corsair hx or tx or antec line would definitely top a thermaltake.

[DWells]

Actually, the high-end ToughPower PSUs are extremely good quality. I get very stable voltages and it definitely holds up to advertised output ratings. Quiet, too, with a single 140mm fan. They're very well reviewed as well, so I trust it fully.

[pizzadahutt]

I have actually have good luck with biostar boards. I don't trust their cheaper lineup (still like to use notorious OST caps in small some places,) but their Tpower and Tforce lineups seem to do pretty good. I have a Tpower N750, and this thing with just a 9800gt scored higher in 3dmark06 than my friend's EVGA 780a board with same 5000+ processor and he has 6 gigs of ram and a gtx260. I haven't tried overclocking (I'm not really a fan of it,) but I'm sure it would overclock the crap out of this thing. Plus every single cap from the VRM input to the little caps for the onboard sound are United Chemi-con solid caps.

[Animegears]

Buy an inexpensive PSU to replace yours with and keep yours for your next build. :)

Oh and I have seen a few good Biostar boards as well. Them and the higher end foxconns are nice.

[kckyle]

foxconn made themselves pretty well known in the mobo industries with the bloodrage x58 line ups and the flamingblade mobos. the only down side is i heard they capped the blck up 220? so if you got a i7 975 you're pretty much s.o.l.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186170&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-Foxconn-_-13186170

btw if you want to go x58 route check out this mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614&cm_re=p6x58d-_-13-131-614-_-Product
sata 6 and usb 3.