Gigabyte P35 Boards

[Scenic]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

there's no metal back plate..
nothing that could cause a short somewhere...
and i even checked the voltage on the mosfets for CPU and the RAM..
CPU gets 1,31V and the RAM 1,81V (after starting up and beeping with a black screen) .. well.. voltages are ok...

that's why i think the previous owner flashed the wrong BIOS.
usually i would hot-flash the BIOS chip in another mainboard (i've done that a dozen times without any problems)... but unfortunately... it has a special 8pin chip instead of the usual 32pin PLCC chips.. (and to make it even more complicated... it's soldered onto the board (no socket)) *argh*




SOP 8pin 8Mbit (1MByte)
MX 25L8005M2C

and as i don't have another board with this type of BIOS chips on it i'm kinda stuck here..

i could either continue trying to get it running by myself or i could sell it on ebay...
original packaging, manual, CD, and all the other stuff that came with it (eSATA adapter stuff and SATA/IDE/Floppy cables, .... everything still sealed and never used) is there..
hope i'll get at least 3/5 of the money i paid for it if i sell it :/

[i4004]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

>i paid 55€ (euro) (approx. 87US$) for this board

few euros more would buy you new gigabyte mobo.
(i really can't understand how can gb mobo be so cheap...they use good caps)

and how will you get any money for it if it's nor working?
it's worth 0 € now.

now go to the store and buy new gb mobo.
<wink>

[zandrax]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

@ scenic: contact the vendor asking a replacemnt or a refund through ebay internal messages, because this is a proof: if he still doesn't reply, then contact ebay support for "item not as described" issue. Refund may be slow and shipping fee is excluded, so often people don't complain about low cost purchase and sellers continue their job without hassle

Zandrax

[bgavin]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

I ordered a GA-P35-DS3L (light) for a business client's server. They have no need for RAID (and I won't use software RAID anyway), nor any overclocking frills.

The board is getting a 3.0 GHz / 1333 E8400 with 6mb L2, and a Scythe Zipang cooler. The Zipang can be installed facing any of 4 directions, and one of those directions puts cooling air directly down on the north bridge. The DS3L has a much smaller NB heat sink than does my DS3/DS3R board. The reviewers note the DS3L runs quite hot to the touch, so the Zipang will be just what it needs. The 140mm fan blows down on the entire VRM area.

I'm fitting the Zipang with a Thermalright LGA 775 metal back-plate mounting kit. I don't like this much weight (815g + fan) hanging off push-pin mounting.

[bgavin]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

I've found a profound quantity of disturbing problems with the GA-P35-xxx boards regarding DPC latency. Evidently the problem was introduced by Gigabyte BIOS coders some time back, and it has propagated throughout the P35, X38, and X48 product lines.

Gigabyte is hacking the bios code to provide quickie beta fixes if you email them. I have yet to get a response, and it has been a week... sorry, but this is not acceptable for me to base a product line on. Add to this, the DS3L support for 45nm Wolfdale has been in "Beta" version for far too long. It appears the GA-P35-DS3L board is being superceded by the GA-EP35-DS3L with the power saving hardware.

The combination of these chronic issues has moved me away from Gigabyte, and over to the ABit IP35 Pro board. I'm not an OC'er, so any small loss of OC ability compared to the Gigabyte is meaningless to me. The last two DS3 boards are going out this weekend, and the IP35 should arrive early next week.

[gonzo0815]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

My experience with Abit wasn`t that good either. I only used a very expensive SKT939 board from them, which has serious issues with the USB ports.
Some devices caused random BSOD of the whole system.
There was never any attempt to fix it, and this is from my point of view not the way this should go with high end boards.
Any way i think support isn`t that great in this business regardless what name the brand is.
gigabyte has usually at least good BIOS support, even with older boards. So i would say apart may be from Intel, they are not the badest company there.

[bgavin]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

I have a huge amount of ABit KG7 boards still in service. I have recapped most of them, and they seem to run forever.

Gigabyte has the reputation for good BIOS support, but the DPC latency issue has been getting a lot of press, and very active emailsing to Gigabyte.. and nothing gets done.

Evidently they changed some high resolution timer code some time back, and it is playing Hobb with the DPC problem. The quick hack Gigabyte is passing out is the up level BIOS with pre-timer code installed. I cannot get a response from Gigabyte about this, so I have decided to move on.

The ABit IP35 Pro has a whole lot of positive press, and nothing negative that pertains to me (standard clocker). This board specifically does not have the DPC problem which causes so much grief with audio playback.

[zandrax]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

@ Bgavin: it seems that older bioses don't have this problem as some owner downgraded their bioses and resolved the issue (see Tweaktown forum). Obviously this isn't possible if your cpu is unsupported by older bioses or if newer ones solve some big issues.

Zandrax

[i4004]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

something about it here too
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...y-problem-ds3r

pretty weird to see this problem appear on intel chipset mobo, as these were the typicall via problems(bus congestion on heavier traffic). good going gigabyte, is all i can say..heh...

anyhow, didn't see it on my asus p5k-v...

that abit board seems like a good one, but too pricey for my taste, and has no integrated graphics(i absolutely like more things to be integrated..if they could integrate cpu and ram too...hehe...)

oh yeah, one more positive post
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1...&key=&#1372130

[bgavin]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

The P35 boards only seem to have integrated graphics on the micro ATX format. I'm OK with the Intel GMA video for business use. But... I'm selling these machines as high-end, high-quality, and specifically not for gaming. The gaming machines are MUCH more expensive.

I like the muscular P35 boards, and am willing to pay extra for a card. I'm experimenting with an MSI fanless GT8000 series right now. This is the one with the huge passive sink. I'm cooling it with an Evercool Rocket V cooler that sits on an adjacent PCI slot. The boards are running Zipang coolers with Red Scorpion 140x25 fans at 1200 rpm. This seems to do a good job of processor and VRM cooling. CPU is the E8400 in all cases.

[bgavin]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

Some more interesting points on these P35 boards: lack of mounting holes.

The DS3 boards are a funky 7-hole mount. They are not full size ATX boards, so they do not have all 9 mount holes. There are holes cut in the NE and SE corners of the board, but they are not grounded mounting tabs. There is no corresponding mount stud in the Antec Solo cases I'm using.

The problem is, the ATX power connector, FDC, IDE, and SATA connectors are all near the right edge. This leaves the board unsupported from the rear when pressure is applied when seating the cables. Lousy design. I used two old plastic standoffs from the old days to provide backing support.

Lack of board support is a non-problem with the ABit IP35 Pro board. It is a full sized ATX with all 9 holes mating with studs in the case. The IP35 has its own SNAFU, where all the SATA and IDE connectors face due East, instead of vertical. Real dumb. These connectors open into a blind cavity in the Antec Solo case which makes them very hard to reach. Go figure why they did this.. the Gigabyte board is smaller, but has the connectors easily accessible. The larger Abit board has lots of real estate, but makes the connectors a bitch to reach.

I walked away from the Gigabyte boards primarily because the chronic BIOS problems with DPC latency remain unresolved, and Gigabyte remains non-supportive and incommunicado. The next big reason is the perpetual support of mainstream E8400 type processors only in "beta" bios versions. These have been out a long time... it is long overdue for stable bios for these processors.

[mathewgx]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

I'm fitting the Zipang with a Thermalright LGA 775 metal back-plate mounting kit. I don't like this much weight (815g + fan) hanging off push-pin mounting.

How did you managed this ? Could you describe us the procedure ?

Have you noticed any temperature drops between zipang and thermalright ?

[bgavin]

Re: Gigabyte P35 Boards

I bought the 775 TR kit. Installing this kit with the Zipang cooler is a complete pain in the ass. You cannot reach to the bolt heads from the top, because the fins are in the way. You must fabricate a very short 90-degree tool to fit the Phillips head bolts.

I have three running this way, because there is merit in the 775 kit. I don't swap processors, ever, unless they die. The spring loaded kit bolts provide an even tension on the processor. I use AS5 paste, applied as per the instructions, and it works perfectly. A rice kernel size drop is all you need on 775 processors.

IMO, the Zipang (and most Scythe) are too heavy for push-pin mounting systems. TR is releasing the XP-140 or somesuch later this year. I'm wating to see how it tests out. It is native to the TR 775 mount kit, so installation will be easier. It's a big downdrafter, similar to Zipang but larger.