Re: Gigabyte motherboard choice for overclocking

I solved it all.
I ordered an Asus with 770 chipset with easy unlock mode.
How overclocking goes with this board? I'll just have to wait and see.

thanks for all your comments.

Re: Gigabyte motherboard choice for overclocking

the issue seems to be, that these gigabyte boards need two bios changes to unlock.
The ACC is there, no problem, but the second one to enter hybrid mode: the EC firmware option is missing.
I called a gigabyte technician who commented that if the option is not mentioned in the manuals, it is not present in the bios and the manuals are from 2010, june I think.
So this is my point of doubt.
On the other hand, He was an Intel board expert as he said, his knowledge about AMD boards was not up to date.
...

Re: Gigabyte motherboard choice for overclocking

I didn't mention gigabyte's 770 version, also in this price range because something strange is going on.

Part two of my interest in these boards is because the chances of being able to unlock 1 or 2 cores, especially with the phenom's is very high.
In all the 770 manuals of gigabyte boards however, dated mid 2010, the crucial EC firmware option is missing.
In 2009 there are many positive unlock attempts with GA 770's, in 2010 they are nowhere to be found. Can it be that the bios has downgraded? I somehow can't...

Re: Gigabyte motherboard choice for overclocking

ok, 770 is doable.
But I can buy a demo version of the msi 870-G54 of which only the box was opened, 100% tested ok for 10€ more, € 72 which equals $ 58. That's really a good deal.
The overclocking tests are very satisfying.

The Asrock 870icafe also $ 58, new, is also something to consider although no test results or reviews can be found.

Both Asrock and Msi suffer(ed) from reputation problems however, but examining both boards, they all have top quality components so I believe this...

Re: Gigabyte motherboard choice for overclocking

...Upgrade of my post.
I decided to look at the maximum voltage capacity of the capacitors around the cpu.
When I look at gigabyte photo's on the internet, they all say 2,5V.


The usual core voltage is around 1,3 volts.
when overclocked, the voltages are often raised just a little, say to 1,5v at most.
The 1,5V is still far below the 2,5 max voltage so I hope that I can safely say that the raise in voltage will have no effect the caps's health and when properly cooled there might be no life-span...

Hello,

The last few days I have read many information that was new for me about motherboard quality as far as capacitor and number of phases are concerned.

I am on the brink of upgrading my system and I would like to experiment a little with overclocking.

I will for sure not run overclocked all the time, only when converting video's and making dvd's the most heavy stuff I will do with my pc.

To make an estimation of the overclocked time vs normal use, I think 2% of my time spending in overclocked mode will be a fair estimation.
...