GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H @ [H]

i just bought this mobo, and i was wondering if i can post with my 2.1v ram to be able to flash so i can adjust it, any ideas or will i need to barrow some ram from a friend?
 
I just grabbed this mobo after reading the [h] review. It arrived yesterday. Install went flawlessly.

Display quality through the DVI is immaculate.

The northbridge gets very hot. I couldn't leave my finger on it for more than 2-3 seconds. Gigabyte should have done better with NB cooling

I haven't messed with OC'ing or flashing the volt-mod BIOS yet, I'll be getting to that shortly.

The Scythe Ninja r.B managed to squeeze into place. The heatpipes touch the RAM heatspreader on one side and a capacitor on the other side, but none of that is causing any harm.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: this mobo has suspend to RAM :p I love suspend to RAM! This is the first mobo I've had with that feature.
 
carbinefreak said:
i just bought this mobo, and i was wondering if i can post with my 2.1v ram to be able to flash so i can adjust it, any ideas or will i need to barrow some ram from a friend?
Click to expand...


I have been through a few bios flashes with the reaper memory. with no issues.

The only memory issues i have had are,
I didn't reset the bios before I took out the reaper and put in 4g of value ram. :eek:
(Just had to reset the system a couple times,didn't have to clear the cmos)

And using 4g of ram on the older bios

I believe the 2.1v is if you want to run the more aggressive timings , and is the max volts you can use where they will still warranty it.

I think the ram still follows the jedec (?) standards and will boot on boards with 1.8v,but will have more relaxed timings that are programed into the spd on the stick.


but of course...YMMV... ;)
 
flip-mode said:
One thing I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: this mobo has suspend to RAM :p I love suspend to RAM! This is the first mobo I've had with that feature.
Click to expand...

I have had trouble with the s3 sleep mode and the bios with the voltage control.

On wake up from sleep, the cpu multi would be @ 5.

with or with out cool and quite on.

Seems to work ok with the latest 10/8 bios
 
FatcatX said:
That's good news about the ram, I can deal with the size of it for now. You suggest larger drives instead of a few 500gb's though? I'll be ripping a lot of HD/BR movies which take up almost 50gb worth of space. I was goign to grab 2-3 500gb hard drives and let er rip. Maybe if the raid doesn't work that well I'll have to buy some tb's...
Click to expand...

I'm old, 640k seems big to me ;)

I haven't used the raid, I just mentioned raid 0 as it's not a good idea to use on something you want to archive

There are other modes that are just for it.

I bet in a few weeks there are going to be some good deals on the 500gig and bigger. :cool:
 
I love this motherboard but I just upgraded to 4gb of ram and had the lovely white lines of death.

I limited vista to 3.3 GB because I need the extra voltage that the beta bios provides (my ram needs 2.1 volts at least). Is there a bios coming with the fixed 4gb 64 bit issue and some voltage tweaking options?

I really hope so :(

edit - LOL i updated to new bios from adjustable voltage beta bios. I choose to keep DMI and it has fixed my 4gb 64bit issue and also left my ram at 2.2 volts !
 
I had to do something about the hot northbridge. So I busted out the hacksaw and the heatsink from my first Athlon CPU - a Thunderbird 800MHz. The mod took longer than I would have liked it too but I don't do such things too often so I'm pretty slow at it.

It was worth it though. Before the mod I could only leave the calloused tip of my finger on the HS for about 4-5 seconds before I felt very uncomfortable heat to the point that I didn't want to hold my finer there any longer. After installing the new heatsink it is still warm, but the temp has dropped enough for me to leave the more sensitive *back of my finger* laying on the HS indefinitely. So that's a major improvement in my book.

Pics (you'll notice in the second pic that it is indeed possible to mount the Scyte Ninja on this mobo!!! And with the first two RAM slots occupied at that:cool:):

GA-690northbridgeHScompare.jpg





GA-690northbridgeinstalled.jpg
 
I can't touch the NB on my mb for more than 2 sec. it's really hot. I hope i won't get into trouble.
 
Just a little update:
CPUZ_GA-MA69GM-S2H_2007-11-04.png


This mobo does not like when I mess with the CPU multi - either that or the CPU doesn't like it. I don't know which it is, but messing with the multi = no boot.

I've gotten the mobo up to 300HTT but no higher. Honestly, without being able to adjust the CPU multi I don't need to go any higher than that. :D

I installed Kyle's BIOS and didn't experience any trouble with it. Right now I'm stress testing at the above settings which is as high as I currently plan to go.

Nice mobo! Needs a better heatsink and shorter caps around the socket but other than that it's all good!

Thanks for the review [h]!
 
carbinefreak, if you don't mind, see how your mobo reacts to changing the CPU multiplier. I'm wondering if my experience is an isolated one or not.
 
Ok, if this makes any sense, no it doesn't but for some reason i cant post @ 15*220 so thats 3300MHZ, but i CAN post @ 18x200??? I'm running currently @ 14x215 so 3200mhz, I'm prime stable @ 3300 mhz :cool: but for some reason I'm not stable at all in windows, meaning i get random windows errors not BSOD's and i cant for some reason 3dmark my system @ 3300MHZ even though I'm prime stable and my ram is running @ spec I'm going to try a memtest in a little bit to see if thats it, but i doubt it because it will post @ ddr850 no problem. :confused::(:mad:


EDIT:
Ok found the problem my ram errors with a 1T command rater and can do over ddr1100 on 2T So fixed that issue I'm prime testing @ 13x250 right now then ill crank it up in a little bit so check to see if your board hates the 1T command rate also. ill post pics when its all nice and stable

264703.png

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=264703
 
I don't think it's so much my board that hates 1T as it is my RAM. 1T is instacrash for me.

My RAM sucks. Corsair XMS 6400. I won't be getting any more RAM from Corsair unless it's the value RAM. Dunno, maybe I'm taking it too personally.

Here's what I'm testing at right now - x2-3600 at nearly 1GHz OC :D
2007-11-07.png


Yay for the heatsink mod! :LOL:
 
thats what i have, and its the one's with the lights n them;) So, don't be afraid to give them some extra voltage, or loosen the timings to get those mhz out. i would also drop ur ht multiplier one so ur htt frequency's is around 1000mhz so if ur @ 800mhz in the bios change it to 600mhz. then you can probably go higher, good luck im happy where im @ right now any more questions just as nice oc btw :):D


EDIT:
Just so you guys know for future reference i just checked the voltages and there spot on with the one's in the bios, aka its set @ 1.475 and im reading 1.478 with my fluke. so fell free to overvolt with the F3a bios :) if you want me to make up a really nice table i can but its mostly true to the bios :)
 
I need help :(

I updated to the latest F3 official bios on gigabytes website to fix the 4gb bug but I missed the overvoltage settings so wanted to go back to F3B. When i flash back it doesn't give me the options to change voltages anymore.

I tried flashing then clearing cmos = no voltage options
flashing then clearing cmos and removing battery for 10 mins = no voltage options
flashing back to initial release F1 clearing cmos then flashing to F3b = still no voltage options :mad:

This beta bios worked before I updated to F3 official. I think its leaving something behind when i flash back and won't allow voltage changes. I was using Qflash to perform all the flashes.

Any ideas on how to fix this ?
 
Ouch. Sounds like you've done almost everything you can.

You could email Gigabyte and ask them to send you a new BIOS chip.

You could spam the hell out of them and ask them to release F4 BIOS with voltage adjustments (that's the ideal solution)!
 
I haven't been able to get any sound from the onboard audio yet. I would think that I could just plug speakers into the green jack once the drivers were installed. Maybe I'm wrong.

Also, no Aero support? I don't see Aero as an option.

Edit:

Updated ATI drivers. Aero works now. I'll test out the sound later.
 
sideeffect said:
I need help :(

I updated to the latest F3 official bios on gigabytes website to fix the 4gb bug but I missed the overvoltage settings so wanted to go back to F3B. When i flash back it doesn't give me the options to change voltages anymore.

I tried flashing then clearing cmos = no voltage options
flashing then clearing cmos and removing battery for 10 mins = no voltage options
flashing back to initial release F1 clearing cmos then flashing to F3b = still no voltage options :mad:

This beta bios worked before I updated to F3 official. I think its leaving something behind when i flash back and won't allow voltage changes. I was using Qflash to perform all the flashes.

Any ideas on how to fix this ?
Click to expand...

Have you tried flashing it with the command line flasher?

If you run flash895.exe /? it will list the switches you can add to clear the cmos etc after flashing.

Also I have used the windows utility @bios a couple times so far and it worked ok.

Good luck and be careful ;)

I just used the qflash for the first time.
I was having trouble with cold boots so i thought I would try the latest bios again.

While looking for info, I came across a post where someone didn't clear the cmos after the flash and the voltages stayed .

The options to change them were gone,but the levels were the same as before the flash.

I set the cpu @ 1.4 and the memory @ 2.1 then rebooted and flashed with qflash.

It seems to have worked :) I will probably loose them if I ever clear the cmos though :(


I am loosing hope that they will put out a newer bios with the voltage settings:mad:
 
Hi Zarni thanks for your responce. I think it might have been one of my post which said about flashing and retaining the voltages. I was able to keep my ram at 2.2 volts while updating. Speedfan actually reads the VDDR on this motherboard. I didn't raise my cpu voltage before updating though so thats why I flashed back to the beta and had my problem and also lost my 2.2 volt ram in the process when i cleared the cmos.

I will try to flash from dos, I always used to flash like that but qflash just seemed easier. Your post gives me hope that I can get my voltage options back though and this time i will set my cpu voltage properly. I also had a few problems with cold boots but its rare and I can fix it by taking half my ram out booting then saving bios settings again and adding the ram back.

I now tend to just suspend to ram instead of a full shutdown :D
 
mavalpha said:
One correction to Morry's thoughts:

690G isn't "newly introduced." It's actually been around for almost six months, but this works really well as a 690G Reload. AMD put some extra emphasis on overclocking and performance, and the result is spectacular. In fact, AMD is touting it for HD playback- with an X2 running around 2GHz (+/-200MHz, depending on codec), this will do full-screen 1080p playback through the onboard Radeon X1250. :eek:

There is also absolutely NO mention of SurroundView testing, which is why I'm so interested in this board. :(
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, what it doesn't work well with is 4+GB of ram. there seems to be a 64bit DMA error on this chipset. Gigabyte came out with a bios patch to work around it, as did MSI for their 690G board, but some other ones (biostar's, for instance) are totally useless with any more than 3gb of ram onboard. Random screen corruption, BSOD, and black screen crashes in vista are the normal symptoms.

I made the mistake of getting one of the Biostar 690 boards. Last time I trust an AMD chipset for a bit... I'm going to Nforce 570 instead.

edit: I see this was mentioned before in this review. Just a second to the problem though, and a "hesitate before you recommend 690's" comment.
 
Zarni said:
I am loosing hope that they will put out a newer bios with the voltage settings:mad:
Click to expand...

I would. I'm switching boards. Most manu's seem to want to forget about their 690 boards... hell, Biostar doesn't even admit that theirs EXISTS on the US site! :( Makes me sad, since the board screamed otherwise...
 
lopoetve said:
Unfortunately, what it doesn't work well with is 4+GB of ram. there seems to be a 64bit DMA error on this chipset. Gigabyte came out with a bios patch to work around it, as did MSI for their 690G board, but some other ones (biostar's, for instance) are totally useless with any more than 3gb of ram onboard. Random screen corruption, BSOD, and black screen crashes in vista are the normal symptoms.

I made the mistake of getting one of the Biostar 690 boards. Last time I trust an AMD chipset for a bit... I'm going to Nforce 570 instead.

edit: I see this was mentioned before in this review. Just a second to the problem though, and a "hesitate before you recommend 690's" comment.
Click to expand...
Must be unique to Vista then. I've had this board for a couple of months already, running 4x1GB with no issues in XP64. I was using F3b almost from the beginning, but just tried F3a last week. Works flawlessly either way.

Don't know if it makes a difference, but I have SurroundView enabled with an X800XT.

Edit:
I have two concerns with this board.
1) My 4000+ runs 26xx on stock everything, obtained on F3b. I flashed to F3a, tinkered with voltages, and can't get a single extra MHz out of it. I'm not sure where the handicap is.
2) I refuse to spend any more money on this rig until it's been upgraded to a Phenom X4. I just hope there will be a BIOS that supports it!
 
mavalpha said:
Must be unique to Vista then. I've had this board for a couple of months already, running 4x1GB with no issues in XP64. I was using F3b almost from the beginning, but just tried F3a last week. Works flawlessly either way.

Don't know if it makes a difference, but I have SurroundView enabled with an X800XT.

Edit:
I have two concerns with this board.
1) My 4000+ runs 26xx on stock everything, obtained on F3b. I flashed to F3a, tinkered with voltages, and can't get a single extra MHz out of it. I'm not sure where the handicap is.
2) I refuse to spend any more money on this rig until it's been upgraded to a Phenom X4. I just hope there will be a BIOS that supports it!
Click to expand...

it's rarer with XP64 and even more rare with 64bit linux, but the crashes do happen eventually. Any of the F3 GB Bios have the patch in them too, so that helps ;) Us biostar folks are SOL though: biostar has no intention of fixing hte problem. :(
 
Well I got my voltages back i was being a bit of a muppet and flashing F3b wondering why it wouldn't work :p

Flashed F3a set cpu to 1.45 volts and VDDR to 2.2 and then flashed back to F3 official and voltages retained :D. It shows only 3.93 GB of ram because I have surroundview using 64mb.

73089100nv8.jpg


BTW for anyone interested you can use CrystalCPUID in 32 bit and x64 to control multipliers from windows with this chipset. And Clockgen can change the clock if you set PLL 952505.
 
Glad I stumbled upon this thread. I've been really eying this board for the past couple weeks as I figure out the manifest for my new mATX AM2 system.

Anyone have any experience with and know if this hs will fit and leave enough room for a PCI-e video card?
 
you should be fine, i say this because i was able to fit my water block on the NB, although it took some work because of all of the cap's there you might have to trim the heat sink if it is a little to big on the base but i think your fine.
 
I am interested in buying this motherboard's big Brother Full size ATX form factor GA-MA69G-S3H, since I have full tower need my extra room for two slot video card (future ) and dual PCI Slots, plus large board better OC heat dissipation, Large CPU Cooler capacity and full overclocking options in Bios to boot.

Question I read PC Stats review on this mobo that you couldn't use simultaneously VGA monitor connection and TV Out (i.e "Crt Monitor and TV out say through S-video at the same time.") you cannot connect two analog monitors onto the onboard videocard.

I know this thread is for Gigabyte -S2H, but can someone who has this board since it is similar, tried the tv out bracket and crt monitor confirm or unconfirm this cause I was hoping use both my Crt monitor and tv at the same time (dual monitor mode).

M9
 
Same problem. It's not a board or BIOS issue, it's a chipset limitation. It can do dual display, but it has to be one analog (CRT, TV) and one digital (DVI, HDMI). It can't do two analog or two digital.
 
Thanks for quick reply.

So once you setup in display windows one analog monitor goes blank and the other turns on.

I guess I'll have to live with that if I do decide to go with either S2 or S3.
 
I have to say that this board is pretty awesome when setup for a HTPC, but I do have a couple of problems that I'm hoping someone might know what the solution to is.

Here is my setup:
- GA-MA69GM-S2H - On-board DVI/HDMI & Optical
- AMD X2 4600+ - Overclocked to 2.75Ghz (12.5 x 220 using Official F3 bios)
- 2GB DDR2 800MHz Memory (1 Stick, was planning on getting another 2gig stick later)
- Samsung 20x Optical Drive OEM - SATA
- 1x Seagate 320GB SATA Boot Drive
- 2x Samsung 500GB SATA DVD Storage
- Wireless 'N' D-Link Network PCI connected to a D-Link 4500DGL Wireless 'N' Router
- Using the On-Board Graphics set to 128Megs and Overclocked to 500Mhz (have tried 256, 512, and running at stock 400Mhz to try and fix problem 1 below without any luck).
- Toshiba 65" TV running at 1920x1080P
- Sony STR DG810 Receiver


Problems:
1. Ripping Movies using AnyDVDHD (latest version 6.2.0.2 I Believe, but have used various older versions over the last few weeks) and the built in ripper of MyMovies works great. However, playback will at various times produce a black (blank) screen hiccup (sound still plays, but the video seems to disappear with a black screen for a brief second or two). This happens randomly, and never appears in the same place twice. I've tried re-ripping usinig AnyDVD's built in ripper, as well as using DVDShrink, neither made a difference, the problem still happens. I don't have any additional Codec's installed, and just have Vista Ultimate running (no Spyware, Virus scanners, etc running). I have the latest ATI Drivers installed (7.11), but the problem happened in 7.10 as well.

I've tried turning off Indexing my Drives in Vista, as well as using BlackVipers 'Safe' Services settings thinking this might be an issue with some Vista program running. I've defragged all three drives as well, but nothing seems to make a difference.

I'm wondering if perhaps getting another stick of memory (so I can run them in dual mode) might fix this problem, or will I need another video card to fix this issue? Could a new Codec fix the issue, or perhaps a different player (I just use the default Vista one, but could use TheatreTek 2.6 or PowerDVD if this would fix the issue).

2. Currently, I play sound through SPDIF (optical) to my Sony Receiver, and it works great, but when I tried to use HDMI (DVI->HDMI connector not a straight HDMI cable), I only get 2 speaker sound and can't select 5.1 or 7.1 in Vista (like I can with SPDIF). Is this a problem with the built in ATI card not being able to do at least 5.1 surround sound (I have HDMI connected to both my DVD and Dish Network DVR and both do 5.1 and 7.1 without a problem)?

Any and all help with the above would be greatly appreciated.
 
Powerhouse2k said:
I have to say that this board is pretty awesome when setup for a HTPC, but I do have a couple of problems that I'm hoping someone might know what the solution to is.

Here is my setup:
- GA-MA69GM-S2H - On-board DVI/HDMI & Optical
- AMD X2 4600+ - Overclocked to 2.75Ghz (12.5 x 220 using Official F3 bios)
- 2GB DDR2 800MHz Memory (1 Stick, was planning on getting another 2gig stick later)
- Samsung 20x Optical Drive OEM - SATA
- 1x Seagate 320GB SATA Boot Drive
- 2x Samsung 500GB SATA DVD Storage
- Wireless 'N' D-Link Network PCI connected to a D-Link 4500DGL Wireless 'N' Router
- Using the On-Board Graphics set to 128Megs and Overclocked to 500Mhz (have tried 256, 512, and running at stock 400Mhz to try and fix problem 1 below without any luck).
- Toshiba 65" TV running at 1920x1080P
- Sony STR DG810 Receiver


Problems:
1. Ripping Movies using AnyDVDHD (latest version 6.2.0.2 I Believe, but have used various older versions over the last few weeks) and the built in ripper of MyMovies works great. However, playback will at various times produce a black (blank) screen hiccup (sound still plays, but the video seems to disappear with a black screen for a brief second or two). This happens randomly, and never appears in the same place twice. I've tried re-ripping usinig AnyDVD's built in ripper, as well as using DVDShrink, neither made a difference, the problem still happens. I don't have any additional Codec's installed, and just have Vista Ultimate running (no Spyware, Virus scanners, etc running). I have the latest ATI Drivers installed (7.11), but the problem happened in 7.10 as well.

I've tried turning off Indexing my Drives in Vista, as well as using BlackVipers 'Safe' Services settings thinking this might be an issue with some Vista program running. I've defragged all three drives as well, but nothing seems to make a difference.

I'm wondering if perhaps getting another stick of memory (so I can run them in dual mode) might fix this problem, or will I need another video card to fix this issue? Could a new Codec fix the issue, or perhaps a different player (I just use the default Vista one, but could use TheatreTek 2.6 or PowerDVD if this would fix the issue).

2. Currently, I play sound through SPDIF (optical) to my Sony Receiver, and it works great, but when I tried to use HDMI (DVI->HDMI connector not a straight HDMI cable), I only get 2 speaker sound and can't select 5.1 or 7.1 in Vista (like I can with SPDIF). Is this a problem with the built in ATI card not being able to do at least 5.1 surround sound (I have HDMI connected to both my DVD and Dish Network DVR and both do 5.1 and 7.1 without a problem)?

Any and all help with the above would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

make sure you get any bios updates before getting the 4gb of ram.

and DVI doesn't carry sound, so doing an HDMI -> DVI converter won't work, at least not like I think you eman.
 
anyone have any problems with their usb mouse freezing up for a few seconds and then working again? The mouse worked fine on my old system.
 
I still have the multiplier problem with the mobo. I disabled Hybrid Sleep in Vista and set the all the options in the BIOS screen to Auto and nothing works. I wish that I knew what was going on. Can anyone provide assistance? :confused:
 
bschultz said:
anyone have any problems with their usb mouse freezing up for a few seconds and then working again? The mouse worked fine on my old system.
Click to expand...

Sometimes when I boot neither the USB mouse or keyboard work. I plug them in the front case USB ports and look in the BIOS... and USB keyboard/mouse are still enabled. Put them in the back, and they seem to still work fine then in the BIOS, and then when I boot to Windows. Happened twice now (had the system together for about 4-5 days now). Not sure what fixes it. Multiple reboots didn't... and I couldn't get into the BIOS without moving them to the front ports. Real nuisance.

Also, DDR2 related - even in the MIB, I can't find voltage increases for the RAM, so it is running at 1.8V. My OCZ Platinum recommends 1.9-2.1V. I think this may be why it's not giving me the advertised 4-4-4 timings.
 
xxaaqq said:
Also, DDR2 related - even in the MIB, I can't find voltage increases for the RAM, so it is running at 1.8V. My OCZ Platinum recommends 1.9-2.1V. I think this may be why it's not giving me the advertised 4-4-4 timings.
Click to expand...
F3b has almost no voltage adjustments, try flashing F3a instead.
 
in reply to the usb stuff not working, make sure that there isnt a usb thumbdrive plugged into the usb ports, i know its stupid but check anyways, it was an issue for me when i was trying to flash.
 
CptFalcon said:
I still have the multiplier problem with the mobo. I disabled Hybrid Sleep in Vista and set the all the options in the BIOS screen to Auto and nothing works. I wish that I knew what was going on. Can anyone provide assistance? :confused:
Click to expand...

Is that where it wakes up and the multi is set at 5???

Mine did that until I installed the latest bios from gigabyte
 
Does anyone know if I'd still be able to use the HDMI output if I install a graphics card?

It would be totally awesome if I could install a graphics card and use that for my monitor and the integrated graphics for output to my TV.
 
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