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  • #1

    GA-EP45-DS3L bios questions

    Lsdmeasap,

    Now that my system is finally stable, and flashing to the new F9 bios posted today, I have a few questions about some of the bios settings.

    In Advanced Bios settings, for Dual Bios Recovery source, is it best to choose to recover from HDD-HPA or from Backup Bios? Default setting is HDD-HPA.

    I did not do anything to setup HDD AHCI Mode or Port Native Mode before installing Windows Vista. In the bios, should I enable these settings or not? I have a single new Seagate .11 HDD.

    Now that the F9 bios fixes the ACPI Suspend State, should I choose S3 or S1? Is there any reason NOT to choose S3?

    What is the best CPU Warning Temperature to choose? I have an E8500 and have currently set it at 80 degrees C.

    Should the CPU Smart Fan Control setting be set to Enabled or to Auto (controlled by bios)?

    I have reduced MCH voltage from 1.10v to 1.05v and have Corsair 2X2gb 1066 RAM set to 2.08v (rather than stickered 2.1v). So far system is stable and CPU-Z is reporting RAM running at stickered 5-5-5-15 speed.

    By the way, all previos bios versions have shown RAM SPD at 5-7-7-24. With the latest F9 bios, RAM SPD shown in bios is 5-5-5-15, the same as shown on the stickers. So the bios update must have more in it than just the S3 power fix.

    Thanks in advance for any answers/comments you can provide.
    Last edited by ed1; 09-23-2008, 09:15 PM.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: GA-EP45-DS3L bios questions

    I had the same question regarding the new BIOS Recovery Source option that appears in F9. My suspicion is that a recovery from the HD will retain the latest BIOS version, whereas the catastrophic recovery from secondary BIOS pulls you back to the version that ships with the board. Let's see what LSD turns up regarding this option.
    With respect to S1/S3, there is really no comparison. S1 keeps all the fans on, so the system is noisy, and still consumes plenty of power (someone on this board measured ~60 watts of consumption while in S1). S3, on the other hand, virtually shuts everything down, with just a trickle of power to maintain memory, and the system it totally quiet.
    You might want to download Memset to get a better sense of what your memory timings really are during Windows run time.
    Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L (BIOS F9); E7200 Core2Duo 2.53Ghz 1066Mhz FSB 3MB L2 (OC to 3.4Ghz); SuperTalent 2x2G DDR2-800 PC6400 CL 5-5-5-12 (T800UX4GC5); Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200 32mb cache HD; EVGA 8800GT 512MB Superclocked Edition
    Ultra X-connect X2 550-watt PSU; Vista x64 SP1 and OpenSUSE 11.0 (KDE 4.1)

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    • #3
      Re: GA-EP45-DS3L bios questions

      Originally posted by ed1 View Post
      Lsdmeasap,

      Now that my system is finally stable, and flashing to the new F9 bios posted today, I have a few questions about some of the bios settings.

      In Advanced Bios settings, for Dual Bios Recovery source, is it best to choose to recover from HDD-HPA or from Backup Bios? Default setting is HDD-HPA.

      I did not do anything to setup HDD AHCI Mode or Port Native Mode before installing Windows Vista. In the bios, should I enable these settings or not? I have a single new Seagate .11 HDD.

      Now that the F9 bios fixes the ACPI Suspend State, should I choose S3 or S1? Is there any reason NOT to choose S3?

      What is the best CPU Warning Temperature to choose? I have an E8500 and have currently set it at 80 degrees C.

      Should the CPU Smart Fan Control setting be set to Enabled or to Auto (controlled by bios)?

      I have reduced MCH voltage from 1.10v to 1.05v and have Corsair 2X2gb 1066 RAM set to 2.08v (rather than stickered 2.1v). So far system is stable and CPU-Z is reporting RAM running at stickered 5-5-5-15 speed.

      By the way, all previos bios versions have shown RAM SPD at 5-7-7-24. With the latest F9 bios, RAM SPD shown in bios is 5-5-5-15, the same as shown on the stickers. So the bios update must have more in it than just the S3 power fix.

      Thanks in advance for any answers/comments you can provide.
      I am not sure which source would be the latest Version. I think they both may actually be updated at certain points when your board thinks it is ok to do so, but not sure which is or when.

      S3 would be best especially if you have no issues, and use sleep often.

      CPU warning Temp, a good setting would be 70C, since this is the CPU and not the cores 70C would mean the cores were much more then that. You must have a case fan connected to hear this warning

      You ram voltages are fine, as low as you can do stable is best. Your MCH concerns me though, have you actually ran memtest86+ against this setting?

      Your Flash did not likely have so much to do with that, as opposed to loading optimized defaults and saving this time around. But it could be, who knows. Auto should get it right once voltages are correct. XMP will as well if you are using that

      Good luck with things, and post back anytime

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: GA-EP45-DS3L bios questions

        I updated the BIOS for my EP45-DS3R yesterday, and it's been working great too, S3 and all. The new Dual Bios Recovery source is intriguing, so I would also like to know, what is the best setting for this option? What does it do, how does it work?

        The default setting is HPA, but will it work if the HDD is set to AHCI/RAID, native mode, as I have ? Not using a RAID array though.

        I think the faster default memory timings you see may have something to do with the new default for Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P), which is Auto. If you set it to disabled, your old timings will return.

        Thanks in advance.
        Last edited by pandamonium; 09-28-2008, 12:42 AM.

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: GA-EP45-DS3L bios questions

          Not, it will not work with AHCI or RAID. So you would want it set to Backup BIOS

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          • #6
            Re: GA-EP45-DS3L bios questions

            LSD,

            I'm not clear from your answers above about which setting is best for:

            (1) Backup BIOS recovery source: HDD-HPA (default) or Backup BIOS
            I am not using RAID.

            (2) CPU SMART fan control: Enabled or Auto (controlled by BIOS)

            (3) HDD AHCI mode & Port Native mode settings on or off? (I have not set up AHCI before OS install. I have a single HDD.)

            Thanks.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: GA-EP45-DS3L bios questions

              Either will work fine. HDD-HPA will write the BIOS to the HPA Section of your hard drive, Backup BIOS will use your Second BIOS chip. Both will default to the other if a BIOS is not found on one or the other

              Smart Fan is up to you, and what fan you are using. If you are using a fan controller set to Disabled. Auto Or enabled would be the same, and would speed up or slow down your fan depending on system temp


              AHCI can be disabled, and you should set native mode Enabled

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