New Build GA-EP45-UD3P

[Casper]

First let me post what I do have:

Cooler Master 840 Case
GA-EP45-UD3P MOBO Rev 1.1
Q9550 E0 CPU
2 Seagate 7200.12 500GB HD
2 x 2GB G. Skill F2-8500CL6D-4GBNQ 6-6-6-18
Xigmatek HDT-SD964 Cooler
ASUS DVD ROM Drive (SATA)
LG 22x DVD Burner (SATA)
Topower Powerbird 900 W Modular PSU
EVGA GTX 285 Video Card (still deciding)
Vista Home Premium 64 bit

Ok this is my first post here and my first build ever. I haven't got all the parts yet but the last piece is on the way I have some concerns after reading some info here and on Newegg maybe someone can help me out.

1. I have read that there are issues with this board and a so called "loop" I did do some searching and found that other Gigabyte boards were experiencing this problem but not a lot with this board. Any thoughts?

2. I have read in some of the stickys that the P45 boards have memory settings 4/5-4/5-4/5-12/15/18. My concern is I have purchased RAM that has 6-6-6-18 timings should I send it back?

I feel fairly confident about my choices except the RAM issue which appears to be the cause of alot of the "Loop" issues.

Thanks for your help in advance

[SpeedEuphoria]

Re: New Build GA-EP45-UD3P

1) On the reboot loop, it does that if your settings are off or not correct, like when OC'ing too far. I wouldn't worry about it since your on a great forum for help.

2)I would send the ram back if your looking to benchmark as you can get G Skill Pi's for the same price and they run lower volts and do 4-4-4-12 timings which will make a diff for benchmarks, but not much in real life applications. 5-5-5-15 is pretty much the standard for DDR2 800Mhz or even 1066.

Its up to you, if you ever want to sell the ram it prob wont be as easy to sell either comparatively.

[Casper]

Re: New Build GA-EP45-UD3P

Well thank you or answering some concerns I had I doubt seriously that I will be doing any great tweaking of anything. The reason I bought the RAM was because it was specifically for intel chipsets so I put 2 & 2 together. I am not that concerned about selling the stuff because it so cheap anyway. If it's going to perform for me that's the important thing. I don't want something that when I put it in the computer it going to stop. I enjoy tinkering with this stuff but I also enjoy gaming and when things go bad it take time from gaming. I defintely am gld I found this place thanks for your help.

[Zazn]

Re: New Build GA-EP45-UD3P

I would recommend a 30A or more +12V rail power supply for systems that require power hungry components such as a high end video card like the GTX 285. By having a 30a or more +12V, you can ensure that your system will have a good stable voltage supply to the motherboard and processor which is important. Then again, you aren't looking to overclock so this probably won't be an issue for you. But if you are going to overclock in the future or buy more hardware that require lots of power (another gtx285 for SLI would be awesome), just remember that having lots of watt won't always cut it.

As for the memory RAM, i would send it back for better latency timer ones.

[Casper]

Re: New Build GA-EP45-UD3P

Zazn thanks for the reply I have the build together and running. With everything you see dont think I'll ever get another card this board doesn't support SLI it does support crossfire. Beside one GTX 285 does me just fine I did the trial version of 3d mark Vantage and I and I had a higher cpu score then an i965 extreme think the guy was running at 4.?? MHZ LOL. My little stock 2.83MHZ of course he beat me on GPU he was running triple SLI 280s. Power has not been an issue we will see if it stays that way after I drop 4 more gig of RAM in. I'm happy with the way things are running right now except for Vista I keep running into things I'm not use to after so many years with XP.