DS3 vs DS4

[Massive Attack]

As a note - please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
The DS4 in the BIOS doesn't actually display the "actual memory voltage" you are running, rather the "Relative voltage".
So by default it will be showing +/- 0v

The default voltage for this board appears to be 1.8v, so for the Geil you will want to make the setting +0.3v.
This is 0.3v over the default of 1.8v giving you the 2.1v the Geil wants.
Thankfully the Geil will boot at 1.8v - so you can get into the BIOS and make that change.
Some other brands hate 1.8v and this is where the whole "My DS4 refuses to boot" issue comes from.

so basicly when my DS4 arrives i need to install the ram and then go straight into the bios and shuve the ram voltage up by 0.3

 

[VeNT]

DS4 is so little extra its worth it!

 

[stoofa]

so basicly when my DS4 arrives i need to install the ram and then go straight into the bios and shuve the ram voltage up by 0.3

Personally I would.
The DS4 uses the SPD on the memory modules.
The Geil (like a lot of other RAM) uses SPD "Safety Settings".
So although the RAM is good for 4-4-4-12, 2.1v, DDR800 it actually defaults to something a lot loser at 1.8v and DDR667 speeds.

I'd slam in the Geil and on first boot give it a +0.3v.
You can experiment with dropping the voltage later - but give the chips what they want, especially if you plan on running them at DDR800 rather than DDR667 speeds.

 

[Massive Attack]

cheers guys

 

[DreadNiK]

Help, i just got the DS4, but i dont seem to have any cable to attach USB ports or Firewire ports ont he case? im lost as what to do as i though they should come with the motherboard?

Dno about firewire, I think the DS4 only has the one onboard (haven't had it long enough to be sure yet), but it has USB headers, I've hooked up my front panel USB...but the cables in mine are attached to the case.

Are you talking about front panel USB/Firewire? I'd have thought the connectors for the headers would be on the case (but that is based only on my case)

You could attach a firewire card, but I don't know if there are any that let you attach case ports to it, rather than just giving you more at the back.

 

[Raj]

On the DS4, should i plug in my SATA hard disk into the Gigabyte or ICH8R bit? I was thinking the intel chipset, but not sure what to do in the bios to make sure i can install XP onto that disk?

I have created the SATA floppy with the drivers during XP installation, but stuck on the BIOS bit and which place to plug it in?

Any help urgently needed!

 

[VeNT]

doesn't realy matter unless you're going to raid em

 

[Tute]

cheers guys

Sorrry to hijack, but did you give up waiting for a good mATX board and decide to go for a full ATX system?

 

[VeNT]

Sorrry to hijack, but did you give up waiting for a good mATX board and decide to go for a full ATX system?

he's gonna get midi ATX (non of these boards are full ATX iirc as 99% of boards arn't, or am I thinking of extended ATX?) and cut it down just leaving the bits he doesn't want off.

 

[Tute]

he's gonna get midi ATX (non of these boards are full ATX iirc as 99% of boards arn't, or am I thinking of extended ATX?) and cut it down just leaving the bits he doesn't want off.

LOL!

Like a hacksaw kinda job?

 

[Massive Attack]

well ive mesured it up and just found a full atx board will fit in my q-pack but the ports will be on the side im just thinking weather it might be worth it or will be to big a job to cut the case to peices

 

[steve258]

Also bear in mind that the DS4 has ICH8R southbridge instead of plain ICH8 used on DS3, that gives you extra 2 SATAII ports as well as RAID and NCQ support.

Also the DS4 has better voltage regulators and the same layout as the DQ6.

I've heard that ICH8R has two additional PCI-E lanes and one of which is used for giabit lan and another one used for HD audio, leaving 4 lanes for the second PCI-E 16X slot. Is this true??