Gigabyte X38-DQ6 (Intel X38)
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Date: 02.10.2007 |
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BIOS
The BIOS of Gigabyte X38-DQ6 is based on the Award BIOS Phoenix version.
The memory settings are gathered in the section to deal with the overclocking, and you don't have to press the "Ctrl+F1" combination in the BIOS main menu (probably, that will be changed in the release BIOS version).
There is also the parameter in charge of setting memory operating frequency.
We should dwell at that point and note that the board does not support reducing memory frequency multipliers (i975X did have such a multiplier). That means - while overclocking the FSB to 600 MHz the user would need expensive overclocker DDR2 memory that runs stably at 1200 MHz. The price for such memory is much lower than the current price for DDR3.
Of course, we can assume that the chipset X38 supports the reducing multiplier which has not been implemented in the BIOS of Gigabyte X38-DQ6. But we believe this theory is unlikely.
Note that the current BIOS version does not offer such features like "MIB 2" or "DLL Settings" which are meant to optimize the memory timings (these features were there on the previous Gigabyte's high-end motherboards). Instead of them, there is the "Performance Enhanced" parameter:
Now move on to the section to do with the system monitoring.
The board displays the current temperature values of the CPU and the system, as well as the rotational speed of the four fans. And, unlike the previous Gigabyte motherboards, the model X38-DQ6 displays current voltage levels.
Note that the CPU cooler is able adjusting the rotational speed depending on the CPU temperature.
The board also allows controlling the modern features of the CPU.
Besides, you can trace the system monitoring readings from within Windows as well. For that, the new Gigabyte EasyTune Center utility is used.
This program includes all Gigabyte's developments for motherboards and is some sort of a system control center. In particular, one of the sections includes the @BIOS utility which is meant to update the BIOS:
a few more - solely for information:
By the way, the board has no customary BIOS chips (in cradles). According to the documentation, the BIOS functions are implemented by these chips (the left-hand is is the main, with the right-hand being used for backup).
In conclusion, we note the feature for saving the BIOS settings as a profile:
Gigabyte X38-DQ6 maintains 8 profiles, and saves part of them on its own:
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