I'm stumped here. At first I thought I couldn't OC my proc because of the skimpy HSF that Intel included. So I upgraded to the Xigmatek HDT-S1283.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

Temperatures have gone done in my system, but I still can't OC, even just a little. From an article on Tom's (http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/19/wolfdale_on_steroids/page2.html), the DQ6 automatically adjusts the vcore, so I haven't messed with that setting yet. I can't even get the system to post using a 400 FSB setting and trying the 366 FSB lets me post for a few seconds before the system restarts and restores the original settings.

Is there something new on the this board or chipset that I need to change so I can OC with success? I had no problems OCing my old GB and MSI boards.

FYI, the core temps were around ~45C after about 10 hours of Prime testing.

You have to manually adjust the vcore. Auto will either give it too much voltage or not enough. Suffice to say, it won't work correctly. Also, downclock your ram to rule it out as possible source of instability.

Read this and see how you do afterwards. My instincts tell me you need to get away from the Mickey Mouse voltages. ^ slackening your RAM will get you off on the right foot as well if you have them tightened down as dagger mentioned.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/gi [...] ide-26112/

I'm also guessing this to be a ram issue, so loosen the timings and set the fsb to ram ratio to 1:1.

Not a surprise to me. None of the Gigabyte motherboards I've bought over the past couple of months will O/C - I've tried four different types of mem, 3 different CPUs, and in multiple different hardware configurations.

The problem starts when you set the CPU Clock Control to MANUAL - it just won't post, then it will reset with your SPD and Clock Control set back to AUTO.

If you are able to get it to work, let me know.

I use a Gigabyte board, and can oc Q6600 to 4.0ghz Prime95 stable for one hour (didn't test for more than one). No offense, but it's not the brand, it's what you do.

Well, leaving the board to auto set the vcore voltage was definetly a problem. After manually adjusting the voltage to 1.3 (cpu-z reports 1.28), I was able to OC up to 400mhz FSB and get my prod to 3.6.

I'm starting to wonder if it is the memory as I can't push the board anything past 400 without it resetting. The memory is set to a 2:1 ratio which puts it at 800hmz (DDR2-800 memory).

Has anyone had issues with this memory?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820220269

I've set the settings to 5-5-5-15 and the voltage to 2.2 but still not luck. Just in a toss up at this point on what could be the issue. I'm going to try just OCing the ram now and leave the FSB where it is to see if that makes a difference.

Great link. I didn't have my laptop handy at the time when I tried last night, but I'll pull that guide up to see if I can further tweak some settings to get my system up to 4.0.

Trade? My EX38 for yours?

I change no other setting but setting CPU Clock Control to MANUAL - even leave the FSB at the stock 333 - no boot.
It is like this on 3 other recent GB boards I have tried - completely different hardware and CPUs.

My trusty old 965P-DS3 is still running great with my E6400 o/c to 2.8.

What processor are you running on your EX38? Have you tried OCing with both BIOS revisions for the board? Have you tried using Gigabyte's EasyTune tool to OC?

Lol, don't use "EasyTune," it's trash.

And x38 chipset runs at 1600mhz fsb, or 4x400, natively. How did you underclock and still don't get boot?

It is the memory timings, you have to set them manually other wise this board will screw them up on its own and you will never get it to boot right. I have the same issue and I would really like it if they would come out with a new freaking bios for this expensive motherboard that I spent so much money on that has been shunned by their support team for a couple of months now when they obviously need to fix alot of issues with it. I can only get to like 445 fsb and I have to crank the voltage way up on the nb and fsb and whatever the other setting is to get that high. I should be able to push my Q9450 to 3.8Ghz easy. I have also noticed it has a bug to where I will have a perfectly fine overclock and it will sometimes just lose the overclock like it isn't a good overclock "it will hang and reboot and lose the overclock" I hate this with a passion.