Computer Upgrade

[Bizman]

Every time I've built a computer I've had multiple problems. --- Maybe I am just unlucky, but building and modifying a computer has never been "shake-the-box" and everything works perfectly for me.  It has been closer to "turn the power on and everything bursts into flames".

I'd call that unlucky. Or it can also be that I've been lucky. The first time I put a screwdriver inside a computer case was in the shop where I had originally bought it, they let me use their workshop and tools and gave me some advise. It was around 2000, still using Win98. After that I've lost count. There's been some DOA components and at some point it seemed my video cards were doomed to fail within half a year. That's when I learned the manufacturer matters despite the cards being basically identical.

Actually I haven't built too many new computers. It's a business that doesn't pay for a sole entrepreneur. If a component proves DOA, there would be a delay and extra mailing costs. Refurbishing is another thing. There was a time I used to buy RAM sticks by the dozen until the manufacturers started to install enough of it even in the cheapest models. Swapping failed hard disks has been another steady bread. The only smoke so far was a decade ago when a guy wanted me to check his build before the first boot. I didn't notice that one of the front panel USB cables was connected to the Firewire connector. Puff! Luckily that didn't break anything else and he didn't need Firewire anyway.

[Chalenge]

I think that only makes sense. Any machine you use for business or making money in any way should be associated with warranties, insurance, and a proper depreciation period.

[Pudgie]

After using my box for a while now I'm realizing just how much better Intel has improved the X99's subsystem performance (better chipset data management\performance across USB, PCI-E and SATA, much improved serial DMI 3.0 link bandwidth\speed & improved CPU L2\L3 cache, better bus bandwidth to system mem and much improved DMA controller performance to\from the DDR4 mem) that this upgrade is performing much better (read snappier\quicker) than my X79 system did even though the CPU core speed of this I7 5820K Haswell-E CPU in stock trim is 400Mhz-500Mhz SLOWER than my I7 4820K IB-E CPU in stock trim. This makes me feel real good about how the Beta will perform on this system....should be a very smooth & stable experience across the spectrum.

Now if Intel will finally give us a Broadwell-E CPU w\ native clocks @ 4.0 Ghz for less than $600.00.........................

This Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 microATX mobo is a very solid performing mobo, well built and looks good.....just can use a better written and stable UEFI w\ a better documented manual to go w\ it.

Welp, gotta go & run her thru some more paces...............

    

[MADe]

I have to say that I luv the ultra durable series of Gigabyte mobos. I have 2 versions, an x 58 and a p 45. Dual bios was quite nice when I first OC'ed with it. It would always default to basics when I got an unstable OC. Its been so nice that the last couple of clean installs were done with the OC in place. A 4GHz cpu clock speed really sped up the clean installs.

I used ram spec'ed by gigabyte, non-xmp settings. I think xmp is problematical with the new bus config, started with the x 58 chipset. CPU clock speed is tied to ram clock speed, if you want to OC, xmp to restricting.

[Pudgie]

As we go on she keeps getting better....................... .......

AMD finally has put forth a UEFI firmware for my Fury X to replace the legacyOPT rom firmware (or BIOS if you prefer) that they were released with last June (Asus supplied their Fury X's w\ a UEFI firmware from the jump but it was not compatible w\ my Fury X according to ATIFlash)...............

Have flashed up my vid card to the new UEFI firmware using ATIFlash and the Gigabyte UEFI is loving this now....all getting much smoother & quicker at boot up now that all my installed devices are now fully UEFI-compliant.

Have now enabled Fast Boot in Gigabyte UEFI and all is beautiful now in Pudgie land...............

The X99 subsystem on this Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 mobo is showing to be a good match for my Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury X as now when running the Beta the Fury X is utilizing 100% GPU usage consistently at max clocks of 1050........I never got this on my X79 system as the best I ever saw was 95%-99%. My I7 5820K CPU usage and temp is a dead mirror of my I7 4820K CPU running the Beta (CPU operating temps in 45*C-47*C range, CPU usage around the 17%-19% range drawing a straight line across my MSI Afterburner CPU graph) even though the I7 5820K Haswell-E CPU is 400Mhz-500Mhz slower core clock speed (base and turbo clocks in stock trim) than the I7 4820K Ivy Bridge-E CPU I was using.

Mobo subsystem performance does matter.

I have to say that I luv the ultra durable series of Gigabyte mobos. I have 2 versions, an x 58 and a p 45. Dual bios was quite nice when I first OC'ed with it. It would always default to basics when I got an unstable OC. Its been so nice that the last couple of clean installs were done with the OC in place. A 4GHz cpu clock speed really sped up the clean installs.

I used ram spec'ed by gigabyte, non-xmp settings. I think xmp is problematical with the new bus config, started with the x 58 chipset. CPU clock speed is tied to ram clock speed, if you want to OC, xmp to restricting.

Hi MADe,

Yeah the Corsair Vengence LPX 2133 DDR4 4Gb x 4 mem kit is listed on Gigabyte's mem compatibility list but only in native mode instead of X.M.P. mode. Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 mobo manual doesn't say\list anything on mem compatibility so I "assumed" that the UEFI would recognize them in X.M.P. mode w\o a fuss................

Boy was I wrong!

After fighting this for a while is when I finally went on Gigabyte's web site and pulled up the mem compatibility list and saw my error.

I'm also coming to like Gigabyte's SIV app (equivalent of Asus ProbeII and FanXpert) as its simple w\ no frills but gives you full control over every aspect of temps\fan speeds as well as all operational info of all installed components.

Got thru a rough start w\ it but now it's showing me it's worth!

 

[Pudgie]

Update:

This morning I've also discovered another little item concerning this Gigabyte AMI UEFI by accident..............

I finally got a gut full of my Logitech Trackman Wheel Cordless trackball's abysmal battery consumption rate so I pulled it and reinstalled my corded version of this trackball (was in excellent shape....I got the cordless version cause at the time I thought it was cool and I had found it buried in my closet when I was clearing out some stuff). All this stuff was back in the Win XP days which for me was prior 2008...........

 

Booted up my box after this and I quickly noticed that the AMI UEFI that Gigabyte is using really likes to see\ID corded USB keyboards\mice sets as the UEFI sped up even more relative to what I had been seeing prior changing out my cordless trackball for my corded trackball. The keyboard I'm using is a corded Logitech Gaming G15 USB keyboard. I do recall a few instances where the cordless trackball was inoperative within the UEFI while the keyboard has always worked but didn't think too much about this at that time....and especially after finding the issue concerning my CH USB HOTAS which seems to have settled all this out.

Interesting..............

My hunch for this is that the PS2 driver within the UEFI had some issues from time to time trying to ID the cordless receiver as a mouse.

Wouldn't have thought this would be an issue nowadays.

Something to consider.....

 

[Bizman]

Sounds like I'm not too old fashioned to prefer PS2 after all...

[Pudgie]

Sounds like I'm not too old fashioned to prefer PS2 after all...

Then you would like this Gigabyte mobo, Biz as the uppermost header on this mobo is a full blown PS2 keyboard\mouse header.

Gigabyte seems to share in your assessment.

I had contemplated using USB-to-PS2 adapters on my keyboard\mouse to get around the issues that I was seeing initially w\ this Gigabyte mobo. I found a couple of adapters for my mouse laying around but I couldn't find any for my keyboard BUT I did still have an old IBM Model KB-7958 PS2 keyboard that I've kept just for accessing mobo BIOS thru the PS2 port if I had issues using a USB version.....and I did use it on this mobo at the beginning.

I just now found out that I also had a new Logitech cordless version keyboard w\ receiver in my closet that is equipped w\ a USB-to-PS2 keyboard adapter........

For the life of me I can't remember how or why I bought it.....had to have been prior 2008.

Getting forgetful in my older years................

 

[Pudgie]

Update:

After using this build for a while & working all the issues thru to completion I have to say that it's working out just peachy now.
Was messing around on the Intel site & running comparison between the I7 5820K Haswell-E CPU that I currently have against the I7 6850K Broadwell-E CPU this showed the main differences between the 2 CPU's (outside of the process change....22nm to 14nm for power efficiency improvements) was the core clock speeds but the difference was only approx. 200 Mhz difference and the mem controller speed\capacity increases.......for a 90% cost increase between the 2 ($389.99 to $617.99).

This even for me is a bridge too far to cross so I have turned to just performing an OC on the I7 5820K CPU to get her to 4 GHz boost clocks as I figured this would be more than enough on my box to set the performance table to a satisfactory point for me.

So I went into my Gigabyte F22 UEFI & set the CPU Upgrade choice from Auto to I7 5820K 4 GHz Boost then saved & rebooted.........
All came up fine. Checked this in Control Panel, System which showed the CPU still at the std 3.3 GHz clocks but when I checked it thru the Gigabyte SIV app it showed the CPU boosting out to 4007 MHz so I know it did set in the UEFI.

Went up in AHII Patch 3 afterward......the performance was so nice now.....not faster as far as FPS but much SMOOTHER performance (the FPS line as recorded in MSI Afterburner showed the FPS line @ 80 FPS w\o any dips in the line) w\ the CPU temps climbing just 5*C over the prior game temps (running around 55*C now instead of 50*C but WELL within the TDP of 75*C) so this CPU OC helped to better feed the Fury X vid card to run better on my box.

Along w\ all the other upgrades done I'm now pretty much set & happy w\ the results. Pretty simple to do on this Gigabyte mobo........