SUCCESS: GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 / i7-2600k / EVGA GeForce GTX 560

[slugnet]

Just wanted to chime in that yes, I am getting the correct esata speeds from the motherboard.

The whole build has been very stable once I got my video cards issues straightened out. I've edited a couple of video projects in the last week on the machine and worked on some web development, and it has all been smooth, video renders super fast, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution plays smooth as silk in Win 7 with max settings. Couldn't be happier.

Ok, maybe I could. I want to add some liquid cooling/over clocking and an SSD in the near future. But, other than that . . . its fantastic!

 

[thermie]

Thanks MUCH for the info!

I'm setting up a similar rig to replace my 2009 Mac Pro with:

GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 (upgraded BIOS to F11 from F9)
1TB SATA HDD
XFX ATi 6870 video (might be returning for a Gigabyte board if problems ensue)
16GB Corsair RAM (4x4GB)

So far I've installed 10.6.0, did the Update Helper, and I'm almost done with 10.6.8. I'll be upgrading to Lion afterward. Followed by restoring all my apps... I've started making the USB volume and am hoping the trick of booting from rBoot will suffice. So far, the only problem is having to set graphicsenabler=no after installing Multibeast.

Networking and sound are both present, but I have not yet listened to any audio. (Too busy copying files over the network )

Sadly, my RAM is 1600 but is seen as 1333, both in OS X and the BIOS -- I've read that the new Sandy Bridge architecture is more finicky when overclocking, so this will be a fun venture to tweak - after I've set everything up and made a disk image.

Somebody reported the XFX card's BIOS has a problem, so I'll have to find a way to boot into Windows and apply it. (or wait for the Gigabyte card to get in stock and return the XFX card as defective, ugh...)

 

[Stork]

...Sadly, my RAM is 1600 but is seen as 1333, both in OS X and the BIOS -- I've read that the new Sandy Bridge architecture is more finicky when overclocking, so this will be a fun venture to tweak - after I've set everything up and made a disk image...

Hmmm. Haven't heard that. However, I'm running 1600 RAM on Zorro. Go into the BIOS and one of the pages allows you to turn on XMP which will cause the BIOS to recognize your RAM's characteristics.

 

[slugnet]

Also wanted to chime in on the memory issue. My system sees my memory by default as 1333, however I just changed the multiplier in the bios and it works great as 1600. This isn't overclocking, just setting the correct speed. I've seen on the forums that doing a CMOS reset fixes this issue, however I didn't feel the need to go to that length since it is quite easy to manually set it.

 

[Stork]

Slugnet, that's what the XMP parameter does for you - no need to hand type memory parameters into the BIOS.

 

[gdtrfb24]

Just curious for this board, what model identifier are you running? I'm using MacPro3,1 on mine.

 

[Stork]

That should work fine as it is the default. If you're having problems, changing it may help depending upon the problem.

Those systems using Intel's Integrated Graphics HD 3000 can even use the Mac Pro3,1 default if they using one (1) monitor. For two (2) monitors, they should use Mac Mini5,1.

 

[Iggynet]

I just built a system with Core i7-2600K - Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H- Gigabyte Radeon HD6850 - 16mb of Memory. I have lion running good, but I did not update the bios prior to the install. It's still at F4. If I update it now is it going to cause a problem? And what would the benifits be of updating it.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks

I am really new at this but seem to be catching on quick.

 

[slugnet]

Slugnet, that's what the XMP parameter does for you - no need to hand type memory parameters into the BIOS.

Thanks for this, that worked great on my system. Changed this to Profile 1, and my memory is working great!

 

[wanye]

I have lion running good, but I did not update the bios prior to the install. It's still at F4. If I update it now is it going to cause a problem? And what would the benifits be of updating it.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks

I am really new at this but seem to be catching on quick.

I'm currently on f5 version of the bios. Everything is working fine for me so I don't see the point in flashing the bios. I think the general rule of thumb is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' if your rig is running smoothly on the f4 bios, you might leave well enough alone.

As for the benefits of updating, you can check gigabyte's page for this mobo and it will tell you the revisions of each bios. Good luck!