Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L + Quad Core + 8 Gb RAM

[Arsenicson]

I plan for a fat setup: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L + Quad Core + 8 Gb RAM.

 

Comments from respected forum dwellers on the below-mentioned topics will be greatly appreciated

 

1. Anyone has experience with Quads? All cores used by the system and working OK?

2. On my current Asrock 945 DVI there is a limitation - I can't use over 3200 Mb of RAM, although 4 GB are installed. They say this limitation is broken under XP and vista 64 bit... blah-blah-blah... Tiger doesn't see more than that 3200 Mb. I didn't try Leopard yet and honestly in the view of an upgrade I don't care. Question is - will there be or not be such a problem with Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L + 8 Gb RAM? Anyone has experience with 4 and more gbytes?

 

Any other advice will be appreciated, especially if supported with personal experience.

[A.I.Ghost]

About 3.2Gb++

I'll explain in common words why your "Tiger" or "XP" or "Vista 32" might not fully use the 4Gb.

It is simple. System core works with 32bit digit lenght, and 32bit = 2^32 = exactly 4Gb. So the maximum amount of MEMORY (i'm not saying ram) available for your system is 4Gb.

But, you must understand, that this maximum amout works this way:

Maximum available for RAM = Maximum total (4Gb) - Procesor memory (±2 or 4Mb) - Video Card memory (how much do you have? 128? 256?) - Reserved by the motherboard itself for any other controller.

So in total, the maximum usable memory capacity will be ±3.2Gb for RAM.

 

Leopard or Vista 64 do not have such a problem, because their maximum memory amount is 2^64, which is many, many, many times more

So if you are planning, to run Tiger on that new board, it will not "see" more than 3.2Gb. If you install LEO, there will be no problem.

 

Did i explained it clearly?

 

Now, why DS3L? Why not the DS3R or DS4?

The P35 board looks very promising now, according to tests i've read here. Quad cores are also working.

What for do you need such a monster? 3D design?

[Arsenicson]

A.I.Ghost, thanks for an explanation. I honestly had no idea that my video card memory counts in as well It is also quite good to know that Leopard won't have such a problem.

 

I live in quite a retarded country and getting good hardware at a decent price is an issue here. DS3L is available here, and DS3R too. Do you think their differences are worth the price difference? I'm not a big fan of money spending but I'd pay extra if it's worth it.

 

I'm assembling such a brute first of all to handle the huge panoramas. When it's beyond 400 megapixels and you still need to process it properly... you get the idea I also have a nasty habit of having multiple things like photoshop, aperture and windows virtual machine opened at once. Memory prices are quite tolerable nowadays, even in a {censored}hole I live in, so why not?

 

Besides, upgrades are no more as fascinating to me as they were several years ago. I'd prefer to buy a monster and then forget about upgrading for a couple of years...

[Newear2006]

About 3.2Gb++

I'll explain in common words why your "Tiger" or "XP" or "Vista 32" might not fully use the 4Gb.

It is simple. System core works with 32bit digit lenght, and 32bit = 2^32 = exactly 4Gb. So the maximum amount of MEMORY (i'm not saying ram) available for your system is 4Gb.

But, you must understand, that this maximum amout works this way:

Maximum available for RAM = Maximum total (4Gb) - Procesor memory (±2 or 4Mb) - Video Card memory (how much do you have? 128? 256?) - Reserved by the motherboard itself for any other controller.

So in total, the maximum usable memory capacity will be ±3.2Gb for RAM.

 

Leopard or Vista 64 do not have such a problem, because their maximum memory amount is 2^64, which is many, many, many times more

So if you are planning, to run Tiger on that new board, it will not "see" more than 3.2Gb. If you install LEO, there will be no problem.

 

Did i explained it clearly?

 

 

That was very eloquently explained thanks a lot!

 

One point though, If the memory sticks are in pairs then the system runs in dual channel mode right?.

So having two pairs of say 1gb ie. (1gbx2) + (1gbX2) = 4gb is better than (1gbx2) + (1gb) = 3gb.

 

Now, why DS3L? Why not the DS3R or DS4?

The P35 board looks very promising now, according to tests i've read here.

 

How about the GA-P35-DQ6? Because I am planning on a system on this as well, heard good things about it here and at the wiki.

[Arsenicson]

One point though, If the memory sticks are in pairs then the system runs in dual channel mode right?.

So having two pairs of say 1gb ie. (1gbx2) + (1gbX2) = 4gb is better than (1gbx2) + (1gb) = 3gb.

 

yeah, that's why i keep four modules instead of three

 

How about the GA-P35-DQ6? Because I am planning on a system on this as well, heard good things about it here and at the wiki.

 

Not within my grasp, sadly...

[A.I.Ghost]

Newyear2006

It is always better to have as lowest as possible even number of memory modules, so that the dual channel works.

So, if you want to have 3Gb, it is better to have 2x1Gb + 2x512Mb rather than 3x1Gb.

But, if you'd like to have 4Gb, it is better to have 2x2Gb rather than 4x1Gb.

 

DQ6 is exactly the same as DS4 except for one thing.

DQ6 has more capacitors around the CPU, so for overclocking it is better. But if you are not going to overclock to extreme, DS4 is just fine for you.

 

Arsenicson

I've looked closely into tech specs of DS3L, DS3 and DS3R

You probably do not need the DS3R (since in comparison to the DS3 it have just more SATA ports on it), but i would not approve the DS3L, that is because it has too little capacitors around CPU, so it won't be as stable with C-Quad as the DS3 or DS3R. Also, if you are a graphic as you say, you might want to have eSATA and FireWire on your iHack - DS3L is the only board that do not have either of these.

So in your case, i'd look for DS3 or if you are planning to use two video adapters in the future then DS3P or DS4.

[nirvanaguy19]

so in terms of chipset there is no limitation, i have the asrock conroe 945g with 2gb, if i install 2 more gb of ram and install leopard , will all 4gb be usable

[Arsenicson]

so in terms of chipset there is no limitation, i have the asrock conroe 945g with 2gb, if i install 2 more gb of ram and install leopard , will all 4gb be usable

 

with Asrock 945 it IS a chipset limitation after all, at least the manufacturer's site says so. Also, I loaded Ubuntu-64 and it also can use 3 gb + 128 mb, exactly as MacOS and WindowsXP-32. So it may not be even Tiger's limitation. Anyway, with this MB i don't really care, I worried about my forthcoming new Gigabyte...

[qw3rty]

I have 4 GB RAM and Tiger sees all of it. Windows XP and Vista both only see 3.5 GB.

[Arsenicson]

any other experience? anyone?

[obajoba]

A couple things...

 

I built a DS3L box with a 6550, it rocked and it was a walk in the park to setup. Less than 1 hour to the time i was hammering away on it with EFIv51 running on it even - my vid card was a 7100GS, 4GB of Corsair PC5300.

 

Now, I just finished building my DS3R with an e6750, oc'd to 3.4Ghz and a 7300GT. I used the flat image on it, installed EFI, grew the partition and started installing my apps. Again, less than 1 hour...

 

As for DS3R v DQ6, maybe you all should look at the comparisons on Tom's hardware, the DS3R finished BARELY behind the DQ6 and beat it in some benchmarks... Just a thought, but you might want to save the $150. I have heard tell of E6750 running at 3.8Ghz-4.0Ghz on the DS3R.