scyphe

Oh, this is beyond stuff like that. Trust me, I (and many with me) have tried everything from changing the slot to standing on one foot and waving the left arm. It's a timing/bus-conflict and creative says manufacturers have to update their BIOS'es, which is sort of what I wanted to know: if the xfi vs nforce4 issue have been fixed through bios and if so, which versions.

I forgot (I think) to add that I'm using Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (32-bit).

I have MASSIVE snap,crackle & pop (I'm calling it the S.C.P Syndrome) whenever one the SATA harddrives are working hard, for instance when defragging a drive. It is unbearable to listen to music (think machine-gun SCP, not the occasional glitch). I still have found no solution (been trying all kinds of drivers, settings, PCI Latency tricks and whatnot). If it hadn't been for the fact that I need low latency ASIO I'd have ripped the card out and used onboard sound instead, but that's not a choice. Creative have said that vendors had to fix the problem with BIOS updates. No word from DFI about that, and their ultra-slow global site is sort of crappy, and now that dfi-street is no longer affiliated with DFI, there's nowhere else to turn.

I've always reverted to the 623-3 bios after trying others...

Thanks... Makes sense now.. Somehow misguided by the values given in BIOS... But 2700/14 makes more sense.. If I could push my CPU to 2.8Ghz I'd hit 200Mhz nominal frequency. But Core #0 won't run stable.... :/

Running BIOS 623-3 and bus @ 300Mhz. I want to run the RAM stock (not overclockable RAM) and have it set to 133 (2:3) in BIOS. However, that results in the RAM frequency to be 192.7Mhz instead of ~200Mhz. Not a big deal but it irks me... Anybody got any ideas?

If money was no object I'd get the DFI CFX3200-DR Crossfire and another x1900xt (mastercard if needed).

I don't know the viscosity of Galden but the viscosity of veggie oil is high and increases when the temps drops. Galden is a heat transfer fluid with low viscosity which means it'll flow better around the components (ie. more fluid matter will absorb heat) etc... http://www.inlandvacuum.com/galden.html I'd go with Galden HT anytime if economy permitted.

Of course, it's messy to change components. But since it's non-conductive, non-corrosive etc. you shouldn't have to do anything to protect the components. You'd need to have a pump, huge butt radiator, perhaps a cooling unit if you want lower temps, filter etc. to keep the Galden fluid in a constant stream around the components. The filter would definitely be needed to filter out metallic particles etc. that will come loose from any metal parts of the system. Seriously though, if I had a lot of extra cash and stuff I'd love to experiment.

Then there's always the issue of oxidation, thermal properties and other things to keep in mind. This stuff is supposed to be kind to plastics and other materials. Weird name though, Galden. I wonder if that's the name of the inventor.

They'd better build in heatstrips in the walls of the tank then...

No, not a joke. The liquid (called Galden) is non-conductive, non-toxic, non-flammable.. I'd looooove to see some O/C tests with it. At over $400/gallon it's a tad expensive though.

I think this has to be the ultimate cooling (as long as the system is closed and the liquid known as Galden can be sufficiently cooled). Imagine an aquarium with a clear liquid. On the bottom of a layer of pimp rock sits a motherboard with all necessary components (cpu, ram, gfx etc. etc.) powered up. The liquid is constantly pumped through a filter to keep it clear, and the temp of the liquid is -90C. Would that be sufficient cooling? http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32959

Benching to me only makes sense to compare your own system after doing changes, to notice any improvements or problems. And it's always a kick to compare your system with an older bench you did with the gfx-card you had before... Since 3dmark is synthetic, comparison between different systems makes less sense. Game benches makes more sense then.. like FEAR min/max comparison with same settings. But that bench is only valid for FEAR, not as an overall score.

Where do you find the board revision? I've been going over my board on both sides and can't find any revision info. I haven't removed the cooler though. Also, getting the NV40 to run @ 500MHz sounds incredible, esp. on stock cooling and stock voltage. :S I had a 6800GT before getting the BLISS 6800GS GLH (changed motherboard from AGP to PCI-E) and I could never get the GT (NV40) past 425MHz. I have no 3mark06's @ 16x12, only at the default 1280*1024, and my BLISS 6800GS GLH scores 3357: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=331439 A mystery though, BLISS 6800's with NV40's. The NV40's aren't manufactured anylonger so that's part of the mystery. Are your cards Golden Sample/Goes Like Hell editions? From your description it sounds like the PCB's are the same high quality ones though (red, with japanese capacitors etc. instead of the cheaper stuff usually used by manufacturers). If you actually got two BLISS 6800's with NV40's running @ 500MHz, you're one lucky sob...