UnBoxing: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

[TommyDDoom]

i have totally the same box and totally the same main board :)

[emachinesforever]

...The only issue I'm having is coming out of sleep mode. I can shut it down and reboot and it fires up just fine at 3.55 ghz. I tried to take the FSB to 460 but it won't boot, so I've settled on 444 which is way above what the g31 chipset is supposed to do. Not bad for a $50 board. For my heatsink I'm using a $25 Rosewill knock off of the Arctic Freezer Pro, but I'm using Zalman thermal grease for graphics card chips. I also have a 600 watt Cooler Master 80 plus power supply.

[emachinesforever]

I thought everyone that has this board would be interested to know I have my Q8400 at 3.55 Ghz on a 1776 FSB with this exact board. I upped the fsb to 444, which pumped my ddr2 800 mhz gskill ram to 1066 2.1 volt, left everything on auto and rebooted into Windows 7. I just knew it wouldn't post but lo and behold it booted right into the desktop. I fired up Intel Burn Test and ran a max burn 5 times in a row and it was completely stable. Load temps are low to mid 60s.

[j0shsz94]

hey dude. where can you get drivers for this. i lost the disk :S and is it compatible for Windows 7?

[emachinesforever]

@j0shsz94 Windows 7 will load all the drivers you need for this board automatically. After installation was finished I checked in the device manager and all devices and drivers were installed and ready to go. No disks are needed.

[j0shsz94]

@emachinesforever tuff thanks dude. =]

[Francisjose100]

my mhoter GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2C

what is diferent the you?

[jonassx100]

i hav c2d e7400 at stock speed of 2.8 ghz and i m able tro oc it to 3.5 ghz with stock fan on this board

[cygens]

Hello, I have the exact same mother board with X530 speakers. I only have the option in my "speaker configuration" in Windows 7 for 2 speakers, no 5.1 option. What you have mentioned in the description, is this some sort of adapter? I'm unsure of what exactly I need to get them working correctly.

[hitec1691]

@cygens well download latest driver for this boards HD sound.I hav the board too and i do get 5.1 and 7.1 channel options.

[wersuss]

@emachinesforever pemtium dual core E6300 

[wersuss]

I cant reach over 341 bus in overclocking

[emachinesforever]

@wersuss What chip are you using? My e5200 hit a wall at 267, but my q8400 quad hits a wall much higher at 375. I have this board but the original one with the realtek lan. The new ones have atheros.

[forzamicha46]

i have this MOBO , it's great and give the maximum and above. :)

worth buying , i also bought another one MOBO for my dad's old pc.

works great !!! ☺☻

[killerclown789]

Does this board have a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot or just a PCI-Express x16?

[vangstaz]

I own this board for a few days now and I managed to overclock an E5200 from 2.5GHz to 4.0GHz!!! WOW! I had to set the memory to 266, set the multiplier to 11.5, and set the bus speed to 348. And best of all I didn't need to mess with the voltages.

[Draco04]

I love Gigabyte boards, they are always awesome even though you can't upgrade really past a Q9650 but any quad core right now will last at least a VERY long time unless they really make a leap which wouldn't surprise me hehe

[emeraank]

Cool board... but I can't seem to get sound when I watch videos on Youtube.

Any ideas ????

[GreatNovaVideo]

@emeraank update drivers, or roll back drivers. check the cables and the plugs. test other speakers. check settings. wipe away any settings by going to device manger and uninstalling the device and restart see if that helps.

[emeraank]

Thanx.... I'll try that and will let you know.

[auchamp1]

@emaraank , download realtek drivers :)

[DanF1107]

Great motherboard for the price, bought one to try some overclocking with before I buy an expencive gaming system

[RottingCore]

I actually plan on using this board for my mid-high end gaming. Q8300, HD5770, 3gb DDR2, 700wt PSU, 400gb HDD.

[DanF1107]

sounds good, my plans are abit overkill compaired to that :P

Intel i7 920, 2x HD5770 in crossfire, 8gb (4x2gb) ddr3, 800watt psu, 4x 250gb 7800rpm hard drive in raid0, and I'll more than likely overclock the processor and graphics cards, all water cooled :)

just got to save up!

[RottingCore]

Ha, i was thinking of getting an I7, but it's just too expensive, and this board doesn't support it. I just got a job so i COULD afford the rig you're building, but i am going a smarter route and saving money for things other then a PC.

[vangstaz]

I would not recommend you use 3GB of DDR2. That's because this board will only accept memory that have the same frequency, capacity, and chips. From my own experience this board gave me BSOD's after a few hours with 3GB DDR2 (1x2GBKingston+1GBCorsair 667MHz). Go for 2GB (2x1GB) or 4GB (2x2GB) dual-channel.

[emachinesforever]

@RottingCore I have this same board with a Q8400 and I was able to set the fsb to 375 or 1500 total. That made my quad 3.0 ghz. I tried bumping it up to 1600 fsb and the northbridge gets too damn hot after about an hour. You might want to get a 40 mm fan for the northbridge if you're thinking of a high overclock. That 8300 should hit 3.0 ghz easy like mine. Oh yeah, on stock volts too.

[hitec1691]

@emachinesforever if i get Q 8400 with this board so can i Overclock it to 3Ghz with out any fans on north bridge?? will it work stable

[emachinesforever]

@hitec1691 I think it would depend on how good your air flow is in the case. I have this board and a Q8400 in an Antec 300 with 2 120mm fans in front pulling air in across the motherboard. All I did to get 3 Ghz was bump fsb to 375 and change voltage section to manual and add .1 to my ram since they need 1.9v to function in dual channel. I didn't mess with anything else. So, the quad has run at 3 Ghz on a 1500 fsb on all stock volts for the past year, completely stable.

[hitec1691]

@emachinesforever ohhk i don't mess with cpu volatges anyway, i was just worried abt north and south bridge stuff i don know much abt their temperatures .i don think there is any s/w which can tell that temp lol

[emachinesforever]

@hitec1691 I played a little more with the BIOS and I now have my Q8400 running at 3.16 on a 1580 fsb with this board. I added .1 to the fsb voltage and upped my cpu voltage to 1.30....and my God is it fast. This is really an amazing budget board and chip combo.

[hitec1691]

@emachinesforever thats good man!! i will get this CPU november this year :) can't believe u took FBS to 1580 lol

[gck86]

i got this motherboard cool.

[vangstaz]

I'm thinking of getting this motherboard for my computer that has an outdated Compaq motherboard. Any ideas how well this motherboard performed? And does that PCI-Express x16 slot support 2.0 as well?

[forzamicha46]

i bought this mobo to my dad and to myself

i really enjoy it , i use it as a gamer and it's all work well for me without any overclocking.

I have nvidia geforce 9800 gt card and it runs very well in games i like ( L4D 1 & 2 ) for example amd motogp 08 or the sbk 09

[procarbon93]

I have the same motherboard as you and I han a unbox video made

[interdpth1]

How easy was the install and work? A friend bought me this Mobo and the reviews didn't look that well, but some of them did.

I'm not going to overclock or push it past its set limit or anything.

Thoughts?

[GreatNovaVideo]

it is a cheaper mobo so the chances are there will be more bad ones sent out but they can always be returned, and the name is a ok brand. install is the same as any other mobo.

hope that helps.. good luck..

[07yondaime]

i already brought this motherboard today!

and it's awsum!!!

[bigbradford69]

I just bought this thing along with 4gb patriot ddr2 800 and a E5200 and i can't get any overclock to work.

I tried 201x12.5 but the bios will just reset everything back to default. Any ideas?

[GreatNovaVideo]

i dont think this board is made for OC as it is a cheap board. however it might not be the board it may be the cpu it at its max. not all cpus are the same.. your friend might buy a E5200 and it will OC really well but you might buy one from the same place and the same type and it may not OC at all.. i would go to a OC website and ask them. there is a lot more people that know more then i ever will.. good luck..

[NazCYPHER32]

go into bios and go to M.I.T option..than increase your multiplier and frequency,also increase atlast the vcore to 1.3/1.5 volt or just set the vcore to auto....my 2nd pc running with this board with e5300 2.6Ghz OC'd to 3.6Ghz..also..never use stock cooler/hsf..as e5200 easily hit it critical temp near 100C when in 70%+ cpu usage or even full load..

[kyleking162]

am using the evga 9400gt 1gb ddr2

[kyleking162]

i dont want to install the the onboard drivers

[GreatNovaVideo]

install all drivers that come with your board and that apply to your system. if your installing a gfx card the board will pick it up. just install the cards drivers and you should be good to go..

[kyleking162]

am installing a graphics card in this board when i install the motherboard drivers i have a option on which to choose

[GreatNovaVideo]

what are your options? should be simple.

[kyleking162]

this board is small

[GreatNovaVideo]

yes, yes it is.. that's why it is called a "Micro ATX"

[JonFifa09]

the sata ports are sata 2 right

the orange sata cable has confused me lol :s

[GreatNovaVideo]

yes they are sata 2 and the color of the cable dont matter.

[HAMAZA7123]

i have the same  mobo,its Prety good but my usb Freaks out sometime...,Whats the Diff Between the Small pci Slot and the Big pci Slot?

[GreatNovaVideo]

the small pci-e slot is a 1x slot and is used for sound cards and tv cards and such.. the long pci-e is for video cards and runs at x16

[maxnanabas09]

this board is included in my budget gaming rig hehe

this thing is really bang for buck my friends E5200 M0 can Overclock up to 4.5ghz with this mobo and a Xigmatek S1284

[GreatNovaVideo]

this board is really really a great value. It over clocked really well and i did not have a problem installing any of the parts on to the board..

[coldharbur00]

gigabyte always has crappy color picks for their boards.

[forzamicha46]

easy installing :)

[forzamicha46]

i have got this today well it seems very good for me.

;)