Gateway FX 6800-01e BIOS Update from Gateway Unsupported

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With RAID, the partitioning of the drives would be entirely different.

But as for the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver, there are two separate downloads. One for installing during the beginning of Windows installation using F6 when asked for any special drivers and the other driver is the one you install manually from within windows.

Never having run RAID on this system, my guess is this:

- 1) You would need to start clean
- 2) Have the driver for installation during windows install
- 3) Configure the drives in the BIOS as RAID "BEFORE" you start the installation

- 4) Cross your fingers and hope everything works. :)

Just be sure to make a backup image of your drive before you attempt this.
 
You're Welcome :)


As for Turbo Boost, it's my understanding that this feature Automatically engages as needed.

The FX6800 should be able to hold up to 24 GB of memory which is something that is not reported in the specifications. 4GB per memory slot total.

-

As for how much physical memory you can run, it depends entirely on what Operating system you run.

Memory Limits for Windows Releases
Vista Ultimate - - - - - 32-bit = 4 GB - - - 64-bit = 128 GB
Vista Enterprise - - - - 32-bit = 4 GB - - - 64-bit = 128 GB
Vista Business - - - - - 32-bit = 4 GB - - - 64-bit = 128 GB
Vista Home Premium - - 32-bit = 4 GB - - - 64-bit = 16 GB
Vista Home Basic - -- - 32-bit = 4 GB - - - 64-bit = 8 GB
Vista Starter - - - - - - 32-bit = 1 GB - - - 64-bit = N/A

I just recently upgraded the memory in my system to 12GB CORSAIR HX3X12G1333C9 for $235.00 with no problems.

If you should decide to upgrade your memory, I would recommend first going into the system BIOS and Enable Clear nVRAM, then use F-10 to save and exit the BIOS. Next, shutdown the system, unplug the power cord, then hold the power button in for a few seconds to drain any remaining power from the system.

Make sure you have an Anti-Static wrist strap before handling the memory as you don't want to risk damaging the memory with static electricity. You can pick one up at Best Buy or possibly some other computer store.

After you put on the wrist strap and connect it to a bare metal part of the case and you make sure you have discharged any static to an existing ground near you, proceed to lay out your new memory sticks, then carefully release and pull the old sticks from the system. You may want to cut one of the cable ties on the wire harness so you can move it out of your way first.

Next, start with the socket closest to the processor and insert the sticks one at a time in the slots, making sure they are lined up properly. Press them in carefully while applying more pressure to the lower end of the stick, then when the lock tab flips up, shift the pressure to the other end to close the other lock tab. Do this for each of the memory sticks. Then using a flat headed screw driver, carefully check to make sure each tab is fully locked in place. - Careful not to apply so much pressure that you accidentally damage the motherboard when pressing in the memory sticks.

After you have finished, plug the system back in, then power it up.

It should boot normally, in which case just go into the BIOS and un-check the Clear nVRAM setting, verify all your settings, then hit F-10 to save and exit.

Should the screen stay dark and after a little while you get a long continuous beep, you should hold the power button in till the system shuts down (about 10 seconds), then restart the system and it should start normally. You will still need to go into the BIOS to save the new memory configuration.
Click to expand...

Ren - Did you or anyone else confirm or try upgrading to 24GB in this system?
 
I'm currently running 12GB and have yet to upgrade to 24GB.
Still waiting for the price to fall a little bit further.

But as I have stated previously, the X58 chipset is designed to
support 4GB memory per socket.

The thing is when this system was released, there were no 24GB Tri-Channel
Kits on the market or for that matter 12 GB Tri-Channel Kits made up of 4GB sticks.

Plus The memory needs to be matched up and even if you did managed to purchase a matched set back then, it would have cost something like between $2000 to $3000 or more. But since then, prices have dropped a lot and there is already some 24GB Tri-Channel Kits on the market for much more reasonable prices.

----------------------------------

I honestly don't know if anyone has upgraded their FX6800 system to 24GB yet, but I wouldn't be surprised one bit if anyone has done so already.

I still intend to spend the money to upgrade to 24GB, but only when the price gets low enough for my budget to afford it. :)
 
Thanks for the quick response. With regard "kit", if I wanted to run just 12GB, I would need (Qty. 1) 12GB kit or could I use (Qty. 2) of the same 6GB kits? From what LITTLE I have read on forums, as long as the memory has the same specs (e.g. 9-9-9-24), I can use any #GB density. Is this true?
 
Try to stick with Tri-Channel kits of the same ratings CAS & voltage.

One thing to watch out for is the occasional bad stick of memory which does happen.

As for mixing different size memory sticks, yes this can be done but you're not going to get the full potential this either as you can only fit in a maximum of six memory sticks.

If you mix memory sizes, you must use all the same in the first set of slots and all the same in the next set of slots.

That is to say Blue makes up one memory bank and White makes up the other memory bank. What ever you use in one memory bank must be all the same in that particular memory bank.

So you could run configurations of say:

3 + 0 = 3
3 + 3 = 6
6 + 3 = 9
6 + 6 = 12
12 + 3 = 15 (Funny how Gateway/Acer lists 16 GB as Max where as this shows the LIE)
12 + 6 = 18
12 + 12 = 24 (This last is using 4GB memory sticks)
 
RW you are probably the most helpful computer person I’ve ever come across.

I wanted to share some of my experiences with the FX 6800-01e. Like many people on this forum owning this gateway has significantly increased my computer knowledge. Since I’ve had it I’ve build 5 computers for friends and family and made many changes to this one including; updating the Bios to R01-B0, 5/19/2009(with help from this thread), increased RAM to 6, Got new PSU, New GPU ATI 5850(had 2x4840ies before I had replaces the cooler on the original 4850GPU as that one was total crap). Got a new HD put win 7 Pro 64bit on, use the old hard drive as extra storage.

I've modded this case a ton but never liked the temps. So finally I caved in and got a new case (HAF 912) I have discovered that the best combination of fans is a 200mm intake at the front, 200mm outtake at the top, http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-R4-LUS-07AR-GP-MegaFlow-200mm/dp/B002LE8BJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292177735&sr=8-1
A quiet 140mm blowing on the GPU and northbridge, and a 120mm out take at the back

Also I first had my video card on the top slot and then noticed that my northbridge temps were 98-100C, I put it down to the other slot and the temps dropped to 86 Northbrdge is by far the hottest as now my CPU temps run 33-39C normal use 40-49(gaming). GPU 44C normal 58(max when gaming) and this is Air cooled (I even have the original heatsink except I took of the air funnel) Best of all the PC is sitting on my desk and is super quiet. Btw this case is great for water cooling but I haven’t tried it though. I've included an image of what my old gateway sys now looks like now from the inside
view_photo.php


quick question, If I wanted to overclock is 86C to high a temp for North Bridge? Do you recomend getting a cooling fan mounted directly to the North Bridge and if so what kind would you recomend? thanks
 
It's good to hear that I've been of some help and that your system is doing well. :)

As to the NB, I've seen North Bridge temps much higher without any damage as the NB is designed to handle a lot.

But yes,... I would recommend adding cooling directly to the NB.
As to the type of cooling, it's entirely up to your preferences for cooling.

Here is some examples of NorthBridge Cooling Blocks

I DO NOT Recommend Clicking on Any of the Resulting Links without First
Checking the Links to make sure none of them are Malicious.

There are both Air and Liquid Cooled NB coolers that are quite good.

If you deal with Liquid Cooling, make sure that you get quality merchandise so as to
prevent any possible leaks which might develop with cheaply made merchandise.


Also, with liquid cooling, one of two things helps....
- 1) the system case has air filers in place which are cleaned weekly
- 2) if no air filters - clean the cooling radiator every few days.

Depending on how the fan is on the radiator (push or pull), you can either use an air
compressor or a retractable camera lens brush to clean the cooling radiator.

Merry Chrismas
 
renegade warrior you are a lifesavior for doing this thread! i recently just bought this gateway system and mix and matched my old psu along with a new gtx 570 to go along with this system =)

the problem comes when im trying to install my ram. i have 1x4gb and 3x1gb sticks. when i try installing all 4 ram sticks, the system only detects the 4gb stick. is this problem because im using mix and matching different types of ram sticks? i tried putting the 4gb stick in one white slot and the 1gb sticks in the other blue slots and etc, but none works so far.

thanks in advance!
 
When you add memory, you need to do so in sets of three.

Cause as you'll notice, there are two memory banks each consisting of three slots.
One White Bank and One Blue Bank.

So you'll need to completely fill a memory bank with the same type of memory.

In your case, you'll need two more of the same exact type of 4GB memory sticks to fill the memory bank for it to work.

As for whether or not the set will work with the three original memory sticks, that has yet to be seen as there could possibly be problems mixing memory types. But the good news so far is your system does see the 4GB stick when you try it with the others.

Good Luck & Happy Holidays! :)

BTW.....

A couple of others have encountered memory compatibility problems of which I was not really able to offer much help. The problem being that in certain situations I would need to see for myself what is going on to even possibly be able to solve the problem. But in such situations, I can only do so with those who are close enough to me as to be local as I do all work in my own home.
 
hmmm do you think if its possible to just get another 4gb stick so i will be using just two sticks of 4gb instead of 3 sticks ? do you think that is ok? would that run in dual channel mode instead of triple channel?
 
I'm not sure if that would work or not as 3 slots equals one memory bank on the FX6800 system.

One quick way to find out would be to try it with just two of your 1GB sticks although your system will most likely run frustratingly slow on just 2GB's.

Make sure that in memory bank 0, of the three slots (0, 1, 2), that you use slots 0 & 1.

If this works and the system boots up in dual-channel mode, then I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to get by with ordering just one more 4GB stick.

But this would mean that you would have to run both the old and the new memory in Dual-Channel mode. That is to say two sticks of old and two sticks of new. Or if the system doesn't want to play nice with both types of memory, just run the new memory and add more as you can afford it.
 
Hi and happy new year to everyone!

I am struggling about my memory setup.

I recently purchased 4x2GB hyperX modules. I was using 6x1GB before that.

I tried 2-2-1 2-2-1 and I don't know how but it works as Tri-channel, I also tried 2-1 2-1 2-1 it also works as Tri-Channel.

I am wondering which setup would be the best for me?

BTW; Is there anyway I can overclock FSB like a soft-mod? My new memory modules support 1600Mhz.

Thank you!
 
I've got a ram problem....
FX6800-03H
Came with Vista 64 and 9 gigs of ram.

I recently upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate and decided to watch the resources to see how much memory it was using out of curiosity and only 6 gigs was showing up.

Memory count at the boot sequence only shows 6 gigs, mem test does not show any memory errors.

Interesting Part - CPU-Z and PC Wizard show a total of 9 gigs of memory but only recognize dimm slots 2,3,4,5 totalling 6 gigs.

I swapped ram sticks, keeping the same 2,1,2,1,2,1 order - no change

I swapped the ram again, but changed it to 1,2,1,2,1,2 and the boot sequence counted up to 9 gigs....a false victory. Windows failed to load and did an auto restart and counted up to 9 gigs again, but failed to load windows again. Then ran an auto disk check and did a system restore.

This time the boot sequence only counted to 6 gigs of ram again and windows loaded just fine...WTF. I have no idea why it won't recognize all 9 gigs and load windows properly.

Notes:
-I never noticed whether or not it was recognizing the full 9 gigs all the time with Vista 64
-I have read the entire 12 pages and have installed the Turbo-boost bios update already
-HELP PLEASE!
 


Hi, With Tri Channel, you should order your memory in matched sets of 3 Modules each ( Dual Channel would be in sets of 2 ). If you have a matched set of 3 DDR3 2Gb sticks, then put them in the Blue slots or white slots ( anyway, start with the second slot from the lleft, whatever color that is ). When you order Memory, you must specify Tri Channel when searching for it in order to get the right stuff.
 
It's good to hear that I've been of some help and that your system is doing well. :)

As to the NB, I've seen North Bridge temps much higher without any damage as the NB is designed to handle a lot.

But yes,... I would recommend adding cooling directly to the NB.
As to the type of cooling, it's entirely up to your preferences for cooling.

Here is some examples of NorthBridge Cooling Blocks

I DO NOT Recommend Clicking on Any of the Resulting Links without First
Checking the Links to make sure none of them are Malicious.

There are both Air and Liquid Cooled NB coolers that are quite good.

If you deal with Liquid Cooling, make sure that you get quality merchandise so as to
prevent any possible leaks which might develop with cheaply made merchandise.


Also, with liquid cooling, one of two things helps....
- 1) the system case has air filers in place which are cleaned weekly
- 2) if no air filters - clean the cooling radiator every few days.

Depending on how the fan is on the radiator (push or pull), you can either use an air
compressor or a retractable camera lens brush to clean the cooling radiator.

Merry Chrismas
Click to expand...

Hey Renegade, I added a small Cooler Master Fan ( The same size as the NB ), but didn't really help. I disabled the smart fan in BiOS and the temps dropped some 30C. Also, I found out the the NB has no cap, which I don't particularly like. It would have helped to pull off more heat.
 
Can someone tell me what the "Home" button is suppose to do on the front media control buttons? I think in Vista it brings up some media menu, but in Windows 7 it appears to do nothing... I just bought this computer for $350 and formatted the recovery partition thinking I would never need Vista for anything...


Anyhow, what does the home button do?

Please & Thank you!
 
Everything but the home button does something... I wanted to try and reprogram them to different shortcuts...


Did you try the modded bios?

I'm running the ones from here: http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-Gateway-FX6800


Although, it really didn't help to overclock, it does have more bios options to select and choose from, which is better than the stock bios. I did manage to overclock using setfsb. My motherboard has the same PLL posted in that thread and I was able to get a steady OC with no voltage adjustments to 3.2ghz (21x) or 3.35 single turbo mode (22x that I only see when starting up)

OC.jpg



setfsb settings:

Lastest Version 2.2.134.98
PLL: ICS9LPRS139AKLF
(To find the PLL check out this website for more info. and what to look for: http://www.cpufsb.de/) The location on my board was in between the Northbridge and first PCI-E slot.

Once tested for stability using P95, OCCT, Memtest (Non DOS version), create a task in Windows with the following action

(Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Task Scheduler)

Create a new task with two triggers:

First trigger to begin at log on (or start up)
Second trigger to begin on an event with the following settings:

Log: System
Source: Power - Troubleshooter
Event ID: 1

setfsb.jpg



Create a new action with "start a program" and navigate to where you installed setfsb. In the arguments field add:

-w10 -b1 -q -cg[ICS9LPRS139AKLF] -s166

w = wait time (in sec.)
s = fsb (desired fsb)
b = run in background
q = no gui
cg = PLL

setfsb1.jpg



After all this, it should automatically apply your desired OC settings, using setfsb upon log-in and from sleep/hibernate.

I don't know if you can remove the backplate of the stock cooler so I just changed the fan to a 120mm...

mini-Case0.jpg
 
Man, yours looks real good nice job. I put a Corsair 850TX in here and wish I had gone modular with that thing. Way too many extra wires. I am still trying to get a 1 Gb Flash Drive as I don't want to use an 8 Gb for that Flash. Your numbers look good. At the moment, I am primarily interested in getting the QPI up 6.4 and my memory speed up to 1600 MHz ( Have 1600 MHz Crucial Ballistix Tracers in here, but the things are running at 1066 MHz ). I seem to have gotten a bonus out of the box. I noticed that my multiplier was x21. Ran the Intel Processor I.D. and it showed the actual clock speed at 2.8 GHz instead of th expected 2.66 GHz. This was confirmed by CPU-Z. I'll probably get around to flashing the BiOS later this week. I wouldn't fool with the backing plate as you may wreck the MOBO. Any cooler for a 1366 Socket should do and looks like you found a good one. Like that stuff on the ram too. I had to disable the Smart fan in order to bring down the Northbridge temps. I put a fan over the Heatsink, but it didn't do much.

Those BiOS mods are about all you are going to get as far as I know. They pretty much opened up everything there is to be opened with that BiOS. Hopefully I'll be checking things out by the end of the week. That 3.2 GHz clock is pretty conservative overall. I have seen one instance of 4.2 GHz on a 920, but that was pushing the envelope to say the least and took a lot of finesse to reach that. 3.6 GHz wouldn't be a stretch and should be stable. I don't think I would really want to go beyond that, but I like to play things safe anyway. With the stock cooling, I generally stay in the upper 30's C to the lower 40's C on the CPU, even when gaming. GPU ( HD5770 running at 850 MHz on the GPU and 1200 MHz on the memory ) always stays nice and cool.

I don't know if that media stuff is programmable. To be honest, I don't use it. I do use the Volume controls on the keyboard though and have used the ones up there just to test them.
 
I was looking at your CPU temps in the Everest thing. They look a little warm. You may want to check the TMC. Those readings would be okay under load such as heavy gaming or other demanding app, but not idling. I use Arctic Silver 5 and very little of it as you don't need much. Too much and you will defeat the purpose and will run on the warm side. At 81C, the Northbridge is about what it usually runs at. I have Smart Fan Disabled and added a fan, and it still runs about 75C. Probably would have run cooler if they had put a cap on that thing.
 
Those temps are at full load with P95 running... During my application tests the single line method gave the best results and I ended up using artic cooling MX-4. And my heat sink is just the stock one with the 3 heat pipes that I added the 120mm fan to. My northbridge ran at close to 100C on load so I unmounted it, reapplied mx-4 and added a fan to it as well... now it sits between 80-85C on load. And like you said if I disable smart fan it will run at full speed and drop another 1-2C. I believe we are using the same 40mm cooler master fan.

mini-Fan0.jpg

mini-Fan1.jpg



I also added a fan to cool my hard drive as I thought it was running a bit warm as well - was 45-47C just sitting and right now reports 30C...

mini-HHD0.jpg

mini-HDD1.jpg




Everything in the computer is stock with the exception of the fans and PSU, that I took from my old case. It's a very cheap build for me... paid $350 which included a monitor. I sold the 19" monitor and the ATI 4850 in it (I don't game anymore...) and I kept the rest. So in the end I paid $250 for it, which is quite less than anything I could have built myself with similar specs. I would have liked to have built my own, but $250 wouldn't have taken me far... besides, I decided that it was best for me to wait for sandy to become more familiar with the world before rolling with the K series... next year perhaps and hopefully AMD will be ready by then as well. But in the meantime, this is how I made out with what I got - A Gateway FX6800.
 
Hi. Ok Those temps are good under load and well within the tolerance for the 920. Yeah, That is the same fan I put on my NB. I also removed the Heat sink and clean off the junk on that thing and applied some AS5. I was pissed when I saw there was no cap on the Northbridge as that would have been helpful in the cooling. I took out the 4850 and installed a 5770 ( I do game ). Also took out the stock LiteOn 500w PSU and installed a Corsair 850w PSU ( bit of overkill ) along with Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1600 Mhz Ram ( running at 1066 Mhz at the moment ). Added a second Hdd, WD Caviar Black 1TB, and loaded Windows 7 on that. I changed out the Case fan and put in a Gelid 120mm 75.6 cfm fan. I like that Memory cooling you have in there and you have done a good job with the wire management. Really looks good. $250 wouldn't have paid for the processor, so I would say you did well. I bought this one as a Refurb for $650 and have put more into it. I have considered going to the 960, but the cheapest one I could find was $569, so that has kept me from pulling the trigger on that. The 950 has gotten reasonable, but I can't see that the boost would be all that much for the price. I'll probably give things some more thought once I flash the BiOS. That is some good TMC that you use and has come up on the forum I moderate ( one of the reasons I haven't had time to work on the BiOS flash, I have everything on my desktop to make the Boot drive ). When I disabled Smart Fan, I saw a drop of some 30C on the Northbridge. I am usually at around 75C unless I'm gaming or some other heavy app, then it will go to about 80C. You,ve done very well with that thing. They have fiixed the issue of the Sandy Bridge and they should soon be rolling out again, if they aren't already. Gonna create a problem for those who jumped on that thing early. I'll wait awhile for the numbers and stick with the 1366 based stuff ( I hear they will be releasing another processor for that socket this year sometime ).
 
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