Smart 6 software - particularly QuickBoot

[zed22]

There are a lot of google results about what Smart 6 is and such, but I am having trouble finding any feedback on user experience. I have a GA-P55M-UD2 (two of them actually) running F8 BIOS, but I did not install the Smart 6 software. I am pretty much only interested in QuickBoot, not the other 5 apps.

So what do people think of QuickBoot and Smart 6 in general? I am not sure I totally trust it, but that is only because I spent the last week troubleshooting ATI Radeon 5770 driver crashes, so right now I am more interested in stability, though QuickBoot would be nice.

I was thinking of just enabling it in the BIOS to get the BIOS QuickBoot and not install the software (just live without the OS QuickBoot). My PC already boots plenty fast with hibernate, so the BIOS setting is all I really want. Stupid question, but I just wanted to make sure whether you can enable it in the BIOS without installing the software. In the manual it says "The settings here synchronize with the settings of the SMART QuickBoot of Smart 6" for the Quick Boot setting located in the BIOS, so I am not sure what would happen if I enable it in the BIOS without having Smart 6 installed. Are there any downsides to QuickBoot in general, whether I enable it in the BIOS alone or install Smart 6 to get it? Some software packages you just want to stay away from, so you never know.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[R3alsp33dy0ne]

Re: Smart 6 software - particularly QuickBoot

As far as I know, all the software does is change the BIOS option for you.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Smart 6 software - particularly QuickBoot

Smart 6 does MANY things, here is the web page explaining it all if you had not found this yet.
GIGABYTE Smart 6™ webpage

Tabs at the top explain each section. You can enable that in the BIOS without the software installed, no problem.

[zed22]

Re: Smart 6 software - particularly QuickBoot

I did read through all of what GIGABYTE says it does, but I could not find anything about how users actually felt about it. They could say it is great, but then it could totally suck in reality. I will enable it in the BIOS without installing the software. Thanks for the replies!

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Smart 6 software - particularly QuickBoot

Ohh... We don't use it, Smart 6 anyway.

Some users from time to time use QuickBoot in the BIOS. Some BIOS versions have issues with it, some do not. Just try it out, be sure you are using the very latest BIOS. And it does take a few boots to get working, so give it a chance.

[zed22]

Re: Smart 6 software - particularly QuickBoot

Not sure if it was Quickboot being enabled in the bios, but I opened CPU-Z just to check things for no apparent reason and I saw my DRAM timings were all at the Auto settings instead of what I actually have configured in the bios. I went into the bios and it said I had boot failures from overclocking and such. I have not been on the computer all the time, but I have not noticed anything bad happen in the last few days and my son who uses it the most said the same thing. I am not overclocking, I just have my RAM set to specs. I went ahead and rechecked all of my settings in the bios and then disabled Quickboot in case that is what messed me up. I can live without it if that is what caused those problems.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Smart 6 software - particularly QuickBoot

If you see a Red Warning in the BIOS MIT Section then that means your settings failed. I am not sure if quickboot can cause that or not, but I doubt it. The machine would run fine with the red warning in the BIOS because all the settings you see/you set would be ignored and defaults would be used until you set proper/stable settings, which would cause you to see what you are mentioning in CPU-z You may need to make several changes to make your memory run at spec, even with no overclock.

If you need help with getting your settings working let me know, if so please fill out a template from my signature with your current full settings that fail and give you the warning.