**Official DFI LanParty UT 790FX-M2R Review/Overclock/Guide Thread**

[justapost]

Phenom support is Bios Related man and the other board is not as trick with the harware as this one is.

So you'd recommend using the M2R? It looks more professional than the M2RS indeed.
Beside the 4 phase analogue pwm vs. 4 phase digital the only difference I can see is are missing heatpipes.
Now I'm undecided.
I already have a mobo for whom i wait for a better bios, guess I will just wait for the next bios and a M2RS review before i order.
Good to see DFI boards are available in germany.

[Brother Esau]

My Board is 7 Phase digital

[Cloud76]

Phenom support is Bios Related man and the other board is not as trick with the harware as this one is.

My Board is 7 Phase digital

I'm sure this is a good mobo but there are also strange problems...
I read some discussions and I am not yet sure of any of the mobo I saw... seems that the first versions of all these mobo have problems with Phenom and that perhaps is better to wait rev.2 or new mobo...
However it seems that Asus M3A32 has not this issue of 205HT with Phenom and it has also a good PWM 8 phase core + 2 phase memory controller.
Are you absolutely sure that the problems are all BIOS problems and not hardware related? (not only for DFI but of all manufacturer).

[Brother Esau]

I really cannot say for sure because I don't have a Phenom or used multiple boards for that matter but I know that the Source Code is a great deal of the issue and also my belief is this......... Phenom currently is suitable for stock set up nothing more and I would also be inclined to believe that the first generation boards from all Manufacturers are not up to the task either seeing how you see the results with the processors what makes you think AMD was prepared with the Motherboard designs either? Seeing how the Motherboard Manufactures can only work with whats available you cant really blame them now can you?

For me on my end I think its a great board with the only Achilles Heel being the SB600 and that right there should tell you the board or any board with SB600 is not up to the task of clocking Phenom!

[BadNizze]

So true, 790FX needs SB 700 and better phenom suport. However I think that DFI will fix some of the issues with new bioses and rev B3 of Agena.

[Brother Esau]

The Phenom thing I can understand but the New Motherboards utilizing the SB600 is stupid and should never have happened! Not to mention nobody really has ever cared for the SB600 controller to begin with

@BadNizzle what Bios are you currently on?

[RGone]

All the manufacturers built their boards with the chipset AMD currently provides. If SB600 then SB600 and nothing any mobo maker can do to change that. Chipsets supplied by the chipset maker themselves will determine most of what and how a board will react in the long run. IF AMD wanted to push phenoms out the door with newly architected 790FX chipset which has SB600 as a component of total chipset, then that was exactly what AMD wanted and made all mobo makers do.

The Phenom thing I can understand but the New Motherboards utilizing the SB600 is stupid and should never have happened! Not to mention nobody really has ever cared for the SB600 controller to begin with

@BadNizzle what Bios are you currently on?

[Brother Esau]

I really cannot say for sure because I don't have a Phenom or used multiple boards for that matter but I know that the Source Code is a great deal of the issue and also my belief is this......... Phenom currently is suitable for stock set up nothing more and I would also be inclined to believe that the first generation boards from all Manufacturers are not up to the task either seeing how you see the results with the processors what makes you think AMD was prepared with the Motherboard designs either? Seeing how the Motherboard Manufactures can only work with whats available you cant really blame them now can you?

For me on my end I think its a great board with the only Achilles Heel being the SB600 and that right there should tell you the board or any board with SB600 is not up to the task of clocking Phenom!

In my defense

[Oliverda]

What's the big problem with the SB600? So I know it doesn't have the fastest HDD and USB controller, but it's least stable and error free.

[Nedjo]

only thing that lacks SB600 is proper AHCI support. SB600 has nothing to do wit OC'ing

[BadNizze]

The Phenom thing I can understand but the New Motherboards utilizing the SB600 is stupid and should never have happened! Not to mention nobody really has ever cared for the SB600 controller to begin with

@BadNizzle what Bios are you currently on?

I´m on the 12\21 bios as of now, will try to play with drivestreghts too se if I could get DDR2 1200mhz stable.

@ Rgone, Do you have any tip for 1200mhz ram? I´m aswell as Brother is having trouble running 1200mhz.

[RGone]

Ah hah...me know you is defended, howbeit someever many come in on the lastestmost page.

In my defense

[tictac]

sb600 have nothing to do with lack of phenom clocking.

[RGone]

I´m on the 12\21 bios as of now, will try to play with drivestreghts too se if I could get DDR2 1200mhz stable.

@ Rgone, Do you have any tip for 1200mhz ram? I´m aswell as Brother is having trouble running 1200mhz.

You seems to be phemoming along whereas I am non-phenoming currently. Be that as it may and remembering AMD systems penchant for tighter timings, I would not likely be running DDR1200 on memory anyway, but slower and as tightly timed as the memory would run within reason. Not abandoning all speed for tightness alone but surely balanced between tightest timings with a modicum of speed.

[BadNizze]

sb600 have nothing to do with lack of phenom clocking.

I know, but still SB700 is not that far a way time wise right?

[KTE]

Change the MaxReadLatency and tRFC higher when DDR2-1200 fails and test again.

[Nedjo]

I know, but still SB700 is not that far a way time wise right?

right:

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2008/supox/ak780g/g1.htm

[BadNizze]

Now, I would I would like to see a IGP board from DFI for my HTPC!

[Brother Esau]

sb600 have nothing to do with lack of phenom clocking.

Hey, tictac Thats not really the point I was making. The point I was making is that AMD came to bat unprepared with motherboard layout by utilizing old technology with new Architecture. Without coming right up front and saying it you know what I mean

@BadNizzle.........How are you're thoughts on the 12/21/07 Beta?

[Iketh]

Does anyone have anything to report in on with the 12/21/07 & 1/03/08 Beta Bios Findings?

Hello, 01/03/08 bios allowed me tighter memory sub-timings and max 260 ref clock over the 12/21 bios, which i could not get to post above ~252. Also, I can approach 2100mhz NB but not stable above 2000mhz no matter what voltage, 12/21 bios would not post above 2000mhz

This is my current highest stable overclock with 1/3/08 bios (prime95 8+ hours stable, no experienced lock-ups):
246 ref
phenom 9500 @ 2706 1.38125v (1.376v load), cpu-nb volt = 1.2v (default)
crucial ballistix pc2-8500 5-5-5-16 @ 492mhz 2.16v (1:2)
nb+ht @ 1968mhz 1.25v (default) (8x)
pcie @ 104 1.12v (default)
ref clock adjust gap @ 2 (<--- can i get an explanation on this setting please)

gives 12412 nuclearus, 21m20s project 2653 frame times running 2 smp clients for ~2377ppd

a stable 280+ ref clock is desired !! hope dfi can make this happen

[Brother Esau]

Great feedback Iketh BTW how is you're NIC performance on 1/03/2008 compared to previous, and noticeable slow downs?\

Perhaps if some others have similar results I will re-flash to 1/03/08 seeing how I just Erased and Re=Programmed my Bios chip perhaps it may yield different results this go around.

[Iketh]

NIC ?? network controller?

[Brother Esau]

Yes....NIC= Network-Interface-Controller

[Iketh]

no noticeable slowdown... it's funny u ask because yesterday windows decides to flake out on my network settings and say i have "limited or no connectivity"... i just disabled the port i was using and re-enabled the other instead of messing with windows... could have been corrupted data since i was in the middle of testing o/c's, but who knows

btw, 3 days of gaming with 2 smp clients loaded in background finally caused a lock-up with those 246 ref settings... and i had ref adjust at 2 (not 3) and pcie at 103 (not 100)... instead of backing down to 244 i went to my original 234 since that has never caused a lock-up and i can run my ballistix at 4-4-4-12, and everything is at stock voltages except cpu @ 1.30v

with the 1/3/08 bios, i still cannot cannot run x7 nb and 667 mem together... get's stuck at error code 26 which is just before it makes the post beep

edit: bumped cpu voltage 1 notch, going at it again with 246 ref

[willyK]

Quick question guys

I've got a Diamond HD3870 running on this board and default BIOS settings for PCI Express slots seem to be set at PCIe1.0 specs. If I go under PCIE Configurations and then under GFX1, under "Gen2 High Speed" I have 3 options, disabled (default, I'm assuming this gives you PCIe1.0), software switch, or autonomous switch. What do the 2nd two options mean?

I also had to go in and manually set the max power to 150W from the old 75W PCIe1.0 spec.