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

[Iketh]

Quick question... should cpu-nb voltage scale with cpu volts?? ive been leaving it at "auto" and im stable 30 mins prime BLEND at 242 ref but prime in-place fails 4-5 mins and i've increased cpu volts beyond what it needed weeks ago with earlier bioses EDIT: never mind, 1.363 bios 1.360 load fixed it

this is my current test:

phenom @ 2.66 1.35v
cpu-nb "auto" volt
dram 2.03v 4-4-4-12-16t 484mhz
nb & ht 1.93ghz 1.25v
pcie 100mhz 1.12v

im absolutely loving this bios... x7 multi for NB is working with ddr-667 setting... cpu reference adjust gap boots at default (5) at any reference now... i have a lot more testing still to do

i think athlons might be stuck with the original bios, all subsequent bioses are improving on phenom... in the asus m3a thread, they're stating what a fine line it is to improve the bios for phenom without messing with athlon... i think this is definitely the case here

the NIC latency issue i had was because F@H was running in background while i gamed online... even if u dont have the client running, "smpd" is loaded in windows task manager every time u boot, 4 instances of it if ur running quad

i've now quit f@h until they get a real client and am using WCG instead, which folds proteins also, and i dont have latency issues

[Iketh]

I dont get this anymore.... what is the problem with ur o/c settings when u can run prime stable 8 hours but 5-15 mins after u stop the test, it locks up... WHYYYY????? i give up

[Rammsteiner]

When does it lock up? If you stopped priming and start playing a game? Just idle, some sort of program?

If it's a game or something it might be your GPU.

[Iketh]

just idle

[Rammsteiner]

It only happens after you ran the tests or anytime you come from load to idle state?

[Brother Esau]

@Iketh.....is this a recent development since flashing to 1/3/08?

[Iketh]

no, this happens since november bios... i think it's just my phenom

my new problem is the SB is running at 1.1v instead of 1.2v... did i kill something on my board? i have to run 1.4v bios to get 1.28v in windows or im unstable... this started yesterday playing with overclocks on new bios

[Iketh]

also is there a vdroop option for this board? cpu @ 1.3v bios gives 1.296 windows at load....

[Iketh]

It only happens after you ran the tests or anytime you come from load to idle state?

i can run prime95 @ 250ref all day and be fine surfing web.... anytime the system is idle at desktop or im just surfing web with no load, it locks up

[Brother Esau]

no, this happens since november bios... i think it's just my phenom

my new problem is the SB is running at 1.1v instead of 1.2v... did i kill something on my board? i have to run 1.4v bios to get 1.28v in windows or im unstable... this started yesterday playing with overclocks on new bios

Is SB PLL reading 1.1v in Bios or smart guardian? For me Bios is at 1.2v sb pll but SG reads 1.1v

[Rammsteiner]

Guys, I had the Shutdown at 60C in BIOS but I think the board mixes this up with NB temps? As now and then my PC completely shuts down with any form of error/BSOD. I simply disabled the option now and it's already running for a while now, longer than it used to be.

Also, the Transpiper... I didnt install it but Ive no clue whether it's actually part of the standard cooling or if it's an additional option to get better cooling? I wasnt planning on putting 10MV on the NB and running it at 80Ghz however if the Transpiper is actually supposed to be a part of the standard cooling I should install it quite soon I guess.

Thx in advance!

PS Man, installed the board and all those friggin options in the BIOS. Made me dr00l and happy again. Now Ill Prime at stock settings to check if there isnt anything broken due to the shutdown issue I said above or it was just a stupid BIOS setting.

[Brother Esau]

Disable Temperature Shutdown in bios under pc health and instal the transpiper it works like this ........Transpiper Install Instructions use ASC as its thick and yields great results!

Also use the 11/22/07 Bios for you're dual core and I have provided 8-13hr Prime95 runs with full Bios template settings for 3400mhz and 3500mhz on the First Page so you can use and to show everyone that you do not need high board voltage to overclock the 6400+ well.

[Iketh]

Is SB PLL reading 1.1v in Bios or smart guardian? For me Bios is at 1.2v sb pll but SG reads 1.1v

bios options didnt change, they are still 1.2v 1.4v 1.3v 1.5v (in that order)... prior to 2 days ago, smart guardian always read 1.2v in windows if bios was 1.2v, 1.29v for 1.3v in bios, and 1.38v for 1.4v bios

now it's 1.1v for 1.2v bios (unstable), 1.19v for 1.3v bios (unstable), 1.28v for 1.4v bios (stable again)

could u imagine my frustration when my original 2.57ghz STABLE overclock suddenly stopped working after 4 weeks???? i almost threw the board into the street

that's very interesting ur board shows 1.1v too.... can we get more reports on people's smart guardian SB voltage reading?

[Brother Esau]

Hey, Iketh You are running a Pnenom and thats a whole different kettle of fish compared to what I have you also have allot of options that appear in Bios that I do not have because of Dual core so I think perhaps I am the wrong ma for council on this as you're settings that are available may play a direct role in what you see that I do not!

[Rammsteiner]

Disable Temperature Shutdown in bios under pc health and instal the transpiper it works like this ........Transpiper Install Instructions use ASC as its thick and yields great results!

Also use the 11/22/07 Bios for you're dual core and I have provided 8-13hr Prime95 runs with full Bios template settings for 3400mhz and 3500mhz on the First Page so you can use and to show everyone that you do not need high board voltage to overclock the 6400+ well.

Thx for the installation link, better than the manual IMO (manual doesnt say anything about Thermal Compound...).

I know about the BIOS but this board got shipped with 11/22 BIOS so that's fine. I already printed your template but having a few issues here to actually get my RAM to run. As soon as I load 12x267 my HDD corrupts *sigh*. Changed tRFC to 127.5ns now and a few subtimings which looked quite low a little higher. Rest at auto. Didnt test that yet as Im going to run CPU at 3520Mhz and prime it and RAM lower. Just to check if at least that is still stable.

Then Ill get back at the RAM, but I know for sure 4x1GB isnt really liked by the memory controller or mobo...

[willyK]

Anyone else seen this? These guys are getting 10x269 with a Phenom 9600 BE on their DFI 790FX board and seem to have some pretty good insight as to how to make overclocks with Phenom processors a bit more stable.

[Rammsteiner]

Grrr,

things are pissing me off. AFAIK my RAM is all good. As soon as I select 5-5-5-15 settings, 8ns and 2T 2.2Vdimm (they require 2.1Vdimm) at 267Mhz my HDD corrupts... wtf.

So that's a no go already. Not that I care because 267Mhz is a no go anyway, It's either 293Mhz or 251Mhz.

Anyway, 4-4-4-12 ~4ns (maybe 5ns) @ 251Mhz is doable on the sticks, I know that. But the fun thing is, I run Orthos, CPU-Z and CoreTemp and the thing simply freezes randomly, sometimes after almost 4 hours, sometimes after about 1.5 hours. I read it could be Voltage problems so I added all sorts of V's but no go.

Now I read to deselect Orthos' MBM option, but that didnt fix it either. As I know my temps for the CPU by now Ill just not run CoreTemp anymore with it as well as CPU-Z. Installed Smart Guardian as hopefull replacement for CoreTemp but it's crap... I hope then. It showed my CPU jumping from 55-53-57-60-53... Then I quit it as I simply cant believe that. CoreTemp at least stayed very stable around/below 50C.

Also I read Orthos can be buggy and makes the system freeze, so Im going to run Prime95 again. But system freezing without any difference from adding Vcore/Vdimm etc makes no sense. It doesnt error nor does it BSOD.

Also I'd like DFI makes a BIOS with some better RAM compatibility as my sticks dont run nice on high HTT's at all.

Anyone maybe knows what could cause system freezes? Did the Orthos/CPU-Z/CoreTemp sounds possible or is there really something messed up in my system then?

[Brother Esau]

Why don't you just use one of my examples on the front page? Adjust Ram stuff for you're sticks accordingly!
Why such low HT?

The SB600 HDD controller on this board is Pure Sh@t in every sense of the word! I am sorry I really like this board but its completely unusable without a Dedicated Hardware Raid Controller Card.

From my understanding from other owners of other boards IDE Drives just do better than the Sata drives in this Board and from my brief several go around with the SB600 controller I would be inclined to believe that would be correct considering the readings HDTACH gives for 2 Raptors in Raid 0 ,,,,,,,,LOL....its a complete and utter joke!

[Rammsteiner]

Yeah, I tried all your RAM settings, enabled 2T command, and a few clocks were auto shown as 0 or 1 which I thought might be quite low and increased them to 2.

Added a little bit more Volt as stock wasnt enough (which is understandable with 4 DIMMs). Disabled the lower two settings which looks like EPP things. Im Priming now and hope it doesnt freeze so I can go up from there.

Ive no clue what the freezes were caused by but after I read Orthos has the possibility to freeze sometimes I was like 'z0mfg!'. So using Prime again. Do you have any clue what other things might cause a freeze? AFAIK it can also be too low Vcore but Im very sure that's allright.

Do you think the SB600 could be causing my HDD to corrupt by high HTT speeds? If that's true Im pretty much f*cked then as Ive no RAID controller. WOuld using the Marvell controller be a better idea?

Thx!

PS some feedback on OCing 4x 1GB modules if available anywhere would be awesome too.

[Brother Esau]

The SB600 is useless and the later bios change the Option Rom for SB600 but I only tried it in ALPHA stage prior 12/11/07 But that was crap as well
Use a IDE drive and see if thats the issue. The Ram I have no experience overclocking 4 sticks but if I remember correctly you must enable the Memory Hole option for 4 sticks of Ram on the NF4 DFI Boards see if that works.

At first leave all but Primary Timings on AUTO please!

[KTE]

I dont get this anymore.... what is the problem with ur o/c settings when u can run prime stable 8 hours but 5-15 mins after u stop the test, it locks up... WHYYYY????? i give up

It's called instability. Load-Idle-Load fluctuation is one test of stability. You want me to tell you why it does that though? Your NB is unstable, either add volts or drop it down through multiplier usage.

also is there a vdroop option for this board? cpu @ 1.3v bios gives 1.296 windows at load....

That's just excellent vdrop/vdroop. Don't even try wanting more, that is tight enough and can be causing your idle-load-idle instability problems, i.e. VCore offshoot out of stability parameters. Well known why the vdroop is good and there in the 1st place. Have a nice little read here: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=3184&p=5

[KTE]

BTW, you guys have the best board/BIOS for Phenom OC, just in case you didn't know.
Give it to many Phenom users out there and they're bound to achieve 100-300MHz more stable.

Every option I asked for is there, mainly the NB/CPU VIDs/Volts.

And damn, don't worry, I'm getting one very very soon again.

[Rammsteiner]

o.0 Posting this while the PC is priming for 4 hours straight without freezes and tighter timings via Memset than I did with Orthos before... Though I dont have CPU-Z and CoreTemp running either but looks like the issue was around there then.

Im using Custom with 3800MB to be used and 8K to 4096K FFT's. Though Im running every test 10 minutes instead of 15 but well, did that with Orthos too.

Thx for that Memory Hole. Ill try that tomorrow then.

What exactly does it mean anyway?

And also a question regarding PCI/PCI-e settings, anything to be changed there are could I leave it all at auto too? I set PCI-e 1 and PCI-e 3 (the two upper PCI-e 16x slots) to 16 manually just in case, but I guess that's allright then.

[Rammsteiner]

I just read a little about the Remapping. Dont know what the BIOS setting is however my PC sees all 4GB's though. Im using XP-64. Will try it anyway, maybe it does help the OC after all.

[Brother Esau]

BTW, you guys have the best board/BIOS for Phenom OC, just in case you didn't know.
Give it to many Phenom users out there and they're bound to achieve 100-300MHz more stable.

Every option I asked for is there, mainly the NB/CPU VIDs/Volts.

And damn, don't worry, I'm getting one very very soon again.

Well its about frigging time KTE These guys are approaching me for answers I just don't have !

I here by Nominate You for "Official Phenom / D.F.I 790FX-M2R Overclocking Support