Gigabyte MA790FX DQ6

[Rammsteiner]

Sunfire, the chipset isnt holding him back at all. Im, and a lot of other people too, very pleased with the 790FX. If the motherboard (if that was what you meant after all) is holding him back, could be a possibility as Im facing a strange 'max' as well. However, it could be simply the max after all.

I set 1.475V in BIOS and got 14x252 as max speed stable, increasing Volts to even 1.55V didnt show any improvement. I dont have watercooling though, but decent cooling. TRUE with 130+ CFM fan. At current settings I dont get above 50C load.

It's just 'strange' to see the CPU being 24/7 stable at one point but one Mhz higher HTT with even 0.075V more it doesnt improve. Maybe I got the real max out of it but if I see those results with LN2 and 3.9~4Ghz Im not so sure if this is correct.

@ Aussie: Im pretty pleased with this moterboard indeed. I simply refuse to wait weeks for a replacement so Ill order a new one today or tomorrow. The question however is if I'd go with the same one (as it pleased me) or with DFI. If you read the above part Im unsure if I really got the max out of the CPU and DFI really give some surprises now and then with increasing OC-ability.

The thing what makes me doubt to go with DFI is that they release a lot of BIOS's, mainly beta, but after all 80% of all their BIOS's are crap and it's very rare there's a BIOS with all things fixed and maxed. You'll have to pick the BIOS that works best for you and sacrifices things you dont/hardly care about

Their 790FX board looks solid after some good BIOS's, but if you look at some older boards some of them still have problems but after a while DFI simply goes like "Well, we're sorry, we've got 8 new motherboards with newer chipsets and cant solve the problem of that board anymore, have a nice day". Though as I said, I dont think that will happen soon with their current board as it's simply a good chipset but still.

*sigh* choises choises.

[Aussie FX]

I thought Gigabyte boards had 2 Bios chips in them running redundant Bios

They do

The flash actually worked but the board wouldn't restart. Personally I think the bios had a problem as I've heard of a couple of these boards that went to heaven. As i understand it you can't flash the backup bios, so something wasn't right with the files that we got. That's probably why Gigabyte replaced it with no questions asked.

Usually with a failed flash, the RMA won't be honoured.

From what I heard from others that lost their boards, all of us used windows based @bios to flash it. Usually I never use windows based flashing, now I know why...

Another thing is they actually gave us new boards instead of just reflashing a new bios. I much prefer the plugin bios chips against these soldered in permanent chips that Gigabyte use.

[Aussie FX]

Sunfire, the chipset isnt holding him back at all. Im, and a lot of other people too, very pleased with the 790FX. If the motherboard (if that was what you meant after all) is holding him back, could be a possibility as Im facing a strange 'max' as well. However, it could be simply the max after all.

I set 1.475V in BIOS and got 14x252 as max speed stable, increasing Volts to even 1.55V didnt show any improvement. I dont have watercooling though, but decent cooling. TRUE with 130+ CFM fan. At current settings I dont get above 50C load.

It's just 'strange' to see the CPU being 24/7 stable at one point but one Mhz higher HTT with even 0.075V more it doesnt improve. Maybe I got the real max out of it but if I see those results with LN2 and 3.9~4Ghz Im not so sure if this is correct.
@ Aussie: Im pretty pleased with this moterboard indeed. I simply refuse to wait weeks for a replacement so Ill order a new one today or tomorrow. The question however is if I'd go with the same one (as it pleased me) or with DFI. If you read the above part Im unsure if I really got the max out of the CPU and DFI really give some surprises now and then with increasing OC-ability.

The thing what makes me doubt to go with DFI is that they release a lot of BIOS's, mainly beta, but after all 80% of all their BIOS's are crap and it's very rare there's a BIOS with all things fixed and maxed. You'll have to pick the BIOS that works best for you and sacrifices things you dont/hardly care about

Their 790FX board looks solid after some good BIOS's, but if you look at some older boards some of them still have problems but after a while DFI simply goes like "Well, we're sorry, we've got 8 new motherboards with newer chipsets and cant solve the problem of that board anymore, have a nice day". Though as I said, I dont think that will happen soon with their current board as it's simply a good chipset but still.

*sigh* choises choises.

Rammsteiner 3.5-3.6 is a pretty normal oc for a 6400. I got 430 htt out of my mobo with my 6400 and ~3550mhz.
I got my mobo before they were supposed to be released so the dq6 was the only option. My understanding is the ds5 (or dq5 whichever it is) uses the 790FX chipset too but loses one pcie slot. It's a lot cheaper (in Australia) than the dq6. If I was to buy now that probably be my choice.
Personally I doubt whether going to a DFI will give you any higher oc because like I said I got 430htt out of mine with a K8.
I think it's a case of apples to apples and just go with whatever takes your fancy.
I used to love DFI in the 939 days but I'm a bit wary now after their 590 SLI debacle. It's actually hard to find a shop that will stock them now in Australia after the way they treated their customers.
This is my first Gigabyte motherboard I've owned and I was very impressed with the way they handled my RMA after the failed flashing episode.
Whatever you do, make sure you RMA the board so you'll always have a spare.

[Rammsteiner]

Thx for the reply there.

It's my first Gigabyte mobo too. I owned a DFI nFore3 250Gb (or however it was named, completely forgot it. It was for skt 754). After that DFI Nf4 Ultra-D. Both served me very well.

The only few AM2+ boards out here when I bought my PC were Gigabyte, Asus and MSI. I heard some bad problems about MSI and tbh I was never interested in MSI anyway. Asus is a good brand now and then but the fact it can take up months untill they fix a few problems... Nah. I saw this thread about the Gigabyte and decided to go with it.

Also, should have told it earlier perhaps, when there's no DIMM in the right red socket I can actually run damn high HTT's too. 10x353 right out of the box with +0.05V (didnt try at stock, just a little extra V's dont hurt IMO).

It's just a little hard to decide. OC-ing is a gamble after all, but I dont know if I got the max out of my memory/CPU and neither do I know if the DFI one will actually do any better. Ill think about it for tomorrow. Then Im gonna order. One good thing if I'd go with Gigabyte is that most likely I dont need to install Windows again, most likely not even drivers

[Schneider]

F4B

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/...MA79XDQ6AT.rar

Is there a similar BIOS for 790FX DS5 and DS4 mobo's?

[Sunfire]

Sunfire, the chipset isnt holding him back at all. Im, and a lot of other people too, very pleased with the 790FX. If the motherboard (if that was what you meant after all) is holding him back, could be a possibility as Im facing a strange 'max' as well. However, it could be simply the max after all.

I set 1.475V in BIOS and got 14x252 as max speed stable, increasing Volts to even 1.55V didnt show any improvement. I dont have watercooling though, but decent cooling. TRUE with 130+ CFM fan. At current settings I dont get above 50C load.

It's just 'strange' to see the CPU being 24/7 stable at one point but one Mhz higher HTT with even 0.075V more it doesnt improve. Maybe I got the real max out of it but if I see those results with LN2 and 3.9~4Ghz Im not so sure if this is correct.

What could that strange 'max' be? Because yesterday, he installed back his Brisbane, and it is working fine with 10.5x286. 286 HT vs 240! So it depends on the CPU? I found out, that a DFI board with the same chipset could go as high as 350 HT without stability issues, so maybe this board needs a BIOS fix?

[Brother Esau]

These boards sooooo need Bios Fixes its not funny

[BertM]

my first post here, been reading alot before. made my choice of mobo and cpu by reading xs forum here.

my last experiment:
i do htt 340 on my 5000be
bios is still F1, i havent had the time yet to update it.
i noticed at stock voltage until 1.4 volts on cpu that the htt wall is pretty low, after setting 1.45 i could increase to 350 before having crashes again.
i use a stock cooler from a 939 3800+ single core.

this is a screen of 350 but its not realy stable for a long period.

[Sunfire]

my first post here, been reading alot before. made my choice of mobo and cpu by reading xs forum here.

my last experiment:
i do htt 340 on my 5000be
bios is still F1, i havent had the time yet to update it.
i noticed at stock voltage until 1.4 volts on cpu that the htt wall is pretty low, after setting 1.45 i could increase to 350 before having crashes again.
i use a stock cooler from a 939 3800+ single core.

Put in a Phenom, and your 340 MHz HT is gone

[BertM]

you where saying a dfi could do 350 ht which was probably a windsor or brisbane as well.
just to show this board can do 350 ht on a brisbane. i know about the phenom issue.

[Lightman]

you where saying a dfi could do 350 ht which was probably a windsor or brisbane as well.
just to show this board can do 350 ht on a brisbane. i know about the phenom issue.

Our GBT board is excellent for HTT overclocking.
Just go back couple of pages and check this out

Post 141

[BertM]

dont you mean post 136 ? http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=136
stock voltage there

i own this board for little over a week. so im still noob with overclocking.
btw, i did 38002 in 3dmark2001

got 1 problem sofar, my usb mouse mx518 disappears after the computer has been shutdown completly and then started.
if i just do a reboot, its ok.
this problem dissapears with new bios?

[Rammsteiner]

Well, I took my decision and ordered the DFI board. Ive very little doubt it will be actually worse than the DQ6, at least it should get the same results, or maybe better but Ill found out. No need to speculate about it if you can try it. If it's actually worse after all I can always sell it. There's only one or two shops selling the board in The Netherlands. DQ6 might be sold otherwise when it gets back from RMA, but might as well keep it for when I get a Phenom in a few months. After all Ive a spare ReaperX kit around now as well.

What could that strange 'max' be? Because yesterday, he installed back his Brisbane, and it is working fine with 10.5x286. 286 HT vs 240! So it depends on the CPU? I found out, that a DFI board with the same chipset could go as high as 350 HT without stability issues, so maybe this board needs a BIOS fix?

No, it's not the CPU. Ive no clue into the hardware limitations however some boards simply give better OC results than other boards. No matter if they use same chipset etc, somehow OC results can very, sometimes quite a lot actually.

I think it's due to BIOS programming or maybe board lay-out on powerlines architecture (or how ever I should call it, I mean those little integreated 'lines' where power/signals go trough).

[Aussie FX]

Our GBT board is excellent for HTT overclocking.
Just go back couple of pages and check this out

Post 141

Yeah, I got the same result as you Lightman. 430HTT
Unfortunately I lost my screenie.

I think in Sunfires case his friend isn't dropping the multi far enough so it's his cpu that's failing.

@ Sunfire get your friend to drop his cpu multi to 5,6,7. That will take his cpu out of the equation. He will also need to drop his ram speed.

[Sunfire]

Thanks Aussie FX!

He dropped both CPU, NB and HT multi, gave more voltage to everything, but didn't helped.
I wish I could be there and play with his Phenom, but he already want's to sell it
I will try to get him to play again with that CPU. Where could I find BIOS photos? Maybe I can suggest him some settings.

[Lightman]

Yeah, I got the same result as you Lightman. 430HTT
Unfortunately I lost my screenie.

I think in Sunfires case his friend isn't dropping the multi far enough so it's his cpu that's failing.

@ Sunfire get your friend to drop his cpu multi to 5,6,7. That will take his cpu out of the equation. He will also need to drop his ram speed.

PS. Sorry for patchy responses from me but my lovely ISP cut my broadband for no reason and they even saying that it's working according to their computer!

[Aussie FX]

they even saying that it's working according to their computer!

That's cause they use intel.....

[Aussie FX]

Thanks Aussie FX!

He dropped both CPU, NB and HT multi, gave more voltage to everything, but didn't helped.
I wish I could be there and play with his Phenom, but he already want's to sell it
I will try to get him to play again with that CPU. Where could I find BIOS photos? Maybe I can suggest him some settings.

Sorry Sunfire, for some reason that last post I put up about your friend, I was confusing him with someone else. (too many late nights)
As far as his overclock goes ~2650 is quite a good overclock for a 9500 atm, so I would think he's at the chips limit for now. All I can suggest is he keeps an eye out for any new bioses. As he's on F4B now, that's the latest.

[BertM]

im running against a barrier, i cant get ram to work above 1050mhz.
i tried everything, even putted all settings i could find on high, cpu on 1.5v and ram on 2.3v, htt multi on 3 and cpu multi on 10x.
i tried both ram modules seperatly but no change.
fsb is 265 which is a ram speed of 6 6 6 18 2t 28 1060mhz, and this is the point where it always crashes.
it can work at 4 4 4 12 2t 2.3volt and 1000mhz.
memory is hyperx 9600 cl5
is this normal for a 5000be or is it the mobo?

[Aussie FX]

im running against a barrier, i cant get ram to work above 1050mhz.
i tried everything, even putted all settings i could find on high, cpu on 1.5v and ram on 2.3v, htt multi on 3 and cpu multi on 10x.
i tried both ram modules seperatly but no change.
fsb is 265 which is a ram speed of 6 6 6 18 2t 28 1060mhz, and this is the point where it always crashes.
it can work at 4 4 4 12 2t 2.3volt and 1000mhz.
memory is hyperx 9600 cl5
is this normal for a 5000be or is it the mobo?

I don't think it's the motherboard.

I just came here to post about how good the memory controller is on Phenom.

It is late at night and I was just messing with OD and I forgot that my ram was set to 1066 in bios. Anyway I cranked the htt to 210 and suddenly realised that my ram was running at over 1100mhz with 1.9v

Gotta love the Phenom don't ya... There is no way K8 would do that.

BTW timings were 5-5-5-12 with 4gb.

Bert try giving them 2.4v. That's what my TX are rated for. They are D9GMH.
I wouldn't do that with Phenom but it should be ok with a K8.

[BertM]

with what can i change memory voltage?
the gigabyte utility doesnt allow me to put more voltage on it then 2.3 and amd overdrive which i rarely use, crashes alot but doesnt even allow me to change the ram voltage at all.
but now i saw that overdrive has drive strength settings and impedance settings, would this do anything?
and i read somewhere that using more then 2.2v on d9 can kill them after long term usage.

btw i find it quiet stupid that when i turn on cnq, the 10th and 12th multiplier used by cnq result in a higher ram frequency then the 13th multi.
im now using crystalcpuid for cnq and even dropped the voltage to 0.95 when its idling.

[Aussie FX]

Damn, I forgot about that stupid 2.3v limit.

To be truthful i think it's a limitation in the cpu imc that's holding you back, the Phenom imc is just so much better.

That voltage limitation is for Phenom as far as I'm aware and it kills the cpu not the ram. My TX has a lifetime warranty at 2.4v.

Anyway the impedance settings won't help but you can sure try playing with the drive strength settings.

It's a bummer when you buy fast ram like yours and then can't get the rated speed out of them.
I couldn't get mine to 1066 with a 6400 either, around 1000 was my limit.

[BertM]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=140870
in this thread you see people with death sticks while they didnt even used alot of voltage. some even say dont go above 2.2 volt.

i got this ram to be ready for a phenom, so i dont feel like its a loss.
but its doing nice, 930mhz at 4 4 4 5 2t 16 @ 2.1v
not as much as i hoped.

[Aussie FX]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=140870
in this thread you see people with death sticks while they didnt even used alot of voltage. some even say dont go above 2.2 volt.

i got this ram to be ready for a phenom, so i dont feel like its a loss.
but its doing nice, 930mhz at 4 4 4 5 2t 16 @ 2.1v
not as much as i hoped.

That's why I made sure mine were guaranteed to 2.4v.

Just keep trucking with them then and you'll get a nice surprise when you get your Phenom.

[Rammsteiner]

It's not all about Voltage. That's why I was worrying about the Drive Strength settings in my BIOS as mainly too high Drive Strength seems to kill D9's, also on lower Voltage than warranty. Besides that I wonder if this is still the case since D9 was mainly a year back dieing a lot. Nowadays it doesnt seem to happen a lot anymore.

From Micron's datasheet I learned the absolute max Voltage for D9GMH B6-3 is 2.3V, however we can increase it anyway. Keep a good fan on them and dont mess too much with high Drive Strength settings