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

[KTE]

Camp - maybe not too good an idea although a kind thought
We all mainly have the same stepping 9850 so far, as you saw with 9500/9600, stepping does not matter with Phenoms. It may be enough to state this somewhere in the beginning. I have 3 of the same week and batch tested before, all different as I stated then. Mine and Tony's 9850 is the same ATM but look at his and look at mine. There's no trend to note

BTW can you please try Memtest at that RAM setting, P95 on RAM really doesn't show much instability, it will miss a lot of it while RAM is still unstable and thus will start degrading. You can't access a lot of RAM through it either.

keithlm, that's the same error you get with Phenom across many boards. It won't start-up just like that, it may not start up for days like this no matter which setup you try. Leave it on for a while and let it keep restarting itself, it usually boots up once this way. Do you have an X2 to try? It's not just DFI BIOS etc, its on all boards, they all have this error to some extent and its the BIOS+Phenom to blame AFAI being told.
Switch PSU off, reseat everything incl. CPU/GPU if you can, startup, with one MEM out, remove your GPU too, try booting - if it boots without restarting, put back the other MEM and restart it [don't switch it off through the PSU, unless you can't avoid it]. Again, it's not a dead CPU/MB thing, it's just a major bug since the beginning and looks like something is dead. Even flashing a new BIOS won't help [it actually happens at this time most], it's the board+BIOS interaction, something is going seriously wrong.

[Mechromancer]

Update............. OCZ2RPR10664GK 4GB PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066) is a Winner and Boots NO Issues whatsoever @1066 Divider

Have them Priming Blend Test right now at 1.83vdimm @1066 Divider past 1 1/2hrs

Great to hear. I'll revise my build plans to include this kit.

[Mechromancer]

BTW, when you guys are overclocking the Phenom, can you run asymmetrical clocks between all 4 cores with AOD? Like 0@3.0, 1@3.2, 2@2.8, 3@3.4 for example. I thought one of the features of the Phenom with AOD was to allow independent clocking of all four cores.

[keithlm]

and let it keep restarting itself, it usually boots up once this way.

Do you have an X2 to try?

If I boot it up it beeps and the green lights on the keyboard (ps/2 right now) flash on then off... it flashes something like P0 on the POST display then it goes to the C1 and that is it. Nothing else happens.... it just sits there displaying "C1" and stops. It does not restart itself.

I've reseated everything... and now have 1 stick of older slower ram sitting in the slot. Doesn't help. I'll let it go until morning and then try again.. if it still won't go... I'll send it in for RMA. BTW: Since it rebooted during a system test.. it is probably that something in that test did something to the bios. (This has happened in the past with speedfan from what I understand so it's not unknown.)



I have an X2 but it is missing a pin. (939)

[keithlm]

BTW, when you guys are overclocking the Phenom, can you run asymmetrical clocks between all 4 cores with AOD? Like 0@3.0, 1@3.2, 2@2.8, 3@3.4 for example. I thought one of the features of the Phenom with AOD was to allow independent clocking of all four cores.

Actually most people interested in that are more inclined to NOT overclock. They use the Cool and Quiet to let it UNDERCLOCK.

The 4 cores can Underclock seperately using less power and running cooler.

(But I think the AOD tool will let you yet. I didn't try... during my short day and a half that my motherboard worked. Besides it didn't seem to work well with this motherboard.)

[Brother Esau]

Camp - maybe not too good an idea although a kind thought
We all mainly have the same stepping 9850 so far, as you saw with 9500/9600, stepping does not matter with Phenoms. It may be enough to state this somewhere in the beginning. I have 3 of the same week and batch tested before, all different as I stated then. Mine and Tony's 9850 is the same ATM but look at his and look at mine. There's no trend to note

BTW can you please try Memtest at that RAM setting, P95 on RAM really doesn't show much instability, it will miss a lot of it while RAM is still unstable and thus will start degrading. You can't access a lot of RAM through it either.

Tye, whats not a good idea but kind thought?

Which MemTest ......Boot or Windows Memtest?

[Oese]

i think memtest is not a very good stability test either... i'd prefer goldmemory, the thorough test is indeed relatively trustworthy.. but its not free..

in the comparison memtest<->prime i think prime blend a lot of hours is much more predictive..

[keithlm]

I've got a 4 knob fan speed controller I use for all my fans.

(3 case fans, Video card fan, and CPU fan.

I used to attach the CPU fan to the motherboard on my old motherboard... but with this one the speed never ramped down so I unhooked it and put it onto my controller.

Do you think it might be that the motherboard needs that fan attached?? and/or maybe also a NB fan?

I seem to remember a motherboard from a long time ago that would have FITS if you didn't attach fans.

What do you think?


EDIT: No luck doing that. <sigh>

[Brother Esau]

Keith, problems this soon on.....not good and RMA it!

[keithlm]

Keith, problems this soon on.....not good and RMA it!

Yeah... I will. I just have to torture myself. :-)

I just hope it's not the RAM or hte CPU.

[KTE]

Tye, whats not a good idea but kind thought?

Tying in overclock to stepping/week/batch for Phenom when there's no known trend for 6 months.

Which MemTest ......Boot or Windows Memtest?

Whichever, boot is usually far better since it can access RAM away from OS interaction and the complete RAM, not just parts of it. Test#5/6 is the best and main ones to pass for about an hour looped. Systool 16M 4threaded is also good to test RAM.

Oese; hardware MFGS including the largest software ISVs like Microsoft run and advise to run it, it certainly is formality in most places because of its proven consistency and reliability. Trust me, P95 or any in-windows tester doesn't come close for RAM error checking, many times repeatedly, it has been found that software stability has failed Memtest/Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool stability. For CPU, yep, P95 is very good, not for RAM though. RightMark Memory Stability Tester and Memtest HCI are better for RAM checking than Blend, but it depends how you run them - load as much RAM as possible, don't play around with something else in the background or your results may be skewed. The tool you mention is also good but Memtest is a proven tool by RAM MFG reps. Check the coding and instruction of both P95 Blend vs Memtest, one is a general rough approximation and one a streamlined specific memory tester using various patterns and high RAM stresses. Run P95-B using plus 2.4 vDIMM on 667/800/1066 D9s and you'll still very likely be fine. Run Memtest with that and you'll very likely kill the RAM. Also, there are many new versions of Memtest, don't know which one you tested to compare to P95-B.

If I boot it up it beeps and the green lights on the keyboard (ps/2 right now) flash on then off... it flashes something like P0 on the POST display then it goes to the C1 and that is it. Nothing else happens.... it just sits there displaying "C1" and stops. It does not restart itself.

Then it's probably something different to what the major problem with Phenoms around is when you get C1 - it usually should restart by cutting power off before POST.
And yeah, booting first try etc is not the point if you did have that particular error - it will only boot 1 in a 100 tries or so even if no hardware part is in error, very rarely will it boot, and the problem I was thinking is not board or CPU but a BIOS problem. It doesn't sound like that problem though.

Yes you can clock each core separately with Phenom/AOD, people did it a while ago including underclocking.

[Oese]

speaking about memtest i meant that memtest that was implemented into DFI biosses in some Lanparty UT Boards which is also available separately...

[Brother Esau]

Great to hear. I'll revise my build plans to include this kit.

They are not on the EGG I actually had to get my set from Zip Zoom Fly

Speaking of Zip Zoom Fly.....Do they still package OEM HDD's the proper way in Plastic Tray protectors and not in bubble wrap?

[Brother Esau]

[QUOTE=keithlm;2908246]I thought $75.00 WAS your order. (Not just shipping.)

And in the future... let me know if you get a new batch of chips.. I'd definitely send you some cash for an "emergency replacement" chip if I could have one on hand. (Just in case this happens again. Which it seems fairly common. I'm just glad I had extra ram to test.) With an emergency chip around I'll flash anything that comes along as soon as I see it.


Right Try like around $400.00 Still want to Pony up with half of that for one Bios Chip?

I will be speaking with Charles (FUGGER) about having a section on the Forum in Services for My Bios Reprogramming Service for Members for members with a 100 posts or more (No Dead Beats bouncing into the forums) will be entitled to get Bios Chips for $15.00 Each +Shipping ...which is always 2 Day Priority "Insured"

[keithlm]

Right Try like around $400.00 Still want to Pony up with half of that for one Bios Chip?

...for members with a 100 posts or more (No Dead Beats bouncing into the forums) will be entitled to get Bios Chips for $15.00 Each +Shipping ...which is always 2 Day Priority "Insured"

For $200.00 I think I'd just order a new board from NEWEGG and keep a spare.

EEEK... 100 posts... guess I need to get to posting. Although other than a few posts about my Thermalright HR-03Plus on my 8800GTS I hadn't really posted in these forums for about a year. Or two.

But yeah... $15.00 is reasonable.

NOTE: I Contacted DFI:
They didn't specificaly say: but it seems that it is possible that Sandra corrupted the bios. The technician said:

"And if you are going to run old non-updated for 790FX chipset programs, you need to disable monitoring or checking of SMBUS or you will have problems. Sandra has been notorious for that for 7 or 8 years now and one reason I moved completely away from Miss Sandra."

(Although he doesn't say if a corrpupted bios is part of "problems" you might have. Besides... they really need to just fix that. If Sandra and Speedfan can cause a corrupt bios.. something is AWRY.)

[Brother Esau]

For $200.00 I think I'd just order a new board from NEWEGG and keep a spare.

EEEK... 100 posts... guess I need to get to posting. Although other than a few posts about my Thermalright HR-03Plus on my 8800GTS I hadn't really posted in these forums for about a year. Or two.

But yeah... $15.00 is reasonable.

NOTE: I Contacted DFI:
They didn't specificaly say: but it seems that it is possible that Sandra corrupted the bios. The technician said:

(Although he doesn't say if a corrpupted bios is part of "problems" you might have. Besides... they really need to just fix that. If Sandra and Speedfan can cause a corrupt bios.. something is AWRY.)

I would say so! Considering the going Rate on the NET at Bios Websites is $25- $30.00 So yes thats a Forum Members Discount on my Website when up it will be the same as the going Rate perhaps a little less if I decide so but I generally charge $28.00 "Shipped 2Day/Insured" so thats $21.32 lets just say around $21.00 Per Bios Chip

[Brother Esau]

For $200.00 I think I'd just order a new board from NEWEGG and keep a spare.

EEEK... 100 posts... guess I need to get to posting. Although other than a few posts about my Thermalright HR-03Plus on my 8800GTS I hadn't really posted in these forums for about a year. Or two.

But yeah... $15.00 is reasonable.

NOTE: I Contacted DFI:
They didn't specificaly say: but it seems that it is possible that Sandra corrupted the bios. The technician said:

(Although he doesn't say if a corrpupted bios is part of "problems" you might have. Besides... they really need to just fix that. If Sandra and Speedfan can cause a corrupt bios.. something is AWRY.)

12/11/07 Bios as told to you before earlier is a Beta and I tried it when it was Alpha Stage for Testing and I gave my comments which were not good at all and some how it ended up on the Official List....WTF

That Bios when I tested it 3 different Times Alpha , 2 time official it sucked and created major issues where I had to Erase and Re-program my chip!

[justapost]

NOTE: I Contacted DFI:
They didn't specificaly say: but it seems that it is possible that Sandra corrupted the bios. The technician said:

(Although he doesn't say if a corrpupted bios is part of "problems" you might have. Besides... they really need to just fix that. If Sandra and Speedfan can cause a corrupt bios.. something is AWRY.)

Sorry to hear you having C1 errors now after trying sandra. I feel abit guilty about that. Had sandra and CPU-Z running in parallel for hourst yesterday without that problem,
Never used speedfan on the DFI after I heard about the bios issues. You don't have an X2 cpu at hand you can try in the mobo?

[justapost]

I will be speaking with Charles (FUGGER) about having a section on the Forum in Services for My Bios Reprogramming Service for Members for members with a 100 posts or more (No Dead Beats bouncing into the forums) will be entitled to get Bios Chips for $15.00 Each +Shipping ...which is always 2 Day Priority "Insured"[/B]

15$ is a very good price for an preflashed bios chip.
Did you receive your shippment jet?

[Brother Esau]

15$ is a very good price for an preflashed bios chip.
Did you receive your shippment jet?

Hey, Achim whats up brother? No been pre- occupied because of the Issues with my Cat Marshall almost Dying and all of that crap

But in Regards to my buddy Marshall my cat he is making a full recovery and his Daddy is Nursing him back to Vigorous Health the Natural way as God intended through Organic Foods and suppliments, Chinese Herbs and Holistic Medicine

[keithlm]

Sorry to hear you having C1 errors now after trying sandra. I feel abit guilty about that. Had sandra and CPU-Z running in parallel for hourst yesterday without that problem,
Never used speedfan on the DFI after I heard about the bios issues. You don't have an X2 cpu at hand you can try in the mobo?

I ran Sandra all day with no problems... for benchmarks.

It was when I was looking around at obscure things inside of sandra.. and found a "create report wizard" or something like that where it goes through and looks at a bunch of things and prints out a list of suggestions that's what did it.

[keithlm]

12/11/07 Bios as told to you before earlier is a Beta and I tried it when it was Alpha Stage for Testing and I gave my comments which were not good at all and some how it ended up on the Official List....WTF

That Bios when I tested it 3 different Times Alpha , 2 time official it sucked and created major issues where I had to Erase and Re-program my chip!

I had loaded the 307.

BTW: QUESTION: DIdn't you say somethign about using an older version of the bios to flash and then upgrading to the current flash inside the machine?? (Something like 11/7?) Will that old version boot a Phenom?

(I'm looking around town for someone with an EPROM programmer... so I want to know what I should take with me. Probably won't find anyone... but who knows.)

[Brother Esau]

Keith...I have already offered you my help.

When I first got my P35 it was the same thing worked out of the box on desktop downloaded latest Bios 11/22/07 flashed Bios 12 minutes later C1 and dead as disco.

I would not necessarily blame the Bios Flash as said it may be that it may not be that. Just sed it back to newegg and get another one

[justapost]

Glad to hear your cat did it. How old was he 20 years, that's turtle like age for a cat.
My last cat did not get back from hospital few years ago. Due to breeding her inner organs had defects from the beginning.
Any feedback from fugger? I think that market place section here is visible after few hunderd posts only, whould be a good place for your offerings.

@keith: My 9500 died on day one in the Sapphire version of M2R. I assume it was a simmilar issue I used everest and speedfan and everest always froze my machine. Tried the cpu in different boards no post and c1 on dfi. Will wait for a while till i try rma i may get an 9550 once they stopped the 9500's.

[keithlm]

@keith: My 9500 died on day one in the Sapphire version of M2R. I assume it was a simmilar issue I used everest and speedfan and everest always froze my machine. Tried the cpu in different boards no post and c1 on dfi. Will wait for a while till i try rma i may get an 9550 once they stopped the 9500's.

That's scary. It hosed the processor eh?

Okay... I guess I'll RMA the board for now instead of trying to get a new flash. I was hoping for a faster solution. <grumble>

But if it is the CPU then I need to know tha for sure. (So I might be in for several RMA waiting periods, eh?)