Gigabyte 790FX Series Thread

[nate39]

installed Easytune 6 and when I go to start it my system reboots. Any idea why? thanks

[keithlm]

I am DONE conversing with Gigabyte.

Their support is useless and their attitude is worse.

I'm considering an Asus motherboard... not because they are "better" but SPECIFICALLY because they are 180 degrees opposite of Gigabyte... (ergo Gigabyte being sued by Asus.)

After rounds and rounds explaining the problems with their DS5... they've gone back into the 3rd iteration of "Don't use a 9850..".

1. The DS5 supports Phenoms.
2. The DS5 supports 125W CPU.
3. The DS5 may support the 140W 9950 Phenom.

But they don't support the 9850 and they may never officially support it.

(Oh well... no news to anyone. I was bailing as soon as I see 790FX/SB750 benchmarks so I can decide on that or an Nvidia 680A.)

But I just get angry every time I deal with these jokers. If I was that incompetent in my job... I'd would have been fired a long time ago.

(As I've said before: I guess I need to thank them for being incompetent. If not for them... I'd be hesitant to throw a $200.00 motherboard into my junk pile so I can buy something better. Or: "If it ain't broke... I have no excuse to replace it.")

[Sadhiq]

What concerns the problem I've had with USB ports, the latest Bios F6 resolves the problem

[keithlm]

Dear Diary,

I achieved PRIME95-bench stability at 2.0Gh for the NB/HT for 4 hours last night!

First Time Evar! I am just so happy I could just SPEW.

I did it with:
Ganged
No Tweaks
AUTO-Voltage
-0.1375 on the HT voltage
AND
<drum roll please>
Cool and Quiet was ENABLED in the BIOS. But the MAX SPEED power setting was chosen in the Vista OS. (So it doesn't "use" CNQ.)

With CnQ DISABLED: it crashes in about 10 minutes. (I've double verified that.) Actually in less than 2 minutes.

I'm retesting now to double check. But this is now my THIRD run. The first went for an hour before I stopped it... I had to check the BIOS because I couldn't believe my eyes. (I had forgotten to disable it on that run.)

I'm also changing the HT memory by one setting up or down... that was what I was testing originally when I forgot to turn off the CnQ. I usually do a "SET OPTIMIZED" and then disable CnQ, set Disable non-existant hardware, then reset whatever I'm testing for the speeds. That boot... I just forgot CnQ.

Cool and Quit. Go figure. I have ALWAYS disabled it as one of the first things I do when I go into the bios. I'm amazed.

HYPOTHESIS: Perhaps the CNQ is auto-setting one of the voltages. This is allowing me to run without crashing. Even scarier would be that enabling it does "something" inside the CPU and makes it work. (I hate magic unknown stuff.)

PS: THIS IS WITH THE F5 BIOS. The F6 BIOS is not stable.

PSS: I know I don't care about this MB and will dump it when I can get a SB750 MB... but in meanwhile... I'll search for prime stable.

UPDATE::::
With the ganged,disabled tweaks, and auto voltage for the main system voltages:
and
1.1375 V on the HT = 5 minutes of Primte95.
1.1500 V on the HT = 2.00 hours of Prime95.
1.1625 V on the HT = 1.00 hours of Prime95. (Was 4.5 hours... see below.)
1.1750 V on the HT = 5 minutes of Prime95.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE2: Actually looks like 1.1500 is the most stable... the 1.1625 only went 1 hour on the second run. I think I made a mistake and forgot something: For the overnight run that made it for 4.5 hours I had set the NB CORE voltage on the AOD to 1.999Volts. Leaving that at the default setting of 1.165V in the F5 bios made things crash sooner. So with THAT at the default... the system was less stable. So I have to retest all over again. <sigh>

CLARIFICATION: THIS BOARD has the value for the NB VID which is set in the bios using the "memory controller voltage" and is the voltage value I've been talking about in this post. The "NB CORE" is also a voltage that shows up on the AOD tool... and it can NOT be set in the BIOS. It can ONLY be set using AOD. AND the value of 1.216V is the MAX value. Apparently 1.200V is the default on this voltage for other boards. So NOW I'm retesting using 2.16V for this... we'll see how stable I can get things now.

This is confusing.. because the BIOS "memory controller voltage" changes the NB VID voltage. This is a completely different setting that I have ignored because I've only been messing with settings that can be changed IN THE BIOS ONLY. So actually I had THOUGHT that I was adjusting the "NB VOLTAGE". Which I was... just not the correct one. Since this is AOD only... I haven't messed with it. Until now. Apparently it is something that needs to be in the BIOS but Gigabyte isn't smart enough to put it there. So I restest. It's going to make me angry if I figure out that the setting of "AUTO" for the NB VID and then changing this to the max using AOD gets the best stability. <sigh> Especially since I don't want to depend on software tools.

(Okay... the last paragraph... You can read that as: "Hey... how do I set the NB Core Voltage?" With an answer of: "Maybe use the NB CORE VOLTAGE slider... duh." Yes. I feel kind of dumb. But as I said I WAS trying to use just the bios settings to get PRIME STABLE. ALSO in my defense... I must say... I've worked as hard to get this thing stable at stock as many people do to get a max overclock. And NOW I can actually start overclocking. But the SB750 boards are almost ready... and I'll definitely get one of those... so...)

Didn't matter. Can't duplicate the results. Dang it. Back to leaving that alone and duplicating the 2 hours at 1.150V on the NV VID. if I can keep the two hours... I'm happy.

[cpuz]

Hello,

I'm using a DS5 for a while now, and I made a special clockgen for it.


CPU PLL control.


PLL selection : CPU PLL, PCIE PLL, and the graphic card PLLs.


Multiplier selection, with independant core selection for Phenom.


GPU core PLL (here a GF7300)

Please PM me to get that version.

This won't work on the DS6, but I can easily add it, I just need you to send me a CPU-Z dump.

[keithlm]

Got the new 2x4850 installed onto this MB. System now works at PCIe 2.0@x16. But it is still a little unstable. I still have to use the ganged, auto-volt, no tweak options. (And 1.15v on the NB VID)

On the other hand it does WORK fairly well... it's just not as stable as I like.

I really want to buy a nice new stable MB with a SB750.



BTW: I thought the attached screenshot was pretty.
So I thought I'd share it with everyone.


And to just think... all the Intel experts kept telling me that the Phenom 9850 can't keep up with the Q6600 even at stock speeds.
(There are no Q6600's with 4850 clocked at stock on Futuremark's "ORB". Only at 3.0Ghz. But then it's doesn't use X-Fire.)

But the Phenom doesn't compare badly against the Q9450 as this screenprint shows. It scores less... but then since it's clocked 166Mhz less... it should.
(By the way they talk I think this is what some people think the results of the 9850 vs a Q6600 should look...)

3DMark06 Scores:



Then I paid for 3dMark Vantage, ran the benchmark and found this comparison:



NOTE: Same CPU frequency... same CPU score. Go figure. And the 9800x2 scores a little bit better than 2x4850.

[-= rtz =-]

Easy tune 6 gave immediate BSOD here when i tried to run it on DQ6.

[Phenomenalspeed]

Easy tune 6 gave immediate BSOD here when i tried to run it on DQ6.

I have tried 3 different versions of Easytune on my (AM2) motherboard 5, 5Pro and 6.
All of them make the system crash in a variety of ways. It's incredibly unstable. My final attempt caused repeated problems on Windows bootup until I uninstalled it.

My conclusion is that it is a very poorly written piece of software.

I would never even attempt to use it again.

I have never heard that someone has managed to get it working reliably.

I strongly recommend you stay well away from it.

[nate39]

I would add that the version that came with my board which I believe was 4 worked great. I used it mainly just to monitor my system, not to overclock. But since then the versions are a mess. Someone needs to be fired at Gigabyte.

[wiak]

My board has an issue with Logitech MX510 mouse connected via USB. Not sure if its the case with all USB mouses or just logitech mouses,or simply my board/bios is flakey. If I plug-in the mouse before I plug in the PSU cable in the PSU,the mouse sensor starts to glow immediatly and cannot be recognized in windows. Re-plugging the mouse works. If I go by "first psu,then mouse" connecting method it works without problems. As u can assume,this only happens when pc is turned off and u need to reconnect all the cables so really not a big deal,but it is annoying to experience for the first time

i have that USB issue to, and i got Logitech G5 and Elite Keyboard

[keithlm]

(I don't know if my posts help anyone... but I kind of look at them like a running "journal" of my experiences with this DS5 motherboard. Perhaps somebody somewhere with a DS5 motherboard can benefit from my experiences. So I perserve. Until the SB750 boards come out.)

THIS TIME: I've tried a few new things:

I dropped to 1 stick. I tried that a long time ago... but it was unstable with the F5 bios. With the F6 bios I can run the machine with all settings on optimized defaults if I have only 1 stick of ram. It will run Prime95-blend for about 5.5 hours before a reboot. (Perhaps if I try both sticks with more voltage?)

THEN: I then put in some DDR2-400 "value" ram. It ran with optimized defaults for about 5.5 hours until reboot. (Oh gads was it slow. Benchmarks can't show the molassas quality of the machine with this ram.)

=== ANALYSIS ======================
When tinkering with BIOS settings... the best I can do is about 5.5 hours of Prime95-blend. EVER. That's with F5, at Ganged, Auto Volt, No Tweaks, 1.8Ghz NB/HT.

So I believe there is SOMETHING that is causing a 5.5 hour max Prime95.

===============

I'm pretty sure I have TWO problems with this motherboard.

1. Memory. The G.Skill causes "optimized defaults" to be very unstable. Perhaps if I move to new Mushkin Ascent or OCZ Reapers... it would probably stabilize THIS particular problem.

2. Something causes a reboot after about 5.5 hours of Prime95. This is regardless of setting or what memory I'm using. Even if I get new ram I will have this problem. (But I can accept 5.5 hours of prime95 stable more than 10 minutes... but I want Prime95 stable 24/7!)

[-= rtz =-]

I have tried 3 different versions of Easytune on my (AM2) motherboard 5, 5Pro and 6.
All of them make the system crash in a variety of ways. It's incredibly unstable. My final attempt caused repeated problems on Windows bootup until I uninstalled it.

Version 6 crashes here immediatly but version 5 Pro which came with the mbo on cd worked ok here,I even clocked with it a bit without issues...

My conclusion is that it is a very poorly written piece of software.

...tho I gotta agree with u there

wiak: Someone here mentioned that bios v6 resolves the problem and the issue happens also after a power outage.

PS
I just noticed that at my local stores and retailers the price of DS5 is a tad bit higher than the DQ6

[bowman]

"A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval"

No overclocking, nothing stressing, just normal desktop stuff, music, firefox, torrents. On stock BIOS settings it would randomly crash, just give me a blank screen then reboot. If I do all the settings manually and increase the voltages a step or two it gives me this BSOD instead.

Funny, I googled it and it turns out this is the error Phenom owners get in AoC. I laughed when I saw this. Maybe it's not the board, maybe it's the CPU..

[keithlm]

Thought I'd do a bit of thread necromancy.

With my new PHII 940 coming tomorrow by 10:30am...

I might resurrect my old Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 and see how it works compared to my Foxconn A79A-S. The Gigabyte already has a bios update for the Phenom II and the Foxconn does not... although supposedly some people do have a beta. Funny since the Gigabyte still does not officially support the 9850 or 9950... but they have a bios for Deneb. Go figure. But hey... they don't officially support it.

Several people on the net have said that the Phenom II has the ACC mechanisms built into chip... although the people that said it are questionable sources.

If it IS true then the SB600 on the Gigabyte board shouldn't matter and since I use hardware raid I don't care about the additional SB stuff.

PLUS I was always able to overclock my video cards on the GIgabyte. I have to run stock on the Foxconn. Although I'm not totally sure if that is the motherboard or just newer ATI Catalyst drivers that causes that.

AND the gigabyte did read the EPP timings and the Foxconn does not.

However since the Foxconn has CPU PLL voltages... it might be the better choice.

Oh well.

Anyone still using the DS5 and happy with it?

[keithlm]

Dear Forum Dwellers,

My Foxconn A79A-S bought the farm. I had to put the old Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 back into the system.

I think the reason is that the PC P&C Quad750 power supply went bad. And I think it took the Foxconn with it. Maybe also one of my 4850 video cards last week. Luckily it didn't do anything to my new 4850x2 card I bought to replace it. The Foxconn motherboard tries to boot but stops on the "verifying nvram". So it might only need a new bios chip. (Or a really long CMOS reset and drain?)

In the meanwhile... I'm back onto this Gigabyte. Meh. With a new Corsair 1000 power supply. More money than I wanted to pay... but I wanted it NOW and the local store was actually $20.00 cheaper than Newegg.

Looking at the positive:

The Gigabyte works in 2.0 x16 mode for the PCIe video cards. (All three actually... the 4850X2 uses one x16 slot and the other 4850 gets x16 also. Final result shows all three cards as being at x16.)

My Mushkin ram also sets the timings on this board. The foxconn never really worked for the EPP settings.

Better sound chip.

The Negative:
SB600. But since I use a dedicated Raid card that isn't too critical to me.

No ACC. But it doesn't work on the Foxconn anyway for the PHII. (Like the new Asus bios allows.)


=======================

I'm now running Prime95 on this board and my PHII 940 to make sure all is well at all stock. It appears this board defaults to 1.30V for the PHII instead of 1.35V. So it runs a little bit cooler. Which is fine as long as I can easily increase it.

AOD definitely doesn't work on this board. (At least the latest version doesn't.)

Once I verify stock stable... then I can mess with NB/HT and then overclocks. Since I couldn't use the SB750 ACC stuff on the foxconn... this doesn't really seem so bad as long as I get Prime95 and OCCT stable with this PHII 940.

(My 9850 was never really Prime stable. But maybe this one will be...)


EDIT: DANG NAB IT: rebooted after about 90 minutes of Prime95. BUT then I noticed that the BIOS sets the DDR2-1066 speeds and timings but does NOT set the voltage. So it had run for 90 minutes on 1.8V VDIMM. I went from being bummed out... to being fairly impressed. Mushkin makes darn good ram. Anyway... attempt #2 WITH 2.1V VDIMM.

EDIT#2: Okay. Not amused again. This board isn't Prime stable with the PHII 940 even though the newest bios supports it. (Unofficially of course.) Of course this board also couldn't handle the 9850. So now I have to decide if I want to spend yet MORE money and get a new motherboard or try to get the Foxconn NVRAM problem solved.

EDIT #3: Hours later....

Nevermind.

I re-installed the Foxconn. I figured I would do more work on solving the "checking NVRAM" error.

YES... I got it working... so the Gigabyte can go back into the hole it was in. (Especially since I've verified that it is not stable at stock with a PHII 940. Although I did like the fact that it read the EPP timings.)

[-= rtz =-]

YES... I got it working... so the Gigabyte can go back into the hole it was in. (Especially since I've verified that it is not stable at stock with a PHII 940. Although I did like the fact that it read the EPP timings.)

Well Im dying to know how u solved the NVRAM error, and Im sure others are too, would u mind sharing this info with us?

[keithlm]

Well Im dying to know how u solved the NVRAM error, and Im sure others are too, would u mind sharing this info with us?

I did in the A79A-S thread.

But I'll do a quick repeat:

In the A79A-S bios there is a setting for the JMicron eSata connection. Usually when things are going normal and going WELL if you disable it... you will then CAUSE the dreaded NVRAM error. (Weird Foxconn error.)

In this case since I was getting the NVRAM error... and I was desperate, I figured what the heck. I tried it. It seems two minuses do make a plus. It passed the NVRAM error for that next boot.

Of course for the boot AFTER that successful boot it stopped again because that setting was disabled... just like it normally would. So then I had to turn the setting back on.

So once it had successfully gotten past that error... I could then then do a reset bios to optimized defaults... and then things were back to normal. THANK GOD.

(I couldn't handle the Gigabyte which isn't more than 10 minutes Prime stable at stock settings with either of my CPU; I don't like having to search for ways to get stable. WEIRD SIDE NOTE: In the newest F7 bios for the Gigabyte DS5... they had removed the option to change to ganged memory mode. That was one of the first things I would have done to get it stable. But that option was no longer available. Weird. Oh well. I'm much happier with the Foxconn.)