Asus M3A78-T Overclocking

[Daveburt714]

I've been playing with this board for about a week now and I feel like I've been hijacking a few threads so I thought maybe it was time for one dedicated to the new Asus 780GX board.

I just noticed that setting the NB Voltage in bios doesn't give the same readings in AMD Power Monitor (APM) / AOD.

The NBv setting in Bios is actually off by -.075v according to APM/AOD.
IE: setting NBv in Bios to 1.375 results in 1.30 actual (stock for a 9850), at least according to APM/AOD. It does help stability to some extent.

If you have this board check it for yourself and tell me if you get different results using Bios 0304.

[Mathos]

I've been playing with this board for about a week now and I feel like I've been hijacking a few threads so I thought maybe it was time for one dedicated to the new Asus 780GX board.

I just noticed that setting the NB Voltage in bios doesn't give the same readings in AMD Power Monitor (APM) / AOD.

The NBv setting in Bios is actually off by -.075v according to APM/AOD.
IE: setting NBv in Bios to 1.375 results in 1.30 actual (stock for a 9850), at least according to APM/AOD. It does help stability to some extent.

If you have this board check it for yourself and tell me if you get different results using Bios 0304.

It depends, APM shows CPU, and NB VID. Where as cpuz shows actual cpu voltage. Everest will also show actual voltage in it's monitoring program. Another thing, is on some boards the nbv setting doesn't actually change the chips nb voltage, it changes the boards nb voltage.

[Daveburt714]

It depends, APM shows CPU, and NB VID. Where as cpuz shows actual cpu voltage. Everest will also show actual voltage in it's monitoring program. Another thing, is on some boards the nbv setting doesn't actually change the chips nb voltage, it changes the boards nb voltage.

I don't doubt your OC Skills Mathos, but this is a new animal and granted the Bios is still shakey.... But I have some really good drunken results after figuring out the fact that the NBv's weren't acurate...

Here is a screeny of my best OC so far, using the 0304 bios since I realized the NBv's weren't showing true results....

CLICKABLE:


Granted the V's are higher than I would like, and I actually managed to get the PMW chokes hot, but I've never been able to get this chip above 2.84 stable before, plus the NB Freq is up by about 100Mhz... And YES that is over 15 minutes Prime/Blend stable...

This is a nice board! I can't wait till they get the bios figured out... Plus it gives me a little more hope for my 9850!!

[Oldguy932]

It is a nice board, there are a few options missing from the 790Fx, like clock skewing on the mem and CPU VDDA, but thank you for mentioning this. I haven't had any luck getting my 9600 to clock as well in it and I might be able to do it now.

[TheBigWookie]

I've been playing with this board for about a week now and I feel like I've been hijacking a few threads so I thought maybe it was time for one dedicated to the new Asus 780GX board.

I just noticed that setting the NB Voltage in bios doesn't give the same readings in AMD Power Monitor (APM) / AOD.

The NBv setting in Bios is actually off by -.075v according to APM/AOD.
IE: setting NBv in Bios to 1.375 results in 1.30 actual (stock for a 9850), at least according to APM/AOD. It does help stability to some extent.

If you have this board check it for yourself and tell me if you get different results using Bios 0304.

I noticed in your sig - you had a S1283 and OCZ Reaper memory ... Are you using the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 with the OCZ Reaper's on this MB? I was wondering how they all fit .. is there enough space for the 1283 Cooler and the OCZ reaper memory .. or are you using something else for the M3A78-T machine?

Right now I am having the hardest time trying to decide on which GX board to get ... the ASUS M3A78-T board, the Gigabyte board or the Foxconn. Every other day I change my mind, reading the problems on the ASUS site people have with this board, then there are folks that are having problems with the Gigabyte board, and I have not hear too many negative things about the Foxconn board, that jjust means not so many people have used the A7DA-S. I like the GX price range and OC'ing ability .. and plan on getting 4850 video card too. I was all set to get the Gigabyte board until I was reading all the corrupted BIOS issues on this forum .. I want to OC, but I don't want to have to deal with a screwed up BIOS. I guess it doesn't help that all the boards have immature BIOS's and it's hard to tell if it's the HW or the BIOS that is causing people problems.

I have been assembling pieces as they have gone on sale here and there ... I already have a 9950, Antec 300 case, PC Power & Cooling 750 W PSU. Seagate SATA HD ... and 'all' I need is a MB and a cooler ... but like I said, I am literally changing my mind every day as I read different posts and reviews. My current machine in an ASUS A8N-E with a FX 60 X2 CPU @ 2.9 GHz with a Thermal Bright 90. It runs real nice, however I heard the call of the Phenom and thinking I can get it running at 2.9 - 3.0+ GHz. Anyway the FX60 machine will end up going to the wife and the Phenom machine goes to me. I suppose I can wait for the dust to settle in a week or so .. by then there will the the M3A79-T to complicate the purchasing decision. Any recommendations on CPU Cooler and MB would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Daveburt714]

Hi Chewy..

The XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 (Excellent cooler!) will work on the Asus M3A78-T, but if you have Reapers you'll have to run them in the outside slots due to the heat spreaders. It wasn't a problem for me...

Personally, I wouldn't suggest you buy the Asus 790GX board, to be fair the last bios I tested on it was the 0304 beta, but it was really bad and showed no real improvement... Your right the GBT 790 board seems to at least have ACC functioning to some extent, but there are alot of problems with it to...

It's probably not really fair, but my first Phenom board was a GBT DS5 and it was a POS, and they never seemed to try and fix it, so GBT is really low on my list of new boards...

I hate to tell you to wait bud, but you should probably give it a few more weeks... The 9950BE is definetly the chip of choice right now, I have mine over 3Ghz on an MSI K9A2 (790FX/SB600)...

For what it's worth, I'm going to buy the MSI DKA790GX board next week, if you can hold out that long, I'll give you a legit review...

I really cant say it is the board of choice right now, but it's the one I'm leaning toward...

[bingo13]

Hi Chewy..

Personally, I wouldn't suggest you buy the Asus 790GX board, to be fair the last bios I tested on it was the 0304 beta, but it was really bad and showed no real improvement... Your right the GBT 790 board seems to at least have ACC functioning to some extent, but there are alot of problems with it to...

0306 BIOS is out if you still have the board. Much improved over the 0304...

[Tom128]

It is a nice board, there are a few options missing from the 790Fx, like clock skewing on the mem and CPU VDDA, but thank you for mentioning this. I haven't had any luck getting my 9600 to clock as well in it and I might be able to do it now.

Try hitting ALT+F1 (or F4? forget, dont have the board now). When I was in the bios of my M3A 770 chipset board I had the option of setting the clock skewing with those "Advanced" features shown, I can't imagine that they would not give them in the GX if they gave them to the 770. Unless they just need to mature the bios.

[_timmy]

i have posted this in another thread but there were no replies, maybe i posted it in a wrong thread?

i have m3a78-t + phenom II 940BE, when i set cpu voltage over 1.55v it stil remains 1.55 or lower, e.g. when i set 1.65v it is about 1.50, when set to 1.7v it is 1.475v...
can anybody tell me what is the problem, i have tried the newest and all other BIOS. is there any update, BIOS, or anything else that solves this?

is that normal or is my board defected?

Can anyone help me with this, PLEASE?!?

[Oldguy932]

I don't even get more than 1.25vid with aod, and nothing higher than 1.4v can be set in the bios for me. But what do you need that much voltage for? My 940 in the m3a79-t doesn't even like working with anything over 1.6v and unless you're on phase like me I wouldn't even recommend trying to use that much voltage even for suicide clocks.

[_timmy]

My 940 in the m3a79-t doesn't even like working with anything over 1.6v and unless you're on phase like me I wouldn't even recommend trying to use that much voltage even for suicide clocks.

thank you for your answer
i want to do a suicide run, i have very good cooling, my question was about cpu voltage, NOT about recommended settings

[Oldguy932]

Well the vrm's aren't that beefy on the board. It's not meant to be a supreme overclocking board like the M3A79-T and newer variants. I'm going to guess that when you go to voltages that high the vrm's just can't handle that much power and decide that they're going to start vdrooping like crazy. Good lick with the suicide though.