msi 790 fx-gd70 thread

[bingo13]

My opinion could be skewed on this one due to development work on the board. Just kidding as we spend a great deal of time with each manufacturer, however, taking a step back and looking at each board on its own merits, I think it is the best 790FX board at this point for the air/water audience and it was never designed with the cold guys in mind. That might be a flaw for a few dozen people but overall I think MSI hit their target market perfectly on this round. For the cold guys, the next product will have a few changes in it.

At this point, for the mass majority I have to go with this board first, Gigabyte UD5 second, and ASUS M4A79 third, still testing the latest DFI board so no comments yet. However, I have the CrossHair III and it is looking "extremely" strong and appears ASUS listened to the complaints about the M4A79.

[Nedjo]

One of the things I find so great about GD70 is that represents truly meaningful innovation on mobo market (at least on AMD - don't follow so well "blue one )

All the things they've implemented are truly useful and not just some nonsense for stickers sake!

I love the way how OC Dial works without a glitch! I love to see how much Amps does CPU drowns.

end especially I love the fact that's so easy to OC locked CPUs (my favorite setup: 13x300 Cores, 9x300 NB; 7x300 HTT, and memory ofcourse @ rounded 1600 MHz CL7 )

[Entropicity]

My condolences for your mobo Sampsa.

I do agree on the point MSI has hit the market with a board that does everything well for both mainstream consumers and enthusiasts. I guess it may only have missed out on Extreme overclocking enthusiasts and the hype and marketing opportunities that comes from proclaiming your motherboard breaks world records. However, from a business standpoint, this would only affect 0.0000001% (figuratively) of users. In the end for day to day usage, it nails almost every requirement.

We await the next official bios with core unlocking ACC now, I hope.

[TiTON]

Hey Sampsa,

We lost 2 boards that way already. 1st board.. we thought it was poor insulation.. maybe condenstaion killed it. Then the 2nd board went, which was insulated well. On 3rd board right now.. adn its running very good. Its been on LN2 for the last 2-3 weeks. We have a few 955, but they are all weak So a bit frustrated.

The board is fine w/ LN2.. its the voltage that is the problem.

- Ton

[TurboDiv]

...After I warmed up the CPU I removed heatsink from motherboard and noticed that one of the Dr. MOS chips had failed. Seems like 1,75V was way too much for GD70's PWM. I've been using even higher voltages (1,75 - 1,875 V) with Asus M4A79T Deluxe and Crosshair III Formula. With early samples we used +1,9V with Gigabyte 790GX and DFI 790FX boards.

The worst part is that of course motherboard took the CPU with it and both are now dead.

Be carefull with GD70 and extreme cooling / voltages

All this cold causes things to crack if the rest is not properly insulated/mounted. If that chip was really cold and than you suddenly pump up heat (lots of voltage) it will crack it right away. I would suggest a hair dryer to warm them up before pumping 1.75v to the CPU or maybe gradually increase the voltage. Nonthelees, it sucks that it killed the sexy CPU too.

[chew*]

Testing MSI 790FX-GD70 with 4 x ATI Radeon HD 4890 and Phenom II X4 ES under LN2 didn't go that well

I prepared everything with air cooling. Graphics cards were running @ 980/1115 MHz with fans blowing full speed. 3DMark03 score was around 108500 with Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition @ 3,6 GHz & NB 2,7 GHz. I used Corsair DDR3-1800 memory @ ~860 MHZ 7-7-7-20 1T.

[img]http://plaza.

Then I switched to my Phenom II X4 ES CPU which I just recently tested with LN2 on Asus Crosshair III Formula @ 6,328 GHz (1,785 V). I insulated Socket AM3 area and mounted F1 EE pot on CPU and started cooling it down with LN2.

When temperature was around -120 Celsius I started adjusting some settings from BIOS. I set up clock speed to 5 GHz and raised vcore to 1,6V but when I saved the settings system would boot/post no matter what. I cleared the CMOS and system started immediately with default settings. Soon temperature had dropped to -190 Celsius and I was still struggling to boot/post the system.

[img]http://plaza.fi/s/f
Everytime I tried to change something from BIOS, three red leds turned on on graphics cards and debug-leds on mobo showed FF. Nothing happened from reset button. System just wouldn't boot/post but after clearing CMOS it started without issues. I even tried not to change any settings from bios but no luck.

I let the container warm up a little and around -170 Celsius the system suddenly started. I quickly adjusted voltages from BIOS and thought I could change everything else with AMD OverDrive from Windows. Well.. CPU @ 3,1 GHz, 1,75V core, 1,45V NB and 2,12V to DDR3 cause system to completely shut down during loading Vista and it never woke up again.

[img]http://plaza.]

After I warmed up the CPU I removed heatsink from motherboard and noticed that one of the Dr. MOS chips had failed. Seems like 1,75V was way too much for GD70's PWM. I've been using even higher voltages (1,75 - 1,875 V) with Asus M4A79T Deluxe and Crosshair III Formula. With early samples we used +1,9V with Gigabyte 790GX and DFI 790FX boards.

The worst part is that of course motherboard took the CPU with it and both are now dead.

Be carefull with GD70 and extreme cooling / voltages

I'm sorry sampsa I should have warned you......sad to hear you lost a good chip......I have one of my duds in the board for initial testing....we lost a chip/board to early on in the early bios's.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

heres how far I have gotten tonight - thoughts? how much more CPU voltage can I do? (given my idle load temps seen in monitor)

(single card 4890)

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4038/19278.png

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=11121344

personally I have found this PHII 955 hella easy to clock... its like a walk in the park coming from a DFI board

sorry to quote myself but I'd like a little help with this one if thats ok

[TurboDiv]

sorry to quote myself but I'd like a little help with this one if thats ok

I would say something like 1.45v. But ultimately it depends on your max CPU load temperature under Prime95 at least (there other programs that load it hotter). For that, I woud say go as high voltage as 65 degrees under MAX CPU LOAD in hot weather and hot room. Its all about the temperature under load, that will determine your max voltage.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

I would say something like 1.45v. But ultimately it depends on your max CPU load temperature under Prime95 at least (there other programs that load it hotter). For that, I woud say go as high voltage as 65 degrees under MAX CPU LOAD in hot weather and hot room. Its all about the temperature under load, that will determine your max voltage.

well right now my load temp is 47 C @ 1.41 so I think I have some headroom

[TurboDiv]

Thats pretty good. What heatsink + fans (rpms) are you using on the cooler ? I am running mine on the old ULTRA-120 vanilla + a single Antec Tri cool fan on a middle setting (roughly 1500RPM) so i have room for improvement on that, but so far i get 55 under heavy load so im OK with that.... for now.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Right now i've got two Sanyo Denki 109R1212M1021 fans in push-pull (not to be confused with h1011) on a Lapped Xigmatek Thors Hammer (pics of cooler in worklog in my sig)

it is an amazing cooler for this chip but I must say its disappointing that the cooler can only be mounted in one orientation on AM3 :\

[TurboDiv]

OMG... you have a whole laboratory for this stuff + it seems like you are water cooling the video card ? And the case is huge also.

[gOtVoltage]

Right now i've got two Sanyo Denki 109R1212M1021 fans in push-pull (not to be confused with h1011) on a Lapped Xigmatek Thors Hammer (pics of cooler in worklog in my sig)

it is an amazing cooler for this chip but I must say its disappointing that the cooler can only be mounted in one orientation on AM3 :\

Would something like a new mount below help or does the cooler simlpy just get in the way.

I know the Enzotek K10 mout can do 90/but is always out stock everywhere.This one below Prolimatech lets you turn 90degrees aswell.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/90...?tl=g40c14s222

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

that promilatech actually might work if it fit the slot... I might order one

[gOtVoltage]

that promilatech actually might work if it fit the slot... I might order one

I set one up for a friend with a BlackKnight,, but those dont have the slot.

The Bracket could probally be trimmed/shaved on the sides if need be and repainted worse case if any.

[Tony]

gentlemen, you need to remember those cold clocking represent 0.0000001% of the market if that, MSI have done well here to build a board that caters to the air and water crowd which is where all the market is. Intel and AMD have gone a little benchmark drunk for me at this time, they need to not lose sight of where the main customers will be. Its ok to make boards that work well cold but they are usually crap warm...and for me not worth the effort.DFI owned with the Ultra'd's etc as they were just so tweakable air cooled, people like to experiment and see the last 1% come to them, but monday morning they hit that default profile in bios and go right back to doing homework etc...

I would agree with Gary for 1st MSI but then i would go Asus and last GBT, I want to see the new DFI shine and will beg for a board soon although i begged them to drop SB750 in the M2R for the ddr2 boys as that board is just awesome with the 955.

[Zeus]

Tony, do you have the Crosshair III to test as well?

[lopri]

What's the temperature of this board like? That's the only thing that holds me from pulling the trigger on this board. I mean, supposedly 790FX and SB750 have very low TDP (both below 10W iirc) so I assume the only thing that heats up is power delivery around CPU socket. I have a Gigabyte DDR2 board and it gets barely warm to touch. (NB heatsink and Mosfet heatsink) But I heard from several users that this board gets warm especially the heatsink that covers NB/PWM. How hot does it get? And is there a way to read temps of the board so that I can plan for adequate cooling?

[Tony]

Tony, do you have the Crosshair III to test as well?

not yet...devoted quite a bit of time to the MSI so not been requesting many boards lately.

[lopri]

Oh and Tony.. what memory would you recommend for this board? If you don't mind.

[FlanK3r]

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1589&pageID=7022

see at Winrar bench!!!!!

omg.. its possible about 4000kb/s on AIR???..I have dieferent MB, but max only 2800Kb/s at 3800MHz

[Oliverda]

I really miss the core unlock feature from this board.

It's not the best choice for X2 550 and X3 users.

[Tony]

Oh and Tony.. what memory would you recommend for this board? If you don't mind.

any of the OCZ LV AMD kits, it all depends what cpu speed you are looking for and what CPU you are going to run.

Me...955...3.8GHZ, 2.6GHZ NB, 1333, 6-5-5-24 1T


Voltages....stock or slightly elevated cpu
1.2ish V CPU-NB
1.55 to 1.6V ram, some kits 1.65 if you are unlucky

all air cooled

[mav2000]

By any chance does the new bios have an unlock for 720 BE, am seriously considering the MSI or the Gigabyte 790X boards. Thanks.

[FlanK3r]

tony:can u try winrar bench at some hardcore setings CPU/NB? I mean, in review Bjorn3D is not possible so high score...