Phenom 9500 w/ MSI K9A2 Platinum

[TheMike]

just ordered this mb paired with a 9750 phenom, i'm anxiously waiting

[Daveburt714]

TheMike: That should be a good combo Mike, and even though this thread is huge, theres ALOT of good info in here to help you along..
If you have any questions when you get the parts just ask. If I can't help you I'm sure someone can....

charged3800z24:Your right! Changing the HT Multi really does seem to change the IMC Speed, but it is VERY squirley to say the least!!!
As far as Winrar and Everest results go the performance boost seems to be real!! I really thought I had trashed something when I went to 13x (HT) though, and the bad thing is once you raise that value there doesn't seem to be anyway to lower it again.... Once I went to 13x my performance dropped really bad, and I couldn't get the NB/IMC to come back down again by lowering the HT Multi! I tried every value from "Auto" to 5x and the NB seemed to be stuck at 2600Mhz with pitiful performance!!

By chance, I thought maybe I had trashed my memory so I installed so older DDR2 800 (instead of the 1066). It forced the system to rewrite the NVRAM and the performance came back up to some extent...

I put the 1066 Ram back in and everything came back to normal again... Whew....

[charged3800z24]

What I have to do ( cause I have AOD) is delete the config files in the program folder before I lower it. When I bring windows back up.. NB back down...Weird...

[charged3800z24]

Wassup Stranger...
Yeah, like a pitbull, I'm pretty tenacious.

I finally settled on the 1.5 release version (for now). It doesn't have the NB Multi option but you can clock the HTRef higher than my chips NB will handle so the effect is the same if you play with it. If your running a B3 you might want to give it a shot, you can always revert back.

charged3800z24: That HT/NB thing looks interesting, did you run any benchies to verify if it was real or just a fluke? Oh well, I'm kinda bored. I'll do a little testing on it and see what I come up with. Thanks for the tip!

Yes.. It brought my WINRAR up and was consistent.
I have really compared a whole lot else.. AOD bench test was higher as well.
Sorry for the slow responce, had a desaster server recovery to do this week after Lightening killed everything..

[GenTarkin]

whats the diff between v1 and v2 of this board...any different bios versions / oc ability difference?

[Daveburt714]

GenTarkin: If you have the option, I'd go with the V2...

I'm still running a V1 and it seems to be fine... IIRC, there were some improvements to the PWM section on the V2. I have a fan over my Power section so I've never had any problems.

For the price the K9A2 is probably one of the best boards available for the X4.

The Asus M3A32 may be a better option, but I've never owned one.

The one thing I can tell you for sure, is don't buy a GBT DS5 for use with a Phenom!!

[demonkevy666]

how do you get up to 240HT?

I keep seeing every one up there my board won't go higher then 216HT (with my phenom's 9550/9850 both of them.)

I had Sempron in this & that went all the way up to 300HT

am I not doing something? or missing something....?

[Daveburt714]

demonkevy666: On the 1.4 bios you don't have the option to lower the NB multi, so at 216 on the HTRef your IMC will be running at 2160. I'd be willing to bet that is whats causing the limit.

In the earlier days I used to run the 1.1B3 bios at 266 HT mainly because the 1066 memory option didn't work and it was the only way to get the memory up to speed. These were the settings I used 266 x 10.5 x 8 x 7. The 8x multi on the NB kept it below 2200.

Really, since they fixed the 1066 ram on the newer bios theres not much need to run high HTRef speeds (and it can cause stability problems).
I only use it now to tweek the NB and Memory and rarely take it over 205.

[TheMike]

today got a weird problem, started this morning setting my ram to 1066 (got 2x team xtreem 1066 sticks) but during afternoon got many apps crashing randomly.
Setting the value back to 800 solved the problem.

[gOtVoltage]

demonkevy666: On the 1.4 bios you don't have the option to lower the NB multi, so at 216 on the HTRef your IMC will be running at 2160. I'd be willing to bet that is whats causing the limit.

In the earlier days I used to run the 1.1B3 bios at 266 HT mainly because the 1066 memory option didn't work and it was the only way to get the memory up to speed. These were the settings I used 266 x 10.5 x 8 x 7. The 8x multi on the NB kept it below 2200.

Really, since they fixed the 1066 ram on the newer bios theres not much need to run high HTRef speeds (and it can cause stability problems).
I only use it now to tweek the NB and Memory and rarely take it over 205.

Also , If the Bios allows you to change the HT(Lower) use it just as you would to lower the NB when going higher in FSB...I dont own your particular Mobo but most 780/790 bioses are real simalar in functions and are getting better with time.

As long as the HT is between 1800mhz- 2100mhz you should have good stability with almost any AM2+ Mobo...Memory running @1066mhz /divider will most likely need more NBvolts(chipset) to keep the IMC happy with stock Vdimm as Higher CPU/multi is . Ive ran my Dominators @ 1150mhz+ with the default Vdim and 9600BE up to 2600mhz stable..I have a very low clocking 9600BE(dosnt like Volts ,maybe ColdBugged 1.18volts) It will be replaced with 9850/9950 real soon...The best my B2 has is 2600mhzCPU/2400mhzNB

NOTE:
Ive noticed the HT likes to be (lower than the NB or Equal)up to 1800-2000mhz. The NB can alot higher than 2000mhz easily but the HT likes to be set around 2000mhz or lower to keep things stable (No matter how HIGH/LOW the FSB/MHZ..)My TA770 does FSB280mhz max with Phenom@2660mhz.(280x9.5) while using 7xHT = 1960mhz/HT

Hope my 2cents helps and nice work guys,,gOtVolTage

[Lugburz]

Anyone tried 1.5 bios yet?

[demonkevy666]

demonkevy666: On the 1.4 bios you don't have the option to lower the NB multi, so at 216 on the HTRef your IMC will be running at 2160. I'd be willing to bet that is whats causing the limit.

In the earlier days I used to run the 1.1B3 bios at 266 HT mainly because the 1066 memory option didn't work and it was the only way to get the memory up to speed. These were the settings I used 266 x 10.5 x 8 x 7. The 8x multi on the NB kept it below 2200.

Really, since they fixed the 1066 ram on the newer bios theres not much need to run high HTRef speeds (and it can cause stability problems).
I only use it now to tweek the NB and Memory and rarely take it over 205.

no my HT changes my NB clocks Just like charged3800z24 board.

Also , If the Bios allows you to change the HT(Lower) use it just as you would to lower the NB when going higher in FSB...I dont own your particular Mobo but most 780/790 bioses are real simalar in functions and are getting better with time.

As long as the HT is between 1800mhz- 2100mhz you should have good stability with almost any AM2+ Mobo...Memory running @1066mhz /divider will most likely need more NBvolts(chipset) to keep the IMC happy with stock Vdimm as Higher CPU/multi is . Ive ran my Dominators @ 1150mhz+ with the default Vdim and 9600BE up to 2600mhz stable..I have a very low clocking 9600BE(dosnt like Volts ,maybe ColdBugged 1.18volts) It will be replaced with 9850/9950 real soon...The best my B2 has is 2600mhzCPU/2400mhzNB

NOTE:
Ive noticed the HT likes to be (lower than the NB or Equal)up to 1800-2000mhz. The NB can alot higher than 2000mhz easily but the HT likes to be set around 2000mhz or lower to keep things stable (No matter how HIGH/LOW the FSB/MHZ..)My TA770 does FSB280mhz max with Phenom@2660mhz.(280x9.5) while using 7xHT = 1960mhz/HT

Hope my 2cents helps and nice work guys,,gOtVolTage

My HT only go's lowers with NB. If I go higher my HT the NB go's up, the HT stays at 2,000mhz in the bios.

I have to use AOD to lower it

my goal 2.7ghz-2.8ghz cause my chip sucks

[Daveburt714]

no my HT changes my NB clocks Just like charged3800z24 board.

Mine does too, but once I raise the HT multi (in turn raising IMC) it seems to get stuck at that setting and requires all kinds of tricks to get it back down. Including swapping out ram and returning to a previous restore point in order to return to a useable setting...

I'll admit I've never tried using it to actually lower the IMC multi (other than to get it back to 10x, which didn't work btw).. Have you actually had success using it to lower the IMC multi?

Lugburz:IMHO, the 1.5 bios is probably the best I've used so far. Very stable and the 1066 mem option works as it should, in fact you can even tighten up timings to match your ram specs..

The HT Multi trick works on the IMC in the 1.5 bios too, but just as a warning going over 11x can cause wierd problems, at least on my board/chip...

[MonsterMash]

What is the HT Multi trick?

[TheMike]

just a question: this mainboard will support the new 9950 be? i'm asking cause it's a 140W cpu :|

[hondaman]

I ordered the K9A2 + a 9950. It will be here tomorrow. I am upgrading finally from my dual core opteron which has been a great box for nearly 18 months now.

Are there cliff notes, or a short "how to" for phenom overclocking? I would prefer to OC in bios, and not use the software.

Thanks!

[cdawall]

yours will be easy enough just start raising the multi at first until you get used to oc'ing the phneom because its a fair bit different from oc'ing your standard AMD

[hondaman]

yours will be easy enough just start raising the multi at first until you get used to oc'ing the phneom because its a fair bit different from oc'ing your standard AMD

Yeah. I know its different than my opteron. I dont want to just raise the multi, as I wont get a good OC that way.

[cdawall]

some are hitting 3.4ghz just multi but your correct its always better to tweak just go about it how you would your oppty find the highest booting multi then mkae it stable and push the HTT up

[jonspd]

ok fellas what bios are you guys using on this board ATM

is 1.62 the best out?

[Daveburt714]

Hey Jonspd, I tested most of them and had the best results using 1.62b, although I tried the POH and had no problems with it I spent alot more time on 1.62.

Hope this helps...

[Final8ty]

I'm on POH as it has Auto Express in it.

[Final8ty]

TheMike: That should be a good combo Mike, and even though this thread is huge, theres ALOT of good info in here to help you along..
If you have any questions when you get the parts just ask. If I can't help you I'm sure someone can....

charged3800z24:Your right! Changing the HT Multi really does seem to change the IMC Speed, but it is VERY squirley to say the least!!!
As far as Winrar and Everest results go the performance boost seems to be real!! I really thought I had trashed something when I went to 13x (HT) though, and the bad thing is once you raise that value there doesn't seem to be anyway to lower it again.... Once I went to 13x my performance dropped really bad, and I couldn't get the NB/IMC to come back down again by lowering the HT Multi! I tried every value from "Auto" to 5x and the NB seemed to be stuck at 2600Mhz with pitiful performance!!

By chance, I thought maybe I had trashed my memory so I installed so older DDR2 800 (instead of the 1066). It forced the system to rewrite the NVRAM and the performance came back up to some extent...

I put the 1066 Ram back in and everything came back to normal again... Whew....

I get the problem on the HT multi not going down again as well as the FSB not going down again, but its easily fixed buy saving your settings before upping the FSB/ HT-MULTI so if they get stuckup i just load the old ones.

If you have not done that beforehand load optimised defaults works for me as well but is a pain to have to reconfigure the bios from scratch.

Checking with cpu-z to see if all is well.

[SocketMan]

Non working 9850BE here. sensors-detect -> C1
9600BE working fine. Not that i think this is funny, the only thing beside stock was the cpu-multi at 13,5.

I know this was a while back, but did AMD give you a replacement?
I've got the same thing by the looks of it: C1/No boot/No Post/NotPushed at all
(the cpu)

[batmang]

This thread surely died. No one overclocking 9600/9600BE's anymore?