Sabertooth 990FX, really good or overhyped. (I have one already and I really like it). Also what board did you get for the hexcore, and where's the review?
It is a very high quality board. It is the cheapest board you can get with decent Tri-SLI support. Has like 90% of the features of the CHV, but you save $50. Overclocking ability is sacrificed a bit from the CHV, but nothing that will effect 99% of users. It also has a 5 year warranty which is kinda amazing.
If you don't wanna spend the money on the CHV, and for some reason don't like the ASRock 990FX Fatal1ty Pro, i would say the Sabertooth is the next best thing.
Hey Reflex, thanks for this thread!
Here's a question for you: I'm not overly familiar with the sockets of last generation's AMD mobos and how well -- if at all -- that they'll play with Bulldozer. One of the motherboards I own and use right now is the Gigabyte GA-890GP-UD3H and I'm not sure if it will physically seat the 32nm architecture of Bulldozer. I'm looking to upgrade to Bulldozer around Christmas, and the question is ...
Is it at all possible that I can fit, say ... the FX-8150 in the socket that my current motherboard has? Would it be safe, or even worthwhile to do so? Or would it just be better in general to upgrade my motherboard, and if I SHOULD just plain upgrade it, what's a good enthusiast's AM3+ motherboard?
If it helps you map out the features I'll need, I plan to overclock the stock clock rate to 4.0GHz on air (maybe higher if I can get a decent CPU cooler). I'd also like to have an extra PCI-E slot to throw in another 6950/6970 for Crossfire. Other features that would be nice are USB 3.0 (but I think that's pretty standard nowadays?
) and high-quality audio -- I'm an an amateur audiphile who loves it when his games sound good and his music sings to his ears.
EDIT: as much as I'd hate to use any products with Fatal1ty's name on it,
this ASRock board seems to be a nice alternative to ASUS' Sabertooth 990FX...?
AMD threw a massive wrench in the system with their latest stepping. Originally FX was supossed to work on older boards with AM3a sockets, as long as they board had a bios to support it. Depending on what revision of the UD3H you have, it may or may not have an FX bios (i think rev 2.1 on does).
HOWEVER! Some boards that got FX bios's have not been working with bulldozer. For example the Crosshair IV does have a bios that supports FX, but for some reason FX does not work anyways...
I would contact the manufacturer on this one specifically, since only they will know for sure.
As for AM3+ boards, the Sabertooth is a solid choice. The Fatal1ty has more bells and whistles, but only supports 16x16x4x, whereas the sabertooth will do 16x8x8x. There are no real "bad" 990FX boards. The UD5 and UD7 are probably the lowest on my list since they suffer from pretty terrible vdroop (voltage lowers a lot under load). Some vdroop is normal, but the UD5/UD7 have been see going down like .1-.15v
A bios that supports LLC could be implemented, but I don't really like buying products based on future updates.....
If you want to save a bit of cash, the 990FXA-UD3 is a good option. I think it satisfies all of your requirements too.
Here's one, because it happened to me last week.
How can I stop AMD's intolerance to mismatched RAM frequencies?
For example, on my MSI 760gm, I had 4GB's of OCZ Fatality 1333. Then, went out and bought 4GB's of Kingston HyperX 1600, and it blue screened after about 3 days. Which eventually reoccurred every few hours. I had the bios frequencies set to 1333 (downclocked Kingston), and it still BS'd. So I took out the OCZ, and clocked the Kingston at 1600, and it's been stable since.
Oh and before you ask, I bought 1600 because for some reason it was the same price as the equivalent 1333.
If I can't get any easy solutions, I'll just pick up another 4GB's of the Kingston, because it's only $30. Plus I'm able to overclock .3GHz more with the higher frequency.
I'll go ahead and answer this one.
First, which one of these motheboards (if any of them) is yours?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... 600008296 600008414&IsNodeId=1&name=AMD 760G
This doesn't sound like a motherboard issue, but rather, it could possibly be a RAM issue. The fact that when you take out a set of ram the problem goes away leads me to believe there may be something physically wrong with the RAM, not the motherboard itself. I have a 790GX, and while the northbridge/PCIe controller may be different, the actual architecture for the memory controller (which is on the CPU itself) is not.
This may take some time, but I need you to do this with the RAM.
Put in both sticks of OCZ RAM, and take out the newer Kingston RAM.
Download
Memtest86
Follow the directions for creating a bootable disk.
After this, you need to restart your computer and boot from the disk. You should automatically run the test utility. Let that run for around 6 hours or so (do this overnight if possible). It won't damage any part of your computer. It tests your RAM for errors. If errors come back, you know that one or both sticks are going bad. If no errors come back, then something else may be causing your problems.
And before you ask, I have mismatched RAM sticks (2 G.Skill 1600mhz CAS9 and 2 PNY 1600mhz CAS8) and my computer runs 1600mhz DDR3 with all 4 sticks installed no problem.
Ok cool. Just checking. AMD organizes their slots differently from Intel, which is why I screwed up the first time. Good to know you've already checked that.
I would say that is more of a ram problem. With AMD/newer intel boards, ram issues are RARELY the fault of the motherboard. The Memory controller is in the CPU, the board just acts as a pass through, so unless you damaged the slots or something it should be fine.
Troubleshooting:
try setting the ram to the lowest speed possible (probably 800MHz or 1066MHz), with really loose timings (9-9-9-28 2N)
Specifically the 2N part. I have found when running 4 dimms on Deneb, they sometimes cannot handle 1T command rate.
Also, if you have a C2 chip, you are pretty much screwed if you wanna run 4 dimms at 1600MHz. C2 memory controller is particularly weak. To run 4 dimms at anything close to 1600 you really would ideally have an E0 Controller (Thuban), or FX.
that said, something like 1333 9-10-9-24 2N/T should be doable on a C2 chip.
