[Solved] Motherboard Advice!

[XxGordonxX]

After a terrible experience with the new AM3+ boards I've decided to return my sabertooth 990FX and I feel it would be a better plan to buy an older AM3 board instead of another AM3+. I'm considering purchasing the ASUS M4A89GTD PRO board but I wan't to be sure I'm buying a quality board this time.

I cannot return the processor which is a Phenom X6 1090 six core CPU, I've heard that some of the AM3 boards need bios updates to use the six core CPU's.

My questions are:

1. Is this a good board? If not what would you recommend.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631

2. Can I update the bios if the motherboard cannot recognize the CPU? My old computer's CPU is an AM2+ so my only option is to use the Phenom X6 1090 to boot the machine.

3. Also Just to be safe, What is the fastest speed RAM this board can take with no overclocking?

 

[Outlander_04]

The big secret of AM3+ motherboards is that they 890 and 990 chipsets are actually identical . All they changed was the name .

You cant get better compatibility by going backwards to an 890

Nor is there anything wrong with AM3+ motherboards . I strongly suggest you leave open the possibility of future cpu upgrades by only buying an AM3+ board .

What went wrong before with the sabertooth?

 

[XxGordonxX]

I had the build working fine, but occasionally the machine would reboot, sometimes while sitting idle, sometimes while gaming/watching tv. I could not figure out how to fix it and could get no help through these forums so I had to return it before my 30 days ran out.

specs


Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth 990fx AM3+
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2GHz
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper 8gb(2 x 4gb) DDR3 1600
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 460 (driver version 280.26)
PSU: Antec 650 Watt
Hard Drive: WD 500gb SATA II
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

I ran memtest86, the first time I ran 2 passes and it had no errors, the second time a few days later it it froze on 35% into the second pass, 85% into test 7: [block move]. After checking the website again my ram model was off by 2 character so it wasn't officially on the fully qualified memory list as i had thought so that may have been the issue.

As I've said my CPU is non refundable but if you would recommend a motherboard and RAM pair that you have had a good experience with I'd appreciate it. I do not want to overclock though, the menus in the bios were so confusing I could not figure out what half of it meant and I would feel more comfortable leaving it at stock speeds.

 

[beenthere]

I'd suspect the RAM first then the Asus mobo. There is nothing inherently wrong with the AM3+ mobos. In fact they are a smarter purchase as you can upgrade to the new Bulldozer CPUs.

FYI-The default RAM frequency for the 1090T is 1333 Mhz.

Obviously you need to use the proper RAM no matter what mobo you buy. For performance and reliability I'd recommend a Gigabyte AM3+ mobo. If you're only planning to run a single Vid card then the GA-970A-UD3 should be fine as would the GA-990XA-UD3. If you plan SLI or Crossfire then you'd want the GA-990FXA-UD5 or 7 model.

Just for the record the 800 and 900 series AMD chipsets are NOT identical. The 900 series supports 1866 Mhz. RAM default speed on the Bulldozer CPUs and the 900 series also supports SLI. The 800 series does not offer either of these features.

http://www.nordichardware.com/news/69-cpu-chipset/42174-amd-bulldozer-series-9-chipset-detailed.html

 

[Outlander_04]

Reading some of the feedback on AM3+ boards on Newegg , particularly the ASUS board I was interested, showed a lot of people having memory issues . Most people complaining the memory would reset to a lower speed .
I guess thats to be expected since the memory controller on a Phenom cpu is designed to run at 1333 MHz , and the mb was probably just deciding what was safe .

If you want crossfire or sli then the
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

If you will only use a single card then
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131757

 

[XxGordonxX]

So I need to lower the clock speed of the ram to 1333 mhz, when I booted the sabertooth up it was set to 1600 and it never tried to lower the setting. I haven't requested my RMA yet so i have a chance to put it back together and test it one more time.

Is there a beginners way of setting the clock speed without going through the settings manually? There were many extra settings that I had no clue what value to give that I had to assume the bios got them correct.

 

[Outlander_04]

So I need to lower the clock speed of the ram to 1333 mhz, when I booted the sabertooth up it was set to 1600 and it never tried to lower the setting. I haven't requested my RMA yet so i have a chance to put it back together and test it one more time.

Is there a beginners way of setting the clock speed without going through the settings manually? There were many extra settings that I had no clue what value to give that I had to assume the bios got them correct.

Every BIOS is different , so it pays to work through setting methodically , with the manual . Make changes only if you understand whats happening .
But yes I I think you need to try with the RAM set to 1333 Mhz . You should also check the voltage and timings . Adding a fraction more voltage or making the timings larger can help stability if there are problems .
My guess would be voltage though , since the 990fx should default to 1.5 volt

 

[XxGordonxX]

I've changed the RAM speed to 1333 mhz and lowered the voltage from 1.65 to 1.50 because the RAM voltage on the manufacturers site said that voltage, memtest86 is on its third pass and no errors. Going to keep an eye on it for the next day or two but I think that fixed it.

Thanks for the help, couldn't think of any reason why the motherboard wouldn't take that ram, never thought it would have been the CPU limitations.