Upgrade to AMD 1100T X6 3.3 GHz CPU

[wjmeyer]

(new member here) I have a 2-year old Gigabyte AMD GA-MA790GP-DSH4 motherboard with the 790GX chipset and want to upgrade from my AMD X4 945 CPU to a AMD X6 1100T 3.3 GHz CPU. I know from the Gigabyte web site that I'll have to upgrade my F1 bios to the F7I bios using Q-flash. Is there anything else I would need to do after installing the new CPU. thanks

 

[itzdanielp]

Nope that is all you really have to do.

Make sure you put new Thermal Compound between the processor and the heatsink though!!!

Just an FYI... If I were you I would go with the 1090T or the 980BE. The 1090T is just slightly slower and can very easily be OC'd up to where the 1100T can be and is about 20-30 dollars less.

The 980BE (which I have) is clocked at 3.7GHz, and can easily be pushed past 4.25GHz on air. It usually runs at the same price as the 1090T again saving you some money.

If you are going to be using it mostly for gaming and general household / office work you would be better off going for 4 cores / faster CPU than the 6 core models.

 

[Nipun tharaka]

you have X4 processor ?

 

[itzdanielp]

Me? Yes

 

[wjmeyer]

I now have a AMD X4 945 3.0 GHz cpu. I want the faster X6 cpu (has double the speed on speed charts) to reduce the time it takes to backup my blu-ray movies - this will reduce 3-4 hours of processing time (4 cores at 100%) to 1-2 hours, and I can get work to pay for the new $189 cpu.

 

[wjmeyer]

On the PassMark (at cpubenchmark.net site) CPU performance chart, the 1100T X6 rated a 6314 vs. the 945 X4 rating of 3630, almost twice the performance.
I don't do much gaming on my desktop (more on my Infuse phone). But I hear what you're saying, I may be puting a Hemi-V8 in a Ford Focus. I'll think about waiting (a month or so) on this upgrade. If I wait, I might then ask for a recommendation on a motherboard/cpu upgrade to fit in my existing case with same memory chips, video card, etc. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[wjmeyer]

On the PassMark (at cpubenchmark.net site) CPU performance chart, the 1100T X6 rated a 6314 vs. the 945 X4 rating of 3630, almost twice the performance.
I don't do much gaming on my desktop (more on my Infuse phone). But I hear what you're saying, I may be puting a Hemi-V8 in a Ford Focus. I'll think about waiting (a month or so) on this upgrade. If I wait, I might then ask for a recommendation on a motherboard/cpu upgrade to fit in my existing case with same memory chips, video card, etc. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[wjmeyer]

I did a system info. and CPU-Z check and it says I have the GA-MA790GP-UD4H motherboard (different from my orig. order receipt back in Oct. 2009), so the bios I would need is F7C released 7/8/10 (not F7I released 12/24/10). Since the AMD 1100T was released months later on 12-7-10, I don't see how bios F7C would work with the 1100T - I need to do some more research so I don't goof things up. I may send an email to Gigabyte tech. support to verify.
Now to go play some golf.

 

[wjmeyer]

I think so, after reading the user's manual and watching a video on youtube. It seems Q-flash is the best way. I probably won't do an update until I'm sure about upgrading the cpu, maybe in a week or two. But before I do, I'll do a backup of cmos and current bios F1 so I can bo back if any problem develops. Thanks for your input.

 

[wjmeyer]

I wanted to download the F1 bios from Gigabyte as a backup (before I upgrade to F7C)- it's not listed!
I'm confused, Gigabyte's web site has the first bios for the GA-MA790GP-UD4H mb as F2, yet CPU-Z shows my mb having F1. Why would Gigabyte not include F1 as a valid (original) bios on their list for the UD4H motherboard.
Also, most web sites I googled (like cpu-upgrade.com) show the UD4H mb only having the AM2/AM2+ socket, yet mine has the AM3 socket withthe AMD 945 cpu...... very confusing.

 

[wjmeyer]

If my board has the AM2+ socket, the Gigabyte CPU processor support site (http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3003) doesn't even list my AMD 945 X4 cpu. The 945 (which CPU-Z says I have) is only listed on the AM3 socket list.
I need to open the computer to verify exactly what I have, I know the mb has the model no. printed on the edge of the board, how do I know which socket I have?

Update: The following from wikipedia:
As AM3 processors also support DDR2, they are backwards-compatible with Socket AM2/AM2+, contingent upon a BIOS update for the motherboard. Manufacturers including Asus,[5] Gigabyte,[6] and others have labeled existing AM2/AM2+ boards as being "AM3 Ready" or similar, indicating that BIOS support is provided for the specified boards. This allows existing AM2/AM2+ systems to upgrade the CPU without having to upgrade any other components.

This answers my question - apparently I can put an AMD 1100T X6 cpu in my AM2+ socket and it will work, even with my DDR2 memory. I'm learning all the time.

 

[wjmeyer]

Just wanted research before doing updates, don't want unpleasant surprise. Carpet guys have a saying: measure twice, cut once.
Thanks for the help.

 

[wjmeyer]

Nothing ever works the first time. Q-Flash doesn't recognize my usb flash drive (fat-32 format), but does see my usb 1.44MB 3.5" floppy drive. However, it doesn't see the F7C bios file, even when I rename it in 8.3 format. I plan to try another usb flash drive tomorrow night. I just can't win, any thoughts?

 

[wjmeyer]

I finally got Q-flash to see the USB floppy drive and successfully updated to the F7C bios (verified with CPU-Z), and everything seems to work fine. I reformatted the floppy disk and that did the trick. Now to order the AMD 1100T cpu, and let work pay for it. I noticed that a cooling fan comes in the box with the new cpu, does AMD usually include thermal paste in the box?
The fun continues. Thanks again.

 

[wjmeyer]

The AMD X6 1100T arrived yesterday, installed last night, working great at about double speed of X4 945. I was surprised at how much force was needed to lever down the fan/heatsink to the processor (I checked that the cpu was fully inserted/seated before flipping lever). But everything is working fine, thanks for your help.

 

[wjmeyer]

Update: I decided to upgrade my mb to the GA-880GM-usb3 (with hdmi) for my new 1100t and move the old 790 with the 3.0Ghz to my old computer. Now I'll have faster memory, ddr3, and usb 3.0.
(The rev. 1.0 of this board is impossible to find.)

 

[wjmeyer]

I want to get the Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H rev. 3.1 (supports AM3+ socket) motherboard, but can't find it anywhere (not at Tigerdirect or Newegg), where else should I look.

 

[wjmeyer]

I got the GA-880GM-UD3H, rev. 3.1 with the AM3+ socket, 6Gb/s SATA, & USB 3.0 (I also wanted FDD/IDE headers and HDMI out), and it's working great with the 1100T 3.3GHz X6 cpu. My next upgrade in the not-too-distant future will be a Solid State Drive for my C: drive. Thanks for your help along the way.

 

[wjmeyer]

Tigerdirect. Graphics is ATI HD-4350...., for now. Even upgraded to IE9, better than IE8, but still use Firefox. Everything working fine.