Phenom II X4 960T

[equex]

I found a locked thread about this, so if there's more active 960T threads, I apoligize. I am new here!
I just upgraded from an AM2 Athlon X2 64 to a Phenom II X4 960T.

I have a MSI K9A2 Platium mainboard (with 790FX chipset/SB600 SB. This is a transition socket board, AM2+, please note) and now one 960T but the BIOS update only supports TurboCore, not core unlocking, as far as I could find out. Is this correct? (If anyone here has the same mainboard).

I've tried to disable Tubo Core, but still didn't find a BIOS option for that. Could be the motherboard does not support it? It does not state that it supports HexCore.

So my main question is; what motherboard should I upgrade to next? The 960T has not only a DDR2 controller but a DDR3 controller as well (that't what he specs says) so if you have a AM3 DDR3 board it will still work, right? I think the 960T is AM3 but also for some reason my AM2+ supports it.

It would have to be a DDR3 board that supports the 960T still and at the same time supports CrossFire and the Hex-Core that you can unlock from the 960T.

PS: To other users of this fantastic board (except one of the the extra RAID ports are broken on mine ) Put it to 64 bit Unganged. The performance might actually go up quite a bit. Goolge showed ne that 128 bit is a special case scenario, generally not needed for gamers and such. It is better for database stuff. Enable Spread Spectrum, and SVM.

[theoneandonlymrk]

Originally Posted by equex

So my main question is; what motherboard should I upgrade to next? The 960T has not only a DDR2 controller but a DDR3 controller as well (that't what he specs says) so if you have a AM3 DDR3 board it will still work, right?

a 990fx mobo would allow crossfire etc even 990X does all are ddr3 that ive seen and id go asus if i were you but others are good too gigabyte or asrock and you may not be able to unlock anyway (no expert ) mine hasnt unlocked the few goes ive had


itll oc well tho if it dosnt unlock

actual boards for me ,fair price asrock extreme3 or 4 or gigabyte UD3 ultimate choice Gigabyte UD5 CrosshairV or asus armour one cant rem name but all 990fx boards them rangeing from 100-180 uk

[equex]

Sorry for typo in the thread title , of all things. It is of course a Phenom! Typos are plenty today Happy New years, everyone!

[BUCK NASTY]

Originally Posted by equex

Sorry for typo in the thread title , of all things. It is of course a Phenom! Typos are plenty today Happy New years, everyone!

Fixed!

[equex]

Thank you both! I will look into the 990FX line!

[equex]

And I know, only some mobos will unlock cores after BIOS flashing, as far as I've seen. I really have to research this one well before I choose, so I can take the most advantage of all my hardware!

I plan to do a clean switch from my current mainboard within a year or so to a new one+DDR3 memory. Depends on prices, really. I hope they don't drop AM3 sockets/960T support very soon.

I am hoping to find a board that has better RAID/SATA support than my current board. Or else I have to buy an PCIe x8 RAID controller as well. (I am afraid a x1 or x4 card would disrupt my PCIe graphics card configuration from a 16/8/8 setup to 8/8/4/8 or even worse, 4/4/4/4. I went down from 16/16 when I installed the PhysX card, but it's worth it.

If there was a DDR2 board that took AM3 and 960T I would get that, but it's mostly out of stock in all the online stores I buy from.

[MGF Derp]

970 and 870 can do crossfire too, especially the AsRock boards like the Extreme 3's and there cheap. 960T doesnt need AM3+ 900 series chipset. Can use it but doesnt need it.

[equex]

And I know, only some mobos will unlock cores after BIOS flashing, as far as I've seen. I really have to research this one well before I choose, so I can take the most advantage of all my hardware!

I plan to do a clean switch from my current mainboard within a year or so to a new one with DDR3+memory. Depends on prices, really. I hope they don't drop AM3 sockets/960T support very soon. I almost upgraded CPU too late! The 960T is the last Phenom it supports.

If there was a DDR2 board that took AM3 and 960T I would get that to save the memory costs, but it's mostly out of stock in all the online stores I buy from. I could probably use another 4 gigs anyway!

Oops, did a weird double post there.

[equex]

I looked into it and it seems that Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 would support 960T with hex core rigth? And it has USB3, and RAID. Would you recommend this?

Also MSI 990FXA-GD65 seems good, but I am much less sure that this supports hex core.

[equex]

Is there a 32nm edition of the 960T? There's only one Phenom II X4 960T and it's 45nm right?

[theoneandonlymrk]

just 45nm afaik and the gigabyte looks to be a good board, earlier ones ive seen sold for 90quid just because you couldnt throw a bulldozer straight in(needs bios update which the v2 allready has )(same with asrock extreme3990fx seen cheap) but that dosnt matter if you get a phenomII and you have

and you have an upgrade path viable for 2-3 years cpu wise then

ps add to your last post dude via edit ,double postings not allowed

memorys the cheap bit dude these days

[equex]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlymrk

ps add to your last post dude via edit ,double postings not allowed

I apologize and I always try to keep posts to a minimum, what happened is that I confused the Update Box and the Quick Reply and so I was stuck with two posts! I will try my best to avoid it. Happened twice today. I shall make better use of the Preview Post button!

Edit: And thanks for the info, I was wondering how long i had a path for the CPU.

[Norton]

I have a 960T and the Asus 990X board coming next week (wanted to be Bulldozer ready). Cadaveca had some good things to say about the Asus 970 & 990X boards.... saved a couple of $$$ too

Upgrading from the Gigabyte 890XA-UD3 and a PII X2 555. This board unlocked the 555 and my spare X3 720 to 4 cores with no problems.

Will be trying to unlock the 960T in my current board before I swap out- Gigabytes unlock control is pretty simple and am hoping for the same with the Asus board.

[theoneandonlymrk]

let us know either way on the unlock pls

[Norton]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlymrk

let us know either way on the unlock pls

Will do... will try it on my MSI DKA790GX platinum too

[bear2790]

I eventually went for a Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 after trying an ASRock 990FX Extreme4 (also a very nice board but more expensive and runs the same as the Gigabyte)

Has all the bells and whistles most users will need, excellent build quality and 2oz copper PCB (Ultra-Durable 2), 8+1 power phase and a 3 year warranty

I'm very pleased with the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 and I highly recommend it.

[theoneandonlymrk]

just fininished a bit of an ocin mission , Ive now waterblocked the 960T and its doin 4.2Ghz at min ,core volts are high at 1.53 but ahwell gives me something todo later still wont unlock though tut.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by bear2790

I eventually went for a Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 after trying an ASRock 990FX Extreme4 (also a very nice board but more expensive and runs the same as the Gigabyte)

Has all the bells and whistles most users will need, excellent build quality and 2oz copper PCB (Ultra-Durable 2), 8+1 power phase and a 3 year warranty

I'm very pleased with the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 and I highly recommend it.

IIRC the UD3 is the only 990FX board out of the GA 990FX series to not share PEG bandwidth with other slots on the motherboard meaning you get 2 full speed PEG slots that both operate at 16x and not 8x...

where as with the UD5 the PEG 2 slot shares its bandwidth with the lower full size PCI E slot and the UD7 shares with the 2 lower PCI E slots. Im assuming the UD3 has the UEFI capability now?

[Rich F]

I'm looking to buy this processor myself...

'AMD Phenom II X4 960T 3.0GHz Black Edition'

However I'm unsure whether I can get it to run on my current mobo?

Can anyone say if they've tried it or know if it will be ok? My mobo is a 'ASUS 'Crosshair' nForce 590SLI' which the official website only shows the Phenom I as a supported CPU.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD...ROSSHAIR/#CPUS


I read here that someone has used a 940 with the 1304 beta bios
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-ASUS/CROSSHAIR.html

Any help is really appreciated

[Red_Machine]

My ASUS nForce 980a board has an unlocker switch. Maybe you should look into that.

[Rich F]

Thanks but I don't think mine has, at least I can't find anyhting about it on the www and I don't recall reading about one in my mobo manual.

[JrRacinFan]

With proper bios support it can do the whole Phenom II lineup. The problem is finding the latest bios for it. Pretty sure the nVidia 590 SLI lineup doesn't do unlocking though. Would have to look into minimum 750a chipset.

[MasterInvader]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

With proper bios support it can do the whole Phenom II lineup. The problem is finding the latest bios for it. Pretty sure the nVidia 590 SLI lineup doesn't do unlocking though. Would have to look into minimum 750a chipset.

+1
Crosshair I and II don't have "unlock" on board or bios.

I search @ the Asus Support [MB.Crosshair] and didn't find any information about this MB supporting the Phenom II X4´s.

The only way you know for sure is contact Asus.
http://service.asus.com/

Edit: New info

I found this: Customized and modified Crosshair BIOS 1402
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?...age=2&count=32

[Rich F]

Thanks for the info guys Especially MasterInvader; it seems I'm probably better looking for a 940 instead and use Ginie's 1402 modified BIOS.

[MasterInvader]

Originally Posted by Rich F

Thanks for the info guys Especially MasterInvader; it seems I'm probably better looking for a 940 instead and use Ginie's 1402 modified BIOS.

The 940 is a nice upgrade, you can easily OC to 3.6.
Bus: 200 Multiplier: 18 VCore: 1.45