Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 Thread

[aymeric106]

If you don't want to enable the 4th core, you should use F3F I think, OCed or not.

By the way, even with stock fan, the 720 can be overclocked pretty good.

Also, a nice add-on I use is this tool. It's a cool'n'quiet rework.

http://home.comcast.net/~pmc650/sit...2/&PHPSESSID=0487a762718f20b49b23f3d2078391b4


It's better than the gigabyte energy saver software
I installed it as a service, and it works great.

Here's my cnqsvcOC.cfg

[PState0]
cpuFreq=2800
cpuVolts=1.3250
nbVolts=1.2

[PState1]
cpuFreq=2100
cpuVolts=1.2250
nbVolts=1.2

[PState2]
cpuFreq=1600
cpuVolts=1.1250
nbVolts=1.2

[PState3]
cpuFreq=800
cpuVolts=1.0250
nbVolts=1.2

[LoopSleep]
loopSleep=50

The only annoying thing is: If the computer reboot sudenly (BSOD), you've got to stop the service, delete the cnqsvcOC.$$$safe!.run file and restart the service

aymeric

 

[Ozpa]

Thank you, sounds a bit complicated but I'll need to try it out sooner or later.

I'm expecting my CPU+Mobo to be delivered in an around half an hour, fingers crossed they both arrive at the same time.

 

[pmc650]

cnqsvcOC v0.04 is posted in response to a couple of email requests. Relatively new (?) features are:
- Configuration file voltage and frequency adjustments for up to 4 power states.
- CPU load sensitivity adjustment.
- More tolerant of initial power state table conditions.
- Auto delete of safety file after 5 minutes of runtime and on program exit.

http://home.comcast.net/~pmc650/site/?/page/CNQ_Phenom_II_WinXP32/

 

[pmc650]

BTW, if you already have cnqsvcOC installed, you can copy the *.exe over the old one - no need to create a new folder or execute "sc create" again.

Here's the mild overclock config I have setup - runs stable in a home file/VM server for months at a time:

[PState0]
cpuFreq=3000
cpuVolts=1.35
nbVolts=1.2

[PState1]
cpuFreq=2400
cpuVolts=1.2625
nbVolts=1.2

[PState2]
cpuFreq=1800
cpuVolts=1.15
nbVolts=1.2

[PState3]
cpuFreq=1000
cpuVolts=1.05
nbVolts=1.2

[CNQTweak]
loopSleep=60

 

[Xerran]

I have the GA-MA790X-UD4, it's a great board besides the cold boot issue that I have.

________________________________________________
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition @ 3708.85MHz (206.05*18)
Laing D5 MCP655 Pump | D-TEK FuZion v1 CPU Block | Feser One - F1 - Cooling Fluid
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 Motherboard (BIOS F2)
2048MB x2 G.SKILL (F2-8800CL5D-4GBPI) DDR2-1100 @ 5-5-5-15
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB
Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality FPS
WD Caviar Black 500GB (WD5001AALS) SATA 3.0 HDD x2
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W PSU
Cooler Master Cosmos S Chassis
Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
Driver Versions: Catalyst 9.4, X-Fi 2.18.0008
CPU-Z | 3DMark Vantage | Behold teh DRAGON

 

[Shadowdust]

My GA-MA790X-UD4 worked great for a while. Now I'm suffering from instability issues from two bad memory slots. Basically, slots one and three fail Memtest86 and Prime95 while testing with one module. If Gigabyte comes through and issues and RMA then I'll very much be recommending this board. So far though, they haven't been the easiest to deal with. They took four days to get back to me and now they're asking the same questions that I already answered in my first message. I'm on my third return message repeating the steps I took to come to the conclusion that the slots are bad. It's really quite frustrating.

 

[Jickel]

Issues with GA-MA790X-UD4 and AMD Overdrive

Hey, I just registered to see if I can get some help with my issues. I'm running a PII 720BE on a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 . With the F2A bios, I can unlock the extra core, but running any program that stresses all four cores simultaneously causes a system hang. It also gives me problems with cold boots. I still want to use some of the features of AMD Overdrive however, and here is where my issues begin.

With F3F and F2A I couldn't run auto clock nor toggle boost mode (the green button in the top right) without the system freezing instantly, UNLESS I was running all four cores (that is, F2A with ACC on). However, as I said before this was not a stable setup.

This caused me a lot of grief 'til I cleared the CMOS with the jumper on the motherboard, whereupon everything started working perfectly in F2A even with ACC off and the system running stable on three cores (I guess it never properly switched back to three cores just by turning off ACC). I decided to switch to F3F since it seems to be a better choice when running on three cores, but now I couldn't get auto clock to work (though the boost button is toggable), unless, it seems, I chose fail-safe defaults instead of optimized defaults in the bios (this does not affect ACC).

I then switched back to F2F, never bothering to touch ACC, I still can't get auto clock to work like it did before. Fail-safe vs Optimized defaults in bios doesn't seem to do much here.

Only thing left to try is to reinstall Overdrive or try an older BIOS, I guess. Either it's a helluva buggy program, or Gigabyte's BIOSes are crap. Also, are the ACC settings supposed to show up in Overdrive? They never do for me.


Comments, thoughts? I will probably end up sending a mail to gigabyte about these weird issues with AMD Overdrive. Even though I might not use the program much, I still want things to work as they should when running with the stock three cores.

 

[sniviler]

I gave up on OVERDRIVE and just overclocked directly through the bios.

Overdrive never read the voltages correctly from the bios and would freeze up constantly.

so I find the F3F bios the best for 3 cores w/o ACC.

 

[chaotic_uk]

just ordered this mobo and so ddr3 ram , i am glad i found thisthread

 

[Ozpa]

Just to clear it up chaotic, Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 uses DDR2 memory.

 

[chaotic_uk]

Just to clear it up chaotic, Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 uses DDR2 memory.

my mistake i thought it said GA-MA790XT-UD4P , i must be over tired lol

 

[Ozpa]

Heya again peeps

I'm thinking of overclocking my CPU a bit with stock cooling (check System Specs). What's the most common max safe overclock? Should I up the FSB or the multiplier?

I'm at around 30-32c idle in windows. Load is over 40c I believe.

 

[yonef]

... It also gives me problems with cold boots. ...

What kind of problems?
I have just flashed to F2A and I got some weird issues on cold boot:
When I turn off pc and after a while turn it back on it will never post, just keeps looping untill I press restart button and then it boots. If I just restart the PC it restarts normaly.

If you had the same issue, how did you fix it ?

 

[sniviler]

try disabling LEGACY USB STORAGE DETECT

HALT ON change to NO ERRORS

Check your EVENT VIEWER for any disk errors. if one of your harddrives are beginning to fail it will cause boot detection problems.

if your overclocking load defaults and retry your settings.

 

[yonef]

I found what cousing the problem with cold boots:
When ACC is enabled in the BIOS the system will not boot when it was shut down, until you press reset button. Hot boots on the other hand is no problem at all. Disableing ACC in the BIOS will fix the problem.
I have some more questions about this MB
1) Which BIOS is the latest one? On Gigabyte site when I choose UK and browse to my MB the BIOSes are in this order: F1, F2, F3F, F2A; But if I choose one of the other countrys (don't remember which one) the BIOSes are in this order: F1, F2, F2A, F3F, and release dates are different for the different countries;
2) Is there any guide how to set up properly ACC? What does this -2%, -4%, +2% ... mean?
3) How to get this "EasyEnergySaver" to work? I says that current CPU consumption is 7W and on full load is 8W. Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks in advance.

 

[aymeric106]

1) Which BIOS is the latest one? On Gigabyte site when I choose UK and browse to my MB the BIOSes are in this order: F1, F2, F3F, F2A; But if I choose one of the other countrys (don't remember which one) the BIOSes are in this order: F1, F2, F2A, F3F, and release dates are different for the different countries;

BIOS Version: F2A (2009/03/10)
BIOS Version: F3F (2009/03/09)
BIOS Version: F2 (2009/01/05)
BIOS Version: F1 (2008/12/23)

F2A allows you to unlock the 4th core on a PHENOM II X3

3) How to get this "EasyEnergySaver" to work? I says that current CPU consumption is 7W and on full load is 8W. Is there something I'm missing?

Be sure that coolnquiet is enabled in the BIOS.
If I remember right, coolnquiet does'nt work when ACC is enabled
Also, if you wan't to enable energy saving, you should use cnqsvcOC (see above posts). It works better than EasyEnergySaver.

aymeric

 

[Shadowdust]

I was wondering if those of you who have this board could do me a favor. Try increasing your vDIMM to 2.2 volts or higher and let me know if you have to clear the CMOS or not afterward. When I first got this board, I was using 2x2 GB Kingston HyperX 1066 MHz memory which is really picky about keeping the voltage at 2.2 volts. Of course, when I would set it there, I would get a black screen. So I was forced to run it at a lesser speed to keep the voltage down.

Also, what memory modules have you had success with? My board behaves very strangely with the G. Skill PI Black series of memory. I have two memory modules that work great in all four slots. Then I have two others that wont work in the first two slots but work flawlessly in the last two slots. I checked the memory on my wife's nForce 570 board and it comes up without memory errors of any kind. So my guess is that there's some compatibility issues. I would like to switch to some memory that I know will definitely work with this board if you have any suggestions.

 

[sniviler]

try adjusting the following settings.

on the main bios screen hit (Ctrl+F1) for extra memory settings.

DQS Training Control change to Perform


Trfc0 for DIMM1
Options are: 75ns, 105ns (default), 127.5ns, 195ns, 327.5ns.
Trfc2 for DIMM2
Options are: 75ns, 105ns, 127.5ns, 195ns, 327.5ns.
Trfc1 for DIMM3
Options are: 75ns, 105ns, 127.5ns, 195ns, 327.5ns.
Trfc3 for DIMM4
Options are: 75ns, 105ns, 127.5ns, 195ns, 327.5ns.

 

[Shadowdust]

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that but it didn't help my issue. What did help though was G.Skill support. I contacted them about my concern that the memory wasn't compatible. Well they contacted Gigabyte and asked them to confirm if they found an issue. Gigabyte said they could not find anything wrong. Of course, there was a difference in their testing compared to mine. They were using a newer F3I BIOS. I was using F3F. So G.Skill was kind enough to send me the update. I installed F3I and low and behold, my memory gets zero errors now! Not only that, but my Cool N' Quiet actually works! Cool N' Quiet when enabled, would not dynamically change speeds and voltages.

If anyone is having issues with their board, just pm me and I'll send you the update.

 

[bilbots]

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that but it didn't help my issue. What did help though was G.Skill support. I contacted them about my concern that the memory wasn't compatible. Well they contacted Gigabyte and asked them to confirm if they found an issue. Gigabyte said they could not find anything wrong. Of course, there was a difference in their testing compared to mine. They were using a newer F3I BIOS. I was using F3F. So G.Skill was kind enough to send me the update. I installed F3I and low and behold, my memory gets zero errors now! Not only that, but my Cool N' Quiet actually works! Cool N' Quiet when enabled, would not dynamically change speeds and voltages.

If anyone is having issues with their board, just pm me and I'll send you the update.

Hello,

Can you please tell me what's is this version of bios ?... F3I, it is a new one ?...

Please send me thanks ! i have the G.skill memory too

With the F3I, it's possible to unlock the phenom II ?

 

[musicman53]

If any of y'all are messin with overclocking then aint a good idea to have cool n quiet enabled anywhere.

 

[Shadowdust]

I think that's true for older CPUs but I was curious so I tried seeing how far I could push the CPU with an FSB overclock while enabling Cool N' Quiet. Interestingly enough, when voltage is set to auto, it is compensating for the additional power draw that is needed for the overclock. Rather than CPU voltage resting a .8 volts at idle it is now resting at 1.06 volts. At full load, the voltage boosts to 1.42 and provides a stable overclock at 3.5 GHz. So far, I'm Prime95 stable for 16 hours. So this is probably the most energy efficient overclock I've done.

 

[bilbots]

I think that's true for older CPUs but I was curious so I tried seeing how far I could push the CPU with an FSB overclock while enabling Cool N' Quiet. Interestingly enough, when voltage is set to auto, it is compensating for the additional power draw that is needed for the overclock. Rather than CPU voltage resting a .8 volts at idle it is now resting at 1.06 volts. At full load, the voltage boosts to 1.42 and provides a stable overclock at 3.5 GHz. So far, I'm Prime95 stable for 16 hours. So this is probably the most energy efficient overclock I've done.

Damm Shadowdust !!! thanks very much man !!! this bios is really magic!!!
now my motherboard is stable, my computer don't freeze with the unlock x4 ! the overclock is different and it's possible to up really !

thanks !! i don't understand why gigabyte don't release this magic bios

 

[Shadowdust]

Yeah, I really don't know why they haven't either. Other than the fact that VDIMM still freezes at 2.2 volts and ACC still isn't recognized in AOD, this is a pretty solid BIOS update. Let's hope that they make this a public release in June.

Oh one more thing I noticed in performance. I'm now able to up my CPU Northbridge speed to 2.1 GHz. This has significantly improved overall performance. With the old BIOS I was lucky to even be stable at stock speeds. If Gigabyte can fix the 2.2 VDIMM issue, I think this board will really be able to go the distance in regards to overclocking.

 

[Bo$$]

thanks !! i don't understand why gigabyte don't release this magic bios

Too darn lazy i guess :shadedshu