Upgrade 680i -> 790i questions

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Hey guys,

So my EVGA 680i board went out last week (long story there - tl;dr - southbridge glowed & literally went up in smoke), and EVGA is out of 680i replacement boards, so I'm getting an RMA replacement 790i FTW board.
Doing some quick googling, it looks like this board is actually quite awesome, and has a lot of possibilities, but I have a few questions:

1) The biggest question - My old setup had (2) RAID arrays that I was using - A boot RAID 0 of 2xRaptors with XP on it, and a 4disc RAID 5 array with my storage (music, vids, games, etc). My biggest necessity is to be able to reuse those arrays with the new setup. EVGA said that the raid controllers are the same between the two boards, but since the chipsets are different, will this still work? My plan was to plug the discs back in the same controller order, configure BIOS to read RAID, reboot and pray... Any tips/suggestions?

2) Any issues with cooling on this board? It seems to have a robust heat pipe array spanning all heat-emitting elements on the board. But with the 680i, there was definite advantage in removing the stock heatsinks and replacing the thermal goop. Anyone know about this kinda thing or similar with 790i FTW?

3) After I get the thing rebuilt with RAID arrays functioning, my next plan of attack is to OC the thing. Apparently its pretty awesome, but any advice/help/links for OCing with an Q6600?

4) 680i was DDR2, 790i is DDR3 - I bought G.Skill 2x4GB 1866 memory (good discount) on newegg (G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR...). Had good reviews, but just wondered about your opinions if it'll work with this board. Little bit of googling said the board has a really good memory controller, and people had good success with G.Skill in the past, but most links were 2yr old memory.

Thanks in advance guys, I always come here as my first resource for anything computers, always the best folks here.

Cheers

 

[Bo$$]

1) if they said it will work then it should be fine
2) No major issues with it, it is fairly old so most issues have been ironed out with bios updates. Cooling is decent just make sure you got decent airflow in yo case
3) No links but quick google gave me: http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/310606-overclocking-q6600-790i-ultra-question.html
4) Memory looks awesome! i think max speed with that board is 1600mhz, but you still got some upgrade space...

Also you might want to stick a cheap Q9XXX processor they will overclock MUCH further on that board and give you some seriously better performance on a budget

good luck
post back if you got issues with anything im sure we can all help

 

[The Von Matrices]

I used a 790i reference board for about a year, so I can help you:

1) The southbridges are the same on all nVidia chipsets since the 590 SLI, so your RAID array should work on the new chipset with no problem.

2) I didn't have a problem with the stock TIM, but replacing it could never hurt. The chipset does get hot, but I never found that adding additional cooling helped me with overclocking. Maybe this was because I had a high airflow case. If you have a low airflow case, use the northbridge fan.

3) I have had more success overclocking with the 790i than with any of my previous Intel boards, so I think you will be very happy. I had a q9450, so I can't comment on 65nm processors, but I don't believe it will be any different than previous LGA775 boards.

4) This memory will not work. The chipset only supports 2GB modules and will not boot with 4GB modules. You will need to acquire 2GB modules. This was my main complaint about the chipset because I always wanted more than 8GB of memory for video editing. See this link for confirmation of this limitation. Remember if you do buy other modules, they need to use 1Gbit or smaller chips, which means that 2GB DIMMs have to be dual-sided. The cheap 2GB single sided DIMMS today use 2Gbit chips, which are not compatible.

I also found that the chipset is really designed for high voltage DDR3. It was hard to get a good overclock on the FSB if the memory voltage was less than around 1.7V. I had mine at 1.9V and got a good 30% overclock on the processor, but at 1.5V I couldn't get it past 5% without stability issues. The 1.65V limitation is for core i7/i5/i3 processors, not the memory, so I wouldn't worry about pushing the voltage above this.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Broom2455]

680 - 790i

Check my System Specs for more info. I am running a Asus Striker II Extreme 790i board right now. I can't help with raid as I have never done it , but any other advice you need I may be able to help you

 

[ron732]

I had to do what you are about to go through. A Gigabyte mobo crapped out on me and I had a 2 disk RAID 0 array. I bought another Gigabyte board which had a different chipset but the same raid controller and it worked but I had to do a Windows Repair Installation. Not a repair using the recovery console but a Repair Installation. This is necessary because the hardware abstraction layer has changed from the old mobo to the new one. The Repair Install should just replace system files preserving your settings and applications. You will have to do a Windows Update afterwards. Good luck with the new mobo.

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Wow thanks for all the feedback guys.

1) I'm hoping it ends up that basic. Your procedure is similar to that described by evga support though - plug them in, let windows do its thing for a long while, then download all the latest drivers and such to completely make things stable. *cross-fingers* we'll see

2) I'll probably leave the stock cooling in tact unless the need arises otherwise. If I notice any kind of high temps, I might rework it. Noticed this thread in that regard: (http://www.evga.com/forumsarchive/tm.asp?m=573261&mpage=1&key=&#573261)

3) Thanks for the link and advice, and system specs. After I get the HDs stable & info backed up I'll start messing with it a bit & let you know how it goes.
Any advice on a "cheap/budget" QXXXX chip? All the ones I've seen are like $250+

4) Crapola on the RAM, cuz I already ordered it, hopefully it gets here today. I did a search, and found this thread: (http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?&m=837038&mpage=1) and hoping it may apply for me as well. If that thread is right, I may even be able to bump in the future to 4x4?? Who knows, but again I'll let you know what happens. I might be making a run to Fry's today to get some compatible RAM worst case...

Thanks guys, I'll report back after assembly.

 

[Broom2455]

Upgrade Questions

Regarding Q9550 in US, I google searched the same CPU as mine (Q9550) and came up with this page http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=q9550&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=DxK&rlz=1R1GGLL_en-GB___GB419&biw=1662&bih=831&prmd=ivnsr&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=10039799162204084023&sa=X&ei=knT6Ta64AtSbhQfxs8GCAw&ved=0CF0Q8wIwAA

Just thought this may be of some help to you

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Regarding Q9550 in US, I google searched the same CPU as mine (Q9550) and came up with this page http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=q9550&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=DxK&rlz=1R1GGLL_en-GB___GB419&biw=1662&bih=831&prmd=ivnsr&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=10039799162204084023&sa=X&ei=knT6Ta64AtSbhQfxs8GCAw&ved=0CF0Q8wIwAA

Just thought this may be of some help to you

Correct me if I'm wrong, but those are all only upgrades available for when you purchase another pre-built system/item. You can't purchase them on their own.

When i google shopping search "q5500 -upgrade" you come up with a different price list

 

[Broom2455]

Ok, i'm sorry

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

I'm googling "WTS q5500" and "FS q9550" within last month, looking for forum folks selling theirs. We'll see how well that turns up

 

[ron732]

Try this link. I am surprised that they have some in stock. Still that is a lot money for a CPU from 2 generations ago.

Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Ok so to update everyone!

I received the 790i finally from EVGA, although it had grease, fingerprints, and leftover TIM horribly messy all over the CPU cap/heatspreader - I cleaned this all off thoroughly before I installed the thing; and the board was noticeably warped/bent (I'm calling to complain about these things), but I installed it anyway.

Went and bought some Crucial Ballistix DDR3 2x2GB 1333 from a local MicroCenter for like $50, just in case, based on The Von Matrices' comments. Installed everything with 2x2GB, did a quick powerup to enable RAID in BIOS, reboot, but only installed the boot RAID 0 array first, said myself a prayer, and pressed the button. It booted, showed the array was healthy, then Windows began loading!! It had a strange issue with the keyboard not working the first time, so I shut down, enabled the RAID 5, put in Windows 7 CD, reboot. It showed the RAID 5 array fine too (yay!), Windows repair couldn't find any issues, exit, and windows just worked... No repair installation necessary! Installed drivers, etc, and all is well!

Step 2 - I tried plugging in my original set of 2x4GB DDR3 1866 from newegg. It got to the windows screen, but then shut down and kept cycling a beep noise. Shut it down. For the hell of it, tried installing the 2x2GB in the 1 & 3 slots, and 2x4GB in the 2&4 slots, based on the thread I linked previously. Wouldn't POST, infinite reboot. Went back to only 2x4GB, went into BIOS, and based on previous notes about this board needing high voltage, I upped the voltage from 1.5V to 1.8V arbitrarily. Reboot, and it works!! Gonna try putting in the other sticks in different configurations just to see what happens, see if I can get 10GB or 12GB somehow like the thread I linked.

I still need to do some stress tests for the memory, but I would like to OC it more thoroughly now that I've got things rolling, so I'll do a couple other mild OC's first, then stress test it.

Thanks everyone for your help, and here goes my first true OC process on any system. Wish me luck (and advice)?

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Another update: After 2hrs, successful OC to 3.6GHz stable for 25min in Prime95, FSB 1600 sync'd with RAM, max core temp 72C. Ya buddy I'm pretty happy with that!

Full Details & Comments on OC: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2318666#post2318666

 

[Broom2455]

Nicely done
You may be able to get a little bit more out of your CPU try FSB of 1700. Thats what my Q9550 is at. If that doesn't work try unlinking memory and running it @ 1700 with memory voltage set to 1.7. That's how my memory runs (9-9-9-24 @1700 mhz)

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Ok, so my setup has been doing great for the past week, running everything faste than ever before, SC2 settings on max, medium temps same as above, no problems, I've been stoked.

Except, after a full probably 12hrs of playing today (not straigt, hr break here, 1/2hr break there - I'm training for a competition) today it all the sudden started crashing while I was playing. The first crash, the monitor went black & read No Input, but the comp was still powered on, & g15 LCD was still letup, tho frozen. I figured it was GPU, maaaYbe getting too hot? I toned down graphics settings in SC2, toned down my GPU OC from 15% to 10%, tried playing again. Played 2 games, then right in beginning of 3rd one, comp froze again, this time it was making the stutter sounds, & I could move mouse w/ heavy delay & extreme stutter, but it was frozen for all intents & purposes.

Any idea what could be happening? Is my CPU OC having errors? The temps on my CPU upon crash were like 55+-5C, temps on GPU were same, I don't believe its overheating? Air flow in my case is very good, & I have AC on at 70F.

I'd like to fix it stable so it doesn't crash on me anymore. Thanks guys.

 

[Broom2455]

Crashing problem

Have you got everest, only I use everest on my board and it gives me northbidge and southbridge temps (mcp and spp) and associated voltages. Neither of the temps should get above 60 degrees C. Voltages should not be above 1.50 on both

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Just downloaded the "new replacement to EVEREST" - called AIDA64 or something per their main website and TPU downloads. Found the temps - SPP: 52C, MCP: 60C (at basically idle), only gives the NB voltage at 1.3V, no SB voltage or temps; I've not overclocked either NB or SB voltages - do these raise on their own with load?
I might see the overheating of the NB/SB as a possibility. My mobo does have quite a significant heatsink/pipe system running over mosfets, NB & SB, and my air passes right through them, but I'll try to be aware of that.

Also, when i booted windows this morning (I left it overnight after last crash), it automatically did windows startup repair, did some disk repairs. I'd assume these are a result of the crash, data instability, etc, ya? Or do you think disk errors happened and were the cause of the crashing?

 

[Broom2455]

Regarding your MCP & SPP Temps, look in your bios for voltage settings. You may have to adjust the voltages in your bios.
Your temps are a bit on the high side. I had to remove my heatsinks and redo the TIM.
I am attaching a screenshot of my everest desktop gadget for more help .
Hopefully this helps

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Regarding your MCP & SPP Temps, look in your bios for voltage settings. You may have to adjust the voltages in your bios.
Your temps are a bit on the high side. I had to remove my heatsinks and redo the TIM.
I am attaching a screenshot of my everest desktop gadget for more help .
Hopefully this helps

How should I adjust the voltages? Up/Down? Are you thinking I need more SPP/MCP voltage to adequately run my OC? The thing I don't understand is that I stress tested this stuff for hours without any errors.

I contemplated reseating the NB/SB/Mosfet heatsink piping on this board when I first got it in the mail, but decided against it based on earlier in the thread. I guess I could attempt this, but crap that's a lot of work lol. At least 2-3hrs to dissemble, reapply, reassemble. But I guess it could be worth it.

I reseated all my plugs everywhere, someone recommended dropping FSB slightly... I'll try that, see if it keeps happening. If it does, I'll probably take on the project of reseating the board sinks.

 

[Broom2455]

See if you can adjust your voltages down , there should be a section in the bios. Failing that TIM should be next followed by lowering FSB. Or maybe try removing the Ballistix memory. You should be able to run very well on 8 GB. As you can see from my specs I only run 4GB in a matched pair

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

Update:
I've continued to get crashing, 1-3times per day, always while playing Starcraft2, never during stress tests or normal windows operation. It happens at random times while playing too - sometimes after 30min, sometimes after 6hrs; sometimes at beginning of a game (few models), sometimes at the end (a lot of models).

After some googling, I've found that many others are having issues with the 790i chipset combined with the 8xxx & 9xxx graphics cards with many different games - random crashes similar to mine.

Attempted Fixes:
- Reduced OC on CPU
- GPU back to stock settings
- Decreased Graphics settings to low everything in Starcraft2
- PCIe to 100mhz
- Decreased/Increased NB & SB Voltage
- Added (2) fans pointing directly at the NB & SB heatsinks - these have dropped in temp by 5C with fans.
- Changed timings & voltage on RAM to manually match factory specs
- Changed BIOS settings entirely to a full list of settings posted on a forum that some people were having success with.
- Swapped out the 2x4GB 1866 G.Skill Ripjaw for 2x2GB 1066 Crucial Ballistix
- Reseated all cables
- Unplugged mini-card reader (this was suggested in another thread, and actually seemed to help some people oddly - not me tho).
- Flashed BIOS to most recent version SZ17
- updated to most recent graphics and chipset drivers
- Back to all stock settings (no OC at all on CPU or GPU) w/ the 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix.

Nothing is fixing it. This is really getting difficult; I've spent tons of time now researching, tweaking, adding, changing, and I have to go back to work next week so I won't have as much time.

- Prime95 runs on all levels of my OC with no errors for over an hour.
- ATITool runs with no errors below a stable OC for my GPU.
- Running memtest for 20min no errors, but I'm going to run it all night tonight - although it does not seem plausible that it would be memory errors on both sets of memory sticks.
- Temps never get above 60C on CPU, MCP, SPP, or GPU at full load. That is the ultimate max temps it reaches when it crashes, but it will sometimes crash at 50C CPU, GPU, 55 MCP, 45 SPP, so I feel like it can't be overheating either.

I'm really at a loss now. Any help/thoughts/comments?

 

[Bo$$]

Update:
I've continued to get crashing, 1-3times per day, always while playing Starcraft2, never during stress tests or normal windows operation. It happens at random times while playing too - sometimes after 30min, sometimes after 6hrs; sometimes at beginning of a game (few models), sometimes at the end (a lot of models).

After some googling, I've found that many others are having issues with the 790i chipset combined with the 8xxx & 9xxx graphics cards with many different games - random crashes similar to mine.

Attempted Fixes:
- Reduced OC on CPU
- GPU back to stock settings
- Decreased Graphics settings to low everything in Starcraft2
- PCIe to 100mhz
- Decreased/Increased NB & SB Voltage
- Added (2) fans pointing directly at the NB & SB heatsinks - these have dropped in temp by 5C with fans.
- Changed timings & voltage on RAM to manually match factory specs
- Changed BIOS settings entirely to a full list of settings posted on a forum that some people were having success with.
- Swapped out the 2x4GB 1866 G.Skill Ripjaw for 2x2GB 1066 Crucial Ballistix
- Reseated all cables
- Unplugged mini-card reader (this was suggested in another thread, and actually seemed to help some people oddly - not me tho).
- Flashed BIOS to most recent version SZ17
- updated to most recent graphics and chipset drivers
- Back to all stock settings (no OC at all on CPU or GPU) w/ the 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix.

Nothing is fixing it. This is really getting difficult; I've spent tons of time now researching, tweaking, adding, changing, and I have to go back to work next week so I won't have as much time.

- Prime95 runs on all levels of my OC with no errors for over an hour.
- ATITool runs with no errors below a stable OC for my GPU.
- Running memtest for 20min no errors, but I'm going to run it all night tonight - although it does not seem plausible that it would be memory errors on both sets of memory sticks.
- Temps never get above 60C on CPU, MCP, SPP, or GPU at full load. That is the ultimate max temps it reaches when it crashes, but it will sometimes crash at 50C CPU, GPU, 55 MCP, 45 SPP, so I feel like it can't be overheating either.

I'm really at a loss now. Any help/thoughts/comments?

Dude that sounds like driver issues! change video card, cound card drivers, update Directx..

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

My instincts really do tell me its a graphics issue, considering the screen turns off for most freezes. Graphics driver could definitely be it, I'm going to use DriverSweeper to clear the current drivers and reinstall the most updated geforce drivers. If that doesn't work, I'll try reverting to an older revision of the drivers that some are having success with. I'll also update the sound card drivers, and see if there's an update for the chipset drivers yet too (although I did this when I first setup the board).
Question there: Can I use DriverSweeper on the chipset drivers or can that cause instability?
---
I MemTest'd my 2x2GB Ballistix for >8hrs overnight, 192% coverage w/ 0 errors.

I'm also going to try doing a full scandisk on all my drives with repair to be sure there's no HD corruption causing this somehow someway.
---
I've done more research as well, and if the drivers don't do it, it's either the 790i board (as a lot of people have problems gaming with this board), or the Starcraft 2 game itself (a lot of people are having issues with this game locking up on them). There are some suggested attempted fixes for the game itself I'll try too.
---
If none of this works, I'm just going to spring for a new GPU and pray that solves it - If it doesn't, then I know it's not graphics, and I'll return the card, and maybe re-RMA the board. I've got a gift certificate for best buy, and they've got a good PNY 560Ti on sale for $250 (matches newegg & microcenter's prices).

Any other suggestions or thoughts?

 

[surfsk8snow.jah]

To 'put this thread to rest' and let you guys know of my resolution, see here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2364053#post2364053

Thanks again for all your help and efforts to get this thing back running.