# MSI K9A2 - GIGABYTE MA790FX-DS5 - Phenom 9600 BE Problems



## PTECH (Feb 6, 2008)

Well I have been having a rough week. First I get the MSI board but no matter what I do. I can not get it to recognise all four banks of memory regardless of different types memory tried. I have lowered the timing all the way down to 400MHz but nothing. I just can't figure this one out.

So i get a Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 and it will not even post. Again, used different memory, CPU's graphics cards. Nothing. Question here is does this board need the 8pin power connection to operate the Phenom 9600 BE. My power supply only has a four pin for that and the other half has a blank on it. The book is really vague on the subject.

Setup
Either board
Memory 4G 2x2 for a total of 6G
MSI NX8800GTS Video
Phenom 9600 BE
Power supply is 500W


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## PTECH (Feb 6, 2008)

As a FYI for everyone. I found that the Bios on the Gigabyte board needed to be upgraded to even recognize the Phenom CPU. I borrowed my wife's CPU, booted just fine, updated the Bios and re-installed my CPU and all is good. Should not have to go through all that to get something to work. Lucky my wife had a AM2 CPU or I was screwed.


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## kenkickr (Feb 6, 2008)

Lately I've seen alot of systems come in due to stability issues and we find the Thermaltake 800W Toughpower has no problems and the system run great, which I think is due to the PSU having an 8-pin and the customers PSU's only have a 4 pin.  I would highly recommend to find a good brand PSU with the 8-pin just so you don't run into issues later.


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## devguy (Feb 7, 2008)

So you know, that motherboard doesn't recognize any DDR2 1066 RAM on stock BIOS.  It also has trouble with some DDR2 800/667 RAM, but after the BIOS update, all is well.  As for the 8pin connector, if you're overclocking, I'd suggest getting a PSU that supports the EPS 12V 8pin standard.  Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it (although who buys a BE processor to run at stock- even though these Phenoms don't go too much further).  Also, don't worry about the molex at the bottom of the motherboard unless you are utilizing dual video cards (Crossfire X).

This board is the best I've ever owned (after updating the BIOS, of course!).


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## PTECH (Feb 7, 2008)

kenkickr said:


> Lately I've seen alot of systems come in due to stability issues and we find the Thermaltake 800W Toughpower has no problems and the system run great, which I think is due to the PSU having an 8-pin and the customers PSU's only have a 4 pin.  I would highly recommend to find a good brand PSU with the 8-pin just so you don't run into issues later.



Thanks, i already did.




devguy said:


> So you know, that motherboard doesn't recognize any DDR2 1066 RAM on stock BIOS.  It also has trouble with some DDR2 800/667 RAM, but after the BIOS update, all is well.  As for the 8pin connector, if you're overclocking, I'd suggest getting a PSU that supports the EPS 12V 8pin standard.  Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it (although who buys a BE processor to run at stock- even though these Phenoms don't go too much further).  Also, don't worry about the molex at the bottom of the motherboard unless you are utilizing dual video cards (Crossfire X).
> 
> This board is the best I've ever owned (after updating the BIOS, of course!).



Sounds like you could give me some nice settings for my Bios? Thanks for the help.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 7, 2008)

Explain please the bit about power supply again. When I plug into this board with the two 4pin power supplies that came with my OCZ Stealth X Stream power supply 600W and I also plug in the main power connector then the system will not operate. On the main power supply rail there is a second plug with 4 pins. This has to left out and only one 4 pin power supply plugged in for any power to go through the system. The instruction manual is terrible.


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## btarunr (Feb 7, 2008)

The BIOS which the GA-790FX-DS5 ships with doesn't support the 9600 BE though it supports 9600. You can check the CPU Support list on Gigabyte's website and the "since BIOS" column. Many Newegg.com reviews I've read tell the same thing. You can use an older AM2 processor to flash the board's BIOS to the latest one available and merrily use the 9600 BE.


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## PTECH (Feb 7, 2008)

Eoghan Mag said:


> Explain please the bit about power supply again. When I plug into this board with the two 4pin power supplies that came with my OCZ Stealth X Stream power supply 600W and I also plug in the main power connector then the system will not operate. On the main power supply rail there is a second plug with 4 pins. This has to left out and only one 4 pin power supply plugged in for any power to go through the system. The instruction manual is terrible.



I had similar problem and the board is real finicky. Plug all cable in and if it does not start. Unplug the system from the wall outlet and it should then start. I also had to push the power button two times at first to get it to power up. If your using a Phenom, put a AM2 CPU in and flash Bios or the system won't post.



btarunr said:


> The BIOS which the GA-790FX-DS5 ships with doesn't support the 9600 BE though it supports 9600. You can check the CPU Support list on Gigabyte's website and the "since BIOS" column. Many Newegg.com reviews I've read tell the same thing. You can use an older AM2 processor to flash the board's BIOS to the latest one available and merrily use the 9600 BE.



Oh how that brings back bad memories.


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## devguy (Feb 7, 2008)

PTECH said:


> Sounds like you could give me some nice settings for my Bios? Thanks for the help.



I'd like to, but from what I've read here, a Phenom overclocks quite differently than a Brisbane.  As for non-overclocking tweaks, save yourself hours of pain and suffering by just setting both SATA controllers to EIDE mode from AHCI mode if you are using Vista RTM (they work perfect in AHCI in XP x64- haven't tried Vista SP1 RTM yet).


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## PTECH (Feb 7, 2008)

devguy said:


> I'd like to, but from what I've read here, a Phenom overclocks quite differently than a Brisbane.  As for non-overclocking tweaks, save yourself hours of pain and suffering by just setting both SATA controllers to EIDE mode from AHCI mode if you are using Vista RTM (they work perfect in AHCI in XP x64- haven't tried Vista SP1 RTM yet).



I'm using Vista 64bit, I'll give it a try later. Thanks


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 7, 2008)

PTECH thanks! So far the system has not crashed. I have the two 4 pin plugs in now. It will not start under any circumstances if I put the entire 24 pins in along the main power supply. It seems alright with only the 20 pin connector. Curiously I can play audio and video but my DVD players are not working. Previously I had the DVD players working fine. Is this a case of missing codecs? I downloaded an updated BIOS from Megabyte's website as a file on this computer. Should I now transfer this across to the other build and see what happens? Do I need a special program to implement the changes or will it apply the changes on startup?


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## PTECH (Feb 7, 2008)

Eoghan Mag said:


> PTECH thanks! So far the system has not crashed. I have the two 4 pin plugs in now. It will not start under any circumstances if I put the entire 24 pins in along the main power supply. It seems alright with only the 20 pin connector. Curiously I can play audio and video but my DVD players are not working. Previously I had the DVD players working fine. Is this a case of missing codecs? I downloaded an updated BIOS from Megabyte's website as a file on this computer. Should I now transfer this across to the other build and see what happens? Do I need a special program to implement the changes or will it apply the changes on startup?



If i understand you correctly. That system should not even boot without that 2x2 4 pin power connection hooked up. If you saying you just did the live update and flashed your Bios. You may need to reset some settings in Bios as it restores defaults. Example, I needed to remove the 1.44G floppy.

I was just re-reading your post. You need the entire 24 pin connection connected in additon to the four pin connection near the back right. Half of it is capped. My setup has a 20pin with a 4 pin that slides down next to it and then the other 4 pin in the back. 

What CPU are you running?


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 8, 2008)

My CPU is an AMD Phenom 9500 AM2+. My system did not stay stable very long and today will not run for more than 15 minutes without freezing up. It is stalling in the middle of playing a DVD, which somehow I managed to get operational. I don't understand how removing the floppy drive could impact on the system. Is this the same as taking out a video card that is acting up and reinstalling it?

In the meantime I will take another look at the BIOS settings and if that fails to remedy the situation I will take out my floppy drive and see what happens.


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## PTECH (Feb 8, 2008)

Eoghan Mag said:


> My CPU is an AMD Phenom 9500 AM2+. My system did not stay stable very long and today will not run for more than 15 minutes without freezing up. It is stalling in the middle of playing a DVD, which somehow I managed to get operational. I don't understand how removing the floppy drive could impact on the system. Is this the same as taking out a video card that is acting up and reinstalling it?
> 
> In the meantime I will take another look at the BIOS settings and if that fails to remedy the situation I will take out my floppy drive and see what happens.



What is your complete setup information. I had a lot of problems before I got my Bios setting correct. Now Crysis set to High, no lagging.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 8, 2008)

I don't know if the casing has any impact on the overall set up but I will include this here anyway.

Case: NXT HUSH 2X Blue led fans, screwless design.
1 Samsung DVD±RW burner, SH-S202N, 20x, Dual, LightScribe, OEM
1 Plextor DVD±RW burner, PX-810SA, SATA, 18x, 10x Dual, DVD-RAM
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream Powersupply ATX/EPS, 600W, 120mm Fan, 4/8pin CPU, 20/24pin
Memory: OCZ Gold XTC DDR2 PC6400 4096MB KIT, w/two 2048MB PC6400 XTC, CL5-5-5-15
            OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC6400 2048MB KIT, w/two 1024MB PC6400 XTC
CPU: AMD Phenom 9500 2.2GHz Boxed, 4MB Cache, Socket AM2+
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5, AMD 790FX, DDR2 ,Socket-AM2+,ATX, GbLAN,2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16
 I don't know what make or brand the floppy is as I pulled it out of a very old machine.

Graphics cards Sapphire ATI Radeon 1950 PCI 16x
                     Pinnacle PCTV Dual Hybrid Pro PCI Express


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## PTECH (Feb 8, 2008)

Eoghan Mag said:


> I don't know if the casing has any impact on the overall set up but I will include this here anyway.
> 
> Case: NXT HUSH 2X Blue led fans, screwless design.
> 1 Samsung DVD±RW burner, SH-S202N, 20x, Dual, LightScribe, OEM
> ...



Ok, I had problems with my Bios with it CPU multiplier set to auto. I have the 9600 BE and set my multiplier to 11.5.

Install this program and run it. Take screen shots. On the top right tab. Let the program do some adjusting for you. Something is a little overclocked in your Bios. Also, this board does have memory problems.

Download

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/906/AMD_Overdrive_2.0.14_Beta.html

You did upgrade your Bios, correct?


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 9, 2008)

So far I think I have made things worse by using this program. It now stalls with a long beep from the system speaker. I could not figure out how to reset the multiplier.  What do I do with the screen shots that I took? Can I post them on this thread and see if anyone can make sense of them?


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## zaqwsx (Feb 9, 2008)

You have to reset cmos unless you already did that. Its a pin on the board you switch it and then switch it back and it should boot up fine (If you can't find it look in the manual). Hope that helps


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## PTECH (Feb 9, 2008)

Eoghan Mag said:


> So far I think I have made things worse by using this program. It now stalls with a long beep from the system speaker. I could not figure out how to reset the multiplier.  What do I do with the screen shots that I took? Can I post them on this thread and see if anyone can make sense of them?



Yes you can post them on this thread. Look to the upper right corner of the page when typing a message. You will see "quick upload image"



zaqwsx said:


> You have to reset cmos unless you already did that. Its a pin on the board you switch it and then switch it back and it should boot up fine (If you can't find it look in the manual). Hope that helps



Yes clearing CMOS will reset the defaults in Bios and it should boot. On your board it is located on the corner where your SATA and front panel connections are made. There is no jumper, you need to short the pins across.

When you get booted, first load Optimized defaults for your Phenom and see how it works. Also, since your mix-matching memory. Try and use just two of the same sticks. Remember, this board has memory problems. Don't do any overclocking, just get it running and we can go from there. Try putting your CPU multiplier between 9 and 11 and see how that runs. Bump your memory voltage just a bit.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 10, 2008)

Is there any difference between shorting the pins across and taking out the battery for 5 seconds? As far as I can read the manual it is the same bar when I short across then I have to reset BIOS to Load Optimised Defaults which is the factory setting. I have tried this on a previous attempt plus I have tried to set up with only 2 matching cards. I will attempt this again now step by step.

1 Remove 2 memory modules
2 Short across the jumpers
3 Reset BIOS to default

I will let you know what happens after these steps, if it freezes or acts in a strange manner.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 10, 2008)

After these 3 steps I now have no sound and my display is messed up. When I say messed up I mean that I have 2 connection ports on the back of my video card and no matter which port I plug the monitor into it will not show what I want it to on screen. For example when I click the sound manager the setting panel seems to 'fly off the screen' as if it is being routed to another monitor. The fact that I have the sound manager open is shown by the fact that it is at the bottom of my screen on the taskbar. It is something to do with enabling display adapters but it is escaping my knowledge at the present.

I can't start up with the video card removed as the on board connection to the monitor is different to the connection on the video card.

The system lasted about 25 minutes in this state and then it froze again.


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## wiak (Feb 10, 2008)

borked graphics card try another one?
you must run IDE Mode on the SB600 unless you have SP1 if am not mistaking.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 10, 2008)

> borked graphics card try another one?
> you must run IDE Mode on the SB600 unless you have SP1 if am not mistaking.



Please explain this. I did put in another video card but it is over 10 years old! That sort of defeats the purpose of the new card. The new video card display was working fine until I carried out the 3 steps that I outlined. I do not understand at all what you mean by: 





> you must run IDE Mode on the SB600 unless you have SP1 if am not mistaking


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## PTECH (Feb 10, 2008)

Eoghan Mag said:


> Please explain this. I did put in another video card but it is over 10 years old! That sort of defeats the purpose of the new card. The new video card display was working fine until I carried out the 3 steps that I outlined. I do not understand at all what you mean by:



They didn't make PCIE tens years ago.

1. Enter Bios
2. Load Optimized defaults.
3. Go through Bios and make sure all onboard options you need are ENABLED.
4. Very important with Vista 64, Make sure you set the correct date and time in Bios. My Vista gets really screwed up if the date is not right.
5. What are you doing each time when you crash?
6. Try resetting all your cards and devices.
7. Try running in Safe mode and see if it crashes.

I really think your having some sort of heat issue. I ask before but have you done the Bios update on the board? Would be F3 on top of screen during boot if you did. This is your problem if you haven't.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 11, 2008)

I am getting very close to chucking this motherboard out the window! I stripped it bare and used an old card to enable the monitor. I reset the BIOS and then I implemented the BIOS update and it still is freezing. I now know that the fault is not being caused by the video card, therefore the fault must lie with the board. The only thing I can think of doing is trying to take screen shots but there is no guarantee that the machine will stay on long enough for me to do that. I will try safe mode before this but as so much stuff is disabled in safe mode I'd say it will just last about 5 minutes longer before crashing.


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## PTECH (Feb 11, 2008)

Eoghan Mag said:


> I am getting very close to chucking this motherboard out the window! I stripped it bare and used an old card to enable the monitor. I reset the BIOS and then I implemented the BIOS update and it still is freezing. I now know that the fault is not being caused by the video card, therefore the fault must lie with the board. The only thing I can think of doing is trying to take screen shots but there is no guarantee that the machine will stay on long enough for me to do that. I will try safe mode before this but as so much stuff is disabled in safe mode I'd say it will just last about 5 minutes longer before crashing.



Did you notice the note about the Bios update. It states "Load Optimized Defaults" Also, go into the memory section and make sure your memory is Ganged, not Unganged. Set all your memory to "auto" Set your date and time as Vista does not like it when it say's 1/1/2000. You can set your CPU multiplier to 9 or 11 but I would not try tweaking anything else. You still might have memory issues as that problem has not been resolved by Gigabyte. Are you sure your board is not grounded somewhere? I will go and review your setup one more time to see if were mssing something.


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## PTECH (Feb 11, 2008)

Do you have other memory that you can try? Go down the street and borrow your buddies if not.


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## consaka (Feb 11, 2008)

*MB problems*

I would like to know what the system says the cpu heat is. It really sounds like something is getting hot. like the cpu maybe.


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## Silverel (Feb 11, 2008)

Using standoffs/washers for the motherboard mounts? That makes it do all kinds of fun things if you don't


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 11, 2008)

Okay so far today the board has earned a reprise. I have it running in safe mode for the past 4 hours and it is running a Windows XP tour and no freezes. But there is no sound. So at a guess there is a software/driver conflict somewhere. This is the first time it has gone a really long period without any crashes. After about 6 hours I will be much more confident.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 13, 2008)

I did a double check on the way I was updating the BIOS and decided to follow the flash utility method outlined in the Gigabyte manual. After doing so the POST said the update was successful but just stalled and would not load. I turned off and reloaded and ended up with a bluescreen with a message about a physical memory dump. Is this caused by prior windows updates? I am really at a loss now how to solve this problem. 

There does seem to be overheating in the CPU as I was getting a flashing warning symbol when I previously ran the EasyTune 5 Pro program.


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## Eoghan Mag (Feb 24, 2008)

I have this motherboard working reasonably OK at the minute. A number of different problems manifested themselves with the installation. The advice in the manual says to set up with the graphic card onboard prior to booting, this is all well and fine if your card comes with a clear manual but in my case this was not so. After a lot of searching around the net I discovered that a cable was missing from the card. I needed a PCI Express Molex Power Adapter.
(This cable allows you to convert a standard molex power connector on your existing power supply to a 6-pin PCI Express video card power connector.)  Once I had this connected up the card reacted in a proper manner. The old card I had used in the meantime was far too old and the video suffered. I could in no way play DVDs with the old card. I solved the problem of the control panel 'flying off' the screen by merely reinstalling Windows XP.

I had to leave the TV card out so far as there is a major driver conflict there that I cannot solve. The card will not affect the system once it is seated in, but the drivers cause an immediate freeze even when the drivers are attempting to download.

DVDs are now playing fine, as are CDs. I have a number of older games that so far I have installed and these seem to work fine, but all 3 of my newer games are experiencing immediate screen distortion (multiple horizonal lines) and I don't know if this is a a monitor problem as opposed to a video card fault. The monitor is a small old cathode ray tube style one made by Philips. The monitor cannot display in 1024 by 768 pixels as recommended by one game. The games in question are Dreamfall, Spellforce 2 Gold Edition and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

I have yet to try any overclocking. I am just glad to have a stable system.


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## SNeaKY_BuGGeR (Mar 2, 2008)

I really do not understand why you are using such a great MoBo with such antiquated ancilliaries. You need the latest equipment to connect to this MoBo as well as the knowledge to set it up correctly.
It really does seem to me that you do not really know what you are doing!

I have this MoBo I installed it in less than 40minutes and it runs superbly. If I tried to plug it to a crappy old crt monitor and some second hand rubbish DVD-RW optical drive I would expect it to shudder to a halt too. 

Get a NEW DVD ram Optical drive and FFS download ALL of the latest drivers for the MoBo. I do this religously BEFORE I try to do a full install or play any DVD's etc and especially games.
The whole point of this MoBo is that it should be connected to SATA had drives to get the best out of it. I suppose that you have it connected with IDE cables to a 2000rpm HDD! 

What you are doing is trying to use a Rolls Royce as a Tractor!

I install the OS on one Hard drive, then I will go online and install all of the latest BIOS, Drivers etc for everything and when I have the system up and running correctly I will then install and run some games.

You seem to be the one that is causing yout own issues. So If I were I would get someone that knows what they are doing to set up your computer because you will no doubt ruin a superb motherboard because you are doing everything back to front or upside down!


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## Eoghan Mag (Mar 3, 2008)

SNeaKY BuGGeR if I didn't make mistakes then I could hardly learn from the mistakes. By using some older devices I have established that they have limited compatibility with this board. On the other hand as most people here will attest to it often helps to have certain old parts available to establish where problems lie. I will in time upgrade certain parts but the majority of the system is new.


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## PuMA (Mar 4, 2008)

SNeaKY_BuGGeR said:


> I really do not understand why you are using such a great MoBo with such antiquated ancilliaries. You need the latest equipment to connect to this MoBo as well as the knowledge to set it up correctly.
> It really does seem to me that you do not really know what you are doing!
> 
> I have this MoBo I installed it in less than 40minutes and it runs superbly. If I tried to plug it to a crappy old crt monitor and some second hand rubbish DVD-RW optical drive I would expect it to shudder to a halt too.
> ...



thats really unnecessary, obviously eoghan man is not as experienced as u are, and i see no point in getting upset if he has some difficulties lol.

eoghan, if all runs fine now, great ,  if not i would look into the 24pin power connector problem. these days majority of the mobos needs all 24pin connected.


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## PTECH (Mar 4, 2008)

PuMA said:


> thats really unnecessary, obviously eoghan man is not as experienced as u are, and i see no point in getting upset if he has some difficulties lol.
> 
> eoghan, if all runs fine now, great ,  if not i would look into the 24pin power connector problem. these days majority of the mobos needs all 24pin connected.



I strongly agree with you. Sneaky did not need to go off on someone trying to solve a problem. As Eoghan stated, he is learning and if he wants to blow his own stuff up. More power to him. I remember the first time I hooked up hard drives 20+ years ago. I smoked them but never did it again. Five years from now maybe Eoghan will have his own PC shop. What's life without mistakes? boring.


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## SNeaKY_BuGGeR (Mar 20, 2008)

Having re-read my post I humbly apologise. I must have been having a bad day indeed when I wrote that post.. Sorry Eoghan. I should have been far more patient.:shadedshu


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## halomez (May 16, 2008)

*9850 Black Edition*

Heads up to any brave souls who want to use the Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 with the Phenom 9850 Black Edition.  Mine didn't run stable (even underclocked) until I used the 8-pin EPS connector on my Rosewill RX850-D-B power supply.  So I had to use the 20+4 pin ATX in addition to the 8-pin EPS.  I tried the 20+4+4 pin ATX but I had sporatic hang-ups and blue problems.

The 9850 isn't in the CPU compatibility list, but I have it and it does work with the recent BIOS updates.


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## SNeaKY_BuGGeR (May 17, 2008)

Talk about state the obvious. Well of course it will not run properly without the proper connection connected to the motherboard. Godnees gracious me! It does have a 125W rating. It also has four cores that need power to them so yes as expected it would need the correct connector.


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## robal (Aug 5, 2008)

devguy said:


> So you know, that motherboard doesn't recognize any DDR2 1066 RAM on stock BIOS.  It also has trouble with some DDR2 800/667 RAM, but after the BIOS update, all is well.



I'm having trouble with GA-MA790FX-DS5 since I got it.
Overclocking is very limited (DDR locked at 400Mhz).

Can you tell me which BIOS made it "all is well" ?

I have F5 BIOS and cannot upgrade to F6 because update tools tell me "bios id check failed".

Cheers,


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