# Phenom II 955 problem with Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5



## robal (May 8, 2009)

*Phenom II 955 problem with Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5 [SOLVED !]*

Hi,

Be careful when considering Gigabyte motherboard, or buying a new Phenom II 955 for your existing one.

Gigabyte lists GA-MA790FX-DS5 as Phenom II 955 'compliant' from BIOS revion F6.
I don't know who's doing this Q/A at Gigabyte, but this CPU does not work properly with this mobo (using F6 F7 and F8a). A fairly intelligent 8yr old could test it using CPU-Z.

No matter what settings you choose in BIOS, it will always run at nice constant clock:
core 0 @ 1.6 Ghz
core 1 @ 800 Mhz
core 2 @ 800 Mhz
core 3 @ 800 Mhz

Not too fast if you ask me.
I'm mad as hell...  I purchased a quite pricey CPU, just to see it underperform and loose value over time...

Several other people had it too, like here: http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/phenom-ii-955-1-6-ghz-gb-ma790fx-ds5-31903/
And not only with GA-MA790FX-DS5, as you can see with those angry people here: http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=319&threadid=112550&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

If you google for "Phenom II 955 1.6 Ghz Gigabyte" you'll notice that several other gigabyte mobos had this problem (apparently Gigabyte is handing out beta BIOS for these people that fixes it...  not for my mobo though)

*If anyone has more info and help for this problem, please update the thread.*

Cheers,

*UPDATE:*
The problem is now solved, grab beta BIOS here : http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/755980/ma79xds5.f8c

But before you do that, check their website...  Maybe they'll update it later to 'release' version.

*UPDATE #2:*
Gigabyte now removed Phenom II 955 from their 'CPU support list'.
At least now they're honest: http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2694#anchor_os

*UPDATE #3:*
*Gigabyte released OFFICIAL BIOS that has this issue fixed.*
Grab it here:
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2694#anchor_os


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## crtecha (May 8, 2009)

Have you emailed gigabytes tech support.  They have come through for me a few times.  They actually emailed me the newest BIOS revisions out of no where.  I was helping a fella on here and stubled upon them on their site so I had them already.  But it was kinda cool that they sent them to me also.


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## robal (May 8, 2009)

Yes I did.
They replied with some tech support crap, but after some insisiting they took the case more seriously ("forwarded to technical department").

Hey. If you've got a proper BIOS for GA-MA790FX-DS5 could you post it here ?
People (including me ) could get eariler support than waiting for Gigabyte to answer.

Cheers


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## crtecha (May 8, 2009)

I wish I did I only have the newest bios for my board I have the lesser version of what you have.


GA MA790x-DS4

I will email gigabyte and look around to see what I can find.  I had a lot of issues at first with trying to run a Phenom one soo I know how you feel.  At least your running on all 4 cores


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## crtecha (May 8, 2009)

If you run superPI or a labor intensive app do your clocks change?


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## robal (May 8, 2009)

No, it's not CNQ problem.

Whether CNQ is enabled or not, the clocks are constant, whetever the load.

I've noticed that core voltage is 0.93 V  (stock should be 1.35)
I can increase voltage in BIOS and increase multiplier, but these settings affect only core 0, and still even that doesn't allow me to run core 0 at full speed (no POST).

It's hopeless..  they must issue a BIOS fix for it.


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## crtecha (May 8, 2009)

Damn dude thats a bummer.  I'll keep my eye out and as soon as I see something I'll shoot you a PM.


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## wiak (May 8, 2009)

send them a support ticket at
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/ServiceCenter.aspx

did you try default settings and failsafe settings in bios?


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## cdawall (May 9, 2009)

this is the same issue i had with both of my Asus's on the pre 955 BIOS's the 955 would not run at the full 3.2ghz it has the pstates set incorrectly on it. the board is reading DID 0 as DID 4 and instead of getting 3.2ghz your getting 1/4th of that for 800mhz. all you need is a BIOS update to fix the problem.


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## robal (May 9, 2009)

The problem is SOLVED !

Grab beta BIOS from here: http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/755980/ma79xds5.f8c

It works for my GA-MA790FX-DS5.

Cheers,


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## wiak (May 10, 2009)

thx for the link mate
gonna try it soon


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## robal (May 14, 2009)

Gigabyte has removed Phenom II 955 from "CPU support list" for this mobo.
At least they now acknowledge that it doesn't work with it.

The F8C BIOS is not official yet, but works for me well...


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## crtecha (May 14, 2009)

congrats man Im glad you got that sorted out.


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## robal (Jun 17, 2009)

UPDATE: Official F8D BIOS was released by Gigabyte.

Better too late than never...
See first post in this thread for link.

Cheers,


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## robal (Oct 21, 2009)

Gigabyte just released new BIOS "F8F".
I haven't tried it yet, but hopefully it will improve tweaking Phenom II.

Here:
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2694#anchor_os

Cheers,


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