VERY new..and have questions on new DIY Combo I bought..

[jonathanm1978]

I got my system up and running...but I should mention that the last system I built was back when the P4 3.06ghz HT was HAWT and the "new and hype thing"...right before the Core Duo came on scene..so it's been a good while since I put a system together...and technology has come a LONG way since that time.

My new DIY combo that I bought from Newegg is this:

1. AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor (Model: HDT55TFBGRBOX)
2. ASUS AM3 AMD 780L Micro ATX Motherboard (Model: M4A78LT-M LE)
3. G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory (Model: F3-10666CL9D-4GBRL)
4. Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (Model: ST31000528AS)
5. LG 24X DVD+/-R DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA (Model: GH24NS50) - OEM
6. COOLER MASTER Elite 310 Black with blue front panel Steel Body / ABS plastic front bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 420W Power Supply (Model: RC-310-BKR2-GP)

I still know the basics, and I put it all together yesterday...got components up and installed..and booted up to install my Win 7 OS. OS installed fine, and I began installing the drivers off the Asus CD. I couldn't get the board to recognize the CPU to begin with..it was clocking 800mhz on 1 core. I FINALLY used ExpressGate to visit the Asus site and saw there was a BIOS update..so I performed that. Upon reboot from the update of the BIOS, I now get a prompt coming out of BIOS saying "This processor is not supported..please visit .......for the QVL .......
F1 to resume.

I resume and boot into Windows OS, and it shows I"m running a 2.8ghz with my ram at 4.00Gb, 2.25Gb Usable.

My question is this..with stock cooling and not wanting to overclock..do I leave everything set to Auto on the CPU timings, Ram timings and Motherboard settings? This Asus M4A78LT-M LE has NUMEROUS settings for manual timings, and I'm wondering since I've read that Auto doesn't always detect the proper settings to use what my settings should be on memory / CPU / mobo

If anyone can give me a rough idea of the HTRef settings and voltages I should use with this AMD Phenom II x6 1055T processor, please let me know. ANY help is greatly appreciated.

 

[lopri]

Did the board recognize your memory's advertised frequency/timings when left auto? If so, then I would leave at that unless you are going to overclock. I assume you are using the onboard GPU and 32-bit OS, but 2.25GB usable seems a bit off. Under "Chipset Configuration" or something similar you should be able to adjust the amount of memory you assign on the onboard GPU. (256MB is a good number for those)

 

[jonathanm1978]

Ok..I'm going to waver from the original question and say this...I did do a bios upate...to 0704 first, then back to 0703...just to see if the bios would stop with that F1 error.

But I have a more ...engaging problem at the moment. My bus speed in BelArc is reported at 200. Here's what my CPU_Z shows:

Shows my core speed at 800mhz...

Shows my Bus at 200 also...

Shows my HT Link at 2009mhz

And in CPUZ my Dram Frequency is showing 669.6mhz...well heck, heres the screen snip of the memory tab in CPUZ. This puzzles me, as I have G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 9-9-9-24 1.5v ram installed...shouldn't i be getting MORE than this?

 

[jonathanm1978]

I might add that I'm running a 64-bit OS of Win 7 now...since my first posting I've changed...from 32bit. I'm also running the bare minimum on onboard VGA (32mb) until tomorrow when my PCI-E 2.0 x16 xfx 1gb card comes in..then I can totally use the whole 4gb of ram instead of allocating some for video. But the other questions I have NO clue about...why is my FSB and such so SLOW?

 

[Vesku]

Was the CPU under load when you ran CPUZ? 800MHz looks like power saving mode but that voltage is pretty high if so.

Edit: Oh, and look at the SPD tab. I think 669.6MHz on the memory page doesn't take into account double pumping, that should be shown on the SPD tab as ~1333.

 

[jonathanm1978]

There's the SPD page for DDR....and you're right... I was messing with the AOD software and during opening of things, i would see the 6-cores increase to 2800mhz or more under load...so yeah, that part is right..I just thought it would hold the 2.8 ghz..but that's ok....what about the mem issue?

 

[jonathanm1978]

Anyone got a clue or see what I'm talking about with this? It just doesn't seem to be exactly right.

here's a tidbit of info...

The motherboard is an Asus M4A78LT-M LE...ok, that particular board is compatible with the AMD Phenom II x6 1055T 95W processor.

The combo that Newegg sold me is a AMD Phenom II x6 1055T 125W.

So I'm wondering if the difference in 95W and 125W processor is causing me an issue too...but I would think Asus is going to release some bios tweak to fix issues and make the M4A board compatible with ALL x6 core AMDs, no matter the wattage.

I'm also worried (minimal worry right now) about the 430W power supply that came with my CoolerMaster case in this combo. I hope I don't have to get rid of it...and I'm getting my VGA card tomorrow ..hopefully it doesn't put too much strain on the PSU. I'm not having any BSOD or errors that would lead me to think the PSU isn't putting out enough juice...so i don't think PSU is going to be a problem....I'm not gaming or doing anything thats really intense with this rig..but I DO want everything to work properly (Ram at full speed/timing and processor at full ability without overclocking it).

I'm not asking for OC help, as I don't want to overclock this setup..but I just want to get the full potential from this setup.

 

[Vesku]

I didn't read the last bit of your original post, you should install 64 bit Windows 7. That memory usable screams 32 bit OS.

Memory seems to be running within it's reported specifications. DDR stands for Double Data Rate so you have to double base frequency to compare to advertised speed.

As for the motherboard, it seems they put an underrated board in that combo. You aren't overclocking so you have an excellent chance at never experiencing a problem but I'd be concerned about running CPU intensive tasks for long periods. If you plan to run a folding type application or long stints of heavy encoding or rendering I'd swap out that motherboard with a 140W rated one.

Power supply should be fine as long as you don't add more than a mid range graphics card to that setup.

 

[jonathanm1978]

This is the card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150396

 

[jonathanm1978]

Here's the card that I have, and it'll be here in the morning:

XFX HD-465X-ZDF2 Radeon HD 4650 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

 

[jonathanm1978]

I got into a HUGE battle with newegg because they have sold me a board that isn't compatible as part of the DIY combo kit. Finally the guy RMA'd the board. But I'm using a $64 board right now...they have a Asrock that is $59, and it's a full ATX with 4 mem slots, supports up to 140W AMD CPU, and has 2 pci 2.0 x16 slots...

I'm still a little hot that I'll have to buy that board first, wait...wait...get it in, put in this rig, take Asus out, send it off, wait on money....then they tell me that "you bought a combo, so if you send the board in alone, you lose a $35.96 discount off the motherboard ..."

I kept complaining until they gave me a $25 gift card. Doesn't fix the problem though.

 

[Vesku]

Your power supply will do just fine with that configuration.

As for the combo, it's unfortunate they didn't properly match board to processor. Either it was an automatically created combo or someone thought the 1055t was 95W, which is only true for an OEM only version AFAIK.

 

[jonathanm1978]

I chatted with Newegg yesterday and they tried their best to weasel out of giving me the full 65 bucks on this Asus motherboard as a refund when I RMA it. I know it was part of a combo, but they wanted me to accept this offer:

Send them my 65.00 Asus m4a board, and instead of the price of 65 bucks, accept a lesser 35.96 off the 65.00 price, and that would leave me with 29.03. I QUICKLY explained to the..*cough*guy...that I could NOT come close to purchasing an AM3 board that would support the 125W phenom II 6 core for TWENTY NINE BUCKS. So he offered me a $25 gift card once the RMA is processed...that puts it back up to 29.03 + 25.00...right at 54 bucks. I'd still be $10 short, but there's an Asrock board that I can purchase that supports it all.

 

[jonathanm1978]

I bought a board Friday and it's on the way to me now..it's this:

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

 

[Axon]

Good, hopefully it works. Sad to hear this got screwed up. You should put this on overclock.net; newegg reads that forum regularly.