Ga-ma790xt-ud4p bios

[wiz-kid]

Hi,

I am looking at getting this board below and along with the RAM and CPU.

GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - BIOS - GA-MA790XT-UD4P (rev. 1.0)

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - Ebuyer

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 DHX Memory Kit - Ebuyer


I noticed on the CPU support list it said the BIOS needs to be F4I. What will happen if the board comes with F4 BIOS loaded would the CPU not work??


Can you let me know,

Thanks

[Psycho101]

in 99% of cases, the board will support an "unknown" CPU enough for you to be able to flash the BIOS with that CPU installed. It's a good idea to download a copy of the BIOS you need to flash the new board to and place it on a usb stick, ready to flash right away.

I'd recommend you use the latest BIOS which is F5. F5 will contain the CPU code for your 955 plus any other recent updates and improvements.

[wiz-kid]

Originally Posted by Psycho101

in 99% of cases, the board will support an "unknown" CPU enough for you to be able to flash the BIOS with that CPU installed. It's a good idea to download a copy of the BIOS you need to flash the new board to and place it on a usb stick, ready to flash right away.

I'd recommend you use the latest BIOS which is F5. F5 will contain the CPU code for your 955 plus any other recent updates and improvements.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply

I thought that might be the case. That it would at least work for me to upgrade the BIOS. I will upgrade it to F5 when I get it. Is it a good idea to upgrade the BIOS on every system once it’s been built?

Also does the RAM I linked to look ok?



Thanks,

[Psycho101]

Depending on the kind of PC user you are, you could upgrade to the latest BIOS just once to make sure everything is compatible etc or you could keep an eye on the Gigabyte site or the sticky thread at the top of this board and update every time there's a new release.

Generally for most users I'd recommend flashing to the latest version to gain the CPU support you need etc, then test everything. If all is well you can quite safely forget updating the BIOS ever again. If you add hardware and run into problems, ofc consider another BIOS upgrade to the latest version at that time.

The RAM you've chosen is of decent quality. See the TweakTown review here: Corsair XMS3 DHX 1600MHz 4GB Memory Kit Introduction :: TweakTown

The only thing I would say against it is if you plan on upgrading to i7 or i5 in the future, or even any other next gen of CPU with an on board RAM controller as sensitive go for a kit with a rated voltage of 1.65V and below. Any more than around 1.65V can be risky and could cause damage on i5/i7 based systems. It's fine on an AMD system though.

Some decent, lower voltage kits would include the following:

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Desktop Memory is around the same price as the DHX kit and has the same speed and timings but is rated at 1.5V-1.6V.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C8 - Desktop Memory is a little more expensive as the timings are slightly tighter at 8-8-8-24 at 1.65V

Personally I'd get the G.Skill if it were me. However any of the three will likely work well. the last two just give a bit more flexibility and possible future proofing. Even AMD may at some point require similar restrictions on VDIMM, who knows?

[wiz-kid]

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

I have decided to go with the Corsair RAM that I linked to.

What are your thoughts on the CPU I linked to? It looks a pretty good chip from what I have been reading.


Thanks,

[wiz-kid]

Hi

I still havent got round to building this system yet.

I have found this memory that I have been looking at


Novatech : F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit 1600MHz RAM Speed, CAS 9-9-9-24 Timings, 1.50-1.65v VDIMM, Supports Intel i5 processors, Lifetime Warranty with G.Skill. : novatech.co.uk


The reason I link to a UK site is because I live in the UK. If that does not seem as good as the ones you have suggested then I would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction to a UK comany that sells that memory. I contacted Newegg and they said they were unable to ship to the UK.


Thanks for your help.