What is an excellent choice of Motherboard/RAM for my new AMD X6 1055T?

[soarwitheagles]

Hi everyone!

I recently picked up AMD's new x6 1055T Processor.  I have three MB's presently at my disposal, but I prefer to use a better MB for this new build.

Here are the three MB's I presently have in my shop:

MSI 880GMA-E45
Gigabyte 880GM-UD2H
MSI K9N6PGM2-v2

I hesitate to use any of the three for various specific reasons [BIOS issues, Micro ATX's when I was hoping for ATX's, etc].

Can someone here please give me some good advice on a good MB and RAM for this  new AMD X6 1055T CPU?

Thanks,

Soar

[absic]

Hi Soar,

so, have you had enough of Dark Mantis and the Intel side of things?
Want some proper help and advice?
Well it's nice to see you in the AMD section of the forum and, just so that you know, we won't hold your Intel experiences against you. But don't think by looking at AMD you will be leaving Dark Mantis behind, oh no! He will find you here and still torment you........ there's really no escape!!! 

So, to get to your question of an excellent Motherboard/RAM choice. Well, being flippant I have too say: "The one that works!" Unfortunately, the reality is that there is a very limited choice when it comes to AMD Boards and, if you don't want to use on-board graphics the choice becomes even harder.

I have a GA-790XTA-UD4 with 8 Gig of Corsair Dominator 1600 Mhz RAM and for me, it is one of the best solutions available at the moment. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3263&dl=1#ov I have been really impressed by the amount of abuse I have thrown at this board and the fact that it keeps coming back for more. I have an X6 1090T which has been up to 4.2 Ghz and the whole system stayed solid. The only issues I have encountered have been with other peripherals and I would say that the biggest mistake I have made has been in the choice of Western Digital HDD's which will only work in Native IDE Mode.

If I was going to upgrade,  I would go for the updated version of this board the GA-890XA-UD3 which has comparable features but does away with the Marvell 9128 Chip in favour of the AMD SB850. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3421#ov

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar,
so, have you had enough of Dark Mantis and the Intel side of things?
Don't think by looking at AMD you will be leaving Dark Mantis behind, oh no! He will find you here and still torment you........ there's really no escape!!!  
I have a GA-790XTA-UD4 with 8 Gig of Corsair Dominator 1600 Mhz RAM and for me, it is one of the best solutions available at the moment.  The only issues I have encountered have been with other peripherals and I would say that the biggest mistake I have made has been in the choice of Western Digital HDD's which will only work in Native IDE Mode.
If I was going to upgrade,  I would go for the updated version of this board the GA-890XA-UD3 which has comparable features but does away with the Marvell 9128 Chip in favour of the AMD SB850. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3421#ov

Never fear I is here
Hi Soar I see you found absic ok, I said he was the best person to help with this side of things. As he says in his last paragraph I think the best board is the 890 which has the updated chipset without the Marvell controller it has some good reviews. Anyway I will get out while I still can. See you.

[soarwitheagles]

Hi Soar,

so, have you had enough of Dark Mantis and the Intel side of things?
Want some proper help and advice?
Well it's nice to see you in the AMD section of the forum and, just so that you know, we won't hold your Intel experiences against you. But don't think by looking at AMD you will be leaving Dark Mantis behind, oh no! He will find you here and still torment you........ there's really no escape!!!  

So, to get to your question of an excellent Motherboard/RAM choice. Well, being flippant I have too say: "The one that works!" Unfortunately, the reality is that there is a very limited choice when it comes to AMD Boards and, if you don't want to use on-board graphics the choice becomes even harder.

I have a GA-790XTA-UD4 with 8 Gig of Corsair Dominator 1600 Mhz RAM and for me, it is one of the best solutions available at the moment. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3263&dl=1#ov I have been really impressed by the amount of abuse I have thrown at this board and the fact that it keeps coming back for more. I have an X6 1090T which has been up to 4.2 Ghz and the whole system stayed solid. The only issues I have encountered have been with other peripherals and I would say that the biggest mistake I have made has been in the choice of Western Digital HDD's which will only work in Native IDE Mode.

If I was going to upgrade,  I would go for the updated version of this board the GA-890XA-UD3 which has comparable features but does away with the Marvell 9128 Chip in favour of the AMD SB850. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3421#ov

LOL!  It's so nice to see you two are such great friends that you can host a fryer's club for one another every now and then!!!

Anyhow, ol' Mr. Dark Mantis has actually brought me out of the darkness of computer ignorance over and over again and for that I am thankful...and somehow he does it with a great attitude and disposition without fail....can't get much better than that!

Ok, thanks for the good advice on the GA-890XA-UD3.  Now I am trying to discover if the model that New Egg is selling is version 1 or version 2.  Not sure which it is.  Here's their site and I cannot find the answer:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128438&cm_re=GA-890XA-UD3-_-13-128-438-_-Product

Whoops, quick edit: I now see that the New Egg site is showing the SB850 onboard this MB, so I suppose this is the version 2 you are referring to?  Please let me know because if it is, I will probably purchase it.

absic115, DM sure has a lot of good things to say about you.  I know now that I can trust  you and ask you just about anything when it comes to AMD and Gigabyte.

Thanks again for the help.  I am seriously looking for the item you have suggested.  Ebay prices are sky high on this item whereas New Egg's prices are much lower...yet, neither seem to give clarity in regards to which version...

I will keep looking!

Up, up, and away!

Soar

[absic]

Hi Soar,

It's nice to see that you are appreciative of an old codger with a white stick. Dark Mantis is still sitting in the corner dribbling into his tea but he's really happy about your comments and smiling inanely out of the window.  You shouldn't believe everything he says about me as , if I don't pay him enough, he can become quite abusive and threatening. However most of what he says is probably true, I am good looking, brilliant, modest, humble etc., etc. 

To be totally honest I am not actually sure about the differences between Rev1 and Rev 2 and in their wisdom Gigabyte never make it clear. However I have marked the differences that I can spot in the following pictures.
Rev 1.0


Rev 2.0


I would double check with newegg about the Revision Number though, as quite often suppliers do have older stock sitting on the shelves.

Something to consider of course will be the RAM that you are going to use with this system. Technically you really shouldn't go above 1333 Mhz RAM as anything faster can cause system instability but it is a grey area and as I mentioned previously I do have 1600 Mhz RAM that runs OK on my system, however I have actually pulled this back to 1333 Mhz as recommend by AMD. Be careful about this and don't fall into the trap that many have done of buying faster RAM Modules which need higher volts and then cause lots of problems. Double check the QVL for memory before deciding what to get.

[Dark Mantis]

It's nice to see that you are appreciative of an old codger with a white stick. Dark Mantis is still sitting in the corner dribbling into his tea but he's really happy about your comments and smiling inanely out of the window.   You shouldn't believe everything he says about me as , if I don't pay him enough, he can become quite abusive and threatening. However most of what he says is probably true, I am good looking, brilliant, modest, humble etc., etc.  

Hey absic I really didn't think you could see my house from your cell I understood they had moved you to max security now for trying to hack the coffee machine The rest of it sounds about right though, apart from the last sentence

To be totally honest I am not actually sure about the differences between Rev1 and Rev 2 and in their wisdom Gigabyte never make it clear.
I would double check with newegg about the Revision Number though, as quite often suppliers do have older stock sitting on the shelves.

I don't know about the AMD platform that you are talking about absic but on the Intel boards Gigabyte have a habit of loading up the rev 1.0 boards with power phases and then cutting back on them in rev 2.0. Might be worth checking.

[absic]

Just been doing some more checking into the differences between the two revision numbers and it seems that Revision 2.0  has less USB ports available than the Rev 1.0.

This is the only really noticeable hardware change I have come across.

[soarwitheagles]

Just been doing some more checking into the differences between the two revision numbers and it seems that Revision 2.0  has less USB ports available than the Rev 1.0.

This is the only really noticeable hardware change I have come across.

Absic,

Can you tell the different usb port numbers on each version please?

Soar

[soarwitheagles]

Hi Soar,

It's nice to see that you are appreciative of an old codger with a white stick. Dark Mantis is still sitting in the corner dribbling into his tea but he's really happy about your comments and smiling inanely out of the window.  You shouldn't believe everything he says about me as , if I don't pay him enough, he can become quite abusive and threatening. However most of what he says is probably true, I am good looking, brilliant, modest, humble etc., etc. 

To be totally honest I am not actually sure about the differences between Rev1 and Rev 2 and in their wisdom Gigabyte never make it clear. However I have marked the differences that I can spot in the following pictures.
Rev 1.0


Rev 2.0


I would double check with newegg about the Revision Number though, as quite often suppliers do have older stock sitting on the shelves.

Something to consider of course will be the RAM that you are going to use with this system. Technically you really shouldn't go above 1333 Mhz RAM as anything faster can cause system instability but it is a grey area and as I mentioned previously I do have 1600 Mhz RAM that runs OK on my system, however I have actually pulled this back to 1333 Mhz as recommend by AMD. Be careful about this and don't fall into the trap that many have done of buying faster RAM Modules which need higher volts and then cause lots of problems. Double check the QVL for memory before deciding what to get.

Absic,

Thanks for the important info.  Ok, I looked carefully at the New Egg pic and it shows rev. 1.0.  Also, I do not see the added components as your pic revealed in your rev. 2 photo.  Thanks also for the info on the 1333 MHz.  Wow, I thought it was easy to find a MB that can shoot up to 1600Mhz.  Just goes to show how little I really know about AMD MB's.

Ok, I will definitely check with NE about the version number.

Thanks again for your help. 

Soar

[absic]

Can you tell the different usb port numbers on each version please?

From the Specification Sheet I lifted the following:

Rev 1.0: South Bridge:
Up to 16 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (10 on the back panel (Note 4), 6 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
NEC D720200F1chip:
Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
* USB 3.0 10x performance is a maximum theoretical value. Actual performance may vary by system configuration.

Rev 2.0 : South Bridge:
Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
NEC D720200F1chip:
Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
* USB 3.0 10x performance is a maximum theoretical value. Actual performance may vary by system configuration.

So according to this Rev 1.0 has four more USB Ports.

[Dark Mantis]

That would pretty much fit in with what I was saying about the cutting back of resources on the rev2.0 boards compared to the rev1.0. It is just the same sort of thing on the Intel platform.

[soarwitheagles]

Can you tell the different usb port numbers on each version please?

From the Specification Sheet I lifted the following:

Rev 1.0: South Bridge:
Up to 16 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (10 on the back panel (Note 4), 6 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
NEC D720200F1chip:
Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
* USB 3.0 10x performance is a maximum theoretical value. Actual performance may vary by system configuration.

Rev 2.0 : South Bridge:
Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
NEC D720200F1chip:
Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
* USB 3.0 10x performance is a maximum theoretical value. Actual performance may vary by system configuration.

So according to this Rev 1.0 has four more USB Ports.

Absic,

Ok, so it appears as if the big difference between these two versions is the Marvell 9128 Chip vs. the AMD SB850 and that appears to be a very important difference.  I think it is best if I wait until I can be assured that I am purchasing v.2.  

Without you I would have never even had a clue about these vital differences.

Thanks again.

Soar

UPDATE EDIT: Oh, I now realize I misread your posts.  Now I see that tthe v.1 MB also comes with the AMD SB850.  So, now I am considering purchasing this MB.

Couple of other questions:

What is this:Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP 140W CPU support?  Does this tell me the PSU must have an extra 2 + 8 pin for the CPU power in plug?

Finally, will I be able to purchase and maximize 1600MHz RAM with this board or will I be stuck at 1333MHz?

Thanks,

Soar

[soarwitheagles]

That would pretty much fit in with what I was saying about the cutting back of resources on the rev2.0 boards compared to the rev1.0. It is just the same sort of thing on the Intel platform.

Thanks for the heads up DM.  I appreciate you two educating me in this area!

Soar

[absic]

What is this:Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP 140W CPU support?  Does this tell me the PSU must have an extra 2 + 8 pin for the CPU power in plug?

No you don't need an extra 8 Pin plug it's just a nice way of saying the board uses the power efficiently and splits the single phase electricity coming in to the board to 2 phases. AMD High TDP 140W support is quite a useful piece of info for those of us who bought earlier versions of the Phenom ii's that needed 140W to power them. The new range of Phenom ii's are usually 125W and there are a lot of boards that can't support the more power hungry versions.

will I be able to purchase and maximize 1600MHz RAM with this board or will I be stuck at 1333MHz?

Technically the board can easily take 1600 Mhz RAM but, and it is a big BUT, if it will work or not is a bit hit and miss and that is due to the AM3's Memory Controller NOT the motherboard. If you make sure that the RAM is on the QVL for the Board then you should be OK but it is worth remembering that AMD have said the maximum speed they recommend is 1333Mhz. Just to contradict what I have said about the QVL, and something to note is that my choice of RAM doesn't actually appear on the Gigabyte QVL but is said to work OK on the Corsair site. I have 2 kits of Corsair Dominator CMD4GX3M2B16000C8 (8 Gig total) that can run at the stated speed but with slightly looser timings. However, I am now running this at the default of 1333 Mhz. There hasn't been a noticeable drop in overall system speed and, if I wanted to bump up the speed of the CPU, it does give me plenty of headroom.

[soarwitheagles]

What is this:Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP 140W CPU support?  Does this tell me the PSU must have an extra 2 + 8 pin for the CPU power in plug?

No you don't need an extra 8 Pin plug it's just a nice way of saying the board uses the power efficiently and splits the single phase electricity coming in to the board to 2 phases. AMD High TDP 140W support is quite a useful piece of info for those of us who bought earlier versions of the Phenom ii's that needed 140W to power them. The new range of Phenom ii's are usually 125W and there are a lot of boards that can't support the more power hungry versions.

will I be able to purchase and maximize 1600MHz RAM with this board or will I be stuck at 1333MHz?

Technically the board can easily take 1600 Mhz RAM but, and it is a big BUT, if it will work or not is a bit hit and miss and that is due to the AM3's Memory Controller NOT the motherboard. If you make sure that the RAM is on the QVL for the Board then you should be OK but it is worth remembering that AMD have said the maximum speed they recommend is 1333Mhz. Just to contradict what I have said about the QVL, and something to note is that my choice of RAM doesn't actually appear on the Gigabyte QVL but is said to work OK on the Corsair site. I have 2 kits of Corsair Dominator CMD4GX3M2B16000C8 (8 Gig total) that can run at the stated speed but with slightly looser timings. However, I am now running this at the default of 1333 Mhz. There hasn't been a noticeable drop in overall system speed and, if I wanted to bump up the speed of the CPU, it does give me plenty of headroom.

Ok, thanks again for helping me understand this...esp. about the RAM and Memory Controller.  I have not been able to locate the QVL for the GA-890XA-UD3.  I checked Gigabyte's website and could not find it.  Is there one?

Finally, I have experienced exactly what you are saying with my i5-750 set up.  The RAM I purchased was not on Gig's QVL, but was on G.SKILL's list.  First pair gave me so much trouble...and lead to so much frustration.  I RMA'd them even though they passed MEMTEST86+.

GSKILL sent me a new pair with a manufacture date of August 2010.  It works perfect.  At their forum, they suggested I turn on XMP and sure enough, I now obtain the 1600MHz as stated.

THanks ABsic,

Soar