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

[soarwitheagles]

I have to be honest and say, if I were in a position to dip my toe into SSD's the Intel 80 Gb would be the one I would go for. The reviews and other info I have gathered would suggest that, although it isn't the cheapest option, it is one of the better drives to buy.

The only downside to buying in at the bottom end of the market size wise is that the write speeds suffer tremendously. Between the 80Gb and the 256Gb there is roughly a tripling of speed for the writes. The reads don't alter much at all across the range.

DM, I did not realize the larger the storage, the faster the drive.  Wow, that is a new idea to me.

256GB is way out of my price range for now, but hopefully in the future.

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

To be honest, Soar even the smaller drives are still a lot faster to use than conventional maghnetic drives and they also have the benefits of being quiet and heat free.

[soarwitheagles]

To be honest, Soar even the smaller drives are still a lot faster to use than conventional maghnetic drives and they also have the benefits of being quiet and heat free.

Yes, I totally agree with you DM, but the price is still a little too high for me at this point in time.  I'll be waiting until there is a substantial drop in SSD prices.  Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

I prefer the Intel 80gb.  I like the quality of the Intel SSD's and anything less than 80GB would create what I could call unnecessary self-induced stress on my brain [I fear my OS + programs + file page, etc. would max out the SSD and cause me great problems if I use a smaller size SSD].

So, all things considered, I am presently in the uncomfortable classrooms called "Patience" [Webster's def: calm, uncomplaining, endurance] and "Frugality"  [Webster's def: the practice of acquiring goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourcefully using already owned economic goods and services; practicing or marked by economy, as in the expenditure of money or the use of material resources].

It is an uncomfortable classroom, especially if you dream of having SSD speed!  The good news is that once I pass the test I'll have greater patience, more frugality, more money, and a nice SSD!

Soar

[absic]

So basically, what you are saying Soar is:

That you're broke, you're wife won't let you get one and if you complain any more she'll show what REAL moaning is all about!! 

Join the club pal. 

[Dark Mantis]

It is an uncomfortable classroom, especially if you dream of having SSD speed!  The good news is that once I pass the test I'll have greater patience, more frugality, more money, and a nice SSD!

And then your worries with the SSD start instead, like is is getting the TRIM command transferred from the controller and is the Garbage Collection working properly.

[soarwitheagles]

So basically, what you are saying Soar is:

That you're broke, you're wife won't let you get one and if you complain any more she'll show what REAL moaning is all about!! 

Join the club pal. 

Absic, I just realized that you are not only a great musician, but also a great Sherlock Holmes Detective that reads well between the lines....darn, and I thought I had everyone fooled!

Soar

[soarwitheagles]

It is an uncomfortable classroom, especially if you dream of having SSD speed!  The good news is that once I pass the test I'll have greater patience, more frugality, more money, and a nice SSD!

And then your worries with the SSD start instead, like is is getting the TRIM command transferred from the controller and is the Garbage Collection working properly.

DM,

Yes, the more the toys, the more the worries!  But between you and Absic, I know I'll be able to set it up right and everything will work just fine.  I just hope both of you are around 50 years from now [at the rate the SSD's are dropping in price, I will need to wait at least 50 more years before my wife permits to me splurge on an SSD]!
Soar

[absic]

Absic, I just realized that you are not only a great musician, but also a great Sherlock Holmes Detective that reads well between the lines....darn, and I thought I had everyone fooled!

Well it has been said:

You can fool some of the people all of the time or, all of the people some of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time!

[Dark Mantis]

Oh! It 's getting worse. Delusions of grandeur now ...He thinks he's Abe Lincoln!

[absic]

No, just showing that I'm not really as stupid as some people think I am. 

[Dark Mantis]

No, I'm under no illusions at all   Just keep taking the tablets.

[soarwitheagles]

Absic, I just realized that you are not only a great musician, but also a great Sherlock Holmes Detective that reads well between the lines....darn, and I thought I had everyone fooled!

Well it has been said:

You can fool some of the people all of the time or, all of the people some of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time!

Nice quote Absic, but we know you are not foolin' us when it comes to AMD processors and Gigabyte motherboards.  Thanks again for all your help!

I wanted to ask a few more questions before I begin this new AMD build.  Please give me some good advice.

1. What specific order would you follow in the build [example: 1. Put all hardware together.  2. Install OS.  3. Update BIOS 4. Install Gigabyte drivers. 5. Install programs].

2. Which Gigabyte software/utilities do you recommend installing/not installing?

[Xpress Recovery 2, BIOS update utilities, Easy Tune 6, Easy Energy Saver, Q-Share, Smart Recovery, etc.]

Special Note: There have been times when Easy Tune 6 worked great for me, whereas at other times with certain MB's it created terrible instability issues.  Have these issues been addressed by Gigabyte or is it still hit and miss?

Finally, have you any other advice for me before I begin putting everything together?

It's me,

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar
I noticed that absic wasn't here at the moment so it safe for me to come on this part of the forum

1) I would let him  answer this as it may be that he has his own particular views on it. But from my point of view I would build the hardware, load drivers, install OS, and then update the BIOS via QFlash. After that you can install all the programs you want to. When you are installing the drivers though only install the ones that you need, not all of them.

2) Personally I wouldn't bother installing any of the free programs. I always think they do more harm than good most of the time and just because they are bundled doesn't mean they work well.

Other advice....Yes be carefull!

As I said earlier I would wait and see what absic suggests but on my side of the forum this is what I would do. They might let him out of the secure ward soon 

[absic]

Boy, did I have a problem getting out of that strait Jacket this morning but, it's OK now, I've escaped! 

DM, I didn't realise that you were so clever.
How can you install drivers before you install the OS?
Is this a new trick or can you only do this on the Intel platform? 

Hi Soar, now comes the exciting part, putting all the components together. 

There are a few steps to undertake BEFORE actually putting anything together and these are:

Throw the motherboard disk away. OK, I'm speaking metaphorically here but, put it to one side and don't be tempted to use it.
Go to the downloads page for your motherboard ( which if I have remembered correctly is the GA-890XA-UD3 Rev. 1.0 the download page is here: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3376&dl=1#dl ) and download the drivers for your OS. If you are going to install your OS on a Hard drive in Native IDE mode (which I would strongly recommend in your case) you don't need to download the SATA RAID drivers. You will need to download: AUDIO, CHIPSET, LAN & USB 3.0 drivers.

Whilst you are at the Gigabyte download page also download the latest BIOS F6A as you may need this sooner than you think. Once you have downloaded everything extract the BIOS Update files and load them onto a USB Drive. Check out the How to Update BIOS FAQ here: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.0.html if you are not sure about using the QFlash utility. You may not need to do this but it is always better to be safe rather than sorry but DON'T go any further than loading the files onto the USB stick. You might need to Flash BIOS if your CPU isn't recognised by the Motherboard when you put everything together.

Depending on your choice of Graphics Card I would also recommend that you download the latest drivers for that from the relevant website, rather than using the ones on the Install Disk.

Once you have done that you can start your build. As Dark Mantis has said be careful. Also, remember to install a motherboard speaker, so that you can hear any POST Beeps. If you have a problem, this is the quickest and easiest way of tracing them.

Hopefully, once you have put all the parts together you will be able to start up without a problem, however, if the PC starts and you get a message saying that the CPU is not recognised then you will need to flash BIOS using the QFlash utility. (Hence the reason for going through the first steps I mentioned.) If the PC does BOOT OK, I would still suggest that you Update your BIOS at this stage using the QFlash utility, remembering to load Optimized Defaults once you have done so.

Install the Operating System

Once you have loaded the Operating System and are at the desktop for the first time you can start to load the drivers you need. I have found the quickest & easiest way is to copy the files you download from the Gigabyte Website on to the Desktop first. There is no hard and fast order for installing the motherboard drivers but I tend to go:
Chipset - REBOOT PC
AUDIO - REBOOT PC
LAN - REBOOT PC
USB 3.0 - REBOOT PC
GRAPHIC CARD DRIVERS - REBOOT PC (If you are installing an ATI card I would recommend that you do a custom install and load the Catalyst Control Centre, Graphic Card Drivers and HDMI Audio drivers only).

It is not essential that you REBOOT the PC after you install each driver but I have found this to be the most reliable method and it is less likely to cause you grief, although it will take a bit longer to do.

After you have installed the drivers then you can do your updates for the OS and install your software.

If you are considering overclocking the PC then I would suggest you download AMD Overdrive ( http://game.amd.com/it-it/drivers_overdrive.aspx ) which is a very good utility for getting the best out of an AMD System. However I much prefer to make overclock changes in BIOS as they are active from the moment you switch on the PC rather than once the OS has loaded.

[Dark Mantis]

DM, I didn't realise that you were so clever.

Ah, the truth will out as they say! I see you picked up my deliberate mistake then. I was just checking that you were awake.