970A-UD3 :)

[toostrike]

Hello Everyone,

I have a Phenom II 955 BE,thats been running for 3 years 24/7 @ 3.8g with 1.35v on cpu-vcore.It still runs great,but since AMD cpu's are so cheap I decided to replace my board and chip.

I 'm using an AMD 965 and a Gigabyte 970A-UD3. I wiil use my other 970a-UD3 for a backup.It has been running fine for 7 months,using all 6 sata ports with specs listed below without issues.

Northbridge does get hot,but it helps to have good cooling.It stays around  45c on present board.Not sure about gaming temps.What are safe temps for the northbridge on these boards?

After the board posted,I made these changes in the Bios.

1.Adjusted proper timings for ram

2.Turned off all power saving features in bios,except for cpu protection.
 
3.Enabled ACHI

4.Overclocked to 3.9 and under-volted @ 1.376 volts

I love this chips because they are easy to overclock,and are perfect for gaming.This chips have C3 stepping,which is significant because it allows us overclockers more overhead: AMD's overclocking potential is directly proportional to how cool it can run.These chips need proper cooling,but I was able to under-volt,and overclock at stable speeds @3.9gigs.Idle 30c / Load 52c.

Any other bios tweaking tips that I missed are appreciated

Specs.

Antec DF-85 Black Steel /ATX Full Tower Computer Case
ASUS VH236HL-P Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor w/height & swivel
GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb @ 3.9 w/1.356v on cpu-vcore
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (2)120mms / Push and Pull
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8 GB PC3-12800 1600mhz 240-Pin DDR3 Dual
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI
Logitech x540, 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System with Subwoofer
Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard/Logitech MX 518 Optical Mouse
Corsair Enthusiast Series 750-Watt 80 Plus Bronze
2 LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black Sata Drives
1 Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache
1 Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA III 7200 RPM 32 MB
1 Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

[autotech]

What are safe temps for the northbridge on these boards?

That i can answer you are safe where you are at. I had a DFI that ran at 54c for 2 years and no problem what i would look for is changes over time. Make sure you keep computer clean and blown out as you say proper cooling makes a difference.

Not really sure why you changed it to ACHI without a SSD drive the difference you get is very small. Otherwise your changes look good for what you have. Unless mantis or absic have something to add i would say you are doing everything right enjoy.

[toostrike]

Thanks for the info.The Northbridge on these boards heat up quick.After it posted,I messed around in the bios 15 minutes,then powered down.I accidentally touched the northbridge,and it was hot.Ouch!

I have a program,which is free by the way- called, "open hardware monitor,"Its nice because it records all the voltages and temps in  real time.You can see  the low/highs over a certain period.This should be helpful for monitoring gaming temps.

I plan on getting a ssd soon.Thats my next upgrade.I just bought a ps3,so my ssd is on hold atm.I'm broke!

[autotech]

You are welcome. I know for the longest i wanted to RMA my board but after posting and getting answers it seemed normal for what i had. I went so far as to install a special fan i bought to cool it but it didnt lower it by 2c so took it off.

I build for friends of mine so after a motherboard is 1 year old i sell it cheap to a friend. Brandon at work bought that board from me over 3 years ago and runs it 24-7 hes online right now and it hasnt failed so id say relax hard though it might be...lol

On a side note looking at your specs you might think about getting a SSD drive a good force 3. They are lower in price than you think and i had over 200 gigs on my raid-o 1t drives and i put in a 90 gig SSD put windows on it a couple of games and still have 40 gigs left. Most programs that dont matter run off my d drive with no problems but windows and my games it makes a huge difference. Be your next logical step up.

[toostrike]

On a side note looking at your specs you might think about getting a SSD drive a good force 3. They are lower in price than you think and i had over 200 gigs on my raid-o 1t drives and i put in a 90 gig SSD put windows on it a couple of games and still have 40 gigs left. Most programs that dont matter run off my d drive with no problems but windows and my games it makes a huge difference. Be your next logical step up.

What is the best ssd drive,but has THE least amount of problems?

Controller issues seem to pop up on cheaper ssd drives.Does compatibility of certain motherboards affect performance,and longevity of the drive?Why do solid state drives fail for no reason?Well, the good news is most have a 3 year warranty,and  prices are getting cheaper/gig,so its an affordable performance boost.

Did you mean this drive? This is not force 3,so not sure of the difference in read/write speeds.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233205

Here's a tid bit of some interest....

After the introduction of the SF-2000 series controller, a few customers using drives with that controller reported issues such as BSOD and freezing. In early June 2011, Corsair Memory issued a recall on the 120 GB Force 3 with specific serial numbers, but not on any other Force 3 drive with a SandForce SF-2000 controller, therefore that recall does not appear to be related to the controller.[17] In October, 2011, SandForce sent out firmware updates through their manufacturing partners such as OCZ that fixed the reported issue.[18]

[toostrike]

Unless mantis or absic have something to add i would say you are doing everything right enjoy.

I would like to give Absic & Mantis a thanks of appreciation !  

I came here almost 3 years ago when I built my first pc.Both of these guys walked me through my problems,which helped my confidence.I have had good luck with Gigabyte boards,and this forum has the best support for gigabyte owners.

On a side note,I used Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound instead of Artic Silver 5.

1. In terms of application: Extremely easy application. Nice pasty consistency,which was perfect for a Hyper 212 plus.

2. In terms of temperature,its instant gratification,non conductive,and my 965 idles @ 30C .

3.Clean up will be a breeze when I need to take it apart.

4.This the best experience I had with thermal paste,as far as application.

5.Price $7.75 USD.Less expensive than Artic Silver.

This sounds like an advertisement. It's not! I'm just a member When was the last time you really enjoyed messing with paste.

[autotech]

This is the one i bought.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233204

I bought it last december i think has been awhile and i have had 2 times i turned on the computer and it didnt boot i hit reset and booted right up. I dont consider that a problem really after all i use to use vista and that was a problem.  I did all the ssd tweaks on windowssevenforums and google how to transfer programs to d drive so most run off that but i will say less than 20 seconds boot time till i can click and go from power on and im in games usually long b4 my friends.

I do wish i had gotten  a larger one but even now it is just a wanted to but didnt i dont regret my purchase at all. Spent years trying to get this kind of speed now im spoiled...lol