GA-890GPA-UD3H with AMD Phenom II x6 1100T CPU

[Dark Mantis]

Cool, I could do with a boost!

[Traveller]

Ok thanks absic/Dark Mantis, the third option it is then. I'm going to put a different version on three different USB drives just in case! Haha.

[Dark Mantis]

That should have it covered alright! 

[Traveller]

It's alive!! The CPU worked with the motherboard fine without having to update BIOS.

Thanks everyone for your help. It really has been appreciated.

[Dark Mantis]

That is certainly good news and neither absic or I expected it to work without the update so very good.

[Traveller]

Hi Dark Mantis. I am SO relieved that it worked because it would have been a major pain if I had to go through all the thermal paste removing and applying.

[Dark Mantis]

It is still  a good idea to update the BIOS now to the latest version that has support for your chip.

[absic]

Hi Traveller,

well, that's one for the memory banks as I really didn't expect you to be able to fire up without the latest BIOS on-board! 

As DM has already said, it is a really good idea to update to the latest version of BIOS as it will give full support for your CPU and prevent any issues. I'm not sure how your system is running but you may find, for example, that your CPU is locked at a slower speed than it should be or that some of the other features, such as TurboCore, aren't running properly.

[Traveller]

Hi Dark Mantis/absic.

I don't think I'll update BIOS until I come across a problem big enough for me to have to update. Is there any way of testing if the cores, etc are working as they should? Thanks.

[absic]

Hi,

I use CPU-Z which you can download free from here: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html a useful little piece of software that will show if everything's working as it should. 

[Traveller]

Hi absic.

Unfortunately there is no CPU-Z for Linux, so I tried finding an alternative but there aren't any by the looks of it. I did find a way to obtain some info, but it just looks like general info. I've pasted it below.

Maybe this:-

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html

or very basic:-

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cpug/

If anyone comes across this post and is not interested in technical mumbo jumbo about the CPU, you may simply ignore everything that appears below. Thanks.

processor   : 0
vendor_id   : AuthenticAMD
cpu family   : 16
model      : 10
model name   : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
stepping   : 0
cpu MHz      : 800.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 6
core id      : 0
cpu cores   : 6
apicid      : 0
initial apicid   : 0
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 6
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
bogomips   : 6629.26
TLB size   : 1024 4K pages
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor   : 1
vendor_id   : AuthenticAMD
cpu family   : 16
model      : 10
model name   : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
stepping   : 0
cpu MHz      : 800.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 6
core id      : 1
cpu cores   : 6
apicid      : 1
initial apicid   : 1
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 6
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
bogomips   : 6629.30
TLB size   : 1024 4K pages
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor   : 2
vendor_id   : AuthenticAMD
cpu family   : 16
model      : 10
model name   : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
stepping   : 0
cpu MHz      : 800.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 6
core id      : 4
cpu cores   : 6
apicid      : 2
initial apicid   : 4
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 6
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
bogomips   : 6629.30
TLB size   : 1024 4K pages
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor   : 3
vendor_id   : AuthenticAMD
cpu family   : 16
model      : 10
model name   : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
stepping   : 0
cpu MHz      : 800.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 6
core id      : 5
cpu cores   : 6
apicid      : 3
initial apicid   : 5
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 6
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
bogomips   : 6629.29
TLB size   : 1024 4K pages
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor   : 4
vendor_id   : AuthenticAMD
cpu family   : 16
model      : 10
model name   : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
stepping   : 0
cpu MHz      : 800.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 6
core id      : 2
cpu cores   : 6
apicid      : 4
initial apicid   : 2
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 6
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
bogomips   : 6629.32
TLB size   : 1024 4K pages
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor   : 5
vendor_id   : AuthenticAMD
cpu family   : 16
model      : 10
model name   : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
stepping   : 0
cpu MHz      : 800.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 6
core id      : 3
cpu cores   : 6
apicid      : 5
initial apicid   : 3
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 6
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
bogomips   : 6629.30
TLB size   : 1024 4K pages
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

[absic]

Hi Traveller,

didn't realise you were running Linux but from the info you have posted below it seems as if your CPU is only running at 800 MHz! This could be due to the BIOS or to the energy saving features in BIOS for the CPU.

I'm not sure what programmes are available for Linux so I cannot point you in the right direction I'm afraid but you need to try putting your CPU under load to see if the speed increases from its current level.

[Traveller]

Hi absic. I have searched for an easy and safe method to test the CPU but haven't had enough time to do so. I went to youtube and played an HD 1080p video and then ran the same command as previously. Whenever I did that just one of the cores shows 3300.000 (CPU MHz) and the other five still show 800. Yesterday core no. 4 showed 3300.000 and today it was core no. 0 that showed it. What does all this mean? Thanks.

[absic]

It probably means that you need to update to the latest BIOS version Traveller.

I would recommend that you use QFlash to do the update.

[Traveller]

Hi absic, I've been doing some Internet searching and asking questions and some people seem to think that what I describe is normal. I still need to make sure though, so I'll update here when I get more info or run a test or two. I've just read that post about someone upgrading to FGF and having RAM limitations/problems, so that has made me even more wary. Thanks.