GA-880GA-UD3H - doing the pre-build homework

[TLMitchell]

Greetings all, 

First post to the Forum, I've been browsing around boning up as this is my 1st Gigabyte board. Looks like this is the place with the best info with many of the usual suspects supplying many of the answers   (is there a shameless-buttsmooch smiley?)   

A little background... although I've done a half dozen or so builds for myself and friends and family they've been few and far between. It seems like every time I genga hankering to upgrade or build a box I have to go back to school. Most of the upgrades are the result of somethingorother going bellyup and whatever replacement is available usually isn't compatible with what I've been running. This build is the result of someone else's old 939 board or CPU going bellyup so I'm migrating my components into her system and taking the opportunity to tear my hair out a little bit. Actually, I seldom run into troublesome situations because I try to do the homework first.  Sorry for what's bound to be a lengthy post, I'd rather puke everything out upfront vs coming back repeatedly with this question or that question.

I'm not a gamer or power user but I tend to favor some higher end products with more horsepower and capability than I'll ever need or use. Hey, when you find some nice components cheap you may as well go for the better stuff, right? I pretty much got tweaking and overclocking out of my system way back when someone discovered those Celeron 300s would run at 450 right out of the box. (remember them?) Now I'm more interested in trouble free reliability and no headaches while not waiting forever for hourglasses.

This all started when I saw a an X4 processor on sale cheap that would slip right in and replace my Athlon 64 X2 5200+ CPU. It was an 840 chip and although cheap didn't seem too well regarded. I spied a Phenom X4 965 on sale and was leaning in that direction until I discovered an X6 1055T for $10 more. My MSI 790 AM2/AM2+/AM3 board would support it with a BIOS upgrade so I said "why not?" The board was handcuffed with DDR2 and many other bottlenecks but I figured I'd be set with a CPU to upgrade around when I got a round tuit. That happened sooner rather than later.

When the friend's machine running XP refused to load Windows without shutting down troubleshooting led to HD errors, then possible PS issues. Replacing components with known good stuff left us at either a CPU or motherboard going bad. Nothing in her budget for a new build so I figured I'd take the opportunity to upgrade around my new processor and migrate my tried & true stuff into her case.
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When I do a build I have a habit of looking for a board that will support every legacy piece of crap I own as well as whatever latest-and-greatest is available far enough back from the bloody edge to avoid headaches. I settled on a GA-890-GPA-UD3H but discovered they seem to have fallen off the planet. There's some used boards on eBay and a few new ones here and there that are prohibitively priced. The 880GA seemed like a good compromise as it had IDE/floppy and PCI support for some of my older crap I can't seem to live without as well as SATA3/USB3 capabilites in addition to respectable (for my purposes anyway) onboard video.

I found a computer superstore an hour away had 3 880GA boards attractively priced, with a rebate even! Picked one up and it turned out to be Rev 3.1 with the pretty black CPU socket.   While I was sniffing around the store I spotted a 5450 card cheap with a rebate that made the price a whopping 15 bucks! How could I not? Sheesh... I've got to stay out of computer stores when they're having big sales.

So here's the plan for the build mixing and matching the old with the new:

GA-880GA-UD3H Rev 3.1 (BIOS unknown until the 1st POST)
AMD Phenom X6 1055T 125w stepping E0 - OEM sink & fan
2x 4GB Kingston Hyper X DDR3 1600 - KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 1.65v 9-9-9-27
Antec Solo tower - dual 92mm 3-speed intake fans blowing through the drive bays, 1 TriCool 120mm exhaust in rear
Antec NeoPower 500 500w modular PS (w 4 pin CPU power connector)

2x Seagate ST3320620AS 320 GB SATA2 HDs
1x Maxtor 6B30050 300 GB SATA1 HD

1x LiteOn SATA DVD RW/DL
1x ASUS IDE DVD ROM

1x 3.5 floppy
1x USR 5685 V.92 PCI FaxModem
1x PCIe 1x ATI TV tuner card

MSI 5450MD1GH 1 GB DDR3 (passive)

Logitech USB cordless keyboard/mouse
USB printer
USB scanner

Hanns-G 28" 1080p LCD w/DVI & D-Sub

Win 7 SP1 64-bit OEM

I'm currently running XP SP3 on the old box but not totally unfamiliar with Win 7 as I installed it on my laptop. Nice operating system but the 32-bit version is wasting some of the 4 GB of RAM, which is why I went with 64 bit on this build. Although I'm not a gamer or power user I tend to have multiple apps running and a ton of browser windows open, besides, memory is cheap and you just can't have too much!

The concerns and quizzicals:

I've looked at a few different power supply estimators for this build. One indicates 334w needed and recommended a minimum 384w PS. Another recommends a minimum 460w PS. My current 500w PS appears adequate with the exception of the 4 pin CPU connector. Gigabyte tech says to plug it into the 4 sockets on the 8 pin socket closest to the CPU and it'll boot fine. I picked up a 4 pin to 8 pin adapter thinking that may be a better solution. Yeah, a larger PS with 8 pin connector would be the best solution... I'm already over budget because I can't stop buying things that are on sale with rebates!

I expect to run all 3 HDs from the SATA3 connectors with SATA3 support enabled since everything is backwards compatible. I don't see any reason to configure for AHCI unless somone suggests a good reason since I won't be hot swapping. The SATA DVD RW will go on the SATA2 port and the IDE will obvious go on that connector.

In the past I've always set most things to AUTO and been pleased with the lack of headaches. I expect the DDR3 1600 to POST at 1333, which I understand is the board's default. Like I said, I'm not much of a tweaker, I only bought the 1600 because it was actully cheaper than the corresponding 1333 dual-channel kit. I see some posts that indicate an advantage in running 1600 at 1333 with 7-7-7-24 settings @ 1.65v. Appreciate any illumnination on that.

The X6 has been running around 40 degrees C according to my present BIOS with mainbard temp around 34C. I'm getting conflicting reports depending on what software I look at... HW Monitor transposes those temps.... 40C for the mainboard and 34C for the CPU. Core Temp also reports the lower CPU temp. :::shrug:::  Regardless, it appears everything is running cool enough with the OEM sink & fan. I suppose some stress or benchmark testing might show different results.

One of the things I found interesting about this processor is the built-in speed fluctuations. At idle or light load up to 3 cores throttle back to 800Mhz and the remaining cores can ramp up to 3300Mhz. I've been amusing myself watching the speeds flop around between 2800, 800 & 3300 in Core Temp and CPUz. (it doesn't take much to amuse some of us) I saw somewhere that Cool n Quiet may interfere with those capabilities so I disabled it.

I'm now vacillating about installing the 5450 card. I'm pretty sure the onboard 4250 will meet my needs, is there any real advantage for me to install the 5450? Anything to be gained with Hybrid Crossfire? I'm considering running the 5450 and disabling the 4250...or I could use the onboard and return the vid card. Might be handy having both available for troubleshooting down the road.  Like I said, after the sale price and rebate the 5450 was only a whopping $15. Seemed like a no-brainer but I can always return it if it's of no real use.

One last thought... I notice a change in labeling BIOS starting with Rev 3.0. Anything outside of conventional previous versions were marked Beta. With Rev 3.0 & 3.1 the convention changed to FE, FF etc. The most recent is FGf and is not labeled Beta despite the different version naming convention. I also noticed the Rev 3+ BIOS notated to use @BIOS or to Flash using DOS... anyone know if Rev 3+ boards don't support QFlash? No big deal as I've always flashed the old fashioned way using a floppy or USB anyway. Actually, MSI's Windows flashing utility was always trouble free for me. However, I see enough warnigns about @BIOS to avoid trying it.

I appreciate those in the Forum that have already contibuted to my edumacation via previous posts. I look forward to any thoughts or comments from anyone that's persevered through my entire longwinded post.

Thanks in advance,

TL

[absic]

Hi there,

lets answer the easy questions first, always a good idea.

The boards do support QFlash the problem is that going from an earlier BIOS version to a later one may involve a larger BIOS file (0.8Mb to 1.2Mb for example) which QFlash can't handle. Hence the recommendation to use @BIOS or the FLASH.SPI method through DOS.

Whilst your 500 Watt PSU will probably be fine you aren't leaving much room for manoeuvre and I would strongly recommend that you look for something with a little more power (650 Watt would be ideal) and a single rail.

I have run plenty of SATA HDD's in IDE mode without a problem and there is no real benefit, in your situation, of running in AHCI mode. This would not be the case if you are planning to run an SSD in the future as then you would have to run in AHCI mode.

I have just reset my system back to optimised defaults as I am doing some testing and I have not noticed any problem with CoolNQuiet and the CPU. The speed and voltages adjust as I would be expecting them too.

On a separate note, I would suggest you avoid using any of the bundled software apps, such as EasyTune, Energy Saver etc, that comes on the install disk as these can cause more problems than they solve.

With your CPU you can safely run your RAM at 1600MHz if you want to and this would have to be set manually in BIOS by setting the multiplier to x8. When you do this it is often better to put other settings from Auto to Manual even if you don't adjust any of the settings.

If you install the 5450 GPU and run in crossfire the card will drop to the same specs as the onboard graphic chip. Experience has taught me that it is better to just run with a separate graphic card (your 5450) rather than the onboard graphics.

The temps of your CPU are about what I would expect if you are running the stock AMD cooler and are similar to those I get with the 1090T when I use the stock cooler. Of course you could invest in a 3rd party cooler which will help lower the temps and also make things much quieter as the stock AMD fan is not the best.

[TLMitchell]

Greetings,

Thanks for the prompt, informative response!

The BIOS issue is probably moot, the versions for Rev 3.1 don't contribute to anything I'll be using as RAID won't be an issue and I don't expect to be running a 3+TB drive anytime soon.

I suppose configuring for AHCI might put me in a position to upgrade to SSD in the future. Then again, I can always reinstall the OS if I go in that direction. That's something I like to do every year or so anyway. Pain in the neck but everything runs so smooth and fast afterwards.

Re: CnQ, after doing some review I never had the OS configured to use it anyway... my setting were on Home/Office Desktop forever and from what I'm reading that setting disables CnQ. D'OH!

I can't say as fan noise has ever been an issue with this case. 4 fans turning, my ears are probably 18 inches or so from the case and I can barely hear anything. Just one of the pleasing features of the Solo. I don't believe I've ever seen any raves for this case and I find it hard to believe because it has so many convenient and useful features. About the only thing it doesn't have is a removeable motherboard tray.

I believe I'll take your advice and run the 5450 solo and set the memory settings to AUTO until I get squared away and OS and software installed. Then I'll go exploring. Probably do a little PS shopping as well.

Thanks again!

TL

[Vezina]

Having in mind the number of drives a 500W power supply is indicated ,as absic ,already mentioned.

For video card i would try and find a 5670 with 512 Mb (or 1G)  of DDR 5 as it s a good performer even for mild gaming ,it runs even Crysis
The integrated video card struggles with H L 2 title ,CS S or DOD S ,which tells a lot about it s capabilies.
As for X 64 ,you don t really need it ,you can go X 86 without problems.

I hope i did not misunderstood something ,but the wall of text was huge

I would not use CnQ and neither C1 stuff as they affect performance in some way.

[TLMitchell]

>> Having in mind the number of drives a 500W power supply is indicated ,as absic ,already mentioned.

I've been running this PS with the same drives on the 790G board with X2 5200+ for 4 years. Time to go PS shopping anyway before it goes bellyup.

>> For video card i would try and find a 5670 with 512 Mb (or 1G)  of DDR 5 as it s a good performer even for mild gaming ,it runs even Crysis
The integrated video card struggles with H L 2 title ,CS S or DOD S ,which tells a lot about it s capabilies. <<

Since I'm not a gamer in any way, shape or form a more capable vid card is moot. Unless it would enhance an edge-of-the-seat, rousing round of Solitaire.   

>> I hope i did not misunderstood something ,but the wall of text was huge

I tend to be a wordy bastich at times.   

Thanks for the reply,

TL

[Vezina]

Even though absic said to go IDE mode   , i would say that you should try in W 7 the AHCI as well ,with the included driver ,or if you like experimenting ,with different AMD official AHCI drivers
AHCI allows a little more I/O-s ,which when you run a heavier antivirus , might help you in having faster response times when exploring around.IDE gives though better compatibility.
Also i have observed that when running my SATA optical unit in IDE mode it takes longer to install a game ,opposed to using AHCI mode.BF BC 2 for example takes around 20 minutes instead of 10-11.

Anyway even if you are not a gamer the on-board is way to weak ,i wouldn t bother with it.

[TLMitchell]

I figured i probably ought to enable AHCI anyway before i install the OS. If I pick up an SSD down the road it'll simplify things. And the way I've spontanrously been buying things lately you just never know...

TL

[Dark Mantis]

Agreed! But don't forget that if you start using an SSD instead of the old magnetic drive then your whole way of setting it up will need to change as well to stop unnecessary writes to the SSD.

[TLMitchell]

In my case there's nothing to forget, right now I wouldn't know an SSD from an SST.     More homework when that day comes.

If it's a barrel of fun putting together one machine, installing a new-to-me Operating System and installing, installing, installing software and migrating files it's REALLY a blast doing two at once! What prompted this upgrade-a-rama in the first place is a former flame's machine I built for her 4 years ago refused to load Windows. Troubleshooting got us down to either the motherboard or CPU... old, el-cheapo 939 board that needed to go anyway. Since she was pleading poverty I decided to upgrade my box and migrate my AM2 5200+ dual core into hers.

So I hooked everything up outside the case for the first time ever and the board POSTed with the one beep we all love to hear, got into the BIOS and found it was FF and everything was lookin' peachy. Got her machine up n running and while software was installing itself I stuffed mine in the case. No problem getting into the BIOS with my wireless USB keyboard until after I installed W7 64 bit. After the OS and drivers were installed the Logitec sending unit doesn't show any signs of life or lights until after the Gigabyte splash screen is up. By then I'm unable to utilize any keyboard inputs to do anything except boot straight to Windows. In order to get into the BIOS I have to plug in a PS2 keyboard. :::shrug:::

Is there any way to disable that splash screen and see the POST? Even with the PS2 keyboard by the time the splash disappears there isn't much to be seen except a couple of hard drive models zipping by just before starting the OS. Maybe I'm looking for more than is there.... I'm used to the last few MSI boards that showed mem configuration, hardware, all sorts of interesting stuff you could use the Pause key to look over if you're inclined once you disable the MSI splash screen in the BIOS.

Another interesting turn of events.... I've got 2x 4GB Kingston DIMMS in Slots 3 & 4. CPUz shows 'em in slots 2 & 4 running single channel! Gonna have to switch things around and see what happens.

TL

[kosobai]

Sorry to piggyback a thread, but recently I bought a new, rather flashy ABEE case. While transferring the parts,  I noticed that the PSU is rated at only 380 watts. I'm using the integrated graphics so nothing is plugged into the PCI slots, but I'm concerned that if I do add something later, it'll all go puff-bang. Could someone recommend a PSU?

[TLMitchell]

Personally, I'd go bigger than you think you need, I prefer modular to get rid of unneeded cabling. Seasonic makes their own as well as Antec's better stuff. I've yet to have a problem with either.

Here's an interesting article on who makes what for who:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913-4.html

Here's a power calculater:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

This one's a bit more pessimistic:

http://support.asus.com/PowerSupply.aspx?SLanguage=en

TL