rourkchris Posted July 17, 2009 Posted July 17, 2009 Just got this board up and running a little bit ago and am quite surprised that it's working so well. Bought this in a newegg combo deal with a Phenom II X4 940 and was worried that I would get what I paid for(the board was essentially free in the combo price after rebate). Onboard ATI 3300 video is OK. It has 2 software overclocking programs, AMD's and Biostar's own program which I won't install or use but are nice options. It has a decent BIOS setting for overclocking manually and an auto overclocking option. The auto options are V6, V8, and V12. V12 sets it to 3.6Ghz. I've set it to V6 which is 3.3Ghz. At 3.3Ghz the temps are 49-50 degrees C @ full load with the stock cooler. I was feeling lazy and left the stock thermal paste on. With decent cooling I'm sure that the V12 setting would be fine. It seems to overclock the Bus Speed to 220 even though I have an unlocked multiplier. Comes with a decent hardware monitoring software program that shows your CPU speed, CPU load, all of your voltages, fan RPM, system temp, and CPU temp. So far I'm very pleased with this board. I'd love to hear if anyone else has this board and what they think of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_TheAlexO Posted July 17, 2009 Posted July 17, 2009 ive got the Biostar TA790GX A2+ which is basically the same board but with crossfire support. I love this board, paid UNDER $100 for it. Like you said, the BIOS settings are nice. Also the automatic overclock is handy when your feeling lazy. Ive got my Phenom II 940 on stock cooler running at 3.3ghz as well. Very good motherboard for the price. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ajmatson Posted July 17, 2009 Posted July 17, 2009 Nice find however, why do I keep hearing people say they would not use AMD Overdrive? I use it daily and it works excellent. I just got my Phenom II 955 stable at 4.024GHz using AOD. So whats wrong with it? Is everyone just afraid? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rourkchris Posted July 17, 2009 Posted July 17, 2009 It's not that I don't like AMD Overdrive I just prefer to use it to test tolerances first before setting it permanently in the BIOS. That's just the way I use it when I have used it. It's rather new to me as I just started using AMD again on the last 2 builds. Set a Scythe 110CFM fan over the NB blowing across the heatsink and the temps are now 45 degrees C. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rourkchris Posted July 17, 2009 Posted July 17, 2009 Have it running at 3411Mhz now http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=605725. Found that the BIOS values can be set manually and the auto overclock used. Makes it very easy. temps are at 54 degrees C under full load now. CPU voltage is at 1.3625v. I think it's tapped out the stock cooling at this speed. I'll put a Prolimatech Megahalems on it next week with a pair of Scythe 110CFM fans and see where it can go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rourkchris Posted July 19, 2009 Posted July 19, 2009 (edited) Did a little more tweaking today and it's running @ 3566(230x15.5). http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=606848 Temps are 57 C @ full load. Can't wait to put a real cooler on this and see how high it can go on air. RAM is overclocked to 460 5-5-5-15. I'm sure it will do 1066 speeds. Timings could likely be tightened but I'm going to leave it where it is for now. Clocked it back a hair to 3450Mhz(230x15) to keep the temps down below 55 C. Should have the new cooler by Friday. Edited July 19, 2009 by rourkchris Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grishathebest Posted July 24, 2009 Posted July 24, 2009 Did a little more tweaking today and it's running @ 3566(230x15.5). http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=606848 Temps are 57 C @ full load. Can't wait to put a real cooler on this and see how high it can go on air. RAM is overclocked to 460 5-5-5-15. I'm sure it will do 1066 speeds. Timings could likely be tightened but I'm going to leave it where it is for now. Clocked it back a hair to 3450Mhz(230x15) to keep the temps down below 55 C. Should have the new cooler by Friday. Hello, did you have any progress on getting ram to do 1066 speeds? For some reason, I have mushkin ddr2-1066 ram (2x 2gb) and it wont run at the speed. It detects it at 400 Mhz <_< I got it to go a little higher but it wont allow it to run pc2 8500. It runs i believe at 6400. If you have any other info, please share! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XxHellxRaizerxX Posted July 24, 2009 Posted July 24, 2009 I know from experience so heed my warning... Do not go over 3.5GHz with the 940 on that board unless you get some extra cooling for the VRMs. Just had to send mine in because the VRMs on the motherboard fried at 3.6GHz 1.45v. So unless you get some cooling I would stay at 3.5GHz or under to be safe. Right now I'm at 3.5GHz 1.4v and it's perfectly safe (Prime95 24hrs). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rourkchris Posted July 24, 2009 Posted July 24, 2009 Hello, did you have any progress on getting ram to do 1066 speeds? For some reason, I have mushkin ddr2-1066 ram (2x 2gb) and it wont run at the speed. It detects it at 400 Mhz <_< I got it to go a little higher but it wont allow it to run pc2 8500. It runs i believe at 6400. If you have any other info, please share! No I haven't gotten my RAM to 1066 speeds. At my highest OC the RAM is running @460. It's DDR2 800 so mine is overclocked. I've heard some are having a bit of difficulty running their RAM @ 1066 but have had success slacking the timings to 5-7-7-20. Why this occurs I just don't know. I think it's a limitation of the motherboard. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rourkchris Posted July 24, 2009 Posted July 24, 2009 I know from experience so heed my warning... Do not go over 3.5GHz with the 940 on that board unless you get some extra cooling for the VRMs. Just had to send mine in because the VRMs on the motherboard fried at 3.6GHz 1.45v. So unless you get some cooling I would stay at 3.5GHz or under to be safe. Right now I'm at 3.5GHz 1.4v and it's perfectly safe (Prime95 24hrs). I wholeheartedly agree that additional cooling is needed on this motherboard. An additional $15-$20 for a quality heatsink is worth the price as opposed to frying the board and having to RMA it back and have your system down waiting for a replacement. http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=614406 Running @ 3795Mhz right now with 1.4875 CPUv. I added an Enzotech MST-81 heatsink to the board http://www.jab-tech.com/ENZOTECH-MST-81-Mo...nk-pr-4183.html. The 2 pushpins aren't aligned so I used arctic alumina adhesive to fasten it in place http://www.jab-tech.com/Arctic-Alumina-Adhesive-pr-1398.html. "Arctic Alumina Adhesive is a pure electrical insulator, neither electrically conductive nor capacitive." So far I'm 18 hours into stability testing and all is well. Temps are good and the new heatsink is barely warm to the touch. Everything seems to be doing it's job and doing it well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grishathebest Posted July 29, 2009 Posted July 29, 2009 Got the timings on the ram to finally go to 5-5-5-15 and its working as its supposed to at 1066. However, a slight oc to 1120 and it was giving problems on memtest so no idea how to get a good oc on it yet. @rourk, u use prime to test cpu (+hw monitor?)? Any idea up to what temps the 940 should be running? I had it at 3.4 something and later on I took it off because I didnt test stability and dont really need the OC atm. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rourkchris Posted July 29, 2009 Posted July 29, 2009 I used Prime95 to test. I won't let mine go above 45 degrees C full load for 24/7 overclock but for a benchmark I'll let it get to 55 degrees C full load. Anything above 55 gives me stability issues. On my Biostar board I can't get to 55 degrees C though as the highest vcore in the BIOS is 1.55v. On the Asus M4A79 Deluxe I can add vcore above 1.55v and have no trouble maxing out temps. I've read alot here and at other forums and it's been said that these Phenom II's really don't work well with heat. Mine seem to be less heat tolerant than my Intel Q6600s. Not by much but enough to notice when attempting to push them to their limits. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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