msi 790fx-gd70 compatible vidcard

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nss000

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Gents:

Running AMD965 / MSI_790fx-gd70 / BFG 9800gtx+ system under Ubuntu 10.04. PS=650 watts & mobo BIOS is v_1.4; all are 4 years old original build parts. I believe the 9800gtx+ vidcard is dying and wish good replacement options.

Prefer NVIDEA card because of Ubuntu OS. Can I run a 550.x series card or must I retreat to 4xx or even 2xx cards? Or perhaps all the way back to a 9800 ?? Any comment appreciated.

[strike][/strike]
 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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You have your choice of any of the newer video cards. All you need is a 2.0 16x PCIe slot and you sure have that. The new 3.0 graphics cards are backwards compatible so they will work in your system. Get a Nvidea Titan, if you can afford it.

Hopefully the problems you are seeing are not from the MB or the MB slot?
 
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nss000

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Install any vidcard? I think you are wrong. I just built-out a Xeon / MSI-Z77A-gd55 system. I could **not** get the NV_650 vidcard to post. Members of the MSI usrforum told me I needed a BIOS update on the mobo. So .... I suspect that only vidcards built **before** the mobo was built will work !!

When I built (4 years ago) the MSI 790fx system I used a 9800gtx+ vidcard. That's failing now. The 5xx.x & 6xx.x cards did not exist. They need (?) current BIOS support to work ... that's what I think is true. But, I don't know for sure and can't find a list of supported vidcards. Kindly correct my error if you know better from personal experience!




 
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nss000

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Yes I have researched mobo/vidcard interaction the last few days. And beside trivial ex// AGP/PCI or onboard/off-board issues there's precious little hard-info I can find. LOTS of 1st-person anecdotal reports in forums ... 'xxx mobo fails yyy vidcard' ... etcetc: read this for an example:

http://directron.infopop.net/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&f=186097824&m=7661004441

, but no concrete discussion on mechanism and no lists relating mobos to supported vidcards. Some cards work with some mobo BIOS and some do not! MAGIC juju !!! It's a dark or **taboo** subject just not talked-about on review sites.

So for me ... excluding the fact of the matter ... **dark's the word** relating mobo BIOS and vidcard function.



 
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nss000

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Nope. **Your** procedure is exactly what **FAILED** for me installing an EVGA_650 card into an MSI_Z77A-gd55(BIOSv_1.2) mobo. USR CONTROLS = multiple vidcards tried and a mobo that tested OKey with another older vidcard. So both the vidcard and the mobo are OKey ... they are just **NOT** OKey with eachother. I say "BIOS conflict": Reminds me of an ex- .........

**BTW** about 20% of all BIOS_flash attempts fail (according to Toms) , a risk I am unwilling to assume with a new mobo.




 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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It should have worked like a charm. The MB you have, has two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots as well as a 2.0 x16 slot. In your MB manual, which slot does it say is best for a single graphics card? With some MB's you could use any of the three x16 slots. Don't know about this MSI board though.

In BIOS, have you set the priority to PCI for video?

EDIT:
If you think a BIOS update will correct your problem, go ahead and do it. If something goes wrong the MB is still under warranty. Newer MBs are fairly safe for BIOS updates, anyways.
 
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nss000

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I only tried slot #1 closest the CPU ... that slot works now for the NV_430 I use. Perhaps I should have tried another slot, but it seems a "reach". Nope for a BIOS flash on such a new mobo. Too risky! I may try one one my 4-yo legacy MSI_790fx for kicks, but not on my new workstation mobo. Instead I need to find the best allowable vidcard useable with my current Z77a_gd55 BIOS ... whatever that might vidcard might be. Perhaps an MSI card cause like-likes-like ... or some-such foolishness.



 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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The BIOS update procedure is pretty straight forward. There are two ways to do it. In DOS or from MFLASH from in the BIOS. MFlash from in the BIOS is pretty safe, the second procedure here:

http://www.msi.com/service/biosupdate/

Version 1.9 has been available since Feb. 28. Version 1.3 is the one just after your current version and it lists "Improved VGA PCI-E card compatibility" as one of the improvements. I would go on and MFLASH version 1.9 as it has all the improvements from previous updates and more. If you want your MB to be the best it can be, a flash is in order. If you wait too long the board won't be under warranty any longer. You could always send it to the manufacturer to flash the MB at a cost.
 
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nss000

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Sk2:

Thanks for the **catch** on the improvement in BIOS 1.3 ... just my luck to be one-short! However, the geeks on mobo section of MSI.forum swear that both the DOS and MFLASH methods are a sure kiss-of-death! BRICKS.ville! HASTA-la-VISTA mobo. They have their own **private recipe** USB-based method which they advise ... I looked at the method. Impenetrable jargon to my meager admin skills and risk-adverse mindset.
MSI-devs should be feckin-A flogged and their wives sold to Saudi whore-houses for producing a mobo unable to support current vidcards of its own generation with the supplied BIOS!

Perhaps the Linux tool **flashrom** is the solution. I looked at a try from my legacy system mobo and it seems to work. See this!

http://www.flashrom.org/pipermail/flashrom/2010-April/002828.html

Is this not a successful **flash** of an MSI 790fx-gd70 using the Linux tool FLASHROM? I may try this on my legacy system once I've moved everything over to the new Xeon hardware. Of-course otherwise under Linux I'm doing DOS nothing tho I do understand there are some tricks! No tricks for me thanks !




 
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spooky2th

spooky2th

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The MFLASH utilizes a USB drive.

As far as bricking your system, this is why I prefer Gigabyte boards. Gigabyte's dual BIOS is very hard to mess up. Plus the extra copper and metal in their MBs probably has something to do with it. Gigabyte's preferred method of flashing is called QFLASH. It flashes the new BIOS from a USB drive while in BIOS. I've lost count on how many Gigabyte boards I have QFLASH'ed and not had the first problem.

Like I said earlier, I would do a flash soon before the board's warranty runs out. Good luck!
 
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nss000

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Yes you're right. I've known about the GB dual-BIOS for some time it's a great feature. GB makes solid boards, tho I have heard they don't-give-squat for Linux! Anyrate I bought the MSI because I wanted to run a Xeon processor (1240.v2) in my workstation build and (7 months ago) that MSI_Z77A-gd55 was the only **retail** board documented to support the Xeon. The price for a working system (cheap 3.4x8thread Xeon = $260) was getting stuck with an early mobo BIOS release ... too bad for me.



 
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nss000

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To finish off this thread I installed an EVGA_650, then _660 in my XEON system after UBUNTU updated their system to U12.04.4 .. all's well. Suddenly the spare-card syndrome. I dropped that EVGA_650 into the 790fx-system and it worked first time. In Phoronix Test Suite graphics about 5x as fast as the legacy 9800gtx+ had been.
 
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nss000

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Except ... I did **not** have the guts to try flashing BIOS on that 790fx-gd70 mobo. I had GOOD docs and 1st person accounts for the Linux "flashrom" tool -- I chickened out and now with a well-functioning system there's little motivation to do anything. Only if I could find a used AMD980 would it be worth risking everything to bling-out a retro system including necessary BIOS flash.



 
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