I just purchased an MA790FX-DS5 MB with the PHENOM 9500 processor. I have read some posts that say you have to apply the latest BIOS in order to get the MB to work with the PHENOM. Is this true?
No, you will not need a BIOS update to run a phenom. However I would update the BIOS soon after getting it running. The differences are the revision, anything above rev1 will have no issues with phenom.
(good choice of boards too, I have the same one with a 5000+BE)
However I should point out that you could pick up a cheap AM2 X2 proc, and wait for the B3 stepped Phenoms in April. (they fixed the TLB errata error) You can spend the extra on a better video card, ie the 3870 x2.
