GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H + Phenom II x4 940

Update your bios.

http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Mo...

The system may boot but as you see from the product page a bios update is needed. I'm sure that there will be more bios refinements upcoming. By the way when you say play with the bios what do you mean? For the moment leave all the settings at default. I understand your worries about your system. Do this: read all the stickies on this subject on this site and others before you do anything. Once you have a bit of understanding try some baby steps with the system.

When I say play around with the settings, I mean things like HT, multipliers, and other things on the M.I.T settings tab. Then I set the voltage to auto, because it popped up with a warning and that seemed safest. As to updating BIOS, is it absolutely essential to overclocking? I don't want to screw anything up as the BIOS seems fine now.

Ok, so i have a solution for you, i have the Phenom II 940 and the GA-MA770 UD3, so very similar motherboards, you need to flash your bios, you can do this VERY VERY easily with a program that comes with your motherboard or download it from the website. It will search for the latest bios download and update for you, just make sure you have NOTHING runnin in the background such as antivirus or other programs that could possibly cause problems.

Then go to your bios, under the MIT Settings part go to CPU Multiplyer and change that, default is 15, mine is at 17.5 (3.5ghz). I have water cooling so be sure not to just crank it up because the stock heat sync might not handle it.

If you have any other questions lemme know.

I have installed @BIOS and tried to update via the server method and the from file method. Both options work up to a certain percent and then restart my machine. There is then a prompt that says Warning: Main BIOS Checksum Error! Then, luckily, my dual BIOS kicks in and reloads the original BIOS from the backup. I already have figured out how to overclock up to x16.5 (3.2) safely(x17 restarts my machine in a matter of minutes, while x18.5 won't even load windows).

I feel that if I didn't have dual BIOS I would have already been royally screwed, and now only want to upgrade because some of my games are having sound problems. Is there something in the @BIOS program that I am doing wrong?

I have the same motherboard and CPU as you. I updated my BIOS fine using the @BIOS software. I installed it from the CD that came with the motherboard. Try selecting a different server to download the BIOS update from too.

Their website says:

#1. If the file that you select does not exist, please try to download the file from country, Asia.
#2 If there are still missing files or file errors, please write to us (Technical Service Zone) about which products and which country that you had been selected.

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Dow...

What I did to over clock mine was I downloaded the AMD Overdrive utility. There's an auto clock option, where it moves the speed up slightly, stress tests, then repeats automatically until a certain point. And there's what I used since I didn't feel like waiting. I moved the multiplier up a few notches and used the CPU stress test / temperature monitor to make sure nothing was going to get too hot.

Yeah, downloading the Asian file upgraded my BIOS just fine. Hooray, and thank you! However, will this make my PC run at a higher overclock speed? I am not liquid cooling, but also am not using stock cooling. I instead purchased the Xigmatek HDT S1283, and a tube of Arctic Silver 5. Someone mentioned having their PC overclocked to 3.5 or x17.5, but when I did that my PC, at idle, just auto rebooted after about 5 minutes. There doesn't seem to be a need for a stress test if the idle windows XP 64bit processes are going to kill it.

Also, are there any benefits from using an app like AMD overdrive? Some people seem to think the only respectible way to overclock is from the BIOS. Again thanks for all the help, and sorry if I am asking a lot of stupid questions.

Edit: Also, is anyone with this kind of board experiencing sound problems in games? I am about to go check out Realtek's site for better drivers, but in Mirror's Edge and Oblivion when someone is standing directly in front of me(Mirror's Edge) or I am in an actual dialogue not just ambient chatter(Oblivion) the voice is either very quiet or not there at all. I thought the BIOS update might fix this, but will now try for newer drivers.

Realtek has the worst drivers known to man, In some cases its better to uninstall Realtek driver and let window default HD Audio driver replace it. May sound better. Windows default driver should install on reboot after Realtek uninstall. If you want to overclock to 3.5(17.5x200mhz.) Set your cpu voltage to 1.4 to 1.45 volt or it will not be stable. Download freeware (prime95) to test stability of overclock. 3.5 is a good overclock for this processor without getting to high in voltage, anything over this and you'll probably need a big jump in voltage which means heat!! Ive overclocked my 940 to 3.8 but required 1.55v and waterblock to keep in reasonable temp. range. When you find the right voltage for a certain multiplier (prime95) should run overnight no problem if stable. 3.8 with this processor is not realistic for everyday use but 3.5 is ideal!!!

If your bios recognizes you processor by name then this is probably not the problem. Bios updates do fix OC problems but thats probably not the case here. He just needs a crash course in Overclocking. Just keep increasing voltage in very small increments and you'll be at 3.5 in no time. Just remember to stress test for stability or you'll find out during a game when it freezes!

What temps does your cpu run at lostny11? When i OC my waterblock keeps it below 40c at all times, im going to try going to 3.8 and see if that works!

Incorrect. You are able to easily clock 3.5MHz without bumping the voltage at all. That is where I have mine, and by putting the voltage anything above 1.35V you automatically lose all efficiency.

Perfect setup on air:

17.5X @ 200MHz
1.35V

CPU runs no hotter than 56degreesC under full load.

What is the difference between OCing at 17.5x200Mhz and 14 x 250Mhz? I had mine at the latter, was I doing something wrong? Are you not supposed to touch the FSB?

You are essentially accomplishing the same thing in the end, but why not just use the multiplier? It is a BE CPU so it is made to have it adjusted. In my past testing and OCing I have had better stability with simply adjusting the multiplier.

My post was deleted so I am just going to ask in this one since the CPUs are so similar but I've got the Phenom II x4 810 @2.6Ghz. My multiplier is at 13 by default and that is the max already, that is why I was touching the FSB. For some reason after updating my bios to F3L (latest) I am unable to alter the FSB without having the bios restoring itself back to default on boot due to errors. Before my update I could get the FSB to 250Mhz. WTF is going on?

I am also having audio problems since installing the F2 BIOS update for this board. If I find a solution I'll post it here.

HI guess what I have the same board and CPU too and am running Vista 64. I can’t seem to get the AMD utility Overdrive or Gigabyte's Easy Tune 6 to work. I have used Easy tune with an Intel CPU and it was the first time I have been able to OC outside the BIOS from within Windows XP. However I now have Vista 64 Home Premium and I have never known that one cane OC running Vista. Maybe and I hope I am wrong? but the way both utilities lock my system I still think Vista is not allowing these utilities to work. I turned off all background apps in my sys tray to no avail with either of the two utilities. My first OC was an Intel 6600 2cd from 2.4-3.5 using the bios and XP.

I bought this board and proc because of all of the accolades it has receive by the OVERCLOCKING community. I am hoping that someone will correct me and say YES you can OC in Vista with this board and CPU.(GA_MA790GP-UD4H & AMD Phenom II X4 940)

I have had GREAT success with AMD Overdrive, it allows me to get my 940 to 3.7GHz, but when i set the BIOS to the exact same settings it wont boot, or its unstable, i dont know why though.