Phenom 840 mobo

[soswin]

I took a gamble and bought a phenom2 840 for my DFI LanParty UT 790FX-M2R but it doesnt work, boots ok but applications keep crashing, video / sound corruption etc.. As they no longer support this board I'm looking to replace and keep my memory, so it looks like either:

ASRock N68C
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=N68C-GS%20UCC

or a Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2P
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3270#

I'd prefer the ASRock because it supports DDR3 (so I can upgrade later) but I'm concerned about the PCI express, its not 2.0. Will this limit any future video upgrades? I currently have a HiS 5770.

any advice appreciated

thanks

 

[geekapproved]

I would go with a AMD chipset for your AMD processor, not a Nvidia chipset.

There is really no advantage with DDR3, so that would just be a waste of money to "upgrade" to DDR3. If you have DDR2 now, just keep using that.

What is your budget?

Here's some 760G's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007625%20600008296%20600008414&IsNodeId=1&name=AMD%20760G

the Biostar with rebate and free shipping is a good deal.

 

[soswin]

I would go with a AMD chipset for your AMD processor, not a Nvidia chipset.

There is really no advantage with DDR3, so that would just be a waste of money to "upgrade" to DDR3. If you have DDR2 now, just keep using that.

What is your budget?

Here's some 760G's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007625%20600008296%20600008414&IsNodeId=1&name=AMD%20760G

the Biostar with rebate and free shipping is a good deal.

Not sure about budget, I originally spent quite allot on that DFI thinking I was future proofing, but couldnt of been more wrong Thats why I was looking at the lower end this time, there doesnt seem much point in spending much, especially on a DDR2 board. Probably want to spend sub $80 (I'm in the UK) so that board you suggest looks ok; wasnt sure about Biostar though, never owned any of their products before.

 

[soswin]

could find any biostar, found this one though:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?id=en-us0000443

not sure about CPU support though

 

[geekapproved]

Wow I just realized you have a 790FX, didn't notice that before. What do you mean they don't support it anymore? I looked at the site and it looks WELLl supported to me.

http://www.dfi.com.tw/portal/CM/cmproduct/XX_cmproddetail/XX_WbProdsWindow?action=e&windowstate=normal&mode=view

The cpu support list says it takes the Phenom II 820, so it should take the 840.

Your problem is something likely isn't set up right or you need a bios update.

I'd first check bios and make sure your dimm voltage is set correctly. Auto doesn't always work right, in fact I've had ddr2 modules that were 2.0v and they wouldn't even load windows at the default 1.8v the board set them too.

If all else fails, I would put the old cpu back in and use the bios utility to update the bios. Then put the new cpu back in.

 

[soswin]

I have applied the latest BIOS, didnt seem to help. It was a bit strange, XP seemed stable (I am running XP Pro x64) but any apps I ran would bomb out (ie chrome / IE / Crysis) to desktop and there was some graphical corruption (again within the apps). I have 8gb of ram, I'll double check it has the dimm voltages correct (I assumed it would set those correctly). I also tried another video card (radeon X1800xt) and that caused the same problem. Would be great to get it working on this board.

 

[geekapproved]

There's no reason the cpu would cause the problems your talking about. I'm positive your board supports that cpu too.

Never assume dimm voltage is set correctly on auto.

What cpu did you have before and why did you replace it?

If the memory tests ok, then I'd look at the video card or power supply as the issue. What power supply do you have?

 

[soswin]

I checked the memory, all looked ok (checked the values that are printed on the dimms).

I was running an X2 4800+, wanted something a little quicker.

My PSU is an enermex 460 watt.

I've been trying that old video card again and it appears to run ok, however I have removed half my memory. I put the Radeon 5770 back in and the problem arises again. I'm currently running 3dmark looped (still with the old gfx card) to see if its stable. After that I'll put all the memory back in and run some more tests. After that I'll try the 5770. Maybe I zapped it when I was replacing the CPU.

 

[soswin]

Update: Seems its bad with the old video card as well, couldn't last more than 5 minutes in prime. Think I'll call it a day and buy a new board.

 

[soswin]

Update: Bought the Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2P, the phenom 840 runs fine on this board in case anyone is interested.