Phenom II 960T HT Link

[jsanthara]

I just installed a Phenom II X4 960T into a BIOSTAR A70L3B motherboard.

After installing drivers, running tests, etc. I bumped the bus multiplier up to 230MHz (from 200MHz). When I booted up and ran CPU-Z I got 920.09 MHz for Core Speed, and 2530.25 for HT Link. (image below)

If you add them together you get 3450.34 MHz, which is what I expected to see for Core Speed (230 x 15), but instead I get 230 MHz for Core Speed and a multiplier of 4x, when on other boards I would see 15x....

What is going on here, is it running at 3450 MHz or 920 MHz?

I am also folding, and it is taking longer to complete a step then on other boards I have used this chip with. Any thoughts?

 

[wr6133]

Turn off Cool and Quiet in BIOS

 

[jsanthara]

The motherboard in question is a BIOSTAR, there is no Cool and Quiet option.

 

[wr6133]

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=536

Do you actually mean that model? As i can't find the model you listed anywhere. Thats the closest designation i can find and supports CnQ.

Your problem sounds like either CnQ or the mobo is not compatible

 

[jsanthara]

I just went to BIOSTAR's website and it appears that the 960T is not on the CPU support list. I had the board laying around and it said it supported Phenom II processors, so I figured I would try it, and it works fine except for this issue.

It turns out you were right. When I checked BIOSTAR's website it says that they support Cool and Quiet. I couldn't find the CnQ option in the BIOS, but after a quick google search it turns out it is listed as C1E. It was set disabled, so it isn't that.

So it is probably a CPU support issue?

 

[popatim]

Yes, that cpu requires dual plane power I beleive and it sounds like your motherbd doesnt provide it si I bet its an AM2 socket. The symptom of lacking dual plane power is the 'stuck at 4x mulitplier' issue.

 

[jsanthara]

Yes, that cpu requires dual plane power I beleive and it sounds like your motherbd doesnt provide it si I bet its an AM2 socket. The symptom of lacking dual plane power is the 'stuck at 4x mulitplier' issue.

The board I am using (BIOSTAR A780L3B) is a Socket AM3. From what I have read (from looking into dual-plane power after your response), support for dual-plane power is a standard feature on all AM3 motherboards.

 

[cmi86]

If you are looking for a great board for that 960T at a low price check out the asrcok 970 extreme 3. The amount of features on this board for the price blew me away !

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280&Tpk=970%20extreme3

 

[jsanthara]

Thank you for all your responses, it has helped me narrow down the problem. The issue is still unresolved. Any further suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[cmi86]

Thank you for all your responses, it has helped me narrow down the problem. The issue is still unresolved. Any further suggestions would be appreciated.

You have already been told why, no dual plane power. CPU will not run properly on that board, u need a new board.

 

[popatim]

Yup, I bet its a lack of dualplane power as theres no cpu supported over 95w which were the athlon/phenom II's that needed that feature.

edit - and before you get all "It is 95 watts" on me keep in mind that the 960T is really a 125w 6 core thuban with 2 cores disabled; hence the need for dual plane power.

 

[jsanthara]

I'm still not understanding this. Everything I have read online indicates that all AM3 boards support dual plane power. What leads you to believe the A780L3B does not?

 

[cmi86]

I'm still not understanding this. Everything I have read online indicates that all AM3 boards support dual plane power. What leads you to believe the A780L3B does not?

Is your CPU on the list of supported CPU's ?

 

[FALC0N]

Where are you guys getting this "dual plane power" stuff from?

The REAL problem is your board BIOS was never updated to support the X6 Thuban chips. The 960T is a thuban with 2 disabled cores. If your board doesn't run the X6, it wont run the 960T. And yours doesn't. Thuban is not listed on your boards cpu support list.

 

[FALC0N]

Yup, I bet its a lack of dualplane power as theres no cpu supported over 95w which were the athlon/phenom II's that needed that feature.

edit - and before you get all "It is 95 watts" on me keep in mind that the 960T is really a 125w 6 core thuban with 2 cores disabled; hence the need for dual plane power.

The 960T IS a 95 watt part. And that wouldn't matter anyways. The 125w phenoms will run on 95 watt boards if they are the same revision. They will just do damage to the power regulation circuits.

Thuban was a different revision of phenom. It wasn't just 2 extra cores. His board doesn't support any thuban based part for that reason. It has nothing to do with dual plane power. Especially since his board had dual plane power.

 

[FALC0N]

I just noticed on the board site that there is a bios update from this year that is supposed to add support for newer CPU's. However, none of these newer CPU's are reflected on the support list.

Try updating your BIOS to the latest revision and see what happens. I think they may have just been lazy updating the cpu support list.

 

[jsanthara]

Is your CPU on the list of supported CPU's ?

No, the 960T is not on the support list.

Where are you guys getting this "dual plane power" stuff from?

The REAL problem is your board BIOS was never updated to support the X6 Thuban chips. The 960T is a thuban with 2 disabled cores. If your board doesn't run the X6, it wont run the 960T. And yours doesn't. Thuban is not listed on your boards cpu support list.

It does run the 960T, only the multiplier is stuck at 4x.

I just noticed on the board site that there is a bios update from this year that is supposed to add support for newer CPU's. However, none of these newer CPU's are reflected on the support list.

Try updating your BIOS to the latest revision and see what happens. I think they may have just been lazy updating the cpu support list.

I had already updated to latest BIOS from BIOSTAR's website. No change regarding problem.

 

[cmi86]

Man how many times do we have to tell you ? Your board does not support the 960T, that is why your multi's and clocks are all screwy. The 960T is not your average "deneb" 4X Phenom. It is built on a 6X thuban die and requires a board that supports thubans. YOUR BOARD DOES NOT SUPPORT THIS CPU, not yelling just anounciating the point.

 

[jsanthara]

You have already been told why, no dual plane power. CPU will not run properly on that board, u need a new board.

Man how many times do we have to tell you ? Your board does not support the 960T, that is why your multi's and clocks are all screwy. The 960T is not your average "deneb" 4X Phenom. It is built on a 6X thuban die and requires a board that supports thubans. YOUR BOARD DOES NOT SUPPORT THIS CPU, not yelling just anounciating the point.

Listen, first you say "no dual plane power", which as far as I can tell is not an accurate statement.

Then you say that the board does not support the 960T, which at this point I am inclined to agree with.

I keep asking because I am getting more responses ("try updating your bios...", etc.) and some of them (dual plane/no dual plane, doesn't support/bios update support) are conflicting. No one posted any links or sources to support their claims, so I didn't know who to listen to. If I knew the answers to my questions I wouldn't be asking them.

At this point it really doesn't matter anymore. I had the board laying around and figure I would try out the chip with it. When I encountered this problem I was curious as to why the multiplier was stuck at 4x, and if there was a fix.

Thank you for all the responses.

 

[FALC0N]

No, the 960T is not on the support list.

It does run the 960T, only the multiplier is stuck at 4x.

I had already updated to latest BIOS from BIOSTAR's website. No change regarding problem.

No, the 960T is not on the support list, but there is a march, 2012 bios update that explicitly states that it adds cpu support and there is no apparent cpu support list update that corresponds to the new bios. So, as I said earlier, I think they got lazy on the cpu list.

Its not running the 960T CORRECTLY. New revisions are sometimes partially functional with old bios. So that still leaves bios as a possibility.

Biostar added a bios update very recently. Its date 3-22-12, about 10 days ago and it may have posted later than that and possibly after you did your update. Double check to confirm you have this newer bios.

 

[FALC0N]

Then you say that the board does not support the 960T, which at this point I am inclined to agree with.

I cant believe that Biostar didn't have thuban support in the 2011 bios update. And then we have the issue of the mystery bios update from 10 days ago which says:

"Update BIOS code to support latest CPU"

If all that happened without the board supporting thuban, then biostar should be ashamed of themselves. But I still think its in there somewhere. Make sure you actually used the March 22 bios and if that doesn't work, contact biostar support and see what they say. I will be stunned if this board doesn't support the 960T.

Remember, just because the bios date was 10 days ago doesn't mean they posted on the site 10 days ago. It might have just gone up. So check it.

 

[FALC0N]

I think Popatim actually nailed it. I take back my earlier criticisms of the dual plane power argument.

I thought it was an AM3 standard feature, but the symptoms match too closely. And when I looked at the picture, its a small form factor board. And biostar cuts corners. The more I looked, the more convinced I was.

 

[devriesj]

Sorry for posting on an old thread! Just have to fix his problem.

I too have a BIOSTAR MB. A780L to exact. The BIOS setup should be about the same. When you first power on you pc, pass the "delete" key to open BIOS setup. At least that's how I get to the BIOS setup on my board.

GO Right to the advanced tab ok. Then open hardware health configuration. Then "Enabled" H/W Health Function and Shutdown Temperature to "70c/158f" 70c is the MAX save temp for the 960T. This is just for the safely of the pc. Do not want a blown cpu. You cpu should not get this hot as were not overclocking. OK, This is just to be save.

OK now to fix your problem. I had the some problem. Wanted to get the fastest cpu I could for my board. So I ordered the phenom 2 x4 955. AMD shot me an email and said we do not make this cpu any more but the phenom 2 x4 960t should work for you. I said to my self AMD knows what they're doing. So I now have an 960t in my pc.

Bios setup loaded my 960t cpu as a 800mhz x4 cpu.

Now in the BIOS let's go to "performance" tab. Then open the "cpu tuning".

Forget overclocking with this board!

These are the factory defaults for the 960t. OK

Cpu/ht reference clock (MHz) = 200
cpu over voltage = startup
custom p-states = enabled
core fid = x15.0 3000MHz
core did = divided by 1
core vid = 1.3000v
nb fid = 2600MHz

Hyper transfer link configuration
HT link speed = auto
ht link width = auto

Advanced clock calibration = disabled
core leveling = auto

Now go back to the "Advanced" tab in the bios.
Open cpu configuration.
Now everything to enabled or auto. GOT it everything. Except Core performance boost might be grayed out. That's ok. Powernow and c1e will help save power and money. Do not need cpu to run at full power when pc is idle.

NOW save the settings. Then restart pc. CPU-Z will come in very handy. You can get it after windows loads up.

MY setup has be working for over a year now.