ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0, AMD 8350 Build - My Notes for Success

[bmullan]

I just built a new pc to replace my 4 year old one.

AMD FX8350 - 8 core cpu
Corsair Obsidian d550 ATX case (great ventilation/modularization)
Corsair AX750 Gold Series Power Modular Supply
16GB ram GSkill Ripsaw
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 motherboard
GTX 650 graphics (384 gpu but no sli - I don't do games but this is a great card for $90)

I run Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit and it really runs great on this machine & cpu !

Last nite I had 15 simultaneous video conversions (avi to mpeg4) going using the Handbrake app and the AMD 8350 wasn't breaking a sweat as I was still able to watch a netflix video & browse the web at same time. Those video conversions finished in about 20 minutes. On my old Quad core AMD 940 that would have taken well over an hour at least.

Of all the parts of this build I really have to say the Corsair D550 case impressed me the most. It wasn't the most expensive part of the build but geez Corsair "really" did some great engineering on that Case. 2 front intake fans, 1 rear, both sides just push a button to remove, front face can open either direction to access DVD or other drives, modular no-tool drive mounts w/vibration damper snapon connectors and 3 more fan openings (2 top and one side) if you need them.

As to installing Windows 7 Ultimate... I had problems. My Win7 was on an existing disk (4th HD in my system).
I have Ubuntu setup to support Dual Boot and at bootup I get the Ubuntu menu to choose which OS and Windows was listed.
But trying to boot it would cause a BSOD during Win7 boot sequence.

I had to scratch my head why it was BSOD crashing on boot.

Then it dawned on me... DUH... that was a pre-existing Win7 ultimate HD and the OS had NONE of the drivers that came on the DvD with the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R.0 motherboard.

PROBLEM #1 - with Windows 7

Couldn't boot into Windows 7 because it would BSOd so I couldn't add the ASUS drivers.

Only recourse was to totally reinstall Windows 7 Ultimate !

PROBLEM #2 - for some reason Windows 7 ultimate Install refused to install on the HD ????

It kept displaying an error:

"Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition."

FOUND CAUSE:

I already had 3 - 2 TB SATA3 HD's in the new computer one of which was my working Ubuntu 12.10 x64 system.

Then the Solution dawned on me what was happening with Windows 7.

THE CAUSE:

Windows 7 cannot install on a system with multiple existing HDs with one of which already being a BOOTABLE OS.
I don't know where i originally read that but its either if the existing system has 2 or 3 drives installed that a NEW drive will
fail any attempt by Windows 7 to install onto it.

SOLUTION:

I opened my Corsair D550 rear side door and disconnected ALL of the existing SATA cables from my existing HDs.

I rebooted w/the Windows 7 Ultimate CD in and ... AWESOME .... Windows 7 Ultimate installed without any problems on the extra
SATA HD.


Once Win7 was done...

I rebooted into Windows 7 then inserted the ASUS CD to install all of the Windows Drivers for the ASUS Sabertooth 99FX R2.0 motherboard (you have to do this because your network interface, USBs etc won't work until those drivers are added to Windows.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE -

FOR THOSE USING LINUX AND DUAL BOOTING TO WINDOWS - if you install Windows AFTER you already have a working linux (or Ubuntu in my case)... IT IS REALLY MANDATORY THAT YOU DISCONNECT ALL THOSE EXISTING SATA HDs **BEFORE**
INSTALLING WINDOWS - BECAUSE... IF THE LINUX DRIVES WERE CONNECTED WINDOWS WOULD OVERWRITE THE LINUX BOOTLOADER (GRUB) AND YOU'D HAVE TO DO ALOT OF WORK TO GET BACK TO WHERE YOU CAN BOOT INTO YOUR LINUX SYSTEM.


After Windows is installed, shutdown your PC, reconnect all the SATA HD DATA cables, then REBOOT again.

If Linux/Ubuntu was the 1st drive originally you will boot into Ubuntu.

Open a Terminal window and execute the command to update the grub bootloader --- which will then see your new Windows 7 HD and add it to the Boot Selection Menu you get when your Ubuntu System boots up.

the command is:

$ sudo update-grub

when that command is done reboot your system one more time:

$ sudo shutdown -r now


When it boots this time you will see you have the menu option to choose to boot either Ubuntu -or- Windows 7.. woot wooot. !


I got the AMD 8350 because I do a lot of virtualization and having the extra cores means I can run more virtual machines simultaneously when doing "work" related stuff.

Hope all of this helps others!

Especially the wierdness Windows 7 has if you try to install to and HD in a system where you already have other HDs (RAID etc).

 

[agm_105]

How many VM' s can you run simultaneously on this ?

 

[scragnoff]

Thanks for this!

 

[bmullan]

How many VM' s can you run simultaneously on this ?

If you are talking hw virtualization (esxi, virtualbox, kvm) you still are limited by how the hw virtualization divies up the CPU resources.

If you setup to have 1vcpu (1 virtual cpu) = 1 physical core then answer would be 8 core = 8 vms.

But I usually only use something like KVM, vmware when I have to since I can use LXC w/out the overhead.

Linux Containers (LXC) is something still highly underutilized and not well understood by most folks.

With LXC i've had 2 dozen containers running concurrently and they all were performing incredibly well.
LXC is built into the linux kernel and every container inherets the hosts kernel.

However, with LXC you are limited only by the host PC resources (primarily, cpu, RAM & Disk space).

But as I learn more about LXC... I am understanding that intelligent editing/knowledge of the "cgroup"
file can allow you to control how much or how littleaccess each container has in regards to privileges/access to the overall system/network/internet.

Sidetracked comment: I also like/appreciate the fact that LXC because it doesn't require HW virtualization... is perfect for ARM cpu use (Tablets/phones). ARM consortium is releasing an ARM x64 this year. 6Watt for ARM 70W for Intel ?

 

[agm_105]

I am thinking of similar setup but will be using Hyper-V as i am more comfortable with that. Also I might think of moving to Vmware but not so sure about it till now. Any ideas how many Hyper-v Vm's your machine could run ?

 

[Juan Villullas]

I am thinking of similar setup but will be using Hyper-V as i am more comfortable with that. Also I might think of moving to Vmware but not so sure about it till now. Any ideas how many Hyper-v Vm's your machine could run ?

Did you do that test? How many VM did they fit? I was thinking on a similar test. Thanks

 

[cuzzindavid]

I just built a new pc to replace my 4 year old one.

AMD FX8350 - 8 core cpu
Corsair Obsidian d550 ATX case (great ventilation/modularization)
Corsair AX750 Gold Series Power Modular Supply
16GB ram GSkill Ripsaw
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 motherboard
GTX 650 graphics (384 gpu but no sli - I don't do games but this is a great card for $90)

I run Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit and it really runs great on this machine & cpu !

Last nite I had 15 simultaneous video conversions (avi to mpeg4) going using the Handbrake app and the AMD 8350 wasn't breaking a sweat as I was still able to watch a netflix video & browse the web at same time. Those video conversions finished in about 20 minutes. On my old Quad core AMD 940 that would have taken well over an hour at least.

Of all the parts of this build I really have to say the Corsair D550 case impressed me the most. It wasn't the most expensive part of the build but geez Corsair "really" did some great engineering on that Case. 2 front intake fans, 1 rear, both sides just push a button to remove, front face can open either direction to access DVD or other drives, modular no-tool drive mounts w/vibration damper snapon connectors and 3 more fan openings (2 top and one side) if you need them.

As to installing Windows 7 Ultimate... I had problems. My Win7 was on an existing disk (4th HD in my system).
I have Ubuntu setup to support Dual Boot and at bootup I get the Ubuntu menu to choose which OS and Windows was listed.
But trying to boot it would cause a BSOD during Win7 boot sequence.

I had to scratch my head why it was BSOD crashing on boot.

Then it dawned on me... DUH... that was a pre-existing Win7 ultimate HD and the OS had NONE of the drivers that came on the DvD with the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R.0 motherboard.

PROBLEM #1 - with Windows 7

Couldn't boot into Windows 7 because it would BSOd so I couldn't add the ASUS drivers.

Only recourse was to totally reinstall Windows 7 Ultimate !

PROBLEM #2 - for some reason Windows 7 ultimate Install refused to install on the HD ????

It kept displaying an error:

"Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition."

FOUND CAUSE:

I already had 3 - 2 TB SATA3 HD's in the new computer one of which was my working Ubuntu 12.10 x64 system.

Then the Solution dawned on me what was happening with Windows 7.

THE CAUSE:

Windows 7 cannot install on a system with multiple existing HDs with one of which already being a BOOTABLE OS.
I don't know where i originally read that but its either if the existing system has 2 or 3 drives installed that a NEW drive will
fail any attempt by Windows 7 to install onto it.

SOLUTION:

I opened my Corsair D550 rear side door and disconnected ALL of the existing SATA cables from my existing HDs.

I rebooted w/the Windows 7 Ultimate CD in and ... AWESOME .... Windows 7 Ultimate installed without any problems on the extra
SATA HD.


Once Win7 was done...

I rebooted into Windows 7 then inserted the ASUS CD to install all of the Windows Drivers for the ASUS Sabertooth 99FX R2.0 motherboard (you have to do this because your network interface, USBs etc won't work until those drivers are added to Windows.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE -

FOR THOSE USING LINUX AND DUAL BOOTING TO WINDOWS - if you install Windows AFTER you already have a working linux (or Ubuntu in my case)... IT IS REALLY MANDATORY THAT YOU DISCONNECT ALL THOSE EXISTING SATA HDs **BEFORE**
INSTALLING WINDOWS - BECAUSE... IF THE LINUX DRIVES WERE CONNECTED WINDOWS WOULD OVERWRITE THE LINUX BOOTLOADER (GRUB) AND YOU'D HAVE TO DO ALOT OF WORK TO GET BACK TO WHERE YOU CAN BOOT INTO YOUR LINUX SYSTEM.


After Windows is installed, shutdown your PC, reconnect all the SATA HD DATA cables, then REBOOT again.

If Linux/Ubuntu was the 1st drive originally you will boot into Ubuntu.

Open a Terminal window and execute the command to update the grub bootloader --- which will then see your new Windows 7 HD and add it to the Boot Selection Menu you get when your Ubuntu System boots up.

the command is:

$ sudo update-grub

when that command is done reboot your system one more time:

$ sudo shutdown -r now


When it boots this time you will see you have the menu option to choose to boot either Ubuntu -or- Windows 7.. woot wooot. !


I got the AMD 8350 because I do a lot of virtualization and having the extra cores means I can run more virtual machines simultaneously when doing "work" related stuff.

Hope all of this helps others!

Especially the wierdness Windows 7 has if you try to install to and HD in a system where you already have other HDs (RAID etc).

I for some reason can NOT install Ubuntu 12 or 13. I have 32 Gig RAM, 1 1TB hard drive, and 1 low end video card. I use a bootable USB thumb drive and the BIOS sees the CPU, RAM and both hard disk and thumb but it will not go any further after boot screen. It remains stuck with the option of either running Ubuntu without installing, install Ubuntu, check disk for errors. This is my 2nd motherboard and CPU and I can't figure out what is needed. I originally suspected I should not have updated the BIOS so I didn't and Ubuntu still won't install. Did you make any changes in the BIOS to get it to install? thanks

 

[palladin9479]

There is no actual limit to the number of VM's you can install. Virtualization software doesn't enforce a 1 core = 1VM limit and it won't hard limit VM's unless you setup resource pools and such. Your greatest limit won't be CPU power as that tends to be vastly underutilized, instead it will be memory utilization. Each VM takes up memory while it's running and depending on what your doing that's 2~4GB per instance. Most Virtualization software will only allocate memory on demand so your only limited by the amount actually being used not configured. IE: VM is configured for 4GB but is only using 2GB, the virtualization software will only be allocating 2GB to that VM at that time.

 

[iUse2HockeyStix]

I just built a new pc to replace my 4 year old one.

AMD FX8350 - 8 core cpu
Corsair Obsidian d550 ATX case (great ventilation/modularization)
Corsair AX750 Gold Series Power Modular Supply
16GB ram GSkill Ripsaw
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 motherboard
GTX 650 graphics (384 gpu but no sli - I don't do games but this is a great card for $90)

I run Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit and it really runs great on this machine & cpu !

Last nite I had 15 simultaneous video conversions (avi to mpeg4) going using the Handbrake app and the AMD 8350 wasn't breaking a sweat as I was still able to watch a netflix video & browse the web at same time. Those video conversions finished in about 20 minutes. On my old Quad core AMD 940 that would have taken well over an hour at least.

Of all the parts of this build I really have to say the Corsair D550 case impressed me the most. It wasn't the most expensive part of the build but geez Corsair "really" did some great engineering on that Case. 2 front intake fans, 1 rear, both sides just push a button to remove, front face can open either direction to access DVD or other drives, modular no-tool drive mounts w/vibration damper snapon connectors and 3 more fan openings (2 top and one side) if you need them.

As to installing Windows 7 Ultimate... I had problems. My Win7 was on an existing disk (4th HD in my system).
I have Ubuntu setup to support Dual Boot and at bootup I get the Ubuntu menu to choose which OS and Windows was listed.
But trying to boot it would cause a BSOD during Win7 boot sequence.

I had to scratch my head why it was BSOD crashing on boot.

Then it dawned on me... DUH... that was a pre-existing Win7 ultimate HD and the OS had NONE of the drivers that came on the DvD with the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R.0 motherboard.

PROBLEM #1 - with Windows 7

Couldn't boot into Windows 7 because it would BSOd so I couldn't add the ASUS drivers.

Only recourse was to totally reinstall Windows 7 Ultimate !

PROBLEM #2 - for some reason Windows 7 ultimate Install refused to install on the HD ????

It kept displaying an error:

"Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition."

FOUND CAUSE:

I already had 3 - 2 TB SATA3 HD's in the new computer one of which was my working Ubuntu 12.10 x64 system.

Then the Solution dawned on me what was happening with Windows 7.

THE CAUSE:

Windows 7 cannot install on a system with multiple existing HDs with one of which already being a BOOTABLE OS.
I don't know where i originally read that but its either if the existing system has 2 or 3 drives installed that a NEW drive will
fail any attempt by Windows 7 to install onto it.

SOLUTION:

I opened my Corsair D550 rear side door and disconnected ALL of the existing SATA cables from my existing HDs.

I rebooted w/the Windows 7 Ultimate CD in and ... AWESOME .... Windows 7 Ultimate installed without any problems on the extra
SATA HD.


Once Win7 was done...

I rebooted into Windows 7 then inserted the ASUS CD to install all of the Windows Drivers for the ASUS Sabertooth 99FX R2.0 motherboard (you have to do this because your network interface, USBs etc won't work until those drivers are added to Windows.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE -

FOR THOSE USING LINUX AND DUAL BOOTING TO WINDOWS - if you install Windows AFTER you already have a working linux (or Ubuntu in my case)... IT IS REALLY MANDATORY THAT YOU DISCONNECT ALL THOSE EXISTING SATA HDs **BEFORE**
INSTALLING WINDOWS - BECAUSE... IF THE LINUX DRIVES WERE CONNECTED WINDOWS WOULD OVERWRITE THE LINUX BOOTLOADER (GRUB) AND YOU'D HAVE TO DO ALOT OF WORK TO GET BACK TO WHERE YOU CAN BOOT INTO YOUR LINUX SYSTEM.


After Windows is installed, shutdown your PC, reconnect all the SATA HD DATA cables, then REBOOT again.

If Linux/Ubuntu was the 1st drive originally you will boot into Ubuntu.

Open a Terminal window and execute the command to update the grub bootloader --- which will then see your new Windows 7 HD and add it to the Boot Selection Menu you get when your Ubuntu System boots up.

the command is:

$ sudo update-grub

when that command is done reboot your system one more time:

$ sudo shutdown -r now


When it boots this time you will see you have the menu option to choose to boot either Ubuntu -or- Windows 7.. woot wooot. !


I got the AMD 8350 because I do a lot of virtualization and having the extra cores means I can run more virtual machines simultaneously when doing "work" related stuff.

Hope all of this helps others!

Especially the wierdness Windows 7 has if you try to install to and HD in a system where you already have other HDs (RAID etc).

I for some reason can NOT install Ubuntu 12 or 13. I have 32 Gig RAM, 1 1TB hard drive, and 1 low end video card. I use a bootable USB thumb drive and the BIOS sees the CPU, RAM and both hard disk and thumb but it will not go any further after boot screen. It remains stuck with the option of either running Ubuntu without installing, install Ubuntu, check disk for errors. This is my 2nd motherboard and CPU and I can't figure out what is needed. I originally suspected I should not have updated the BIOS so I didn't and Ubuntu still won't install. Did you make any changes in the BIOS to get it to install? thanks

Assuming that you have the same motherboard: here are the settings that you want to use in order to install Ubuntu 12 or 13.

First: make sure that if you are using a GPT disk, you boot ubuntu using the efi mode. This shows up in "Asus EZ Mode" with an EFI banner on the USB device. If you are using MBR style disks (most likely) you will need to switch to advanced mode.

Once you are in advanced mode, navigate to the boot tab and scroll down until you see your boot devices displayed. You will see 2 different options for your single USB device. One that includes EFI and one that does not. Booting the USB in the standard mode should bypass the issue you are having.

Cheers,

 

[juberberry]

I just googled "Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Windows 7 x64 Ultimate" because I just bought one of these and this thread came right up. One difference is thay I am pairing it with a Phenom II x4 965 though as that's what I have already on a lower end Mobo. I may upgrade to a newer CPU if warranted.

Thank you for this thread as it has already steered me away from a number of pitfalls I would have fallen prey to.

As a side note I also work with virtualization although I rarely need more than 2 local VMs running at a time. Most of my work is done using a hosted SDDC with vCloud Director.