Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 AM3 Motherboard

[CivilDrone]

Hi there

I am looking to upgrade my rig a bit, currently running OC'ed Phenom II X6 1090T @ 3.8 on 1.425v. Its as stable as it can get, didnt try to drop voltage down as i think its not an issue here. I cannot hit 4Ghz mark to be as stable as this, therefore i am considering upgrading motherboard to the Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 AM3 which is 8+2 phase

Cooling is not an issue here as i modded my case to be as cool as possible, if anyone is actually interested here is the post i made on AVF forums: http://www.avforums.com/forums/cases...ra-modded.html

Anyway, i read quiet a lot about this motherboard and its very good for the price with everything it has on board, however there are issues with it, such as memory, aparently 2 sticks of 2gb each are fine however going above that isnt, motherboard plays up. Some ram slots are also blank, a lot of people complaining about that. There is also an issue of loose sink on north or south bridge, sensor shows stupid idle temp of around 80C

EDIT: Wanted to point out that i will be using Enzotech MST-88 Mosfet Cooler so everything is nice and smooth

My question is, firstly to the staff of SCAN, which revision version do you actually sell?
To anyone who used it, hopefully rev 3.1, how is it for you and is it worth getting? currently £75 at scan on today only
Dont want to buy and be stuck with horrible Gigabyte customer service, unless SCAN deals with them directly

Thanks

[Domestic_Ginger]

This is Hexus; you would be best asking in the scan subforum.

Why uppgrade for 200mhz? You shoul dbe looking at getting an AM3+ motherboard when they officially launch so yo ucan upgrade to a bulldoazer soon.

Are you OCing on the HT ref. clk. or via the multiplier?

[CivilDrone]

Thanks for the quick reply! Didnt really know where to post, so i thought hardware would be best bit, is there a chance to move this thread under scan subforums? so i dont clog up forum

To be honest i just want a 8+2 phase board, as i read its worryin to run x6 clocked on 4+1, i have enzotech sinks on mosfets now, so its a bit cooler, but still would like to upgrade. Also my mobo doesnt have 6gb sata. I might actually push CPU a bit further, altho going above 4.2 isnt smart with air cooling. Havent seen AM3+ mobos yet but i will certanly have a look, just dont want to spend loads of money, becouse i still need gigabytes 560TI SOC and bigger monitor hopefully 3D

I am using multiplier and voltage only, fsb is still at 200

[barry2811]

I have revision 2.1 of the board and use the same Enzotech Mosfet cooler. It's a little snug to fit, but does go on without issue with a little bit of force.

I run 4 sticks of 2GB DDR3 without issue on the board so I don't know where the memory issue report comes from. I have downclocked to 1066 though, although that is due to the CPU I use being an early Phenom II, which had issues with 4 DIMMS at 1333, nothing to do with the board itself.

Oh, and you won't get any joy out of any eTailor as to regards revisions of products, trust me, I've tried and none of them will go out of the way for you on it sadly.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Performance wise you might want to look into upping the CPU-NB. there was a review somewhere showing it makes a large difference on thubans.

the 870 is 65nm, same as the 770 and they do run hot.

[CivilDrone]

Thanks for the reply Barry
How is your north/southbridge sink? I read most of them come loose, hence the high idle temp, or just an issue with sensor showin wrong temps. So Enzotech is deffo needed, good thing to hear as i was puttin things on the list needed for the mobo, hard when you dont have an item at hand, no memory issues also a good sign, re-gainin some belief in this mobo

Don't think i'll be going for AM3+ motherboard as they will probably cost a lot of money for the first 6-12months, and this mobo at 75-85 range seems to be a diamond in the rough

I was thinking of calling scan, but don't really think they are able to physically check the stock, probably separate office from the actual warehouse

Domestic Ginger thanks for the input in all this mess I will try and up CPU-NB and see what happends. Also would you know anything about 4+1, 8+2 and so on for the motherboard phase? It supplies electro evenly i suppose, hence making it run smoother and possibly lowering temps? or am i missing something?

[barry2811]

Thanks for the reply Barry
How is your north/southbridge sink? I read most of them come loose, hence the high idle temp, or just an issue with sensor showin wrong temps. So Enzotech is deffo needed, good thing to hear as i was puttin things on the list needed for the mobo, hard when you dont have an item at hand, no memory issues also a good sign, re-gainin some belief in this mobo

Don't think i'll be going for AM3+ motherboard as they will probably cost a lot of money for the first 6-12months, and this mobo at 75-85 range seems to be a diamond in the rough

I was thinking of calling scan, but don't really think they are able to physically check the stock, probably separate office from the actual warehouse

Domestic Ginger thanks for the input in all this mess I will try and up CPU-NB and see what happends. Also would you know anything about 4+1, 8+2 and so on for the motherboard phase? It supplies electro evenly i suppose, hence making it run smoother and possibly lowering temps? or am i missing something?

I wouldn't say the Enzo is definitely needed. I did read some reviews that said if you are looking to overclock then the Mosfets get hot and a heatsink would be a good idea. For peace of mind and the sake of a tenner I fitted one. Some people said get the Enzo 81 but my research suggested the 88 and it fits fine. I guess it's personal preference, I would think at stock you would be ok with an X6, if you overclock and want piece of mind fit a heatsink.

Again, from experience and research, this board and the 770 one before it, have a faulty TMPIN2 sensor. I have good airflow and my CPU, etc. is very cool. The TMPIN2 always reports ~80C though.

If it helps I bought mine from Scan in December and got a 2.1, 2.2 had just come out then. It seems to be a high volume board so I would think there is a good chance that eTailors may have at least rev 3.0 by now, but don't quote me on it.

[CivilDrone]

Would deffo want to overclock it a bit, just becouse i wanted to get 1100T and price difference was a bit silly compared with 1090T, if i clock to say 4Ghz i think my setup will last for at least 3-5 years, peace of mind Enzotech is just an assurance for the most parts, becouse i still remember burnin sensation in my finger when o'clockin this on my current mobo without them! intel burn test didnt just burn my CPU afterall.

I am really hoping for 3.0 at least, even though i dont really know what changes are there, hopefully littlebits were fixed and improved. Already posted quick thing on subforum for SCAN, lets hope they do reply soon, else today only wont be available in 3 hours time

Also thanks to you i now got 5 posts and can share links, updated my 1st post in this thread in case anyone is interested in my case layout, it isnt much comin from an amateur