Ummm have I made a major boob?

[Pob255]

As part of my current new build project I got hold of the following

Motherboard: M4A78T-E
CPU: AMD athlon x2 5600+
memory: DDR2 pc6800

Just trying to put this together and I've realised that this motherboard is DDR3 only
So ordered some from Scan

But I've just had a serious worry, because this is ddr3 only does that mean the older athlon x2 5600+ will not work?
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=cf8IZzbU4m6GHKnW
The cpu support only mentions the newer athlonII does this mean it's AM3 only??

[PeterStoba]

As part of my current new build project I got hold of the following

Motherboard: M4A78T-E
CPU: AMD athlon x2 5600+
memory: DDR2 pc6800

Just trying to put this together and I've realised that this motherboard is DDR3 only
So ordered some from Scan

But I've just had a serious worry, because this is ddr3 only does that mean the older athlon x2 5600+ will not work?
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=cf8IZzbU4m6GHKnW
The cpu support only mentions the newer athlonII does this mean it's AM3 only??

Yes, cancel the RAM and return the mobo I'd say.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You will either have to get DDR3 and an AM3 CPU or sell the motherboard and get an AM2 or AM2+ one which will accept DDR2. Ebuyer have 4gb of low latency 1333mhz Crucial Ballistix DDR3 for around £43:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166996

If you want a cheap AM2+ motherboard which can overclock reasonably get this one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard

Don't get the first revision of the motherboard.

[staffsMike]

He's only gone and Sporked it up... Unlucky Pob

[Pob255]

So I am right in thinking that while an AM2 cpu does indeed fit in the socket it's not going to actually work.
Because it lacks the DDR3 memory controller?

[MadduckUK]

am3 has one pin less than am2/am2+ so fitting it would involve breaking it - thats why am3 proccy goes in an am2+ but not the other way round..

[Pob255]

am3 has one pin less than am2/am2+ so fitting it would involve breaking it - thats why am3 proccy goes in an am2+ but not the other way round..

Ummm, well I fit this athlon x2 5600+ in the motherboard ok . . .
Just looking at the cpu now, nope no broken pins that I can see

OK cpu is fine, the socket seems to have 2 little holes in it, where holes shouldn't be.
Seeing as this was "grade B" stock from novatech, I wonder if someone tried to fit and am2 in this before me.

[MadduckUK]

Ummm, well I fit this athlon x2 5600+ in the motherboard ok . . .
Just looking at the cpu now, nope no broken pins that I can see

OK cpu is fine, the socket seems to have 2 little holes in it, where holes shouldn't be.
Seeing as this was "grade B" stock from novatech, I wonder if someone tried to fit and am2 in this before me.

a little bit of ocuk in every b grade

[watercooled]

Maybe they are using an AM2 physical socket or something. As mentioned an AM2(+) CPU will not fit into an AM3 motherboard.

[Pob255]

Just spotted a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 on fleabay
North Bridge: AMD 790X
South Bridge: AMD SB600

Used
No onboard graphics, but I don't need it
only 4 sata, but only 1 sata hd going in atm
8pin power socket annoyingly in the middle of the board
Currently at 99p + £7.50p P&P

What would people recogn for max price?

[MadduckUK]

Just spotted a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 on fleabay
North Bridge: AMD 790X
South Bridge: AMD SB600

Used
No onboard graphics, but I don't need it
only 4 sata, but only 1 sata hd going in atm
8pin power socket annoyingly in the middle of the board
Currently at 99p + £7.50p P&P

What would people recogn for max price?

im looking at around £45 for mine, so i dunno - bid up to £35 since its not including pnp?

[Pob255]

Hold that thought Madduck, I'll see if I can get it for £30, if not I'll take yours

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Remember the SB600 wil not be great for the newer AMD CPUs released this year - older ones will be fine.

[Pob255]

Ok I've been reading up on southbridges on am2/2+/3 boards
There seems to be some sata realted issues, mainly raid related.
The 600 has fewer USB controllers and not so good on HyperTransport overclocking . . . which I think equates to FSB on amd motherboards.

looks like the AHCI mode wasn't fully fixed on the sb700 ether
Found a fix for it on the german gigabyte forum Google translation

However it seems apart from raid, NQC and hotswap, there's no real difference between running in AHCI mode and pata (ide) mode

[scaryjim]

the SB600 had worse USB / SATA performance than the SB700. Recent reviews of SB750 / SB710 toting boards suggest that since SB700 AMD have gone backwards with this, but that's off one review not a representative sample. There was certainly nothing *wrong* with SB600 as such, it's just not as good as SB700.

Apart from the SB600 the 790X is a good chipset though - just bare in mind that brand new 770 mobos start just above £50 and are also competitive...

[watercooled]

I'm not sure it's the SB700 as it could be driver-related but when I benchmark drives through it performance seems below par and where HDTune normally draws the line smoothly, it kind of stutters and draws it in chunks. I've not tried a non-Windows benchmark yet and I didn't manually install any drivers like I did with my P35 board - on that computer Windows Update sent me to Intel's website to download the ICH9 drivers? Also there's no SB drivers for Windows 7 on ATI's website.