GA-MA790X-UD4

nathanc

nathanc

nathanc

Associate
Joined
15 Sep 2003
Posts
225
Location
Surrey
I'm planning a budget build for my nephew.

I thought this board would provide a sound platform since it supports 145w processors and Crossfire.

For the CPU I was thinking about the Athlon X2 7850 BE, however I notice that the CPU support list for this motherboard shows that particular CPU as being supported from BIOS release F3F.

Firstly, the latest release is F3, so what is F3F?
Secondly, I don't have another AM2 processor so how am I meant to update the BIOS - would the processor still work?

Cheers
 
I've just found another thread with part of the answer...

If the board doesn't come with that BIOS I would need another AM2 CPU to flash it!

So, Overclockers.... any idea what BIOS version this currently ships with and how about a flashing service for motherboards?

This situation wastes money for everyone involved :mad:
 
Same goes with the Asus M4A78-E, it requires BIOS version 0701.

Basically I'm forced to get an inferior processor because any board I buy won't support it out of the box.
 
nathanc said:
I'm planning a budget build for my nephew.

I thought this board would provide a sound platform since it supports 145w processors and Crossfire.

For the CPU I was thinking about the Athlon X2 7850 BE, however I notice that the CPU support list for this motherboard shows that particular CPU as being supported from BIOS release F3F.

Firstly, the latest release is F3, so what is F3F?
Secondly, I don't have another AM2 processor so how am I meant to update the BIOS - would the processor still work?

Cheers
Click to expand...

UD4P version of the MA790X would have been a bit better choice as it comes with a bios that works with the 7850BE.
I had a choice of the UD4 or UD4P and for the slight price difference I went for the UD4P that came with F4 bios.
I put my 7850 BE in and had no problems.
 
Since this board has a dual BIOS, I've emailed Gigabyte to see if they can supply a BIOS chip with the latest version already installed.

Worth a try!
 
musicman53 said:
UD4P version of the MA790X would have been a bit better choice as it comes with a bios that works with the 7850BE.
I had a choice of the UD4 or UD4P and for the slight price difference I went for the UD4P that came with F4 bios.
I put my 7850 BE in and had no problems.
Click to expand...

If I can't get a BIOS chip then that's probably the best bet!

Thanks
 
nathanc said:
If I can't get a BIOS chip then that's probably the best bet!

Thanks
Click to expand...

The UD4P version board is a bit better than the UD4 in some ways.
Go to the Gigabyte site where you can compare the two side by side.
Also unless the Bios chip is in a socket then you cannot change it.
The other thing is I would rather use the MA790X-UD4P in all the pc's I build than the UD4.
I run my 7850 BE at 3GHz without changing anything other than the multiplier.
Bios may show the cpu volts as being 1.325v instead of supposed 1.25v but it seems just something that the board does.
 
I've just had a look on the site and I have to say I agree.

The UD4P looks like a much better board. It has a number of additional features (Dolby Theater, 8+2 power, DDR2 1333+) that outweigh the small increment in price.

Not forgetting that it will support the 7850 out of the box :D
 
nathanc said:
I've just had a look on the site and I have to say I agree.

The UD4P looks like a much better board. It has a number of additional features (Dolby Theater, 8+2 power, DDR2 1333+) that outweigh the small increment in price.

Not forgetting that it will support the 7850 out of the box :D
Click to expand...

I was going from an abit KN9 Ultra with an AMD 5200+(2.6GHz clocked to 2.8GHz) to a new board and cpu after all those years and was not able to spend anything like £125 on a board and then whatever on a cpu so I looked around and decided to go back to a Gigabyte and looked at the difference between the MA790X-UD4 and MA790X-UD4P and seeing that the price for the UD4P was about £94 at the time, went for it.
All I had to get other than that was the X2 7850 and antec 300.
The UD4P replaced the short run of the UD4 boards and is a better board.
The UD4 was only a bit cheaper at the time but also the fact that with a bios update I could at a later date get a Phenom if needed.
So I jumped from AM2 board to AM2+ /AM3 board.
 
Well Gigabyte said I would have to send the board to them and they could flash it.

I'm still undecided on which chipset to go for, if it ends up being the 790 then the UD4P will be the board to get - time for a new thread I think.

In the meantime I've just bought the 7850 since its reduced this week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom