bulldozer build questions

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im about to order this lot in a couple of weeks but i have a few
questions about the motherboard

AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8150 Black Edition (may get the tested 8120 to clock to 8150) to save some pennys.
Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive
2x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9


anyone know if the bios version on the sabertooth stock is compatable with the bulldozer ? i dont have an am3 cpu to upgrade the bios.
(im currently running an am2+ phenom2 940)

also i have an asus xonar essence stx (pci-x) soundcard and i need to know if
i can run it in the lowest pci-x slot ? as my HD5870 has a zalman vf3000a cooler (3 slot) so the pci-x 1 slot will be unusable ... i know it "should" work but it would be nice to know if someone else is running a simular card in the lowest slot ... as i may have to get the msi gd80 instead

and to avoid the "get an i5 replies"
this build will be mainly for hd video editing/encoding
so no need to tell me i should get an i5 as gameing is no longer important to me and from the reviews ive seen the fx8 beats the i5 in video encoding
 
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Hello, from what I have read the Sabertooth board does have the update for Bulldozer but acording to a few things I have read ASUS have neglected other bios updates when you compare it to how many updates the Crosshair has had.

Hope this helps.

gaming should be perfectly acceptable too just not as impressive frames as you'd get with an i5.
 
I wouldn't run a bulldozer and a normal AM3 board... even with a bios update the chip will not run at full speed as it would do on an AM3+ board.
 
thanks all for the replies but the soundcard question remains and its really important.

I assume you can't use a QuickSync enabled app for your encoding?

i use vegas pro and premier/afterFX with 1080p 50fps footage (28mbps)(not sure if they are quicksync)
and converting down for youtube uploads i would use handbrake.
and im stuck with my hd5870 for now so utilising cuda ect is not an option yet

I wouldn't run a bulldozer and a normal AM3 board

i would agree but i didnt mention any am3 boards.
the sabertooth is an am3+ motherboard as is the msi gd80

Hello, from what I have read the Sabertooth board does have the update for Bulldozer but acording to a few things I have read ASUS have neglected other bios updates when you compare it to how many updates the Crosshair has had.

Hope this helps.

unfortuanatly the crosshair is out of my budget and from what ive read the sabertooth is almost identical in performance so why pay £50+ more ? remember im not building a gaming system .... i also need those extra sata ports ... i have 5 hdd currently and need a total of 7 at the minimum (ssd and dvdrw )
bluray writer is next on the list proberbly in the summer
if i choose the msi board i will have to remove a hdd and turn it into an external with a caddy.... i already have 2 external drives as well lol
 
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just to add, for others seeking info on the subject of pcie soundcards

i missed some info in the manual reguarding single graphics card users
i saw the dual card notes before but i rechecked the manual last night and low and behold my concerns were correct .... who designs these boards damn....

in section 2.16 of the 990fx sabertooth pdf manual it states
"In single VGA card mode, use the PCIe 2.0 x16_1 slot (beige) for a PCI Express x16
graphics card to get better performance."
which means the pcie 1.0 slot is unusable

.... why cant i use my graphics card in another x16 speed slot ? at full speed ..... maybe because they are not really x16 speed ? ..... looks like im close to not buying the sabertooth now and will be forced to get the msi or other motherboard.

or take a gamble based on general pcie info from wikipedia and the web that a pcie x1 card should work in a x16 slot ...... i will be gambleing with a £140 ASUS xonar essence stx soundcard ... not sure i want to do that now..... why do things have to be so complicated ... wish i had purchased the pci version now.
 
just to add, for others seeking info on the subject of pcie soundcards

i missed some info in the manual reguarding single graphics card users
i saw the dual card notes before but i rechecked the manual last night and low and behold my concerns were correct .... who designs these boards damn....

in section 2.16 of the 990fx sabertooth pdf manual it states

which means the pcie 1.0 slot is unusable

.... why cant i use my graphics card in another x16 speed slot ? at full speed ..... maybe because they are not really x16 speed ? ..... looks like im close to not buying the sabertooth now and will be forced to get the msi or other motherboard.

or take a gamble based on general pcie info from wikipedia and the web that a pcie x1 card should work in a x16 slot ...... i will be gambleing with a £140 ASUS xonar essence stx soundcard ... not sure i want to do that now..... why do things have to be so complicated ... wish i had purchased the pci version now.

It is 99% guaranteed that the PCIe 1x card will work in a 16x slot however when I put a 1x dual tuner card in a second 16x slot, it reduced my graphics card to 8x instead of 16x. Putting it back into a 1x slot recovered the full bandwidth of the 16x slot. This may not be a problem for you. I have a PCI Xonar D1 in the PCI slot but these are getting rarer now and my next board may not have PCI.
 
An FX8120 can be had for like 130 from here, 8 threaded apps with an FX8120 and he's laughing.
Although for anything that needs IPC, it'll blow the big one :p
 
http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A99X_EVO/#specifications

That board has space for a three slot thick GFX card and the sound card,
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Can I ask why a Bulldozer setup? (yes you said "no i5" replies, but even so) if you are going to buy a new CPU/board then get a i5 2500K and a Z68 board.

i5 2500K vs 8150 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=434

A i7 with Hyperthreading etc will be better again.

i came into a bit more money for my upgrade and i did look at the i7
but to be honest the cost of a decent i7 system will mean i have to leave out some of the hardware i was planning to get and need (ordering tonight)

i checked adobe forums and it was all dual xeons and i7 extreme systems with quadro gpus but i really cant justify spending 200+ on a cpu and all the correct hardware i really need .... yet.
if my movie work makes money then i will go for a monster work station ... thats a nobrainer :D

if i go for an i7 i want a 6core minimum but thats stupid money
maybe i will upgrade again in a year or so but for now im sticking with amd reguardless.... plus im hoping piledriver will be a possible upgrade path
later on ...... cant find info on the socket type though.

so this is my current basket .

AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8120@8150 Black Edition 3.60Ghz
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive
Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Lepa B-Series 850W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply
Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
Corsair Hydro H80
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM - 3 Pin (x2 to replace h80 fans)
2x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit
OcUK Value Optical Duplication Bundle (IHAS124-19/Verbatim DVD+R Double Layer 8x Discs

total £877.32 inc vat and p&p

my current psu a thermaltake toughpower 750watt
will proberbly be ok but its about 5 years old now so i decided i should replace it with a new one so thats added £100 to my build costs
i also was going to get a new case as well (antec 902 v3) as my antec 900
is also a few years old ... but that pushes the cost close to £1000 which i can afford but it will wipe out all my spare cash and i want some spare for emergencies like a cooler if the h80 fails which im a bit nervous about having used an all in one water cooler before and the pump failed after
6 months ... i went back to air with a spire thermaxII which is still doing well
i changed my mind from the antec kuhler 920 after seeing lots of bad posts
about them .... even then there are a few on the h80 too but not as much as the 920
 
http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A99X_EVO/#specifications

That board has space for a three slot thick GFX card and the sound card,

had a look and its a nice board but ive decided to get the sabertooth and bite the bullet as i really want a 990fx based board not a 990x
all this stress im putting myself through is loosing me sleep .... i have a full day of video editing to do and tbh ive had enough of researching as ive been checking things for nearly 2 weeks and my head is about to explode :p

if push comes to shove i can always sell my xonar stx to my friend who will leap at the chance to buy it just like my x4 940 and mobo/ram and get an essence st .....
should be able to get around £100 for the stx as they are still selling for 140
 
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