New Phenom II

luismenendez · 16 Jul 2009 at 11:43

Hi folks,

I've bought a phenom II 550 which unlocked to 4 cores running stable at 3.1 default speeds, 1600 HT and 1800 NB.

My current mobo has a limit of 1600 HT and i need to flash the bios to go beyond that speed (Bio TA790G 128M) but i don't remember how to flash so my main question is, shall i flash the bios or the performance increase of higher HT is not worthy the hassle? I read that HT speeds beyond 1600 does little to the performance of the system and my mobo has an only 4 phase power so increasing it will put more stress on her.

What about the north bridge, is it worthy to increase it to 2000 or more? my NB is currently getting quite hot when gaming: up to 65C!, but in windows is about 45-50C

Regarding cpu, I am using the heat pipes opteron cooler as my Tt doesn't have the brackets for the mobo so until i get a new heatsink and get my PSU fixed (temporary using a coolermaster 470W with an ati 4890 :eek:

) I am not planning to overclock it

shadowake · 16 Jul 2009 at 13:17

NB should be fine up to around 70C. To flash the bios you'll need to download the latest one from the manufacturers website and stick it on a floppy, it will come with instructions (you can use a flash drive but I had trouble getting it to work and it's not something you want to fail half way through)! Oh and NEVER flash the BIOS in windows, even if they do a version for it, it is way too risky.

I do think it's worth it though, I could only get my Q9950 to 3.5GHz, flashed the BIOS and got it up to 3.83GHz

AMG · 16 Jul 2009 at 18:26

I think you can use USB stick as well, I m not familer with biostar mobos BIOS through, can do this with asus mobos they have a built in to BIOS flasher thingy

luismenendez · 16 Jul 2009 at 20:16

thanks guys

i put 2 small high speed fans on the NB and now maxed at 55C at the cost of a tiny noise. in windows is now 38C so I am pleased now ;-)

I used to flash my bios before but the one for the bio is 1 Mb so doesn't fit in the same bootable floppy. Its a modded bios as the latest from biostar doesn't unlock. I try to flash with afudos in the main drive c: but I don't know where I have to put the bios and it doesn't recognise the command i was told to use!

What about HT and NB clocks, 1600HT should be enough or higher like 2000 will improve system performance? NB overclock?