MSI 790FX-GD70 - Heatsink Blocking DIMMs

[Frozenwings]

Yesterday I ordered an MSI 790FX-GD70 with a Sunbeam Core Contact heatsink and I'm pretty sure it will cover at least the first DIMM. The memory I ordered has the little fins, so I doubt there will be enough room to fit under the heatsink/fan.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this, and knows whether or not the board will run okay only using DIMM 3 and 4 in dual channel. I downloaded the manual and it says there has to be memory in DIMM 1 for the system to boot successfully, but I've seen that before and I've been unable to use DIMM 1 on the last few motherboards I've used due to large heatsinks.

I know a few people around these parts use this mobo, and I'm pretty sure they've run into similar situations. I'm just looking for a heads up, thanks for any info.

 

[mjw21a]

Sorry mate, I know with my Xiggy I had to install the first 2 DIMMS before installing the heatsink. I found this out after I installed the heatsink the first time round.... Regular sticks have a little clearance to the HSF so you just might be ok but I guess we'll find out.

 

[Frozenwings]

I'll have to wait and see if it looks like it will fit under before I slap on the heatsink. I suppose I could give putting in the memory first a shot, thanks for the advice. I'm hoping maybe I'll luck out and only the fan will be close to the ram and I can just adjust it to place it a bit higher up away from the motherboard.

 

[mjw21a]

How'd you go with this. Did everything fit in ok?

 

[MonkeyMhz]

Hey, I have the same issue, however im only using 2 slots atm. However I thought If I want to expand that will be a issue, (im using a Xigmatek Dark Knight). It mounts horizontally and covers 1.5 or 1 of the slots its no sweat since I can mount it vertically by buying a EnzoTech. Bracket thing (only about 1.99$).

Perhaps that would help you out?

 

[mxthunder]

I have the same cooler and motherboard. Standard height DIMMs will work just fine in all 4 slots : )

 

[mjw21a]

I don't know why you bother thunder. I've got the same heatsink although a different colour nickel coating and different fan. All you have to do is install the RAM BEFORE you install the heatsink and hey, no problems.

 

[mxthunder]

Bother what? I said it worked fine in all 4 slots, thus answering his question. You dont have to take the whole darn cooler off, just unclip the fan if you forget to install the memory first. sheesh

 

[mjw21a]

He's running an AMD (790 chipset) board. For pretty much every AMD board out there the heatsink (well for a Xiggy anyways) is pointed towards the PSU with the fins themselves overhanging the RAM slots.

 

[mxthunder]

well, the sunbeam does not. it points towards the back, a key selling point for it for AMD users..

 

[mjw21a]

Ah, got ya.

 

[Cisco Kid]

Guys perhaps you can give me a hand as I am stumped.

I just finished a build with
MSI 790FX GD70 bios 1.3
OCZ Apex 60GB SSD
Samsung 750 GB HD
x4 955 w Skythe Mini Ninja & Skythe 80mm fan
2x2 Mushkin XP3 7,7,7,6,18 PC12800 (installed in dimms 1& 2)
HD3870
Neo 550w psu

For whatever reason I am unable to install a 64 bit OS. In fact the 750gb drive above has a previous OS install from the MSI 790GX Am2+/AM3 board I was running. I just removed it and uninstalled any of the drivers for that board that were installed hoping that following the new build I could at least just get online as Vista would recognize new hardware and install native drivers? well no luck it just hangs on the "starting windows screen"

So I uninstall it and try installing Vista 64 onto the SSD which is on sata 2, I tried both IDE and AHCI mode as well ,no luck Vista loads the drivers and then it just hangs never moving on.

Okay what am I missing? I have tried installing OS's on both the drives separately, no luck. I have tried default bios settings except boot sequence and IDE/AHCI mode no luck everything else is auto. I even tried a 3rd HD which has Vista 7 on it that was running in previous build fine, it loads and then reaches "starting windows" and just stops?

Any thoughts? A simple OS install should not be giving me this grief, I have a pile of emails I need from the 750, I never have had this happen ever but I am stumped why I can not even run a repair in safe mode or install an OS to a brand new SSD drive.... enough for tonight I gosta crash ....

 

[mxthunder]

Do you have a third hdd you could try? perhaps an IDE one? If you really need to get the emails off, im sure you could by hooking the hard drive up to another computer. Try updating the BIOS?

 

[bassnut]

I have the MSI 790FX GD70 with 2 sticks Corsair XMS3 installed in the #1 and 2 slots without any issues and lots of room to spare using the Zalman 9900 LED...... thin side facing forward. Plenty of cooling as temps ran about 32*C @3400 idle ...... and am up to 3900 now with temps in around 55*C during prime testing and about 48*C when running a BLU-RAY through X264. Here is a possible sollution to think about though the 990LED was allot more expensive than some of the other coolers mentioned above.

 

[Forgotton]

OS
Windows Vista Ultimate 64x

Mother Board
MSI 790FX-GD70 Socket AM3/ AMD 790FX

CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 Processor 940 AM2+, Retail (Black Edition)

CPU Fan
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer XTREME Rev 2 CPU Fan

Ram
Super Talent DDR3-1800 2GB/128x8 CL8 Memory X2

Hard Drive
Fujitsu 147GB MBA3147RC SAS 15K rpm 16MB Hard Drive

Video Card CrossfireX
Sapphire Radeon HD5850 1GB DDR5 X2 (will be adding 2 more but couldn't afford right now)

I've never done much with over clocking always been kinda afraid to considering it took me close to 2 years to save up to buy all those parts and to see them blow because I O Ced seamed to be a shame to me.

anyone have any idea what I could over clock it to have stability and fairly safely just for some of my more higher end games? or if I'm expecting 2-5 years out of this system at least should I not bother despite the monster CPU heat sink I purchased for this build

 

[Marshmallow64]

That CPU wont work in the board since the board is AM3.

 

[Forgotton]

That CPU wont work in the board since the board is AM3.

umm...
It allready is..
AM2+

..
ok looked up why you said it would not work
Because of DDR 3 memory
which I am using
the reason it works? . because the processor i'm using was after the concept of DDR3 memory came out and AMD worked that into the NEWER AM2+ processors in expectation of the AM3 boards coming out.


AMD is betting that having a third core, the Phenom II X720 Black Edition will be able to overcome the advantage of a 200MHz higher clock rate, and the 50% greater integer instruction issue rate.

Let's quickly recap the newly announced parts from yesterday:

Today, AMD is introducing new, more value oriented, Phenom II processors:

* $175 AMD Phenom™ II X4 810 @ 2.6GHz with 4MB of L3 cache
* $145 AMD Phenom™ II X3 720 Black Edition @ 2.8GHz with 6MB of L3 cache
* $125 AMD Phenom™ II X3 710 @ 2.6GHz with 6MB of L3 cache
* $n/a AMD Phenom™ II X4 910 @ 2.6GHz with 6MB of L3 cache (Available in tray only)
* $n/a AMD Phenom™ II X4 805 @ 2.5GHz with 4MB of L3 cache (Available in tray only)

The current prices are:

* $145 Phenom II X3 720 (AMD announced price)
* $165 Core 2 Duo E8400 (at NewEgg)

The Phenom II X3 720 starts the contest with a potential $20 price advantage on the processor alone - and more if you use a P45 motherboard and DDR3 memory for the testing (like we will). So how will the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition stack up?

Test Setup:
Motherboards:

* MSI 790FX-GD70 (AMD 790FX/SB750 - .131 beta BIOS)
* Asus M4A79-T Deluxe (AMD 790FX/SB750 - 0902 BIOS)

Common Components:

* AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
* 4GB G.Skill DDR3 Pi-Series F3-12800Cl7D-4GBPI
* Single Card Testing: Zotac GeForce GTX 280
* ATI CrossFire Testing: Two ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB
* PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750W PSU
* Seagate 7200.10 250GB SATA hard drive
* Intel X25-M 80GB SSD
* Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1
* Nvidia Forceware 182.08 WHQL
* ATI Catalyst 9.4 WHQL



So basicaly from the 720 on they should work with AM3 boards..
link to site i pulled that from below
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/phenom_ii_x3_720be/