Phenom II x4 965 (C3) on a GA-880GM-D2H (3+1 phase) board

[BeowulfX]

While saving up for a better mobo that I intend to buy soon (i.e. ASUS M5A97 Evo), I got a Phenom II x4 965 (C3) bundled with a Gigabyte GA 880GM-D2H (rev. 4)...a board which I unfortunately didn't do some initial internet research for.

So I finally assembled the rig and it booted up fine (recognized my CPU, mem sticks etc. ) and installed Windows 7 x64 and office fine. Actually, I'm using it as I type this post.

However, upon visiting Gigabyte website to check for possible driver updates, I learned that my board's revision (i.e. rev 4.0) only supports 95W AM3 and AM3+ (in addition to AM2+) processors. And I was a bit disheartened to have found out that this bundled mobo only has 3+1 power phase

Assuming I don't overclock my PII x4 965 and maintain its Cool n' Quiet feature and C1E enabled in the BIOS, do you think its safe to continue using my rig, say, for 2 more months until I save up for a better board?

I'm using a Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler by the way...and a Radeon 5570 1GB graphics card at the moment (although I have plans on getting at least a 6870 1GB after I get a better motherboard).

Any advise or suggestion will be very much appreciated as I'm a bit worried that I might fry my rig due to its measely 3+1 power phase and a 125w quad-core

 

[RGone]

, I got a Phenom II x4 965 (C3) bundled with a Gigabyte GA 880GM-D2H (rev. 4)...a board which I unfortunately didn't do some initial internet research for. = It appears the 'seller' did not do its due dilligence either selling a cpu with board that the board is not compatible with the cpu. I think I would be hitting them up for a 'working' motherboard. Working within specifications according to power requirements.

 

[trents]

There is a risk that you will fry the motherboard and it could take the CPU with it. Where did you get this bundle from? If it is a reputable place like NewEgg there is a good chance you would be able to return it for a refund. If it's a sleezy, storefront business they will likely fight you over a refund/return.

If nothing else I would disable a couple of cores if the motherboard has ACC capability (you can do this in Windows "msconfig" as well) to get the CPU within the 95W envelope or at least under volt/under clock it to get the power draw down until you get another board.

 

[BeowulfX]

If nothing else I would disable a couple of cores if the motherboard has ACC capability (you can do this in Windows "msconfig" as well) to get the CPU within the 95W envelope or at least under volt/under clock it to get the power draw down until you get another board.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I currently have the Cool N' Quiet feature and C1E both enabled in the BIOS.

If I'm not mistaken, however, I saw an option to "disable" cores (core 0, core 1, core 2, etc.). I didn't touch on this one though since I haven't done any core-disabling yet and don't know if it'll cause any instability or what.

Should I disable 2 cores and run my rig as a "dual-core" setup until I get a better board? By disabling it, it doesn't mean these will be "permanently disabled" right? Sorry if this question is too newbish but I haven't really tried or had any experience in disabling cores before.

I checked via CPU-Z with all four-cores currently functional and all are running at 800 mhz (Cool n quiet enabled). I wonder if Cool n' quiet is the only reason why I haven't encountered any instability yet.

 

[trents]

Yes, I would disable two cores for the time being and run it as a dual core. You can change it back to a four core when you get your new board. It is not a permanent disable. You can disable any cores but core 0.

Cool N Quiet is only active at idle. It disengages as soon as you put a load on the CPU.

 

[BeowulfX]

@ trents

Thanks...will try that one out in a minute.

 

[BeowulfX]

Alright...yay! running on two cores as of the moment (at least that's what CPU-Z shows)...

This kinda relieves me a bit of my worries of fryin' my rig...got to get a new mobo soon.

Appreciate the help! Thanks again!

 

[trents]

My advice when choosing your new board is to get one with heat sinks on the mosfets. Those will give you some overclocking room as a four core.

 

[BeowulfX]

My advice when choosing your new board is to get one with heat sinks on the mosfets. Those will give you some overclocking room as a four core.

Will keep that in mind (I'm contemplating on the ASUS M5A97 EVO or M5A97 [non-EVO non PRO] ...

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A97_EVO/

or possibly even the ASUS M5A88V-EVO:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A88V_EVO/

Hopefully the mosfet heatsinks in these boards are good enough to cool the power phase/VRM section.

I'm a little tempted to consider AsRock's 970 Extreme 3 or 4 but the reviews seem to be a mixed bag.

 

[trents]

I have the Asus M5897 non evo and I'm very pleased with it. I formerly was using the ASRock 870 extreme and it was a great board. I like ASRock as a company a lot. It used to be a division of Asus.