AMD 1100T, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3, 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz system

Example of 1100T performance. The 1100T managed to outpace the initial 8 core successor to the Phenom II line.

 

Well I purchased a new core system and put it in a Storm Scout case. The processor was a compromise, I wanted a bulldozer 8 core and I felt that purchasing a 6 core Bulldozer would cause me to not purchase an 8 core down the road, so I purchased a Phenom II 1100T x6, it has turbo boost unlike the 1090T and it was a top of the line product not too long ago. If I would have known the 1150T was available (Ed: not sure if this chip was just a rumor in retrospect) I may have purchased that instead, but I am very pleased anyway with the performance of the CPU.

The GA990FXAUD3 isn’t UEFI but has a 990FX North-bridge and can run a dual card crossfire solution very well, at least at 8x by 2, andstability is rock solid. I upgraded the BIOS despite not having a Bulldozer in the hopes I can upgrade further down the road, assuming AMD isn’t purchased by Apple. I will at least be able to find a used one if all else fails. In order to get the board to function I had to take out the RAM before I cleared the CMOS in order to get it to post. Also, you can run the RAM in ganged mode without placing the memory sticks in 1&2 or 3&4 slots which was quite interesting.(Ed: I found out later Ganged Mode slowed the system down.) 2 DIMMS, 1100T, and 2x4Gb DDR3 1600MHz DIMMS with a Radeon HD 4870 was able to sneak under the 650w power supply, which I suspect has to do with the quality of the power supply, and the fact that it is new.

The RAM was very cheap, 8 GB for $44 was quite a steal, and I plan on putting 2×4 Gb in so that this system is ready for heavy multitasking for a few years. The 4870 will be replaced by a 6870 within 6 months. I suspect the Green drive I used contributed to the low power use of the system, however I suspect I am very close to the maximum of the power supply. There is enough overhead since a basic auto overclock managed to function well for a couple days before I scaled it back to stock to prolong part life. The MOSFETS are top of the line and I believe the power was digital when I researched the board.

Processor: 1100T $189

Motherboard: GA-990FXA-UD3 $149

RAM: 2x 4 Gb 1600 Mhz DDR3 : $49

CM Storm Case: $80

The rest of the components came from my previous rig…

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

Asus Radeon HD 4870 video card.

2TB Green Western Digital HDD 7200Rpm

250 Gb Seagate 7200 RPM drive (going to be used for linux)

On-board sound

Acer P215H 21″ 1920×1080 1080p monitor

Logitech M 705 wireless mouse

Microsoft Digital Media Pro Keyboard (old clunker but I love it)

7 port USB 2.0 powered Hub

Liteon DL-DVD Burner 4x

USB 3.0 add-on card.

The system is a mutt at the moment but I hope to buy an A8 quad-core laptop and a 6870 Radeon or 560 Nvidia.

Benchmarks to follow… (Ed: Never did benchmark this system, not sure why.)

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Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 Unboxing

GA 990 FXA UD3 image with mostly descriptors of the ports and whatnot

This board looks completely awesome, no joke. The placement of the SATA 3.0 plugs on the right hand side will make for some interesting times in the future when plugging in new drives (Ed: This turned out to be true, but was not as onerous as I expected). Other than that, you can tell a lot of work went into making it a top of the line motherboard: There is plenty of clearance for the rear i/o, I’m wondering if there is supposed to be a second input shield in the box but it’s too late now… can always turn on Spread Spectrum to make up for it ghetto style. The grounding solder is very good, you can be sure the board will ground if you put the screws in properly to the risers.

Did I mention the board looks awesome? The board will not really light up under led lights well though due to the color scheme and heat ablation paint. If you want to take a chance on your overclocking you could always paint the seemingly excessive mosfet and northbridge heatspreaders with reflective paint, though not the whole surface, perhaps half. I’m leaving this at home so no paint here. Using a CoolerMaster Storm case I purchased a while back, so I’ll have to buy a front panel usb i/o port with 2 3.0 and 2 2.0 .

The reason for purchasing this board is to really test out a Phenom II 6 core and see if I should go for 8 cores on my next build for my WoW and Rift gaming.

The system in short is a Phenom II 1100T X6 3.3Ghz with turbo @ 3.7 Ghz, and 8 Gb 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM. Next month an AMD 6870 will be installed. I felt a 4870 1Gb Asus Dark Knight would suffice without cutting too many financial corners until next month. The 6870 will be there no worries I hope.

On a side note I managed to incur a dent in my checking account the size of a front end collision, so I can’t imagine how less well off people are doing this Christmas. Prays go out to those who can’t afford a new computer. Now to gut the old system which will get a board replacement for an A8 Quad Core.

Phenom II 6 core 1100T system arriving this morning

Well my Phenom II 1000T 3.3 Ghz (3.7 turbo) will be arriving this morning, I will have some pictures and whatnot posted to my Google+ account. Gigabyte 990FX UD3 motherboard with the 3x usb plug, which I will test on my Galaxy Tab to see if the recharge times improve any. Standard 8GB of RAM (1600 Mhz) in the system to start out with another 8 next month hopefully. Going to use a 2TB drive and an old video card from this system until I can purchase a 6870, (currently have a 4870, back when the darn thing cost 0ver $250). (Ed: ended up purchasing a 7770 in 2013, which turned out well enough to play Rift.)

The A8 system I’m going to be buying is a Gateway system, I’m currently shopping around for a system with a decent speaker system, I hope Sony is offering a laptop with the A8 in it, or Asus. There must be some reason other than marketing that AMD cannot get into the mainstream of products. I also wonder if the manufacturers even realize just how cheap they are putting out their AMD systems for. I would gladly pay $800 for an A8 (quad-core 6350) based system, so to see them put out units for the $500 price point makes purchasing an easy decision.

 

Now back to waiting for the delivery driver…