Motherboard for Phenom Quad 9550 CPU?

[jw]

I have a Phenom X4 Quad 9550 CPU (?AM2 socket?). I am looking for a
suggestion as to the best motherboard to buy for it.
It is currently on a ridiculous M2N78-LA motherboard that I want to
replace with one that has a IDE (PATA) capability as well as SATA. It
needs to accept XP or Windows 7 (not VISTA!), and I'd like to use the
four DDR2 SDRAMS (total 5GB) that I currently have on the M2N78-LA
board.

I have found two, but they are out of stock.

Help?

Thanks

Duke

 

[Pen]

I have a Phenom X4 Quad 9550 CPU (?AM2 socket?). I am looking for a
suggestion as to the best motherboard to buy for it.
It is currently on a ridiculous M2N78-LA motherboard that I want to
replace with one that has a IDE (PATA) capability as well as SATA. It
needs to accept XP or Windows 7 (not VISTA!), and I'd like to use the
four DDR2 SDRAMS (total 5GB) that I currently have on the M2N78-LA
board.

I have found two, but they are out of stock.

Help?

Thanks

Duke

You do realize that the board is AM3 and uses DDR3 memory?
Also what do you plan to use it for? Gaming, if so what or
some other purpose.

 

[jw]

You do realize that the board is AM3 and uses DDR3 memory?
Also what do you plan to use it for? Gaming, if so what or
some other purpose.

I missed that. AM3 it is. Then I guess I need a board with AM3.

As for DDR3, I have specs for the M2N78-LA board that state it is
DDR2. I haven't pulled an SDRAM to inspect it. So I don't know on
that one.

Gaming? Probably not. I just thought it would be worth repairing the
machine involved which seemed quite capable with its 5GB SDRAM, 750GB
HDD, DVD burner, video card, and more. The price was right (free).
All I think it needs is a working motherboard. Am I wrong?

Duke

 

[Pen]

I missed that. AM3 it is. Then I guess I need a board with AM3.

As for DDR3, I have specs for the M2N78-LA board that state it is
DDR2. I haven't pulled an SDRAM to inspect it. So I don't know on
that one.

Gaming? Probably not. I just thought it would be worth repairing the
machine involved which seemed quite capable with its 5GB SDRAM, 750GB
HDD, DVD burner, video card, and more. The price was right (free).
All I think it needs is a working motherboard. Am I wrong?

Duke

You're correct, but the HP site you listed says DDR3 in more
than one place. So head over to Newegg and have a look at
the reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards

 

[jw]

You're correct, but the HP site you listed says DDR3 in more
than one place. So head over to Newegg and have a look at
the reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards

Thanks - I'll have to pick one.

Duke

 

[peter]

?Everything I found on that mobo says DDR2.....
and most if not all of the "newer" AM3 mobo use DDR3
I would suggest you pull the RAM and have a good look

peter



If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate
or disruptive,please ignore it.
If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain
to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate
wrote in message

You do realize that the board is AM3 and uses DDR3 memory?
Also what do you plan to use it for? Gaming, if so what or
some other purpose.

I missed that. AM3 it is. Then I guess I need a board with AM3.

As for DDR3, I have specs for the M2N78-LA board that state it is
DDR2. I haven't pulled an SDRAM to inspect it. So I don't know on
that one.

Gaming? Probably not. I just thought it would be worth repairing the
machine involved which seemed quite capable with its 5GB SDRAM, 750GB
HDD, DVD burner, video card, and more. The price was right (free).
All I think it needs is a working motherboard. Am I wrong?

Duke

 

[peter]

?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130265

peter



If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate
or disruptive,please ignore it.
If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain
to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate
"Pen" wrote in message

I missed that. AM3 it is. Then I guess I need a board with AM3.

As for DDR3, I have specs for the M2N78-LA board that state it is
DDR2. I haven't pulled an SDRAM to inspect it. So I don't know on
that one.

Gaming? Probably not. I just thought it would be worth repairing the
machine involved which seemed quite capable with its 5GB SDRAM, 750GB
HDD, DVD burner, video card, and more. The price was right (free).
All I think it needs is a working motherboard. Am I wrong?

Duke

You're correct, but the HP site you listed says DDR3 in more
than one place. So head over to Newegg and have a look at
the reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards

 

[Paul]

You're correct, but the HP site you listed says DDR3 in more
than one place. So head over to Newegg and have a look at
the reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards

I think it's DDR2.

HP Pavilion Media Center m8530f
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN#N79

M2N78-LA

Processor socket: AM2+
Memory sockets: 4 x DDR2

We can also look up the processor (Phenom X4 9550).
That's the fixed version of the 9500 without the TLB bug.

http://products.amd.com/pages/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=400

Socket AM2+

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom X4 9550 - HD9550WCJ4BGH (HD9550WCGHBOX).html

On-chip peripherals

Integrated dual-channel 144-bit DDR2 SDRAM Memory controller

So an AM2+ motherboard would be a good start.

*******

By comparison, if we look at a recent high end AMD, an AM3, this
is what it lists for the memory controller.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/A... Edition - HDT90ZFBK6DGR (HDT90ZFBGRBOX).html

On-chip peripherals

Integrated DDR2/DDR3 Memory Controller

So an AM3 supports DDR2 or DDR3 (the motherboard design picks the type).
An AM2+ has a DDR2 controller on it, with the memory type fixed at DDR2.

*******

To find a motherboard quickly, you can use the Asus search engine, entering
the 9550 as the processor type. This is the CPU Support chart page.

http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

Crosshair ALL 1103
Crosshair II Formula ALL 0502
G-SURF365 ALL 0602
M2A74-AM 1.01G 0204
M2A74-AM SE ALL 0301
M2A-VM ALL 1705
M2A-VM HDMI ALL 1705
M2N32 WS Professional ALL 1903
M2N32-SLI Deluxe ALL 1802
M2N32-SLI Premium VISTA ALL 1101
M2N68 2.01G 0310
M2N68 PLUS 2.00G 0203
M2N68 SE 1.00G 0301
M2N68-AM 2.00G 0301
M2N68-AM PLUS 2.00G 0204
M2N68-AM SE 1.00G 0203
M2N68-AM SE2 2.00G 0206
M2N68-CM 2.01G 0319
M2N68-VM 2.01G 0405
M2N-E ALL 1401
M2N-L 1.02G 0137
M2N-LR 1.04G 0515
M2N-LR/SATA 1.04G 0515
M2N-SLI ALL 0802
M2N-SLI Deluxe ALL 1502
M2N-XE ALL 0202
M3A ALL 0805
M3A32-MVP DELUXE ALL 1002
M3A32-MVP DELUXE/WIFI-AP ALL 1002
M3A76-CM 1.00G 0302
M3A78 ALL 0703
M3A78 Pro ALL 0105
M3A78-CM ALL 0405
M3A78-EM ALL 0407
M3A78-VM 1.00G 0306
M3A79-T Deluxe 1.01G 0302
M3A-H/HDMI ALL 0306
M3N WS ALL 0304
M3N72-D ALL 0102
M3N78 Pro ALL 0203
M3N78 SE 1.01G 0302
M3N78-AM 2.00G 0302
M3N78-CM ALL 0301
M3N78-EM ALL 0202
M3N78-VM ALL 0202
M3N-HD HDMI ALL 0901
M3N-HT DELUXE ALL 0702
M4A77 2.00G 0301
M4A77D ALL 0402
M4A78 1.02G 0205
M4A78 PLUS 1.00G 0204
M4A78 Pro 1.00G 0217
M4A785D-M PRO ALL 0303
M4A785G HTPC ALL 0401
M4A785G HTPC/RC ALL 0401
M4A785-M 1.00G 0304
M4A78-AM 2.01G 0209
M4A78-E ALL 0505
M4A78-E SE ALL 0203
M4A78-EM 1.01G 0312
M4A78-EM/1394 ALL 0309
M4A78-HTPC ALL 0302
M4A78-HTPC/RC ALL 0302
M4A78L-M 1.00G 0213
M4A78L-M LE 1.00G 0301
M4A78-VM 1.01G 0208
M4A79 Deluxe ALL 0901
M4N72-E ALL 0205
M4N78 1.01G 0206
M4N78 Pro 1.01G 0603
M4N78 SE 1.01G 0207
M4N78-AM 1.02G 0211
M4N78-AM V2 ALL 0211
M4N78-VM 1.00G 0203
M4N82 Deluxe ALL 0207

Not all of those are MicroATX sized. Some are full sized. In
any case, none are for sale on Newegg.

So far, I ended up on Amazon.com , and this is the
first one that comes close. I'm not a big fan of Biostar,
due to their habit of connecting ATX12V to the 12V wire on
the main power connector.

http://www.amazon.com/Biostar-MATX-...ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1296691435&sr=1-1

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/content.php?S_ID=344

Chipset AMD 780G / SB700

STORAGE

6 x SATA2 3Gb/s Connector
1 x IDE Connector

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series

SB700

Support up to 6 SATA 3.0 Gbit/s hard disk drives

1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and
up to 2 IDE devices

There is *no* floppy connector.

The add-in slot mix is different than your current motherboard.
The Biostar has a couple PCI slots, instead of your previous
PCI Express x1 slots. Whether this is important or not,
will depend on what add-in cards (TV tuner etc) you have
in the PC.

This is the rear I/O area.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/upload/Motherboard/20080122.jpg

There is at least some risk, that the PANEL header pinout,
will be different than your "Viola" motherboard. Check the
manual. (This is a self extracting RAR with PDF inside.)
The PANEL wiring is on page 14. The SPKR is a 1x4. Your
PC doesn't have a beeper speaker. With the new motherboard,
there will be "nothing to beep", as your "Viola" had the
speaker onboard. The PWR LED connector can span two or three pins,
and in the three pin case, the wires would be on pins 1 and 3.
Your "Viola" motherboard, looks to be a 2x4+1 header, so probably
up to four 1x2 connectors.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/upload/Manual/A78GA-M2T_080115_B.exe

Now, the weirdest part, is the 9550 isn't in the CPU Support chart!
How did they miss that ? There is one 125W processor in the chart,
which means the motherboard can handle up to a 125W processor.
The 9550 is 95W, so it's not bumping its head on a power limit.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/cpu_support.php?S_ID=344

The funny thing is, Tigerdirect was bundling the 9550 processor,
with that motherboard. So it can't be that non-compatible.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4443949&CatId=3586

Anyway, good luck in your hunt. The pickings are pretty thin.

Paul

 

[jw]

?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130265

peter

Darned if this one doesn't seem like a good fit.

Thanks

Duke

 

[jw]

?Everything I found on that mobo says DDR2.....
and most if not all of the "newer" AM3 mobo use DDR3
I would suggest you pull the RAM and have a good look

peter

Will do

Duke

 

[Pen]

Darned if this one doesn't seem like a good fit.

Thanks

Duke

It's too big. Your original is micro ATX.

 

[Pen]

Darned if this one doesn't seem like a good fit.

Thanks

Duke

It's too big. Your original is micro ATX.

 

[jw]

?Everything I found on that mobo says DDR2.....
and most if not all of the "newer" AM3 mobo use DDR3
I would suggest you pull the RAM and have a good look

peter

The SDRAM says:

V916765K240CFW-G6
1GB 2Rx8 DDR2-800MHz-CL6
PC2-6400U-666-12-E0

Promos

There are four of them.

Duke

 

[Paul]

The SDRAM says:

V916765K240CFW-G6
1GB 2Rx8 DDR2-800MHz-CL6
PC2-6400U-666-12-E0

Promos

There are four of them.

Duke

So you need a motherboard with DDR2 slots on it.
And virtually everything on Newegg is DDR3 for AMD.

*******

This one is MicroATX.

http://www.amazon.com/Biostar-MATX-...ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1296691435&sr=1-1

And TigerDirect used to sell that motherboard, bundled
with a 9550.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4443949&CatId=3586

Paul

 

[jw]

So you need a motherboard with DDR2 slots on it.
And virtually everything on Newegg is DDR3 for AMD.
This one is MicroATX.

http://www.amazon.com/Biostar-MATX-...ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1296691435&sr=1-1

And TigerDirect used to sell that motherboard, bundled
with a 9550.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4443949&CatId=3586

Paul

Paul - I have now - a defunct M2N78-LA mobo and a hopefully good 9550
CPU which is a 'quad' setup is it not? The TA780GM2 above is 'dual'
is it not? Shouldn't I try for a quad to take advantage of my four
DDR2 SDRAMS I now have? Am I going to be able to find same?

Thanks

Duke

 

[Paul]

Paul - I have now - a defunct M2N78-LA mobo and a hopefully good 9550
CPU which is a 'quad' setup is it not? The TA780GM2 above is 'dual'
is it not? Shouldn't I try for a quad to take advantage of my four
DDR2 SDRAMS I now have? Am I going to be able to find same?

Thanks

Duke

I see four slots for the RAM on there.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JaHiQcHcL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Now, I just checked the feedback for that board in Newegg,
and hmmm... not good. Newegg no longer sells the board, but
when they did, a few people had issues. Click the Feedback tab.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138105

That's the problem with motherboards - once the generation of
processor is past, it's damn hard to find any good motherboards
to use for repairs. Only the worst of the worst are still for
sale.

Maybe you'll have to look on Ebay, for an AM2+ microATX (that
has a good reputation in the Newegg reviews).

What I can't understand about that Biostar board, is why so many
people are reporting SATA problems. Biostar must be running the
damn chip at the wrong voltage or something. If the chip itself
was bad, then there would be failures of that Southbridge, on
other brands of motherboards. Otherwise, how would an interface
like that, foul up ?

I can see some other motherboards, on Pricewatch, but with the
merchants there, you have to be careful to check resellerratings
or the BBB, to prevent getting screwed. For example, I'm really
surprised this is still in stock. This should be sold out.

http://3btech.net/gigasoamp2re.html

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3447#sp

Hmmm... and Hmmm... I've never seen a rating this high. 9.43/10.
And 1664 reviews ??? LOL. I'll believe this, when I read a
critical review.

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/3B_Tech

By comparison, Newegg got 33136 reviews and a rating of 9.70 out of 10.
The difference is, read the reviews and see how they differ in
nature, and details.

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Newegg

Good luck in your search,

Paul

 

[Massimo]

I have a Phenom X4 Quad 9550 CPU (?AM2 socket?). I am looking for a
suggestion as to the best motherboard to buy for it.
It is currently on a ridiculous M2N78-LA motherboard that I want to
replace with one that has a IDE (PATA) capability as well as SATA. It
needs to accept XP or Windows 7 (not VISTA!), and I'd like to use the
four DDR2 SDRAMS (total 5GB) that I currently have on the M2N78-LA
board.

I have found two, but they are out of stock.

Help?

Thanks

Duke

Strange posting, seen the reactions in this group.

1. You have ddr2 on the mobo but it should be ddr3 they all say.
2. What is nowhere mentioned in your posting is if your current config
works!?

1. So it is very probable that the person who gave you this computer
has -for reasons he only knows- put the wrong memory modules in the
mobo.

2. Why not get a little bit of insight about this pc by running a good
and free utility like SIW on it? Then you are sure about what type of
cpu is in it and about its specs (if the system is in working state
that is)

Massimo

 

[jw]

Strange posting, seen the reactions in this group.

1. You have ddr2 on the mobo but it should be ddr3 they all say.
2. What is nowhere mentioned in your posting is if your current config
works!?

I thought I did say that the current setup does not work at all. I
try to boot up with both the hard drive and the DVD drive connected
(both SATA) and an XP installation disk in the DVD drive. There is no
IDE on this MOBO. The BIOS allows a 'SATA
Controller' to either be activated or not. The default is the former.
In that mode, sometimes the two drives are detected, sometimes both
are not (IE not shown detected in the boot). That seems odd. With
the controller not activated, both drives are not detected which seems
proper, but then I have no way to use the drives as part of the boot.
I feel if I had a MOBO with IDE capability then I could install XP on
the IDE hard drive. Hope so anyway.

1. So it is very probable that the person who gave you this computer
has -for reasons he only knows- put the wrong memory modules in the
mobo.

I found a web page that shows the specs that I have including DDR2's
for the HP m8530f Pavilion Media Center product.

2. Why not get a little bit of insight about this pc by running a good
and free utility like SIW on it? Then you are sure about what type of
cpu is in it and about its specs (if the system is in working state
that is)

How do I do that, if I cannot boot the machine?

Massimo

Thanks

JW

 

[GMAN]

I thought I did say that the current setup does not work at all. I
try to boot up with both the hard drive and the DVD drive connected
(both SATA) and an XP installation disk in the DVD drive. There is no
IDE on this MOBO. The BIOS allows a 'SATA
Controller' to either be activated or not. The default is the former.
In that mode, sometimes the two drives are detected, sometimes both
are not (IE not shown detected in the boot). That seems odd. With
the controller not activated, both drives are not detected which seems
proper, but then I have no way to use the drives as part of the boot.
I feel if I had a MOBO with IDE capability then I could install XP on
the IDE hard drive. Hope so anyway.


I found a web page that shows the specs that I have including DDR2's
for the HP m8530f Pavilion Media Center product.

How do I do that, if I cannot boot the machine?

Thanks

JW

From what i have found at this link, HP sure enough has disabled the ability
to change modes. The only hope is to load the SATA driver for XP using floppy
using the F5 at install using a floppy or slipstream the driver into a new cd
using nlite

But it looks like the very lates BIOS update adds the ability to change mnodes
back into the bios


Is the XP disk you are trying to install at least at SP2?







Go here

http://forums13.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.
do?admit=109447627+1296755441453+28353475&threadId=1258653

Then read this post:

Feb 2, 2009 02:12:51 GMT Unassigned

"Ok guys, after two days of trying to make this work, I figured it out. Its a
combination of solutions from Rich S and another guy.

First, there is no option to change your BIOS as required in Rich's #2
suggestion. Its unfortunate because that is the best solution. The problem
with slipstreaming drivers into the Windows XP installer is that it may or may
not work. Alot of people are getting the same problem I did, with a consistent
reboot at the XP load screen after the install was finished. For those who
didnt get that, congrats, but it looks like alot of us had the same problem.

The solution is you have to restore the factory conditions with the restore
disks and put hated Vista back on the computer. Dont worry its only for a few
minutes. Once there, go to the drivers download page on HP for this specific
computer and get the BIOS update. It will install and reboot. At reboot, go
into the BIOS setup and viola, the ability to change the SATA preferences is
there.

Change it, as advised by Rich, to IDE or whatever, save changes and exit. The
computer will restart. At this point if you havent yet put in your Windows XP
install disk for the computer to boot from, you're gonna get a terrifying
message that says Windows wont start. Its ok, restart the computer with your
windows XP install disk, boot from it, and Windows XP will install on this
computer. Follow Rich's directions for the NVIDIA drivers, which takes care of
most, and grab the sound card driver from any other computer on HP's driver
site that it (theres like a million). The modem driver...well whos still using
a modem? Thats it folks. Good luck getting rid of Vista, it makes the computer
like a million times faster. Oh, and thanks Rich S.

 

[jw]

From what i have found at this link, HP sure enough has disabled the ability
to change modes. The only hope is to load the SATA driver for XP using floppy
using the F5 at install using a floppy or slipstream the driver into a new cd
using nlite

But it looks like the very lates BIOS update adds the ability to change mnodes
back into the bios


Is the XP disk you are trying to install at least at SP2?

Yes - SP3

Go here

http://forums13.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.
do?admit=109447627+1296755441453+28353475&threadId=1258653

Then read this post:

Feb 2, 2009 02:12:51 GMT Unassigned

"Ok guys, after two days of trying to make this work, I figured it out. Its a
combination of solutions from Rich S and another guy.

First, there is no option to change your BIOS as required in Rich's #2
suggestion. Its unfortunate because that is the best solution. The problem
with slipstreaming drivers into the Windows XP installer is that it may or may
not work. Alot of people are getting the same problem I did, with a consistent
reboot at the XP load screen after the install was finished. For those who
didnt get that, congrats, but it looks like alot of us had the same problem.

The solution is you have to restore the factory conditions with the restore
disks and put hated Vista back on the computer.

That would be fine except that I do not have the restore disk or any
other disk that came with the beast for that matter.

BTW, I have a VISTA installation disk, but cannot make it work - ie
the boot won't boot from it.