There is no question in this post. I'm only posting it because I've scoured the net high and low for answers to this question and couldn't find one in English. I'm posting this in case some other nutter is wondering the same thing but can't get a straight answer.
I have an "old" but solid AM2 board, a Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H. I wanted to know what the fastest CPU it could handle is, so I go to the Gigabyte site:
My current CPU was an Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (2.8 GHz), and I wanted a quad core that was at least 2.8 GHz (even though the technology has changed and I know that you can't compare clock speeds). So according to the list the fastest CPU that I can get is a Phenom II X4 810. Though it lists two faster CPUs (the 910 and 925), neither actually exist. But wait...I'm looking this list over, and it looks like it supports any CPU at 95w or lower TDP. And there's a new F8a BIOS release that supports the new Athlon II X4 CPUs, so I know Gigabyte is still releasing updates for it. But for some reason there is no mention of the Phenom II X4 945 95w CPU. There is a Phenom II X4 945 125w CPU listed as not supported, but nothing on the 95w model. So I fire off an email to Gigabyte support to find out what the deal is. Around and around we go, with them failing to even acknowledge that there is a 95w variant of the Phenom II X4 945 CPU. So off to Google I go looking for answers.
As it turns out, not many people have tried pairing this CPU and board. In fact, I've only found a handful of posts about it on message boards, and all of them were in Japanese, which I don't read, and I don't know anyone who does. Even after running the sites through a web translator it's still unclear if this CPU will work, but I saw one on a special for $150 + free shipping and decided to take a flyer on it. If it works I get one heck of an upgrade for $150. If it doesn't I'll have to drop another $100 on a board, or $200 on a board + memory.
Guess what? It works just fine when using the F7 BIOS. Shocking, eh? Now I've got myself a nice little upgrade today to tide me over until they start shipping AM3 boards with SATA-III and all the other latest features. And when I do upgrade my board this CPU will get even faster since it will be using the faster version of Hypertransport (so it's like getting another upgrade).
Anyway, if there are any other crazy GA-MA69G-S3H owners out there, rejoice.
________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCTS:Hyper-V
MCTS:System Center Virtual Machine Manager
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
I have an "old" but solid AM2 board, a Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H. I wanted to know what the fastest CPU it could handle is, so I go to the Gigabyte site:
My current CPU was an Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (2.8 GHz), and I wanted a quad core that was at least 2.8 GHz (even though the technology has changed and I know that you can't compare clock speeds). So according to the list the fastest CPU that I can get is a Phenom II X4 810. Though it lists two faster CPUs (the 910 and 925), neither actually exist. But wait...I'm looking this list over, and it looks like it supports any CPU at 95w or lower TDP. And there's a new F8a BIOS release that supports the new Athlon II X4 CPUs, so I know Gigabyte is still releasing updates for it. But for some reason there is no mention of the Phenom II X4 945 95w CPU. There is a Phenom II X4 945 125w CPU listed as not supported, but nothing on the 95w model. So I fire off an email to Gigabyte support to find out what the deal is. Around and around we go, with them failing to even acknowledge that there is a 95w variant of the Phenom II X4 945 CPU. So off to Google I go looking for answers.
As it turns out, not many people have tried pairing this CPU and board. In fact, I've only found a handful of posts about it on message boards, and all of them were in Japanese, which I don't read, and I don't know anyone who does. Even after running the sites through a web translator it's still unclear if this CPU will work, but I saw one on a special for $150 + free shipping and decided to take a flyer on it. If it works I get one heck of an upgrade for $150. If it doesn't I'll have to drop another $100 on a board, or $200 on a board + memory.
Guess what? It works just fine when using the F7 BIOS. Shocking, eh? Now I've got myself a nice little upgrade today to tide me over until they start shipping AM3 boards with SATA-III and all the other latest features. And when I do upgrade my board this CPU will get even faster since it will be using the faster version of Hypertransport (so it's like getting another upgrade).
Anyway, if there are any other crazy GA-MA69G-S3H owners out there, rejoice.
________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCTS:Hyper-V
MCTS:System Center Virtual Machine Manager
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
