Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Rev 4.0 Motherboard Review: Old but Gold

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UEFI Overview and Overclocking

Like with all motherboard BIOS screens, you enter this menu by pressing DEL during boot. The options are separated into six categories with instant access to other features such as System Information or Q-Flash BIOS update utility via function key shortcuts.

Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.)

The Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker or M.I.T. tab is where users can overclock their CPU from. All the overclocking settings you need are in this tab so it is easy to navigate and confusion is minimal. There are five sub-menus with the top displaying the current status (no values to change here) and the bottom for showing the PC health status and controlling fans.

M.I.T.\M.I.T. Current Status>: When you make changes, you can load this page for comparison with the default setting or to verify that the settings have been saved.

M.I.T. PC Health Status — M.I.T.\PC Health Status>: In this page, users can control the CPU fan and the System fan. Fan settings can be automated, via voltage or via PWM with slope dividers. Also, temperature and fan speed warnings can be set here as well as the case open status. Current voltages, fan speeds and relevant temperature information are displayed as well.

M.I.T. Advanced Frequency Settings — M.I.T.\Advanced Frequency Settings>: This is where overclocking values are changed with options to adjust BCLK, CPU NB Frequency, HT Link Frequency, CPU Clock ratio (CPU multiplier), Memory multiplier and a sub-menu for enabling or disabling CPU-specific features. Users ca use the PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN keys to increase or decrease values or just simply enter numerical values directly.

M.I.T.\Advanced Frequency Settings\Advanced CPU Core Features>: This sub-menu allows users to enable or disable settings that can help with overclocking such as C-states, HPC mode, APM, etc.

Although an FX-8370E was used for motherboard comparison benchmarks, for this overclocking exercise an FX-9590 will be used instead which we previously reviewed here– Brute Almighty: AMD FX-9590 CPU Review.

There are only a few motherboards that officially support this 220W TDP monster, namely these (prices as of October 1, 2014)

Asrock 990FX Extreme 9 (P1.20 BIOS or later) = $189.99
Asrock 990FX Fatal1ty Professional (P1.90 BIOS or later) = $149.99
ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z (1403 BIOS or later) = $239.99
ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 (1903 BIOS or later) = $149.99
ASUS TUF Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 (1708 BIOS or later) = $179.99
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (Revision 4.0 – F1 BIOS or later) = $119.99
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 (Revision 3.0 – FC BIOS or later) = $179.99
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 (Revision 3.0 – FC BIOS or later) = $199.99
MSI 990FXA-GD80 V2 = $169.99

The 990FXA-UD3 Rev 4.0 is capable of running this FX-9590 out of the box as so few motherboards can without modifications. To help with overclocking stability, Cool N’Quiet, C1E, C6, Core Performance boost, and APM will be disabled. Core Performance Boost has its own power management and will throttle voltages so it is important to disable it as well as the APM option to maximize stability. Please do not do this if you do not have enough ventilation or adequate cooling system for your 990FXA-UD3 + FX CPU. Once Core Performance Boost has been disabled, the CPB Ratio will be automatically grayed out. Enabling HPC mode or High-performance mode handles the P-states helps with overclocking as well as it prevents the CPU from throttling down under load. This is a safety feature placed by AMD so that their FX processors do not exceed rated TDP under load. Leave Core Control to automatic. The CPU ratio can also be adjusted directly on this page as well and the resulting frequency is displayed directly below it.

M.I.T. Advanced Voltage Settings — M.I.T.\Advanced Voltage Settings>: As the name suggests, all power delivery adjustments are made in this page. Everything is set to AUTO by default, can be set to NORMAL with offset or manually entered. Vcore Loadline calibration is also set here.

Keep in mind that you need to set the offset to 0.0 instead of the default AUTO if you do not want it closer to actual value. Loadline calibration has 5 level settings with the exception of AUTO : NORMAL, EXTREME, MEDIUM, LOW, and STANDARD. The +100% percentage beside the setting NEVER changes even if you save the settings, I have no idea why, it is always 100% although the voltage observed underload is different. Also, I could not use the EXTREME LLC setting and it always resulted in a black screen.

Load Line Calibration behaviour testing with FX-9590 and OCCT 64-bit Linpack + AVX

Settings:

CPU Clock Ratio: 23.50
BCLK: 200MHz
CPU NorthBridge Frequency: 2200MHz
HT Link Frequency: 2600MHz
Core Performance Boost, Cool & Quiet, C1E Support, CPU Core Control, Core C6 State, and APM: Disabled
HPC Mode: Enabled
CPU Vcore: 1.5 (DVID: +0.0)
NB Core: 1.3 (NB DVID: +0.0)
DRAM Voltage: 1.5V

AUTO

NORMAL

MEDIUM

LOW

STANDARD

As you can see, there is massive Vdroop under load and the MEDIUM LLC has the tightest range and is recommended when droops are preventing your stability. Unfortunately, due to problems with getting the system to boot properly with EXTREME LLC settings, I could not display the results of that.

For overclocking, I used most of the similar settings I used here to test Load Line Calibration, except setting the CPU PLL voltage to 2.7V helped with passing Intel Burn Test AVX or OCCT AVX stability test. Highest validated is 5.1GHz but 4.9GHz is IBT AVX stable and manageable with the FX-9590 bundled CM Seidon 120M at 60C peak load.