# ASUS Sabertooth 990fx (And Crosshair V) Info



## rawcomputers

Hi Everyone,
I thought i'd share my experience with my new build using the 990fx Sabertooth from Asus.

Got the board last week from my work (Ontario Chain of Computer Stores) as soon as it came in to stock.  This thing is a beauty, looks just like the x58 Sabertooth.  Ceramic heat sync's, USB3, 6 Sata 3 + 2 Sata 2 ports, 4 PCI-E for quad Crossfire OR SLI and obviously the AM3+ Socket with full Bulldozer support.

I built it when I got home, and things went as per usual.  Put it in a new Antec DF-35, used a Mushkin 60gb Callisto SSD and a WD Cav Black 1tb.  Memory is a 2 x 4gb kit of G.Skill 1866 Sniper's 9-10-9-28 (I know i've bad mouthed GSkill before, but i've come to appreciate them recently as good bang for buck ram, and not too bad for reliability.)

Currently using an Athlon II x2 260 - cheap sub until the 8130p FX chip comes out this Fall.

So I flipped the switch and entered the EFI Bios, set date, time, DRAM Timings, Voltage, upped the clock on the 260 to 3.8, and then saved and booted off my Patriot 16gb USB to install OS.  

SYSTEM FREEZE!

So i turned off the power at the TP-750 PSU's switch, restarted, and was presented with a "Press F1 to recover CMOS settings".  Odd, I thought.

Anyways, ended up setting everything to factory except RAM timings, pulling my hair out all night, and a few things came to light.

The system freeze was not caused by the overclock, or any incorrect settings on my part - the AMI BIOS has ECC Set to Y under Northbridge Settings/DRAM Config.  Setting this to N provides a really great, stable system, which I'm currently typing on with the Athlon clocked at 3.8.

I've confirmed this to be true on all the current 990 chipset Asus boards (the other one available as of today is the Crosshair V Formula).

I've submitted a ticket to ASUS, not much help (they're recommendation for solving my CMOS reset issue is resetting the CMOS lol) and asked that they set ECC to N in the next bios revision.

As for the CMOS resetting itself, might be a dud board, changed my batter with a new one, still does it.  Doesn't bother me that much since I don't usually turn off the power at the PSU or unplug it, but I'm definitely not happy about getting a Defective part.

I'm still thinking about what to do, might swap this board for a Crosshair V.... just can't wait to get my hands on a Bulldozer!


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## Russ88765

I don't really understand much of what you said, but it sounds like there's a major glitch in the 990 chipsets? That kind of worries me, I had been planning on picking up the new crosshair to replace my broken IV. Is it not compatible with older cpu's or what?


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## rawcomputers

no!  The chipset seems awesome, lots of features and ability, the bugs are in the AMI Bios, I don't know if it's their problem or asus's but the ecc set to yes needs to be fixed asap, its really just an annoyance.

I've tried other boards while building for other people, so I believe my cmos not saving issue is a 1 off, so ill be exchanging the board.

Asus support was no help, and they still insist that the ecc is set to n by default - really can't get a straight answer out of them.

I'd like to try a gigabyte, or hear from somebody who has, to see if this issue exists from other mobo manufacturers as well.


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## Sum Zero

*Could be processor ram combo?*

Think I read somewhere that you need an AM3+ processor(q3 2011) to support 1866 RAM.


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## Russ88765

According to some early feedback reviews on Newegg, that Asus sabretooth doesn't support SLI on it for some reason(someone even said it doesn't come with a crossfire bridge). This is really reinforcing my beliefs that new technology is not a wise investment, better to get something that's tried and true or wait to hear back on the newer models first, at the very least. Due to a need for a replacement, I will be getting another board, but the feedback so far has me looking at the other 990fx models. I do like that most of the boards are letting you get higher default memory sizes, but idk- so far something just stinks about the chip.


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## Sum Zero

*Sli fixed I think*

I think the SLI problem with the sabertooth 990fx was just nvidia not having drivers out, they should be available now.


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## Russ88765

Eek, the Crosshair V is getting horrible reviews on newegg. Have any hardware sites reviewed and tested all the currently released 990fx boards? I need some closure, I had wanted to get one of these boards but the feedback on them is making me hesitate.


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## StrangleHold

The SLI problem was a Nvidia problem , think they have released drivers for it now. I have always liked Gigabytes upperend UD5 and UD7 boards better then Asus Sabertoothless and Crosseyed boards


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## Russ88765

What's your take on this ud7? Looks insane but for some reason they won't show the side with the sata ports in the pics:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128508&cm_re=990fx-_-13-128-508-_-Product


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## StrangleHold

Third from bottom.
http://www.tcmagazine.com/tcm/news/...s-ga-990fxa-ud7-am3-motherboard-gets-pictured


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## rawcomputers

SLI is supposed to be suppurted (up to 4-way, but there is NO space to put 3 cards because the slots are so close together)

I have not tried yet, but will likely put in a 2nd gtx560 to see hoe it is.

I replaced my board with a new sabertooth 990fx (was thinking about a crosshair v, but ill give the sabertooth one more chance).

The new board does not have the problem of CMOS not saving, but it did have ECC enabled from factory, so this is definatley an oversight in the AMIBios.

At the same time I added a gtx 560 (upgrade from the 6670 I bought with the first board) and added a second 60gb Mushkin Calisto SSD (put them in RAID0) - CAN NOT WAIT FOR A BULLDOZER NOW!

I'm really tempted to pick up a 1090t, but it will be such a waste since the 8 cores should be out in 30-60 days


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## Russ88765

Is it possible to have nvidia for physx, and radeon for general use? Like they used to do in the old days?


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## rawcomputers

Russ88765 said:


> Is it possible to have nvidia for physx, and radeon for general use? Like they used to do in the old days?



It involves changing firmware on the Nvidia card, and voids warranty.  Also every version of Nvidia drivers seems to try a new way of disabling this.


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