EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW (132-YWE-179-A1) Post Code FF when everything seems to be working.
I do get a beep and see other Post Code numbers prior to  "FF" as it is not an instant "FF" when powered On.
Able to log in to windows and desktop screen and Postcode FF remains.
 
* Is this normal to have a Post Code shown on the motherboard or should it be Blank ?
   What should the Post Code be ?
 
System setup.
QuadCore Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, 4.0GHz (10 x 400) 1600/4 = 400 .
Patriot ddr3 PVS34G1600LLK (7-7-7-20) 4GB (2X2GB) 1.9V 1600Mhz becomes (8-11-11-30 -2T) @ 1.90V with 8GB memory installed.
ZALMAN ZM850-HP 850W Continuous @ 45°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1050W) ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular
Active PFC Modular Heatpipe-Cooled SLI Power Supply.
MSI AMD R9 280x 3GB   has VGA Legacy firmware so it works with non-UEFI motherboards.  However, the Driver still sucks.
LEPA Aquachanger 120 CPU Cooler made for LGA 775.
Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) VH6000SWA Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case.
Plan on getting a EVGA or MSI nVidia GTX 670 since this mobo not great with AMD gpu's.
Tried MSI  AMD Radeon HD 6870 and needed to Uninstall Driver ... using Windows VGA driver. It sucked.
Tried Corsair XMS3 CMX4GX3M2A2000C9 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 "2000MHz" memory as unable to run at 2000MHz or 1800MHz
since would not boot to windows without a Dump/Crash or reboot to change BIOS settings. Worked at 1600Mhz but reinstalled Patriot memory.
BIOS Version: Phoenix Award v6.00PG (E179_SZ17)
Linked and Synced @ FSB of 1600. / Memory set to 1.9v and Optimal as Expert plus manually set timings don't work.
CPU 8 Pin socket ATX 12v Power uses 2 - 4 pin connectors. Usually requires 1 connector but because using extreme CPU it's best to plug in both connectors.
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. Had tried Windows 10 Pro 64bit but mobo seems to like Windows 7 better.
Passes all tests in programs listed below.
INTEL PROCESSOR DIAGNOSTIC TOOL.
CINEBENCH R15
REALBENCH 2.54
CPU-Z
GPU-Z
AIDA64 Engineer ver.5.60.3700 Build date 12/7/2015.
 
What I hate most is that the SPP/ Northbridge cooling fan has to be so darn loud running at high rpm's.
EVGA 790i FTW said to be a very good mobo .. just that it is HOT without real good airflow.
 
My new 2016 rig:
i7-6700k@ 4.5GHz
GA-Z170X Gaming 3
Adata XPG Z1 2800MHz 32GB (4x8GB) @2800MHz
Samsung 850 Evo SSD 500GB w/ Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Toshiba 2TB HDD w/ Windows 10 Pro 64bit
SanDisk 256 GB Internal Solid State Drive - SATA - M.2 2280 SD8SN8U-256G-1122. w/ Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Corsair RM850i
LEPA Lenyx Computer Tower Cases LPC801A-B
Corsair H60 v2 CPU cooler
Corsair SP 120 & AF 120 Quiet Edition fans.
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G  and OC  in SLI.
 
My 2008 (X48T) rig is better than GA-EP45-UD3P and EVGA 790i FTW setups but I enjoy my attempts in Over Clocking and results with 45nm cpu's.
Also trying modified LGA 771 Xeon's to LGA 775 on the EP45-UD3P.
 GIGABYTE GA-X48T-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard.
 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale Dual-Core 3.16 GHz LGA 775 65W BX80570E8500 Processor. @3.8GHz
 OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P20004GK @ 1600GHz
Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) VH6000SWA Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case.
2- MSI Radeon HD 6870 DirectX 11 R6870 Twin Frozr II 1GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity in Crossfire.
LEPA LPWAC120-HF AquaChanger 120 Liquid CPU Cooler 120mm replaced my old ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink.
ZALMAN ZM850-HP 850W Continuous @ 45°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1050W) ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular
Active PFC Modular Heatpipe-Cooled SLI Power Supply.
 

bob16314  stated " It should start the POST code sequence with FF, cycle through various POST codes, and end on FF..Ending on FF is a good thing..We like to say it means 'Fully Functional'..But it's really hexidecimal for 255, the end..All is well..Carry on."
 
Awesome answer ! FF= Fully Functional  - "  I can't believe I've forgotten all the Binary coded stuff.  Decimal, Hexidecimal and Octal. Base 2, 10 and 16.  Wow!
Cobol, Basic. Fortran, C,  then came C++, Ada ... IDK .. so much since the 1980's.
I just remember Dumb Terminals and those record album size floppy discs and paper punch tapes being read on reel to reel. Monochrome monitors. Dial Up Baud Modems.
 
Tube Testers for Triode, Pentode and your Power Tubes and Solid State Components/ Transistor theory was an incoming thing. Now we have Surface Mount components and microchips.
The world of ESD.  Zap - hey ..it don't work anymore.  Static --- it's everywhere unless you run an Ionizer.
 
 ** Any recommendation on which nVidia gpu I should use ?
 Thinking of GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 Windforce OC 2048MB 2GB GDDR5 or Asus GTX660Ti DirectCU II TOP.
GTX 670 performs better than GTX 660Ti and about the same as a GTX 760.  It has to be a non-UEFI Bios card using VGA-Legacy firmware since 790i FTW does not support UEFI.
The mother board has a rough time with MSI AMD Radeon R9 280x card (Oct 2013) VGA-Legacy// and it won't boot at all to Windows using MSI HD 6870 (Dec 2010) unless you uninstall AMD Driver.
This is why I want to get a high end nVidia gpu and believe the GTX 670 is the most extreme as should not bottleneck with QX9650 cpu @ 4.0GHz.
 
Thought about the 4GB (Vram) GTX 670 but its too wide and wouldn't be able to do SLI and if I did ... the heat problem because of no space between gpu's. 
#Appears we have a new winner: GeForce GTX 680 EVGA SC Edition or FTW+ after watching a You Tube video being runned on a 680i mobo.
High expectations on the GTX 685 card but looks like it got canned after a possible limited production.