Need help w/bios settings. MSI K8N Neo2 Plat

Hi,

Just got this msi board running on an amd 3500+ winchester. I tried a few 3d benchmarks such as aquamark3 and 3dmark2001 (system chokes on 3dmark2005, 1-30 fps) I've noticed my system scores are below average and people with 3200+'s oc'd are beating me by 15-20%. I wana give my system a little tweak up and get my bios running more optimized. I'm pretty new to oc'ing and this has been my first time playing with the bios. Can you guys please help me out with all this?

I've read somewhere on this forum of some bios setting for noobs to OC. I can't find it in bios but someone was talking about bios setting for overclocking that was in some military higherachy such as PRIVATE=1% OC up to GENERAL=10% OC. Can't remember the details about it and i can't find the thread anymore. I know was for this board. If you know of this setting would you recomend using it and tell me where it is?

Also, I can't seem to find the hidden bios settings for ati/nv speed up. I tried shft+f2 alt+f3 while in cell meneu but nothing happens. I'm confused wether i do this in corecell program or in bios cell meneu? I don't think i instaled the corcell program yet.

Please help with this one too.. I'm using sata port 1 on ports 1&2 cause ports 3&4 are clear across my case and i'd have to run the cable over my gfx card and cpu. last resort if i end up needing it to lock my agp/pci. Is this important to do if overclocking cpu?

Something else that concerns me about overclocking is do you OC bios settings in small incrememnts or can you just setup your bios just like someone else's OC with same system specs as you. Not sure how it works? I would think incrememtaly is more logical. Never tried this?

Sorry for all the questions.. just wana get this quirky msi board ironed out smooth! Here are my bios settings and system specs. Please let me know what i should set things to. You can cut-n'-paste this list with the changes to save some time.

-specs-
msi k8n neo 2 platinum nforce3 250 (msi bios shipped with v1.4 not sure version of nforce drivers)
amd 3500+ 939 winchester (stock hsf)
evga geforce 6800gt AGP 256mb (all stock)
1gb corsair 3200c2pt ddr400 duel channel (in slots 3&4)
36gb WD raptor 10,000rpm in sata port 1&2
auidgy2
ocz modsteam 450watt


BIOS version W7025NMS V1.4 112204

-=Advanced Chipset Features=-

-agp apeture size= 256mb
-agp speed= auto
-agp fast write= disabled
-system bios cacheable= disabled


-=Cell Meneu=-

-DRAM config
max memclock=200
1t/2t mem timing= 1t
cas# latency (tlc)= 3
ras to cas delay (trcd)= 3
min ras# active timming (tras)= 6
row percentage time (trip)= 3


-high performance mode= manual
-aggressive timming= diabled
-dynamic overclocking= disabled
-spread specturm= disabled
-ht frequency= 5x
-cool n' quiet= disabled
-adjust cpu ratio= x11
-adjust cpu fsb frequency= 200
-adjust cpu vid= start up
-cpu voltage= by cpu
-mem voltage= 2.6
agp voltage= 1.50

Welcome to the Forum!
Well Bisosnoob, Your half way there. You've got all the right qustions now all you need is the answers.
I doubt I can answer them all as I'd be here typing all night, but I'll make a stab at it.
First that army rank stuff is in dynamic overclocking but I don't think this is a good time to go in the army. Seriously, leave that just the way it is if you really want to overclock.
Next question- hidden bios settings-When you are in the bios press shift and f2 (simultaneously) then press alt and f3 (simultaneously) There are hidden features that will show up in several sections of the bios and in particular in the cell menu. (So if you do this in the cell menu you will know right away if it worked)
Next- You must move your SATA drives to controllers 3&4 next to the cpu. They are the ones that lock. If not you will be overclocking your hard drives and at some point this could mean trouble as in a corrupted windows installation.
Next- Very important- your ht frequency needs to be rest to 4x. (4x is good up to 250 fsb then you'll need to lower it to 3x)Do this by using the page up and page down controls on your keyboard. Do not press enter when you highlight this setting as you may freeze the bios and you need to restart your computer. Leave your voltage settings alone till you see how high you can go on them.
You should download and install Mother Board Monitor to keep a check on temps. You will also need some diagnostic software like MemTest and Prime95. There are many others listed in the overclocking guides. Here's some helpful links
http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=40413.0
http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43033
Lastly there is no shortcut to OC. Other people’s settings may not work for you. You should take the system up in small intervals and test a bit at each one to see if it's stable. Take notes as you go so that you remember what you did. Explore the limits of your cpu and your ram separately so you know what each can do.
Also, take some time to add some specific information in your signature. For instance what type of Corsair ram do you have? They have all different latency settings and we can't tell from what you've told us.
Look, just take your time and make it fun. Happy Overclocking!

yes, i would put the settings at this
htt 4x
fsb multi 10x
fsb 250
and then what he said, that should get u to 2.5 ghz, and running stable, least with the 3200 it did, and i think u can just leave the cpu voltage at "startup" or u could put it to 1.45 either way that should work, then u need to go to ur ram setings, and set the fsb there to 166, so as to be able to boot, because if you dont, you may have to other wise reset bios by taking mb battery out, which is a total pain, and that noob oc thing u were talking about, it does exist, but it doesnt work, it is jsut a lie so that msi will trick ppl into thinking they are over clocking but arent

Nice posts rseven and trance

The only thing I didnt see answered what this one...

BIOSnoob said:

I'm using sata port 1 on ports 1&2 cause ports 3&4 are clear across my case and i'd have to run the cable over my gfx card and cpu. last resort if i end up needing it to lock my agp/pci. Is this important to do if overclocking cpu?

Click to expand...

This is very important if using SATA drives and OCing with the NEOs...

Satas 1 & 2 are not locked...so if you go too high on the FSB/HT then the SATA drives will be corrupted...

You need to use 3 & 4 since those are locked...I know this makes wire management a PITA...but this is a must when OCing and using SATA...

Your PCI Mhz is locked...there is no unlocking them...which is a good thing...wont get the total corruption...just reset the memory timings or lower the FSB/HT if you get a error message while loading up XP...

You can OC the AGP Mhz...I can't say yea or nay on this because it just depends on your video card...some cards like higher Mhz...some dont...this you will have to do by trial and error...run 3dmarks and see if upping the Mhz actually helps or hinders your score...Usally its best just to leave it at 66Mhz...now my card thrives on 79Mhz when benchmarking...

rseven said:

Next- You must move your SATA drives to controllers 3&4 next to the cpu. They are the ones that lock. If not you will be overclocking your hard drives and at some point this could mean trouble as in a corrupted windows installation.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment, Glock. Don't take the points off my test score because as you can see I answered it. What I did forget to tell him is to set his AGP Speed to 66 as this is what locks his PCI and AGP cards, but no points off because we all missed it! LOL

I didnt see that...my bad...but what about the AGP-PCI lock ...

And no test...but it is nice to know people tend to listen to what i have to say every so often ...

Well call my crazy but I think you have to set the AGP speed to 67 for the AGP&PCI locks to take effect...

That is only with the earlier versions of the bios's, I think its 1.2 and earlier that needed to be set to 67 to lock the AGP. With the later versions, whatever u set it to, its locked there.

And the PCI clock is always locked at 33 with this board, u can’t change that.

Move the memory to slots 1&2 as well... These tend to OC better than 3&4

I wish I could still use SATA ports 1/2. I loved the idea of 4 sata ports... too bad we can't use more than 2. You think that can be fixed?

i have a question. in the bios, whats the diff between (adjust cpu vid) and the (cpu voltage) setting ? with my overclock i'm using just the "cpu voltage". it's set at 5% overvolt, but i see you can adjust the "cpu vid" ? i have mine on "startup" if i remember right ?

Okay... you can do combos with them. The only problem is that ANYTHING ABOVE 1.450v setting in the manual one will not work. If you set it to like 1.500, I think it just does 1.450. Basically, you can do this:

1.400 + (3.3%, 5%, 8,3%, 10%)
1.425 + (3.3%, 5%, 8,3%, 10%)
1.450 + (3.3%, 5%, 8,3%, 10%)

I think the lower vcore settings would work too, but not like overclockers like to undervolt and underclock things.

The highest achievable voltage would be 1.450+10% (~1.61v actual on my board -- not all are the same)

If you use one of the older modded BIOSes (1.36b) then you can do higher percentages. I'm on 1.41b BIOS and even though it shows higher than 10% voltage they don't really work.

This link to another thread in MSI section of ocforums will show you the actual voltages of most of your everyday vcore and cpuvid settings. I hope this helps...

If you leave it at startup then that's like having it set to 1.400v. So in your case, STARTUP + 5% = 1.400 + 5% =~ 1.47, but like 1.46 actual. Remember that the board undervolts by like .03-.04. I hope this helps...

g0dM@n said:

Okay... you can do combos with them. The only problem is that ANYTHING ABOVE 1.450v setting in the manual one will not work. If you set it to like 1.500, I think it just does 1.450. Basically, you can do this:

1.400 + (3.3%, 5%, 8,3%, 10%)
1.425 + (3.3%, 5%, 8,3%, 10%)
1.450 + (3.3%, 5%, 8,3%, 10%)

I think the lower vcore settings would work too, but not like overclockers like to undervolt and underclock things.

The highest achievable voltage would be 1.450+10% (~1.61v actual on my board -- not all are the same)

If you use one of the older modded BIOSes (1.36b) then you can do higher percentages. I'm on 1.41b BIOS and even though it shows higher than 10% voltage they don't really work.

This link to another thread in MSI section of ocforums will show you the actual voltages of most of your everyday vcore and cpuvid settings. I hope this helps...

If you leave it at startup then that's like having it set to 1.400v. So in your case, STARTUP + 5% = 1.400 + 5% =~ 1.47, but like 1.46 actual. Remember that the board undervolts by like .03-.04. I hope this helps...

Click to expand...

thats awsome. thx man

No problem. Let us know how it turns out, and don't hesitate to ask for more help. I may be getting rid of my neo2. I just ordered the DFI SLI-D from newegg today. If it mods then I'm definitely moving on to that board. I'm just going to need to buy a 6800gt pci-x.