I just bought the MSI K7N-2 board! Need help

[jkilla74]

I just bought the MSI K7N2 board! Need help

I just bought the board and I dont really have experience with MSI, i was an ASUS owner for the last 3 years, A7V, A7V133, A7V333, and the A7V8X... These boards were user freindly so I could overclock with ease... With this new board I cant even find where the multiplyer is in the bios... Can anyone send me some tips on maximizing the performance for this board. Heres my specs:






Athlon XP 2700+ (w/Volcano 7 cooling 30-33 degrees)
MSI K72 N-force 2(25-31 degrees w/ 2 Intake fans,2 exhaust fans)
512 Mgs of PC3200 Corsair XMS cs2(1t-2-2-2-5 timings w/heat spreader)
ATI 9700 Pro(w/artic silver 3 and heatsink/fan made by Thermaltake@380/670)
60 Gig Maxtor 7200 RPM ata/133 & 40 Gig Western Digital 7200 RPM ata100
Soundblaster Audigy (w/5.1 Cambridge speakers)
Sony 48/12/48 CDRW
ErnoMax 400 Watt Power supply
20 Inch Sony Monitor
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1(Clean install)
3D MK2k1: 15,699 - http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6013774
Glexcess: 10,833 - http://www.glexcess.com/xsmark/detail.asp?res=1024&bpp=32&id=5863
FutureMK2k3: 5,027 - http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=294134

 

[jkilla74]

i see tons of things in the bios like 'high performance settings' and I dont know that I should try them... I know with asus if something was untable it would reboot in safemode settings with a lower FSB and you just change it back. I dont want to make a change and then Ill have to go manually to the board and change jumper settings just to get a boot up.

 

[inspectorhammer]

did you get a manual with the motherboard? Im sure you have those settings in there somewhere. And its not just the high performance settings - those just kinda tighten everything's timings. There should be an option in the main BIOS screen that gets you to fsb, vcore, multiplier etc...

 

[Cube]

Check the "Frequency/Voltage Control" section in the BIOS. Look for CPU Ratio, that should be the Multiplier settings.

To change the FSB and Memory Timings, look in the "Advanced Chipset Features" section in the BIOS.

I got the information from reading the [H]ard|OCP review of the MSI board. It has some other descriptions of parts of the BIOS that might interest you.

As for other suggestions, I don't have any since I don't have that Motherboard... Yet.

 

[jkilla74]

thanks! This is a good review!

 

[clash]

I built a computer for a guy today that has this MB. Man, i own the Asus A7N8X, but if i could magicly change it. I would own this board. And this was after only going into the bios once, upping the fsb a litte. It looked very good from the bios....

Even i found the multies after only being in bios for a few minutes.. They're there somewhere, you'll find em. Dont select "auto" for anything.... Manual is the way to go.

 

[jkilla74]

the multiplyer only went up to 13.... and Im wondering how far i can crank this FSB, I havent really tried it.. I may try tonight..

 

[hrdwrjnkie]

FYI..

I have had this board now for almost a month and have had very few problems with it. The multiplier is under frequency/voltage control. As a default, I set everything to "High Performance" or "Manual" as this provides the best control.

The board tops out (without mods) at: 200FSB, 1.8v (actually shows up as 1.84 in my CPUZ and MBM5), and multipiler of 13. Be warned, as my 13x mult on a 1700+ actually registers as like a 6 or so. Anyway, really low.

The other thing I like about this board is its jumper configurability. if yer OC'ing and it all goes to S**t, there are two jumper towards the back of the board. They are labeled J10 and J11. You put J10 on the lower two pins and take J11 completely off. Viola! 100MHz FSB safe mode.

This board has really been a trooper for me, and the integrated MX440 GPU helps out a lot when I'm testing different setups to eliminate one variable.

Anyhow, good luck and if you have any specific questions on this board, PM me or E-Mail me . Good Luck!

 

[jkilla74]

is your processor unlocked?????

 

[hrdwrjnkie]

jkilla74 is your processor unlocked?????

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all T-Bred procs come unlocked for their range. 2700 should be something like 14-21 mults. Someone w/a 2700 jump in here and lemme know.