Bad results with an Ifinity SLI

[Pntgrd]

I have just swapped out my old Neo2 for the NF4 Infinity SLI. I am using the same cpu (3200+), hsf (XP-90/Delta), ram (PC4200 Hyperam 2x512), psu (Fortron BlueStorm 500w), case, etc. Everthing the same except the DFI and a 7800GT. I could get 2.6ghz @ 1.525 with the MSI. Most I have got stable with the DFI is 2.3 @ 1.525.
Over that and I start getting problems that remond me of having the PCI bus too high, back before the busses were locked at 33/66. Weird things like failing to load Windows properly or all the way. Little hags and hesitations. Just some weirdness I never got before the DFI. So I have some questions
1. The busses are locked on the DFI, aren't they?
2. Does it matter which SATA port you use? It did matter on my Neo2, 2 were locked and the other 2 were not.
3. Do any here load the Nvidia SW-IDE driver? It is recommended not to over at DFI-Street, so I have not.
4. Are all DFI boards this tempremental?

When I decided to start on an SLI upgrade path I first checked the MSI threads for what was thought of the Neo4-SLI. It seemed from the posts here that the quality had slipped some since my last board so I started looking at other options. That led me to the DFI and now I am beginning to think I may have made a mistake. I have a new Opty 165 and a 2 gig kit of Gskill Extreem coming for this. I hope it will help or at least work better.

 

[Pntgrd]

I have another question to add. Could having the video card in the top slot as opposed to the bottom slot cause these problems? I was having trouble with the system locking in a sound loop stutter and I may have cured it by changing the card to the bottom slot. Maybe, futher testing will be needed.

 

[wardog50]

I bought one of these boards and had very bad results as well.

I moved from an eVGA SLI board and used all of teh other same parts I had previously.
I could never get windows to load properly and once or twice when it did get to windows it would immediatly crash.
Thats after spending teh time to do a DOS level format and I did it a couple more times.
Also my HDD I used was a IDE.
The corruption I was getting was horrible I could never get it stable at stock setups.
Also it killed one of my Mushkin BH-5 RAM sticks.
I am VERY disapointed with this purchase.
There is no way I would ever spend more money on a more advanced version of this board. If they cant get the base model running right with little to no extra features how could they be expected to get teh more advanced boards to work properly?
I am going to try one more time as I think I might know which slot burned up my RAM and I will try and reload windows on a new HDD and see how that goes.
If it doesnt work out this thing is toast.

By the way I ran the stock BIOS settings in fail safe.
I ran a Opty 146 and 148 (both of which run fine in my other board.
I tried both 256mb and 512 mb sticks of RAM
For the hdd I tried my 40 and 120gb hdds, both of which I spent the time to format several times.

Wish more people had this board so we had more info to work from but I really expected it to be much smoother than this.


I will most likely wait until this weekend to do the changes and attempt again.
I will let you know what I find out though.

I did notice in one of the BIOS updates on DFIs site that they mentioned a IDE fix.
Maybe the fix might effect the sata (for you) as well?


Ill update you with morte info after this weekend.

Wardog

 

[Pntgrd]

Wardog50, I feel your pain, although I at least did not get anything terminal, other than my patience. The only somewhat stable I can get is at defaults and I am back on my old Hyperram. This board did not seem to like the 1g sticks of Gskill Extreem at all. Nothing I could find would get them stable at all. They would pass Memtest as high a 275mhz but things were just flakey trying to use them. I still most times cannot get the thing to get past the ide scan a t boot with my one lone usb cable plugged in. The last 2 mornings I have woke up to a BSOD once and a case of wouldn't come out of sleep-mode the other. Both cases required a pull the case out of my desk, remove the usb cable and then reboot. i finally have had enough and ordered an Asus A8N-SLI Premium and am going to RMA this ***.

There is no way I would ever spend more money on a more advanced version of this board. If they cant get the base model running right with little to no extra features how could they be expected to get teh more advanced boards to work properly?

Funny you should say this. I was trying to get some answers at the DFI forum and I was told "what did I expect since I had purchased the "Value" board. To tell you the truth, that place did as much to turn me off to getting another DFI product as the screwed up board did.

I hope you get yours sorted out. I know mine will be on Monday when mu Asus board gets here.