k8n neo4 platinum, hit or miss? i shall see :(

[savageseb]

alright so i became aware that msi aint the best a bit late.
too bad, i got almost everything ready to build my first pc, and i wanted to do some overclocking. since i live in argentina dfi is way too expensive for me. im lucky enough that a freind is bringing me amd´s 939 3700+.
this is what the pc will look like after christmas.
specs:
msi k8n neo 4 ultra platinum
amd 939 3700+
512 mb kingston pc3200
wd sata 2 160gb
case: vtb-master 550w pfc active.
asus n6600 pcie- no more money.

i´d like to know how well this mobo actually performs, if anyone cares to tell me what they think about it. or if i should just try the impossible and return this item to the store.


hope to get u guys to advice me on how to deal with this guy.
i´ll be posting what goes on with it, in this thread on the next couple of days.
thx

 

[martinjon666]

to the forums savageseb.

if you haven't plugged in the board yet then there isn't much to be said other than Good Luck! I have however seen many of these that do oc very well. been through my diamond quite a bit, and i know that the bios on these 2 boards are almost identical. we'll see how things go, if the board fires up ok then i would say you should be more worried about ram and cpu being limited rather than the board. but now only time will tell, i'll keep an eye on ya, if you need any quick advice just pm me, but if it isn't too urgent post it and we'll see what we can do.

 

[klatceth]

...i´d like to know how well this mobo actually performs, if anyone cares to tell me what they think about it...

I got one myself, less than two weeks ago. I also got an AMD64 3200+ (the new E4 stepping), and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231032 this memory.

I've been following http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=391768 these directions, and am still working my way through, currently at step 2.

Step 1 established a stable HTT of 1150 (230 FSB @ 5X).

In step 2, I currently have my memory testing at:
tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS, FSB, Volts, BW (MB/s)
3-3-2-5, 255, 2.7, 2491

One tip, and two issues thus far.

The tip: If you push things too far, and the MB won't POST, hold down the "Insert" key while hitting the reset button. Saves you from having to find the reset cmos button.

Issue 1: I'm stuck at 2T for Command Per Clock, as there is no Disable(2T) option in the BIOS that I've found.

Issue 2: During POST, the board has a narrower window in which to hit the Delete key to get into the BIOS than I'm used to.

 

[halo_2_rocks]

Let me know how it works cause i just bought the almost the same one as you did just mines not the ultra version. It was they only board that they recomended at computer renassance and that was the only one that wouldn't cost 200 bucks

 

[rseven]

It sounds like computer renassance is still in the dark ages!

 

[halo_2_rocks]

Yeah i guess so, but atleast the other com ren store new about sli

 

[twoeyes]

I have one and everythings worked for me, the USB mouse support is a bit shakey but there is supposed to be a new bios revision that fixes this... Otherwise it all works great.

 

[TomPC3]

This is my third MSI board and I have no complaints, all have run glitch free.

tom

 

[Thetwizler24]

I have the board, im pretty sure it doesn't have sata 2 support. Just 1st generation.

 

[savageseb]

ok, its here...

okkkkkkkkkk its here, took a long time due to budget limits and hustling around with prices but hey.

i gave the machine an x550 video card, it will at least play my old games nice and fast. and the board does have 4 sata-2 connectors and 4 old sata.
got a wd1600js in it. cost me 105 dollars!!!!!!!!!! good price in argentina too.
ja..
video card was 107 dollars.. getting ripped off?? sounds like it but no.

so im a bit dazzled here. isn´t dynamic overclocking supposed to up fsb???
sargeant mode lowered me to 1906 mhz on x11. maybe the core cell just sucks or i did something baaad. while using D.O.T i encoded some files while converting an xvid video.

the mobo has the latest bios since msi insisted 1.B v, but the board
recognized the processor fine and ran fine, first go. after a day and half of the computer running prime95 the machine was good, but it did have some gliches, like i would open a program and give me many more than i asked for. never had that before, dunno why ...
since then it ran fine.

sisoft sandra benchmark´s memory at 2767 i upped to 215mhz run all benchmarks and computer run stably- still i lowered ht to 4x after that. and ram is doing about 3070. which is what i left it running at for now.

i also gave it a jump to 240mhz to fool around and the system was ok from what i could tell but didnt run any benchmarks. ram was on auto.

i´ll see how far it goes in the next couple of days. mind its at stock cooling, with various fans that came with the case.
please, any suggestions on what i should try or test are much appreciated.

 

[martinjon666]

Leave that D.O.T crap alone! Its worthless, do all overclocking in the bios.
for the record, i got my x2 up to 2.5 on stock cooling, it was runnin abit warm for my taste @50-55 on load and 40-42 on idle so i ended up changin my cooling.

 

[rseven]

You tell'em Jon! The Dynamic OC should be disabled it's a pile of donkey dung.

 

[savageseb]

back again

hello everyone.

i have now made a jump again, if i´ve done anything wrong please point it out to me.

it turns out memory tops out at ddr 480, so i got lucky when it hit 240mhz last time. i lowered ram speed to 166 (5:6) and began going from there. passing 250 mhz i lowered ht to 3x. and the machine is running at 260mhz with 1.425v on the cpu( xp wouldnt load at 1.4v). from what i read i think im pretty much on track.
my temps are at an idle 35 °c.
by the way 260mhz x11= 2870 - 1 mhz overclock comes by default apparently.

question, i´m still doubtful if lowering the memory ratio is worth the increase in clock speed, is it?

there is one problem as of the moment, which i dont think its the boards fault.
xp loads fine till the video card comes in and slows everything down for a loooong moment, then the monitor refreshes and its done loadin. when i open the task manager i got 2 cli.exe from ati. i´ll just kill those i guess.

 

[rseven]

to the Forum!
It looks like you have the hang of it. Yes, it is most definitely worthusing a divider to get the extra clock speed. You are not running an AthlonXP system where memory speed translated into big performance gains. The big gains come from running the CPU at higher clocks. Good luck.

 

[savageseb]

voltage

the one weird thing is that with a minor increase in cpu v . i got to 260mhz with 1.425(of course i dont know how stable it is), i was taking a look at the a64 cpu collection and the both 3700+ are above 1.55 v on the same range.

what does this mean? is there a lot more room for overclock?
more testing to come i guess

 

[rseven]

It depends on what you are using for cooling. If it's stock, then no I would not raise the voltage. If you have decent cooling you may have some headroom. I would suggest you check where you are at stability wise before going further.

 

[savageseb]

alright, i ran pcmark 05 full test , cpu hi-t, and sandras benchmarks ok. went on using scanning with spyware doctor and board rebooted me. temps are at 38c but i didnt get a reading on load yet.

 

[savageseb]

upping the cpu v to 1.45 did not do it either, while on a sandra burn in screen blacked out on me but i could move the mouse.
temps when startin up the mobo on the bios read 38-39c
on full load central brain identifier read 43 tops and sandra up at about the same if not a bit higher. also "cbid" showed shows current real-time cpu voltage at 1.129 v for some reason, core center seemed to be more on track at 1.44 v. dont know how reliable the info is, thought it to be good.

 

[rseven]

It looks like you will need to back off on the overclock as it sounds pretty unstable. I would try pulling back 5htt and see how it goes, but you may need to come down even more than that.

 

[savageseb]

yup, back down to 230 mhz where im ok.
i`ll have to check up on my cpu v readings and cpu temp, with cpu-z,
since its a lot more accurate than cbid