GA-K8NSNXP-939

[pantner]

Ok, for the Easy tune thingy, i'd have to check that for you (im at work now) so it'll prolly be a day or so before i can get back to you...

now, about the waterblock HSF....apparently Gigabyte have been unable to recreate the temp problem (once again i said apparently because thats wat i've been told!!!) and in my opinion is a perfectly valid question for the reason i gave in my earlier post...and if they do know about the problem, shouldn't you leave them alone so that they can actually fix the problem, and therefore have no need to stall for time! ;-) (and FYI i also work in the IT industry, i manage a computer retail store)

 

[pantner]

i thought ram ran at 2.5v...at least, thats wat mine runs at....

can't u even get to 205fsb????
ok, maybe your RAM is being undervolted, and mine is perfect....i can get to 210 with no voltage changing to the RAM at all (i have to increase the vcore to 1.55-1.6, can't remember!, but thats nothing, i used to be able to get to 235 with this RAM with my AXP 3200...with no voltage changing for the RAM.....ah, i just gotta love my overclocking RAM at generic RAM prices!!!)

 

[Ballistyx]

Not able to recreate the temp problem? Now THAT is something they never told me. You see, it's not that my temp never changes. It's just that, just like everybody else, at idle the CPU and motherboard temps are very low. Once I put a load on the CPU, it shoots up to about 25c (and the motherboard raises to about 19c). Now, if they were up front with me, I'd be more up front with them. I think I know WHY the temp is so off at idle: It's the Cool n' Quiet feature! Isn't that feature supposed to lower the CPU's speed and voltage to let it run cooler when it's not under load, but then raise the clock and voltage up once it senses a need? :thumbsup:

Oh, I can get 210 easy. I'm running that right now. When I put the extra GB of my "generic" stuff in, I dropped it back down to 200Mhz and was slowly raising it back up. I just wanted to rule out the clock speed being the source of the memory speed drop, as well as the source of the earlier instability I experienced when I first tried it.

By the way, yes you are correct. I just checked into it, and default DDR for *most* modules is 2.5v I really have got to stop posting at 3AM.

 

[Ballistyx]

Oh yeah. Something else I forgot to mention. Honestly, I don't really care too much that the temp is off by such a large margin too. My Gigabyte 7NNXP had the same issue, except it always read almost 20c too high! I thought I was the only one who had that issue until I read a few posts by people who had HSF's on their boards, and noticed the same thing.

Can I leave them alone? Actually I have been leaving them alone. I'm just voicing my grievances on forums so that other people know that there's a problem. That and so Gigabyte can't hide behind a veil of obscurity (i.e.: the "You're the only person having that problem, so it must be you" answer). They're probably calling me all sorts of nasty names right now for doing that, but I don't care. None of these problems should have slipped through their QA department, especially so since we're talking about their $220 flagship motherboard (not a $65 Biostar board ).

 

[pantner]

ok, yeah...most things i agree with you...

but i don't think cool 'n' quiet is to blame....and idle my CPU temp is normally around 15C, if i put my hand next to the heat sink and feel the air coming off it, its MUCH higher then that, i'd say about 35C...which is what im expecting, and i have turned off cool'n'quiet so it can't be that!


and about the RAM voltages, i think with some like corsair you can up the voltage to 2.7v without voiding the warrenty....

BTW, sorry, i forgot to check the version of Easy Tune....

 

[tieros]

The LED on the MSI mobo is working perfectly with activity on the nVidia SATA bus, in single drive and RAID mode, so I don't think it's a chipset issue.

I noticed the same SATA drive LED issue with the Gigabyte mobo, and wasn't able to fix it.

On the MSI board, I wasn't getting any LED activity at all, SATA, PATA, or otherwise. Flipping the polarity of the LED wire took care of that issue, however, so that one falls into the "pilot error" category


As far as RAM goes, I added two 512 Mushkin L1 sticks to my pair of Corsair 512s, and it was completely stable in Prime95, but the clock did drop to DDR333. I didn't tinker with it much to try for DDR400, but it does certainly seem that four sticks in dual channel mode is an issue for now.

After having the MSI board(s) for a few days now, I would wholeheartedly recommend them over the Gigabyte ones. Gigabyte support leaves a LOT to be desired, and they seem to be really dragging their feet with releasing a new BIOS to fix the issues.

The only nitpick I have about the MSI board is that the northbridge fan is pretty noisy, but it's about to get replaced with either a passive cooler or water, depending on what the temps read on it after I yank the fan off


Edit: Oops, I forgot a couple of points.
Temperatures: 53C idle, 63C load. Not sure how accurate they are. Will try to check with laser heat gun.

Gigabyte S/W bundle: I got the same answer from them about all the utilities that they included that don't work with the mobo. How pointless

RAM voltage: I have the voltage set to 2.85V, which is what Corsair recommends for their higher end stuff. The MSI BIOS screen flashing red about a voltage that high is annoying, but nowhere nearly as annoying as the fact that Gigabyte only goes up to 2.7V currently

 

[Ballistyx]

Thanks Tieros! You pretty much confirmed what I suspected. It's not the nForce3 chipset that doesn't support the IDE activity LED on the internal SATA PHY, but a design error on Gigabyte's part. It's minor, but it should have been caught during preproduction.

As for your RAM, unless you try four matched sticks, nobody is going to beleive that there's an issue with running in DDR400 mode. You're pretty much seeing the same issue I am with my 3800+ and four DIMMs, but nobody will beleive it unless I try four matched DIMMs from the same manufacturer. I *AM* working on getting two more GEiL DIMMs to try, but if it doesn't work, the only thing it proves is that it may not work with GEiL DIMMs. Nice catch-22, huh? I *REALLY* wish review sites would start doing a four DIMM test.

 

[pantner]

hey Ballistyx (and everyone that has a K8NSNXP-939)

i got a new BIOS from Giagbyte, the F4k......AND NOW MY TEMPERATURE READ CORRECTLY...

my CPU is now reading at 38C idle, which to me, seems correct....

so they are fixing the problems it has!

 

[Ballistyx]

One bug down, at least two more to go.

 

[pantner]

BTW, i run Easy Tune V-1.0.0.1

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

Currently I have 3 939 mobo's. I originally started with an Asus A8V. I had a system crash and wasn't able to reboot, tried several things, and finally assumed it was the mobo, so I ordered an Abit AV8. I had issues getting it to POST, so I went looking for the MSI NEO mobo, couldn't find it and ordered the GA K8NSNXP-939 mobo.

Anyway, I finally realized that the reason I couldn't get my Abit mobo to POST was one of the power plugs in my Antec NEO Power was oriented the wrong way. I was able to POST then. I also realized that my Asus mobo still worked as well, that a bad secondary HD on SATA was causing it not to boot.

Well, I decided that the NForce3 chipset was the way to go anyway, and tried to fresh install windows with my Gigabyte mobo. I wanted to use SATA in standalone and turned off RAID. Every time windows would hit a certain point of the install, it would BSOD on me. I finally got it to install properly one time, and then fdisked it and retried just to make sure, but then it started BSODing on me again.

Needless to say I tried every SATA port both with and without RAID. I finally RMA's my Giga with NewEgg and I just got the new one. I've had my PC up and running with my ASUS for the past month, and am debating what to do. I really want to use the Nforce chipset, but I don't want to blow another $149.00 on the MSI unless the Gigabyte has some bad issues.

For those running SATA drives on their Giga's are you using it in RAID mode or standalone, and which SATA ports on the mobo are you using?

I have a WD 10k RPM 74GB Raptor and a 250GB WD Caviar.

My other components:

AMD FX-53
eVGA GF 6800 Ultra
1 GB Corsair RAM
plus other junk.

I hate to let such a nice mobo go to waste, especially considering it's a $220 mobo. I should probably sell the Asus and Abit. I hate to have this new hardware sitting around.

 

[tieros]

The BSOD's during Windows install got me too. I thought it was a SATA problem since it was blowing up during the drive detection phase of the install.

If you pull one of the sticks of RAM, or move it down a slot so it goes into single channel mode, the problem goes away, and the install goes cleanly. You can also set a max memclock of DDR333 to fix it.

It's all tied to the same %^#&%%# Gigabyte RAM bugs.

The good news is that the drives are moveable to another nForce3 mobo without needing to reformat. I was able to take my install from the GigaByte mobo, and bring it up on the MSI with no issues.

Good luck!

 

[imported_Hornswoggler]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
I hate to let such a nice mobo go to waste, especially considering it's a $220 mobo. I should probably sell the Asus and Abit. I hate to have this new hardware sitting around.

I definately feel your pain.

In trying to get my s939 3500+ to work right in dual-channel memory mode, I have purchased two motherboards, two different pairs of 2x512 high-end DDR, and STILL haven't fixed the problem. memtest and Prime95 both fail in anything but single-channel mode.

Hardware that I have tried:
Gigabyte GA-N8NSNXP-939 (nf3)
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (nf3)
Corsair 2x512 3200XL (2-2-2-5)
Crucial Ballistix 2x512 DDR500

and now I have to either buy a new CPU or a VIA-based motherboard!

Anybody with the GA-K8NSNXP-939 running either the Corsair 3200XL or Crucial Ballistix DDR500 in dual-channel mode? If so, have you tried running Prime95 torture test or memtest86 "all"?

 

[imported_Hornswoggler]

Originally posted by: tieros
It's all tied to the same %^#&%%# Gigabyte RAM bugs.

I thought the same thing but my MSI (nf3) mobo didn't help things. :/

 

[tieros]

Originally posted by: Hornswoggler

Originally posted by: tieros
It's all tied to the same %^#&%%# Gigabyte RAM bugs.

I thought the same thing but my MSI (nf3) mobo didn't help things. :/

Darn, that stinks!

The MSI I have installed currently was flawless in a 24 hour Prime95 torture test in dual channel. I've got another one sitting here in the box. If I get a chance in the next day or so, I'll swap them and see if the other MSI has issues.

This has definitely been more of a bleeding edge experience than I was expecting :shocked:

 

[Ballistyx]

I don't think it's the board. As I may have mentioned earlier, I'm suspecting that the A64 is just really picky about the RAM that's used.

Follow this link, and download the Validated Memory PDF file from AMD. See if the individual DRAM chips on your DIMMs are on this list:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Proce...2252_893_10125,00.html

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

Is anyone using Crucial Ballistix PC3200 with their NF3 939 board? If so, how's it running for you?

 

[imported_Hornswoggler]

Originally posted by: KaRRiLLioN
Is anyone using Crucial Ballistix PC3200 with their NF3 939 board? If so, how's it running for you?

I tried the PC4000 (DDR500) Ballistix and still had memory problems.

Actually, my Crucial wasn't even working right in single channel when I plugged it into my MSI K8N Neo2 board... I will re-test it on the Gigabyte to see if its bad or not.

 

[jseilkop]

I fought my system for about a week - it was about 90% stable. Tweaked everything from Memory timings to voltages... at stock clock speeds etc.. it would randomly just "Repost" - not even the BSOD. Also had an occasional problem with DOOM 3 dumping out into Win2K Pro..

The short answer is that my 550 Watt Thermaltake power supply was just barely cutting it. Tried my 600 Watt unit and had similar results. When I yanked the extra case fans off the power supply the system became totally stable. Through a boatload of calls to Thermaltake, Corsair, and Gigabyte it came down to this.

The 6800 GT draws 75 Watts of power by itself
The AMD 64 3800+ is as hungry for power if not more so...
The two combined were causing the power supply to "Reset" which essentially flips the switch on and off again...
When the power load wasn't enough to cause the power supply to reset, it was dropping enough to cause the Graphics Card to reset.

I replaced the case fans that were fed from the power supply with a Radio Shack 120volt 120mm fan - moves 65 CFM through the case -along with the extra 40 CFM the power supply moves the case is more than cool. I have my 3800+ running stock frequency, my Corsair running 2-2-2-5 at +0.2V, and my chipset running +0.2V. The system screams.... Rock Solid - Not a single reboot in over two weeks.

 

[cbns]

Originally posted by: pantner
hey Ballistyx (and everyone that has a K8NSNXP-939)

i got a new BIOS from Giagbyte, the F4k......AND NOW MY TEMPERATURE READ CORRECTLY...

my CPU is now reading at 38C idle, which to me, seems correct....

so they are fixing the problems it has!

where did get you get that BIOS??

 

[xdouble]

I got the F4k beta BIOS from here.

F4k BIOS

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

FYI,

I ordered the Crucial Ballistix BL6464Z402 PC3200 512MB (2 sticks) and then put in my Giga mobo, fdisked the HD and starte up the install.

It got all the way to the very final part of the install before the BSOD. I was thinking it might make it, too.

Anyway, I fdisked again since that install was FUBAR, and pulled out one of the sticks. It installed perfectly, no issues at all. Everything is installed now, I put the stick of RAM back in and there aren't any other issues...YET.

 

[cbns]

Originally posted by: xdouble
I got the F4k beta BIOS from here.

F4k BIOS

I know very very little when it comes to the BIOS.
Is it completely safe to run this new and apparently not "gigabyte approved" BIOS on my k8snxnp-939?

 

[Tbirdkid]

I need you peoples money.....

 

[pantner]

Originally posted by: cbns

Originally posted by: xdouble
I got the F4k beta BIOS from here.

F4k BIOS

I know very very little when it comes to the BIOS.
Is it completely safe to run this new and apparently not "gigabyte approved" BIOS on my k8snxnp-939?

nope....if you screw up your motherboard its your own fault...

1. Its a Beta BIOS, and has been leaked (or so it seems...i haven't given it to anyone )
2. I don't think any MB company will replace a board that you destroy by flashing the BIOS wrong....

I reccomend using '@BIOS' that came on the MB CD...its makes it very easy to update the BIOS, and allows you to make a backup of your old one...(not sure if the DOS based ones do that too....haven't used one in ages!)