MSI K8N Neo now available

[EngenZerO]

well...

I got my MSI K8N Neo yesterday, slapped in my A64 3400+ and 1 gig of Mushkin 222 Special.

CPU Temp hovered in the 45C range... during this test.

I ran 20 full stints of mem86 @ 2-2-2-5 with 0 errors. The board loves the Muskin 222. I manually set the aggressive timings.

No other tests have been performed yet. I am waiting on getting a 6800U or x800xt before I proceed with an OS install and any other sorts of tests.

few key notes... about the board...

I hate were they have the 3pin fan connections on the mobo. its a pain.

I also installed my heat sink the opposite way from what the manual stated. I found it easier to push down on the clip its self with out slipping and hitting any capacitors.

Also, remember to install the d-bracket. If not... your board will not post (15 mins of pure hell till it hit me)

 

[DemiSheep]

The d-bracket is not required and I did not install it... My system posted fine the first time.... I've used other MSI boards that come with the d-bracket...again half of them I didnt install it and they all work fine without it.

Its only for additional USB ports and the lighted diagnostic system they have....not required

 

[EngenZerO]

Originally posted by: DemiSheep
The d-bracket is not required and I did not install it... My system posted fine the first time.... I've used other MSI boards that come with the d-bracket...again half of them I didnt install it and they all work fine without it.

Its only for additional USB ports and the lighted diagnostic system they have....not required

yah... I am going to look into why my board did not post the first time w/o the d-bracket. I am gonna unplug and see what happens later tonight. I have come to one conclusion though... dont build a new PC during finals week, LOL

 

[FiberoN]

Wait, what is a d-bracket?

 

[SeaFoam]

Originally posted by: FiberoN
Wait, what is a d-bracket?

it's MSI's little bracket with 4 diagnostic LEDs and 2 USB ports.

BTW- My D-Bracket is not installed and I have no problems.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: SeaFoam

Originally posted by: FiberoN
Wait, what is a d-bracket?

it's MSI's little bracket with 4 diagnostic LEDs and 2 USB ports.

BTW- My D-Bracket is not installed and I have no problems.

Nope, I didn't install this in my PC either. It's still sitting in the bag and my system boots up just fine.

 

[FiberoN]

ahh...I'll be getting mine tommorow. Any first impressions?

 

[EngenZerO]

update...

pc runs fine w/o the dbracket

she runs error free in memtest @ 2-2-2-5 @ 200MHZ 1:1 using Mushkin 222 Special

hdd light activity will be tested later tonight after my exams.

 

[FiberoN]

I'm waiting for my new pc (including MSI K8N Neo) today. should get here by 4:30pm central

 

[DemiSheep]

WinXP boots in 5 seconds with my new upgrade....(OS is on a Raptor 73GB drive)

So far im quite pleased with this motherboard.

The fan connectors are somewhat of a pain but it turned out ok for me with my case because of where my fans are....it was perfect. But normal cases having the 2 fan connectors at the bottom right part of the board is bad...

I would like some other people with this board to change the bios setting "Halt On" to "All" instead of "All, but keyboard" and see if it tells them if their keyboard is locked....

Edit: Oh an my CPU tempature stays around 45C (114F??) So im not having an issue with heat... Im not overclocking either.. (Its a Athlon XP 3400+)

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm really liking this board so far. Haven't messed around with the HDD LED because I've been too busy updating drivers and loading Windows tonight.

The Giga-LAN is really speedy. Playing around with the firewall also. Nice.

Nothing like a clean install of Windows on a speedy computer that works. What a concept.

I set my Raptors up as two individual SATA drives and put the Windows swap file on the second drive. I didn't set them up as a RAID so I didn't use the floppy install disk that came with the motherboard. Windows installed without a hitch.

I like the Core Cell utility also. It throttles back the fan (and I assume the cpu) to keep things cool and quiet like now when I'm just typing on the internet. Really slick. This thing is almost as quiet as my Dell at work. Nice.

Edit-Mine boots up very quickly also. I much prefer this board to the Asus K8V Deluxe I was using. I'm going to rma the Asus board and then sell the replacement here or on e-bay.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Sweet, just got my RMA# from NewEgg.com. I'll have a replacement for my old board by next week. I'm not even going to open it. It's going right up for sale.

 

[imported_operator]

So any of you guys in Canada have it?

 

[FiberoN]

w00t got mine too. Just opened all of my pc parts listend below It looks good. Haven't started putting it all together. Will start in a bit when my cousin gets here, he wants to see it being built . I'll let you know how smooth it goes.

 

[DemiSheep]

XP booted so fast the first time I turned it on yesterday that I thought XP crashed on boot up... I thought it was going to pop up a blue screen stop error.. Because the "XP Loading" Screen came on....went off after like 2 seconds and I was like (!!!!!!!!!!) and then it went into windows...very fast...

 

[EngenZerO]

Originally posted by: DemiSheep
XP booted so fast the first time I turned it on yesterday that I thought XP crashed on boot up... I thought it was going to pop up a blue screen stop error.. Because the "XP Loading" Screen came on....went off after like 2 seconds and I was like (!!!!!!!!!!) and then it went into windows...very fast...

I am actually just installing my free version of XP-SP1. All I have to say is wow, my raptor can format rather fast. Here is hoping it goes smooth. All I need now is a 6800 Ultra, and I can frag like a true pimp,

 

[tr1kstanc3]

i setup my msi k8n neo today with a newcastle desktop 3000+ (CG) chip. running at 2.45ghz @ 1.55v (10x245) with 4HT. the chipset heatsink gets very hot and i applied arctic silver after cleaning off the silicon paste that was on it. got my ocz pc3200 rev2 @ 2.5-3-3-11 with 2.7v (impressed!). temperature is reading fine at 43c and harddrive light works (maybe you need to flip its polarity?). xp boots up in under 10 seconds and games are considerably faster than the mobile xp @ 2.4ghz i had in before. very happy with this upgrade. only problem i ran into was the slk948 would not install properly because the stock backplate is stuck on with double sided tape and the retention mechanism was too small to fit the profile of the base. went out and bought the thermaltake silent boost at a local microcenter and its running fine. good luck guys!

 

[EngenZerO]

so is running 2-2-2-5 or 2-2-2-11 better?

edit.. my hdd light works no problems knock on aluminum case siding.

 

[QuaiBoy]

Another recommendation for the K8N Neo. Got it about 2hrs ago from ZipZoomFly. Installed in an hour, XP loaded in less than 20min. MUCH better than the Chaintech VNF3-250, although I probably had a bum board. Installed with an Athlon 64 3200+ and (2) Sticks of Crucial CT6464Z40B 512mb DDR400. The Crucials are single-sided which should make adding a double-sided 1GB stick easy in the future.

A+ for MSI, AMD, Crucial, and ZipZoomFly! Recommended!

-Evan-

 

[EngenZerO]

well 0-hitches with installing windows, good stuff, .

 

[JSSheridan]

Originally posted by: EngenZerO
so is running 2-2-2-5 or 2-2-2-11 better?

edit.. my hdd light works no problems knock on aluminum case siding.

I think that depend on using single or dual channel mode. I believe 5 is better for single and 11 is better for dual. Peace.

 

[FiberoN]

Got mine. Runs like a beauty. ( looks like one too ) Haven't OC'ed yet

 

[SuinoLatino]

Greetings!

Anyone knows when this board will be available in Europe?

Thanks!

 

[FiberoN]

My temps are at about 45 celcuis idle and they can go up to 65 celcuis on load.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: SuinoLatino
Greetings!

Anyone knows when this board will be available in Europe?

Thanks!

I would contact MSI and ask them. They have e-mail links on their website.