MSI K8N NEO4-F

[Rockhound1]

I am building a rig for a friend. He wants an Athlon 64 platform (939 socket) with PCI-e graphics support. Because of budget constraints, I need to keep the costs under control. I am looking for an ATX form factor (not micro).

I saw this board (MSI K8N NEO-F) for less than $100 shipped and wanted to poll the AT forums before I made the purchase. I was going to go for the Chaintech VNF4/Ultra before I saw this. I was not really sold on the Chaintech because of its layout. The MSI appears to have a better design, plus it has active cooling on the nVidia chipset.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

There's not much info on this board yet. If I had to guess I would say it's the Platinum without:

- extra SATA controller from SI;
- extra Gigabit port;
- DBS support (only 1 PCI-E video card support).
- Firewire support.
- SATAII and ActiveArmor (non-Ultra chipset).

Probably cheaper cables etc.

Passive cooling is a plus in my opinion, if you're not going to overclock (which I assume you won't) and keep a well-ventilated case.

 

[Rockhound1]

A little more poking around, and I found these specs at this link - javascript:Start('http://www.zipzoomfly.com/PDF/241163.pdf')

 

[sauria]

Yes, those specs seem to indicate it's and nf4 ultra but maybe not:
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=381116

 

[Rockhound1]

Thanks for the link Sauria. Looks like the members of that forum are asking the same questions. I just ordered the board from Xtreme Gear for $93.75 shipped. We will see if the specs match the board.

 

[sauria]

Great Rockhound1 -- looks like a bargain to me

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Rockhound1,

when do you expect to receive the board? I'm curious.

 

[Rockhound1]

I am hoping to get it by this Thursday (March 10). I have not ordered the case yet. The guy I am building this rig for has not decided which he likes best...

 

[PoxMeister]

msicomputer.com now has this board listed on their site. The picture looks exactly like the Neo4 Platinum (has a 4x PCI-E slot). This board definitely has the Nforce4 chipset (1GHz HT), not the Ultra or the 4x.

Does this board really have a 4x PCI-E slot though?? The pics on some of the online retailers I've seen selling this have two 1x slots. I'm inclined to believe what I see on msicomputer.com, but not sure.

 

[B S D]

Rockhound1,


Did you get that MSI K8N NEO-F board yet?

I am in the same situation as you were.



Thanks,
David

 

[B S D]

Does anybody have experience with this board?

 

[jackson18249]

I'm interested in this board as well. Any experiences?

 

[AnimEva]

any updates on the performance / stability of the board? i have heard some bad things about past MSI boards

 

[tr1kstanc3]

the board runs fine. have run into no serious issues and can easily overclock it to 300htt through the bios. i don't know if some people had issues with certain winchesters not allowing them to reach over 220htt or they just overlooked some settings. this board runs just as well as my msi neo2 platinum and the msi neo before that (all could reach 300htt). drivers seem stable and installation was pretty routine. i would definitely say its a great bargain overclocker's board.

picked up my board from zzf last week although chiefvalue currently has it for a few bucks cheaper. the chipset fan spins at a mighty 7k rpm but i can't figure out if its louder than the awful fan on my x700pro.

 

[bbtaco]

I just got this board up and running tonight with a 3000+ Winnie. So far I am up to 250x9, I am using one stick of 512 megs single sided Crucial PC3200 running at 1t, I had to set the memory at 166 mhz. 4 ht frequency and at default voltage. I'll put another 512 stick from my old pc in after I get my new one setup and tested. I cannot read the Northbridge temp in core center.I also noticed that I cannot control any of the fan speeds using Speed fan. There are several temps showing in Speedfan, is one of them the Northbridge temp? I also did the mod to enable Sata 2 but I can't tell if it worked or not. I am using one 74 gig raptor. Is there any software that would tell if I have Sata 2 or just Sata?

 

[imported_fishy]

Hi.
Long time reader, first time poster.
I just felt I had to write about this motherboard....probably because I am really really
upset right now

But seriously...My first experience with an MSI motherboard, this particular model (NEO4-F)
and...what a crasher. I just decided to return it, having wasted 3 days trying to get this
machine running: that motherboard + Winchester 3200 + 6600 GT card + 1 Gb Corsair
memory + XP Pro. Bought this pre-built, so, sure, maybe, just maybe it isn't just the motherboard...
but I've never seen anything like it : crashes all over, at boot-up, random, you name it.

Ok, I've vented and I'm calm now...Actually, no, I'm not.
Just hope others have better experiences with it than I had.

Later.

 

[ayeco]

Fishy,
What kind of crash are you talking about ? I have the non-F and mine crashes by shutting completely off. Random, moslty at bootup, farcry often, sometimes while moving around in bios, regardless of hardware attached.

 

[fishbi]

Hi, ayeco

I just posted again about this board (under "fishbi", couldn't
remember my user-name here...)

I'm still "fighting" with this board, I guess I am stupidly
stuborn: I'd be better off returning it but it pisses me off
having spent so much time on it for nothing.
I've had lots of crashes at boot-up as well, also random crashes
and crashes while moving large files around, from one hard-drive
to the other, or even when trying to burn these files (DVD).
I've re-installed the OS, this morning and it seems to run better,
at boot-up at least, still crashing with large files.
But I have a glimer of hope about this now , that's why I'm
still trying.
If I can get it stable in the next few days , I'll keep it.
If not...will have been a gigantic waste of time.

 

[AnimEva]

i have NEO4-F board as well. For me it has been stable except once when loading to Windows XP it went to a blue screen, but hasnt happened since.

However I have been unable to push the CPU past 219Mhz FSB, it is probably me since I am new to Overclocking A64s

 

[KayKay]

I really like this board, pretty much all the important features of Nforce4, but lacking in the features mentioned in the top post. The lack of firewire support surprised me, but I guess that's not a big deal for me.

At $110 CDN, this is a steal. I've been using an MSI board for a while and I am actually pretty happy with their value boards, they are really a step above some of the other value stuff you could get at the same price.

As for reliability, The stories you mentioned kind of scare me, but I'm willing to take a chance, since it's not always the motherboard which is the problem. Any more comments before I buy would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[cpush]

fishbi, ever figure your problem out? any of you guys still having troubles?

 

[sonnywaters]

Hello all...
I have that mobo, and am having some of the same problems ( no OC past 219 ). The Winchester issue... never heard of that. What the heck is that about. I sure wish i did before i bought my 3200+. Has there been any fixes? Or is it just that board/chipset that doesn't support the chip properly?

I thought that the PC3200 RAM was crap so i bought some PC4000. No change.
This has been a headache...

Glad i found this, i was just about to RMA this thing back to MSI.

John

 

[sonnywaters]

Bump

 

[sonnywaters]

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[wexsmith]

Here's a beta BIOS that MSI sent me after submitting a help request on the 220FSB issue. If anyone wants to brave testing a beta BIOS from a complete stranger be my guest. Right now I've got to get to bed, otherwise I'll be useless at work tomorrow.

Beta BIOS -use at your own risk-

I'll test it after 5PM PST today and post my results here, if no one has already done so.

If you don't want to trust a BIOS download from a stranger (don't blame ya) just submit a request to MSI tech support and they should send you your very own BIOS.