MSI P6N SLI-F

[aka1nas]

TAT reads about 15C high on the E4300.

 

[Edge1]

To heck with it. Just placed my order - MSI P6N SLI Platinum/E6300/Ninja Rev B/OCZ Platinum Rev 2 2x1GB/OCZ GameXstream 600W/WD 250GB KS.

I doubt a 2MB cache is gonna matter much to me anyway.

Its time. Woo-hoo!

 

[UNhooked]

I had a tuff time with my Waterblocks, had to get rid of my trusty Whitewater for the TDX since it has a smaller footprint, the same is true for the chipset block. MSI Utility says I Idle at 28-32C and load is about 37C. TAT about 40 Idle and 65C load.

 

[UNhooked]

Yea I was comparing this chip with a 4MB chip and it doesn't seem to be very far off.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Edge1
To heck with it. Just placed my order - MSI P6N SLI Platinum/E6300/Ninja Rev B/OCZ Platinum Rev 2 2x1GB/OCZ GameXstream 600W/WD 250GB KS.

Congrats Edge. One note, I don't know what video card(s) you are running, but for Dual 8800gts the Gamexstream 700 is SLI certified. Course if you're running a lower end card no biggie. I don't plan on throwing another gts in my rig for a year, or until i upgrade to vista for DX10, damn them.

 

[Edge1]

Thanks sirjonk. I forgot to mention that detail didn't I? I went with an XFX 7900GS Extreme card. I have a slew of games that won't require an 8800 althought I'd love to have one. I'll wait til they drop. I went with an SLI mobo for the future, not today really. I've been doing fine with 1 card up til now (although trust me you can't get much done with an fx5200)!

 

[bbk]

Originally posted by: Dobeez
Can those of you who have the P6N SLI and have it working post your system specs. I'm interested in what RAM you're using in particular.

I have:

Intel Core2 Duo 6300
MSI P6N-SLI-FI
EVGA nVidia 8800GTS 320Mb
Hiper 580W Type R PSU
4x HDD (2x IDE and 2x S-ATA)
Sony DVD-R 12x
OCZ (OCZ2P8001GK) 1GB (2X512) DDR2-800 PC2-6400 CL 4-5-4-15 Platinum Enhanced Latency XTC


Here's the interesting bit. It crashes every few minutes if I put the RAM in slots 1 and 2 (dual channel). If I move it to 3 and 4 - no problems - although today FarCry crashed in a loader screen saying it could not read memory.

Note: DO NOT USE OCZ WITH THIS MOBO. Or at least not the stuff I bought. It's been accepted for RMA and i'm getting some good old corsair this week.



Otherwise - decent mobo. Doesn't seem to love much overclocking - but then I am not OC pro, so I could be doing it wrong. Looks nice, has all the good features, works well and has a decent BIOS.My only concern is MSI's quality. Think i'll upgrade to an EVGA, Asus or Abit 680i later this year.

 

[Edge1]

Originally posted by: bbk

I have:

Intel Core2 Duo 6300
MSI P6N-SLI-FI
EVGA nVidia 8800GTS 320Mb
Hiper 580W Type R PSU
4x HDD (2x IDE and 2x S-ATA)
Sony DVD-R 12x
OCZ (OCZ2P8001GK) 1GB (2X512) DDR2-800 PC2-6400 CL 4-5-4-15 Platinum Enhanced Latency XTC


Here's the interesting bit. It crashes every few minutes if I put the RAM in slots 1 and 2 (dual channel). If I move it to 3 and 4 - no problems - although today FarCry crashed in a loader screen saying it could not read memory.

Note: DO NOT USE OCZ WITH THIS MOBO. Or at least not the stuff I bought. It's been accepted for RMA and i'm getting some good old corsair this week.

Hmmm...bummer about the RAM bbk. The reason I chose OCZ Platinum Rev 2 is because user reviews indicate it works well with this board, plus it has nice latency/timings and voltage range for the price. Geez I hope it works!

 

[jonks]

Latest update: I would have been satisfied at 300fbs x9 for 2.7ghz, but Windows would freeze while loading. Figured it might be that particular setting so I jumped to 333fbs and it booted fine. However, when running 2 instances of prime95, one allocated to each core, I get errors pretty quickly. Now, most games won't stress the cpu as badly as prime does I suppose, and I'm not running any mission critical apps so I think I'll keep it at 3ghz as long as games run fine. I've experienced no crashes and the temps are well within reasonable limits.

One note, Oblivion is pretty sensitive to OC. It ran at 2.4ghz, but at 3.0 it just doesn't wanna play nice. GRAW ran perfectly though, and man, what a difference. On my last sys (p4 2.6ghz, 6800GT) I could barely play at 800x600 with medium settings, and now at 1280x1024 at higest settings with 2xAA/8xAF. This is what I paid for

 

[UNhooked]

I have OCZ and it works nicely with this. I did buy DDR2 900, just because it was guaranteed to do 450FSB at 15-5-5-5, but it can do 475 at 12-4-4-5 so I am not complaining. I only paid $189 for it. It does all this at 2.2V. However it won't do anything over 475FSB no matter how many volts I put thru it

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: sirjonk
Latest update: I would have been satisfied at 300fbs x9 for 2.7ghz, but Windows would freeze while loading. Figured it might be that particular setting so I jumped to 333fbs and it booted fine. However, when running 2 instances of prime95, one allocated to each core, I get errors pretty quickly. Now, most games won't stress the cpu as badly as prime does I suppose, and I'm not running any mission critical apps so I think I'll keep it at 3ghz as long as games run fine. I've experienced no crashes and the temps are well within reasonable limits.

One note, Oblivion is pretty sensitive to OC. It ran at 2.4ghz, but at 3.0 it just doesn't wanna play nice. GRAW ran perfectly though, and man, what a difference. On my last sys (p4 2.6ghz, 6800GT) I could barely play at 800x600 with medium settings, and now at 1280x1024 at higest settings with 2xAA/8xAF. This is what I paid for

sirjonk, Have you tested stability at those FSB speeds with the multiplier dropped to 7 or 8? You might need to give your northbridge a tiny bit more juice to hit higher FSB speeds.

 

[Edge1]

Sorry to interrupt...another MSI P6N thread with good info summarized at the beginning:

1) Disabling C1E for OCing
2) End-user compatible RAM listing
3) official MSI compatibility testing link
4) pics and links to other similar threads

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1164174

OCZ tech support think the Platinum Rev 2 RAM will be fine, although board is so new that noone has submitted results apparently.

Just FYI

...back to the discussion

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: sirjonk
sirjonk, Have you tested stability at those FSB speeds with the multiplier dropped to 7 or 8? You might need to give your northbridge a tiny bit more juice to hit higher FSB speeds.

Question: how do you know which component needs the extra juice? Are certain errors indicative of the fsb vs the cpu needing more voltage?

 

[aka1nas]

If you drop the multiplier down (and thus reduce overall clockspeed) and you still are not stable, that would indicate that it's more likely that the board is not currently stable at that FSB speed. Of course, you need to take into account RAM speed/timings also.

It's generally a good idea to try to isolate those variables individually and try to find the maximum stable values for each one and then find the combination of settings that give you the best overall performance.

You can more or less completely isolate the FSB by dropping your CPU multiplier to it's lowest setting to remove clockspeed out of the equation and also running your RAM at the slowest speed your BIOS will allow, with relatively loose timings. Then, increase the FSB in increments and do stability tests to find out where it either starts generating errors in something like Orthos or the machine simply fails to boot properly.

Eventually you'll figure out the maximum speed your board can run stably and you can move on and isolate the RAM and CPU in similar fashions. Generally, RAM speed is the least important variable so I would leave it minimized and find your max stable CPU clockspeed first and then OC your RAM as much as it will allow while retaining stability.

Zebo's old A64 OC'ing is still relevent as the methodology of isolating components is pretty much the same regardless of CPU type.

 

[jonks]

Hm, it won't let me lower the multiplier. I can change it in the BIOS from 9 to 6,7 or 8, but when it boots it goes back to 9...Maybe I have to re-enable C1E or something? I did some quick searches and can't find others with the prob yet. The hazards of buying a new mobo I guess. I'm sure there's a fix/workaround.

 

[aka1nas]

It might be fully locked on that board currently instead of just upward-locked. In that case, just drop the RAM speed and isolate as best as you can. Check out some of the OC'ing threads to find out safe voltage settings for the CPU and Northbridge.

 

[jonks]

If it was fully locked it would still give you the option to lower it but then ignore it? Eh, I can live without it for now. I upped vcore .0375 to 1.34 and it ran prime95 on each core all night with no errors/warnings. At stock voltage it would error in a couple minutes so now she's looking good. Will run some other tests too but it's hard to complain at 3ghz when you bought it at 1.8

 

[Edge1]

First ever build complete, solid and stable thus far, so friggin happy:beer:. Love it so far, nothing but stock speed at the moment. Will OC when I'm done with the small stuff.

Memtest 86 several passes - flying colors.

Question for P6N owners: What slots are your RAM in? Mine wouldn't post from the green, but up and running fine in the orange slots (2GB dual channel). Hmmm...should I be concerned about the green slots?

 

[Spanki]

Originally posted by: Edge1
...Question for P6N owners: What slots are your RAM in? Mine wouldn't post from the green, but up and running fine in the orange slots (2GB dual channel). Hmmm...should I be concerned about the green slots?

The color-coding is confusing (compared to every other modern board, it seems) - You need to be using one of each . Put one in the slot closest to the CPU, then skip one and put the other one in the next one - check the manual if you have questions on that.

 

[jonks]

If you look closely on the board you can see the slots are numbered 1/3/2/4, indicating you should load up in alternating slots as Spanki said. I have mine in 1 and 2, barely squeezing in under my ninja.

 

[normalicy]

OK, I just got this board with an E4300 with some PNY 667mhz memory that some people are saying will do 800mhz with some voltage. So far, I think I like it, but I've only used it at the stock settings. From what I hear, I can get 3ghz out of this chip easy. Unfortunately, after looking at the BIOS, it appears that I've been out of the game for too long (last chip I overclocked was a Celeron 366). I'm not totally sure what to set anything to to get it to the 3ghz. I have disabled the c1e & EIST already & didn't want to mess with the other settings, because they're kinda foreign to me. I used to just look at the multiplier & then multiply by the FSB & walla! Overclocked. Now, there's a bunch of crap I've never seen before in the "CELL Menu" & I'm guessing that the FSB is something else. Also, on the ram, someone told me it could do 4-4-4-12 timings, but there are alot more than that many options in the ram menu. Which ones should I change?

Can anyone give me their settings if they have an E4300?

 

[Edge1]

Sirjonk - yes, I am familiar with the DIMM slot numbering and which slots the manual said to install to for dual channel. My machine simply won't boot with any RAM in the green slots. It reads the 2GB fine in the orange DIMMs. I'm a bit concerned about the green DIMMs and whether they're functioning properly.

I wonder if manually adjusting voltage/timings would help? Will try tonight...

 

[normalicy]

From the manual, they suggest using either slots 1&2 or 3&4 in combination (depending on the type or ram used), but your saying that you're using 2&4? Must just be a fluke. Couldn't go much further without different ram to test out. I doubt that different voltage would make a difference though.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: normalicy


Can anyone give me their settings if they have an E4300?

The only required setting to OC is the FSB speed, and if you want, the memory speed. Disable DOT and just under that setting, pick Manual. I have set my FSB to 1333 (333 x 4) and memory is set to 667 (333 x 2). As to memory timings I have different RAM than you and I just leave everything on Auto for now.

With the multiplier on 9x my machine runs at 3.0 ghz. I upped the votage to the cpu after some torture tests revealed mild instabilities. I increased the voltage 3 increments to + .0375

 

[aka1nas]

To those of you who have the board already, what sort of memory divider options are available in the BIOS?