MSI P6N SLI-F

[Spanki]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Does no-one know what 'strap' means in relation to FSB & RAM speeds?

Technically/specifically, no. But in principle, here's an analogy that might help...

Assume you have a Mustang with a manual 5-speed transmission. You take off from a stop sign in your local town/city (speed limit = 35mph) in '1st gear'. Depending on your gearing and other factors, you might be able to just stay in 1st gear at 35mph, but your engine will be revving higher (high rpm) than it needs to be and 2nd (or even 3rd) gear may be more appropriate. By the time you hop on the interstate/highway, you're going to want to be rolling along in 4th or 5th gear.

...the analogy may not be exact, but my understanding is that there are sets of operating parameters that the mb uses, based on the 'strap' (gear) of the cpu... you can probably run your '800 strap' cpu up past 1066, but it's better if the set of parameters used changes to the '1066 strap' at that point and then again at the '1333 strap'.

 

[Assimilator1]

I think I get ya ,so really 'strap' is related to FSB (not CPU speed) ,& for certain FSB ranges their are specific RAM/mbrd timings?

 

[yacoub]

Spanki:

Should we assume all of your listed memory reports in the HardOCP thread are at 2T? If so, why is that? Can't DDR2 memory run 1T command rate? If so, can't it do it on this MSi Platinum board? If so, why do those who report their command rate always seem to be running 2T? It almost seems like a quiet weakness that no one wants to talk about lol.

What RAM do I need to get that will run 1T on this board when running an E4400 (10x mult) @ 3.0GHz (300MHz fsb) (or at 9x mult and thus 333MHz fsb)?

Would the Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400C4 I'm looking at suffice to do 1T @ 300MHz or 333MHz fsb?

Thanks!

 

[Spanki]

Originally posted by: yacoub
Spanki:

Should we assume all of your listed memory reports in the HardOCP thread are at 2T? If so, why is that? Can't DDR2 memory run 1T command rate? If so, can't it do it on this MSi Platinum board? If so, why do those who report their command rate always seem to be running 2T? It almost seems like a quiet weakness that no one wants to talk about lol.

What RAM do I need to get that will run 1T on this board when running an E4400 (10x mult) @ 3.0GHz (300MHz fsb) (or at 9x mult and thus 333MHz fsb)?

Would the Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400C4 I'm looking at suffice to do 1T @ 300MHz or 333MHz fsb?

Thanks!

Sorry, I didn't see your response until now...

The memory I have is listed in my sig, below, along with the manufacturer's rated specs. Currently, I'm still using the stock Intel HSF, so I'm only overclocking to FSB 1333 (333) and my memory is also dialed in at 1:1 = 666 (333). At this speed, I do in fact have it set to 1T command rates.

This memory will also run at 4-5-5-12-1T timings at DDR2 800 using the stock 1.9v setting. To be frank, I haven't done a ton of memory testing at various timings to see if I can improve on those timings and until I get a better HSF, I won't be doing a lot of overclocking any higher, so I don't yet know at which point I have to switch to 2T on the memory.

I don't know or recall specifically whether the memory you're looking at will also run at 1T command rate at 800 (or whatever) speeds, but my impression is that you wouldn't have any probems. With the minimal amount of overclocking I've done so far, I often just set the command rate to 'auto' and the board sets it to 1T for me, so it's a pretty 1T-friendly board .

 

[adlep]

Greetings.
I got my p6N SLI-FI and I have just a positive things to say about it.
Link to my thread.
Overall it is a great product for the price

 

[yacoub]

thanks Spanki, good to hear! =)

 

[Kraetos]

I have the P6N SLI... no F, not sure what the difference is.

Anyway, DualCoreCenter is incredibly unstable. I use it to control fan speed but often times, when I change it, my entire system goes down. Has anyone else encountered this, or is there another application I can use to control fan speed?

For the record, my rig:

Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz)
4 GB Corsair DDR2 800 RAM
EVGA nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX
MSI P6N SLI
Zalman CPNS9500 AT
Windows XP Home SP2

Thanks

 

[Spanki]

Ooops.

 

[Spanki]

Originally posted by: Kraetos
I have the P6N SLI... no F, not sure what the difference is.

Anyway, DualCoreCenter is incredibly unstable. I use it to control fan speed but often times, when I change it, my entire system goes down. Has anyone else encountered this, or is there another application I can use to control fan speed?

For the record, my rig:

Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz)
4 GB Corsair DDR2 800 RAM
EVGA nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX
MSI P6N SLI
Zalman CPNS9500 AT
Windows XP Home SP2

Thanks

Use SpeedFan 4.32

 

[rronald1]

hello folks,

Does this motherboard support:

-intel Core 2 Quad, Q6600
-SLI config ( i want to put 2x 9600GT )


i dont see anywhere where it says this motherboard does support SLI. (no crossfire for me, prefer Nvidia cards)

 

[normalicy]

Yes & Yes (running SLI myself currently).

 

[Assimilator1]

lol ,that's what the SLI is for in the mbrds title

And I'm running a Q6600 on the Platinium version myself, you may have problems overclocking it much on the F version, as the 'F' version doesn't have a fan on the Northbridge or the heatpipes, of course fitting a fan shouldn't be a big problem
Oh inccidently, I've only got mine o/ced to 3 GHz ,atm I'm not sure if it's a mbrd limitation or the cooling problem I had with my HSF (which I've only very recently improved & I've not yet tried o/cing it more).

For detailed CPU support list etc go here
I see it doesn't support the Yorkfield .........damn niether does my Platinium! , I wonder why?.....

 

[spdfreak]

I just got my system built last night with a P6N SLI FI, a E4500, 9600GT and 2 G of Corsair XMS2 6400. It loaded XP fine and I'm ready to OC it a little. What I want to do is run it as fast as I can with stock voltages and cooling. My case has excellent cooling, so I don't think that will be a problem. To start, I guess I want to just set the FSB from 800 to 1066. Any special setting I need to change in the bios or can I just set the FSB to 1066 and be OK?

 

[Assimilator1]

That depends if your E4500 can run at ~2.9GHz, some can but many can't.

Your best bet would be to take the tried & tested route of upping the FSB in small steps & testing it each time until you find it's limit, rather than just whacking the FSB up & hoping for the best.

 

[spdfreak]

Seems OK at 1066... memory linked (2:3) so it is running at 800. Would I get better results running the memory at 1:1 with tighter timings? I'll run orthos overnight to check stability. Temps are 33 idle and 58-60 load. They will be about 4 deg lower when I put the side panel with the fan back on the case. Seems like this chip has some more headroom since all the voltages are default.

 

[spdfreak]

Stability seems good and it scored 11754 in 3DMark06. Awesome bang for the buck.