*** MSI P6N SLI Platinum OVERCLOCK 650i ***

[iluv2fly]

Originally posted by: ELicious
I'm very disappointed in this board. First board I got wouldn't even post at all. 2nd board I got runs fine up to 1199 FSB. Anything in the 1200 range and it won't post. At 1333 it will post but it won't boot into windows with NB voltage from 1.25-1.4V. This is going from a 9x multi to 6x and downclocking my RAM from 800 Mhz to 666 Mhz so I know it's not the CPU or RAM that is holding me back.

I will try to update the bios to 1.5 tonight but I'm doubtful that will change anything. The bios is 1.3 right now.

I'm curious what are your components?

Did you try the settings in the 2nd post? Read the settings carefully if you miss something it might not boot.

And yes I know about the frequency hole in the 1200mhz range.

 

[ELicious]

Originally posted by: iluv2fly

Originally posted by: ELicious
I'm very disappointed in this board. First board I got wouldn't even post at all. 2nd board I got runs fine up to 1199 FSB. Anything in the 1200 range and it won't post. At 1333 it will post but it won't boot into windows with NB voltage from 1.25-1.4V. This is going from a 9x multi to 6x and downclocking my RAM from 800 Mhz to 666 Mhz so I know it's not the CPU or RAM that is holding me back.

I will try to update the bios to 1.5 tonight but I'm doubtful that will change anything. The bios is 1.3 right now.

I'm curious what are your components?

Did you try the settings in the 2nd post? Read the settings carefully if you miss something it might not boot.

And yes I know about the frequency hole in the 1200mhz range.

Q6600
2GB PNY DDR2-800
2GB OCZ DDR2-800
Antec tru-power trio 550W
eVGA 8800 GTS 320MB

No, I didn't try the settings in the 2nd post. I will update the BIOS to 1.5 and try with those settings. However, considering my bad luck with this make/model I am not expecting much.

 

[iluv2fly]

Ouch,,, I only have a dualcore I'm not up to speed on the Quad cores.

 

[fortress001]

I did benchmark before and after swapping to the 1.5 bios. I lost about 100 points in 3dmark06. Not very much but I was expecting the same results or better. Weird!

The beta bios I was given through tech support was 1.52, and I still have problems. Perhaps they'll have a newer beta bios available. :/

Having 4GB of RAM makes a big difference multitasking in Vista, and I'm having stability problems NOT overclocked with it at this point with the Q6600, and fiddling and testing with it is going to take me some time.

[edit]

If you like this board and have a Q6600 and don't want to go through the hassle of swapping it out for another, I suggest pester tech support. There's hope yet!

Tech support form:

http://www.msicomputer.com/msiapps/ts_form.aspx

 

[ELicious]

Oh wow, I take my harsh words back. I updated to 1.5 BIOS and now my system is running 3Ghz, 1333 FSB with all defaults and stock voltages! Prime 95 on all 4 cores for 7 hours and no errors. What a difference the BIOS makes!

 

[Baseline]

Well, I just got my new rig up and running yesterday (in sig). Been running for about 24 hours now with the specs in my sig and on Vista Ultimate 64.

Prime 95 running stable @ 2.8GHZ with the following:

C1E, DOT, EIST, Spectrum stuff all disabled

9x311 (2.8GHZ)
VTT: 12%
NB: 1.35
Everything else is stock

Tried to bump it to 333x9 for 3.0GHZ, and it booted into windows no prob, but prime 95 errored pretty quick.

Gonna try 2.9 on next reboot, see if it can still do that with the same settings, since I'm getting about 40c idle and 50 during prime95, and at 2.8, at least I'm semi-happy, not quite as happy as I'd be at 3 though.

 

[ELicious]

Originally posted by: Baseline
Well, I just got my new rig up and running yesterday (in sig). Been running for about 24 hours now with the specs in my sig and on Vista Ultimate 64.

Prime 95 running stable @ 2.8GHZ with the following:

C1E, DOT, EIST, Spectrum stuff all disabled

9x311 (2.8GHZ)
VTT: 12%
NB: 1.35
Everything else is stock

Tried to bump it to 333x9 for 3.0GHZ, and it booted into windows no prob, but prime 95 errored pretty quick.

Gonna try 2.9 on next reboot, see if it can still do that with the same settings, since I'm getting about 40c idle and 50 during prime95, and at 2.8, at least I'm semi-happy, not quite as happy as I'd be at 3 though.

How are you getting 40c idle and 50c at 100% load? Are you running 4 instances of P95 for all 4 cores? My idle temp is about 27c but when I get all 4 cores at 100% it settles around 55c. I've got almost 20c increase where you have 10, how is that possible?

Also, have you found what is holding your OC back? Is it your CPU or your FSB that won't go higher? I have the same chip as you (B3) and I'm solid at 3.0 GHz. Since your load temp is lower than mine I don't think it's a cooling issue. Have you tried increasing the voltage?

 

[Baseline]

Ugh! You're right. I'm so out of the OC world since I haven't done it in years...

Ok, so I ran P95 with 4 instances for all the cores, with stock volts except NB: 1.35 and VTT: 12%, 9x311 (2.8GHZ), and after about 20 minutes of P95:

Core 0: 56
Core 1: 54
Core 2: 50
Core 3: 52

All is stable though at 2.8, with VID showing as 1.3250 in Coretemp.

I'm almost wondering if I did a bad job with the silver thermal paste and seating my tuniq 120. My case does have pretty decent ventilation.

EDIT: Same deal at 2.9 thus far, all voltages/settings the same, just bumped up the FSB. P95 running for 30 min. so far without any errors.

 

[ELicious]

I think your temps are very good for air cooling. Mine is water cooled and I'm still seeing almost 20c difference from idle/load.

Can you hit 1333 with the multiplier at 6? Try to find out if it's your MB or CPU holding you back, then try increasing voltage on the part that is holding you back.

 

[Baseline]

Originally posted by: ELicious
I think your temps are very good for air cooling. Mine is water cooled and I'm still seeing almost 20c difference from idle/load.

Can you hit 1333 with the multiplier at 6? Try to find out if it's your MB or CPU holding you back, then try increasing voltage on the part that is holding you back.

Actually, as of right now, I'm running with 1334 linked with a 9x multi (3.0GHZ), all voltages and settings are the same as my previous post, and I'm so far into 30 minutes of 4 Prime95 sessions with no errors at all.

Temps are all the same too.

If this is actually stable, I'm a happy camper.

When I tested 3dmark06 with everything stock yesterday with the CPU at 2.4GHZ, I was getting 10505. Then I tested before bed last night at 2.9GHZ and was getting 11878. I haven't even bothered to OC my 8800GTX yet. I could probably break 12000 if I do that and test again now at 3.0ghz.

A shot of CPUZ / Coretemp: http://i21.tinypic.com/zn1yl3.jpg

 

[imported_Planatoid]

Hrmm, it's working better for me too. Right now I'm at 3.2GHz, same as before, but with a 9x multi instead of an 8. NB is at 1.4v, and the VTT is 8% I do believe. She never would have booted at this setting before the new BIOS. They're definitely made some improvements.

Oh yeah, CPU at +.1275.

 

[iluv2fly]

Planatoid

When it it is 100% stable and you are happy with it, please post your complete BIOS settings like in the 2nd post to help the guys with your type of cpu.

 

[Baseline]

What's the recommended max on the northbridge (with the optional fan attached)? 1.4 is safe?

I do have pretty good airflow through my case, and the side door is usually off anyway.

 

[iluv2fly]

I have had mine at 1.4V since I bought it 03/15/07 . I have had no problems at all. I do use the original NB fan with a Zalman fan mate to slow it down so it's quiet. If there is such a thing as a recommended max volt,,, I don't know. My case is like a wind tunnel / vacuum cleaner what ever you want to call it. I did use Zalman Fan Mates to slow all case fans down so I didn't have to hear it. It's still like a windtunnel and quiet! Love that case!

 

[imported_Planatoid]

I would get BSODs that I found out were from my NB chip overheating, at a bout 1.325v without the fan. With the fan on, I've never gotten a similar one even at 1.5v. The chip stays nice and cool.

 

[iluv2fly]

He,he,,, That might be a nice clue to everyone else,,,,, USE a NB fan!!!!

 

[Baseline]

For some reason, my floppy drive is being uncooperative (light is stuck on and it's telling me there's no disk in the drive), so I can't flash up to 1.5, i'm stuck on 1.3 for now until I can figure out what's wrong with that.

I actually tried 1.4 on the NB with the same settings I've been using, and it just wouldn't post, had to reset. 1.35 is working no problem though.

 

[iluv2fly]

I have always used MSI Live online flash in Windows. I know some people say it's a risky way but it has always worked for me.

By the way, check so you are using the correct floppy cable there is 2 kinds. Make sure you have the right end hooked up. Also look on the Floppy drive itself you might have to rotate the cable 180 degrees. Hope it helps.

 

[Baseline]

I was thinking about trying the live update for the BIOS, but I am on vista 64, and it isn't listed as a supported OS on the live update. Even though most things that work for xp work fine for vista, I don't want to take the risk on something like a BIOS update. Gonna try and mess with the floppy drive/cables.

 

[Freeseus]

Can someone help me out plz? I can't seem to figure out how to overclock my Q6600 dramatically (especially without BSOD).

Here's what I have:

Q6600 (2.4ghz stock)
MSI P6N Platinum nFORCe (obviously)
nVIDIA 8800GT
4GB A-Data DDR2 800 (PC-6400) ram
Thermaltake PSU W0136RU 500 Watt
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme /w Scythe S-Flex fan
Antec 900 Case

I've gotten to boot to bios at 2.4 max, but wouldn't boot to windows.
I can get it to boot to 2.2 but will will blue screen after a random amount of time under duress or while idle (CPU is still sub 30C at time of BSOD).
I was hoping to get around 2.6ghz STABLE.

I can't seem to get to bio on anything past 1500FSB linked (or otherwise). I didn't spend extra moola to watch my cpu sit comfortably under 7 fans at 27C at 3.0ghz.

Help plz!

 

[Assimilator1]

Yea I've got a similar problem with a Q6600 I've borrowed. ,though I'm doing a little better than you.

Upto 2.6GHz is not a problem, but up it to 2.7Ghz (1200FSB) & it won't even post!
No extra vcore is needed to get to 2.6GHz ,increasing vcore by 0.0375 makes no difference (not yet had time to try more).Upping NBv to 1.45v makes no diff either.

On my C2D I can do 1600FSB (3.2GHz) ,NBv @1.4v ,vcore @ + 0.0125v.

Any particular tricks to get a decent o/c on quads with these mbrds?

 

[Freeseus]

What is a free program I can use to check the stability of an overclock (over a long period of time... to make sure I won't get any more BSODs)?

 

[iluv2fly]

Prime 95

Should help test your stability.

 

[Freeseus]

Okay, while I haven't prime95'd yet, my computer hasn't <crosses fingers> BSOD'd in the 2 hours it's been running... including a nVidia 10-minutes stress test (which I had never been able to complete ever with any of my prior tests/configs because the BSOD always happened during the test).

So... without further adeu, here is my setup. For those running the same setup, see if this runs stable for you:

Vista 32x Business
Q6600 2.413ghz OC'd to 3.733ghz
MSI P6N SLI Platinum
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme /w Scythe S-Flex Fan
4gigs ram (yeah, I know, I need to get Vista 64)
Geforce 8800GT

CPU Frequency: 3733Mhz
FSB Frequency: 1650Mhz
DRAM 773Mhz

System clock mode: Linked
FSB Clock: 1650Mhz
Adjust CPU Ratio:9

CPU Voltage: 0.1750V
Memory Voltage: Auto
NB Voltage: 1.5V
SB Voltage: 1.5V (default)
FSB VTT Voltage: 6%


Hope this works for you guys too!

 

[Assimilator1]

You got it to 3.7GHz!:Q ,wow! even if that speed isn't stable for you at least 3.5GHz should be

I see you're putting quite a bit of voltage through your NB ,not sure I'd want to go that high on a permanent basis ,but I'll give it a go for testing purposes.

If I get at least 3GHz I'm buying this chip off my mate