*** Official MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (nForce4 Ultra chipset) Thread ***

[Painman]

Originally posted by: MTSteel
What kind of caps thee boards using?

Chemi-Con, Rubycon, Matsushita

 

[Painman]

Hmm... Darkeyed, Tungsten and everyone else hitting the wall when trying to go above a certain FSB in the BIOS but being able to oc past it once in Windows:

This may be an interesting read

 

[taelee1977]

The problem is, i have Windows XP - nForce4 Standalone Kit (6.39). I tried both english and international but no difference. Please, can you tell me the version of yours NVTCP.SYS? Right click on "WINDIR"\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\NVTCP.SYS, properties -> version -> file version. My NVTCP.SYS version is 1.00.00.0468 and this version is doing this "DRIVER_IRQL..." error.

My driver version is 4.6.8 made on 1/13/2005. If I remember correctly, this version of the driver doesn't even use the nvtcp.sys file. When I do a search on my computer for that file, nothing comes up now. You may have to install the driver manually. I remember when I tried to install it, my computer insisted on keeping the faulty one. Try installing the new driver and manually tell your computer to use it rather than using the automatic option.

 

[darkeyed]

OK I finished some testing on Friday and here is what I found.

I am doing it all with clockgen to up my FSB to find the best results. I am on 1.24 BIOS

My Basic BIOS settings are
FSB = 219
HTT = 4x
Mem at 166 Voltage at 2.85
Mem Timmings at 2.5-3-2-8 1T
CPU 10x startup - cpu-z reports voltage at 1.58

Rasied FSB by 5 at a time to 251 and super pi failed.

Changed vcore to 1.60 and the best I could get super pi to run at was 247. So I decided to start fine tunning my memory.

I set mem to 180 2.5-3-3-10-1T

Used clockgen again and what was interesting was FSB of 255 passed with a superpi of 34 sec. Now it failed at fsb258.

Changed mem timmings to 200 2.5-3-3-10-1T

And best I could get was fsb=230 and superpi failed. I decided to keet the 180 divider and see how far I can drop the timming at 180.

So I ended up at this
FSB =251
HTT 4x
Mem 180 2-3-2-8 1T volts = 2.85
CPU 10x Volts cpu-z reports 1.63

Runs prime stable all night at these settings.

But here is the thing if I go into the BIOS and change fsb to 221 My machine will not boot.

I am guessing the power up sequence is wrong in the BIOS

 

[surfballs69]

I'm wondering if any of you have seen a problem like I'm having with this board. When I go into the Cell Menu in the BIOS, some of the options like PCIE Clock and CPU Spread Spectrum are unreadable. For instance, instead of displaying "PCIE Clock", there is a blank space there and only "Mhz" will be displayed next to it. Also, "CPU Spread Spectrum" shows up as "S r Sp t m" with some strange characters next to it.

I tried updating the BIOS but it still displays the same unreadable info.

Has anyone seen anything like this? I'm not sure if i should send the board back or if there is some kind of fix for it.

Another thing to mention is that if i try to overclock, it won't post the first time. If I keep reseting, it will eventually post and boot into windows. I can then run Prime 95 with no problems. So i'm at a loss as to what is going on.

Any help/advice you guys could give is much appreciated.

 

[darkeyed]

sounds like you have a bad board or bad vid card. Can you try the vid card somewhere else?

 

[Egger]

A friend of mine has the same "restart and it'll work" problem surfballs69. he doesn't have the strange characters in his bios, but he restarts 3-4 times before it posts and gets into windows, anything after that is problem free (even prime95 for over an hour). we're baffled...

I, on the other hand, had some strange bios characters when i overclocked too high (297fsb), at which my bios would crash after displaying the characters in cell menu. at 295 i dont have these problems though...

 

[Painman]

Read that discussion thread from Rebels Haven I linked to... if their analysis is correct, it's possible that our chips are all running at default VCore or the VID setting without the over % while we're in the BIOS. I've seen the same garbled cell menus on my own machine while I had my 3200+ oc'd to 2.7 (that's the only thing you can do with that chip at 2.7, look at garbled BIOS menus). Their findings seem to explain why some of us can't POST beyond certain FSB settings but can OC fine once in Windows.

 

[AvCtUeRcA]

I plan on getting this motherboard, will be my first 64bit based motherboard. I will be getting the 3500 winchester, and an ati x800 xl vid card. I will use two raptors in raid 0 and 1gb ocz pc3200 el platinum. My question is whether this 20/24 pin convertor will work for this motherboard. I have a 520watt psu, but its only 20pin main connector. Will this http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=12-183-045&depa=0 ) fix any problems for sound not working and such because of the power connection?

thanks for your time!

Dan

 

[anax]

AvC...

The 20 pin power connector works fine - I've used both in my Neo4 Platinum (Non SLI) - No converter needed, the 20 Pin leaves 4 pins exposed. The on-board sound works fine.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Well, I have a MSI Neo4 Platinum SLI on the way to my place as of tomorrow. I'll be back!!! Probably in about 2 weeks I should have this thing put together & be looking for some info & sharing results. Just need to get the video card, but that's gonna take some time.

 

[AvCtUeRcA]

thanks for the reply!

thank you!

 

[RMB]

Nice board. I just assembled a non-sli version of the K8N Neo4.

System:

Lian Li PCV2000 case. PIC1 PIC2
Athlon64 3200
PDI Patriot PC3200 2x512 dual channel LINK
Zalman 7000 cpu cooler Note the ram overlap. You "should" be able to get the ram in and out. Although I inserted the stick before I put the cooler on. PIC
MSI 6600GT PCIe
NEC 3520 dual layer DVDRW
OCZ Powerstream 420
1-Raptor SATA 36BG
3-Seagate 200GB NCQ SATA in Raid5 (faster bench in sandra than the raptor) working nicely. I expect delayed writes in the real world though.

 

[Taree]

Hello, I'm having some issues.

I am getting graphical glitches when booting. And it seems that I have burnt out 3 diffrent monitors.

The issue is I get lines during boot on the top left hand of my screen. Then when im in windows I get distortion on the top of my monitor. Blurryness that I cant lose. I have reloaded. Replaced video card. (monitors above) and Im worried that im getting to much power thru the video card. Also if im in a game I get flashes of a line in my top right hand of my screen.

K8N Neo 4 Plat
AMD 3000+ Winchester
X700 Pro Sapphire Card.
1 gig MUSHKIN pc 3200 ram
Xblade case w/ps.

 

[PoxMeister]

I'm considering the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum as the one to go with for my upgrade, but I was hoping one of you currently using it could comment on the onboard sound of the non-SLI version.

In AT's Nf4 SLI roundup article, the MSI K8N Neo4 Plat/SLI had great sound performance due to the onboard soundblaster Live! chip. What about the non-SLI version? Do you find the onboard sound to be very good, or would you still recommend using an add-on soundcard for better sound quality and gaming performance?

 

[DMonkey]

The onboard sound is the regular AC97 Realtek 850 stuff. No Sound Blaster Live!, so CPU utilization is as expected, 5-7%. Its really more of a personal preference as to whether or not you need a sound card.

 

[AvCtUeRcA]

so if I decided to use this fortissimo III 7.1ch sound card I have instead of the onboard sound...would I see much of a performance increase? would the cpu be used less for sound?

sorry for such "noob" questions. I liked the msi mobo..and the extra optical out made it look nice. Im hooking my logitech z5500 speakers up thru optical cable, and the fortissimo III has an optical out also.

thanks!

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally posted by: DMonkey
The onboard sound is the regular AC97 Realtek 850 stuff. No Sound Blaster Live!, so CPU utilization is as expected, 5-7%. Its really more of a personal preference as to whether or not you need a sound card.

That's wierd. In the Anandtech review they said the MSI SLI showed less CPU useage with the onboard sound.

 

[wavshrdr]

I have been reading this thread with great interest. After debating over what board to buy I've decided on the MSI K8N Neo4 Plat. SLI. I am running an AMD64 chip in my notebook and loved the performance and since my P4 home PC is getting old it seemed like the A64 was a no-brainer. Now I need some advice to round out my build.

I plan to moderately OC so am I better to go with the 3000 or 3200 Winnie for best results vs. best bang for the buck. I will do a lot of Photoshop work in my spare time and some graphic design work as the reason for the OC'ing.

I have 2 WD 74GB Raptors on order and plan on running them in a Raid0 config. I have 2 other SATA drives for long term storage and backup. Any thoughts on this or does the board do a good job of supporting Raid5 and should I consider that as an option and use 4 Raptors to get the storage I need.

What is the best way to config it for 2GB RAM and get the best performance without breaking the bank on RAM prices and keeping in mind I don't plan on OC'ing it to the last clock cycle I can get out of it. What brand and size and configuration would be helpful.

I want to try and keep it quiet as possible and keep it cool. What options do I have? I hear the stock fan is loud for the CPU. What other options and please be specific? I have bought a Antec SuperLanBoy case to put it all in. Noise is a real issue for me as my ears are super sensitive. What PS do you suggest? Worth considering any fanless ones or definitely not a lot of output there for OC'ing. I will probably not use dual vid cards but I am buying the SLI board for 2 reasons, better sound and maybe someday I might go to dual cards.

Any thoughts on DVD drives for DL? I have a Plextor USB 2.0 external 708 but not DL capability and want to improve on performance. I am looking for something internal to rip DVDs with so maybe 1 DVD burner and maybe a fast CD/DVD for the drive to copy from.

Any suggestions for a good PCI-E vid card to go with the MSI? I will only game about 25% of the time so something super high end isn't necessary. Again noise is a concern if it has a really noisy fan.

In general I am open to liquid cooling if I can do it to keep the noise and temps down. I am not concerned about buying the cheapest to save money but I do want a good value. If there is a better MB to go with I am open for suggestions but I do like the SB sound card better than the 850 of the non-sli version of the board as well as on the DFI.

Any and all help is appreciated. Any thoughts on a better way to put this together are appreciated. I want to get everything on order to get it built as soon as I can. I am trying to be flexible and buy what will be the best value rather than cheapest. I don't mind spending the cash on parts if I get a real, tangible benefit.

One last thing, what happened to the BT and WiFi bundle that I saw in some tests on the Diamond board? I would really like WiFi an BT so any suggestions on that are helpful. I currently have a Linksys PCI "G" card I'll probably use but if it was integrated it would be nice.

TIA!

 

[scacountor]

Thuff,

Did you fix this problem? I am having the same problem: I can get past Bios screen, but right before Windows splash screen..system hangs, crashes, reboots, and repeats the process.

I have:
AMD 3500
Ultra 500W Power Supply
256MB Kingston HyperX RAM PC3200 (4 sticks) Tried different configurations
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
64MB Asylum PCI Card
I have tried 3 different hard drives and they have this same result

 

[mono]

Hey all. I just picked up the SLI version of this Neo4 Platinum board, along with a new BFG 6800GT. For the moment, I plan on using a single card, maybe go SLI in a few months if I have the cash.

I had a bizarre problem, and I'm about ready to RMA this new BFG card, but I thought I'd ask here to see if there's something I'm missing.

I have dual DVI displays. The mobo is in non-SLI mode, ie: the bridge card is plugged in as non-SLI, and the 6800GT is in the top PCI-E slot.

When I boot up, I can only get a video signal from the monitor plugged into the right hand DVI port. I think the 2nd DVI port is dead. If I swap the monitors, the other one will go on, but no monitor works, even in BIOS or during boot up, when plugged into my possible bad DVI port. Everything suggest I've got a bad port, but I'm just suspicious as I'm not familiar with this SLI board.

If I'm using dual displays on a single card on this SLI board, is there any BIOS setting or jumper I need to adjust? BFG tech support thinks I have a bad DVI port, but before I pack it up and ship it out, I thought someone with more knowledge of this MSI SLI board might have some insight. Thanks in advance for any possible help!!!

 

[Egger]

just an idea, is the board getting enough power? i've never tried a dual display before, but assume that the card would need the power to generate a second signal, and if the PSU isn't up to it then that might cause some trouble perhaps?

 

[mono]

Thanks for the reply. I don't think that's the issue. I'm using a pretty new Antec Neo 480W PSU. Not to mention, the PSU was, until yesterday, powering a 6800 Ultra AGP. I'm in the process of bartering that card with a friend of mine, and picked up the 6800GT to go with this new MSI board and socket 939 chipset.

Also, it's always the same DVI port. Even if I have a single display hooked up to that port on boot up, I get nada, zip, nutthin'.

 

[johnshew]

There appears to be a issue getting 7 channel digital audio out working on this board.

On this thread, several of us have found all we can get is 2 channel stereo digital audio out of the the SPDIF connection. But not more.

Can anyone confirm they have 7 channel working?

 

[johnshew]

Originally posted by: manisero
the integrated sound isnt working on my MSI neo4, only the front speakers though, my rear speakers, front center, and subwoofer all work oddly. I think i may have ESD'ed the thing that controls the front speakers somehow. Would this warrant an RMA, or should I just buy a new sound card? Everything else is working fine.

Yes, seeing the same problem with the audio. Everything else is working great.