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

[imported_PanicAttack]

HardOCP is raving about the SLI version and how good it overclocks. Something to look forward to after I get my X800xl. LOL. Probably not before March something I would guess. Anyway, I noticed the SLI version has a better NB fan and a mosfets cooler. How can I get those for my ultra?

 

[imported_PanicAttack]

Oh, and Bukka, I'm not ignoring your problem. Since I don't even have a vid card I can't even turn mine on. Just have to sit there and imagine how great it will be once turned on. Assuming you can get to the BIOS, play around with the memory settings. Latency and Voltage, etc. You can always go back to default. If you can't even get to the BIOS, could it be your video card? Send it to me and I'll check it out for you. LOL

 

[manisero]

i found i couldnt get past the "PLATINUM" post screen when I had my front USB port conenctors plugged in. I tried clearing the CMOS and everything too. I unplugged those and havnt had any problems.

 

[murdmath]

Bukka, reset the bios and see if that helps. Mine did the same thing. Mine also came with a dead cmos battery.

Mat

 

[BrokenVisage]

Is it known whether or not this board accepts PDP Systems RAM like the stuffz here: http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant...duct_Code=140602&Category_Code=DDR-PDP

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Originally posted by: pickle965
I just got my Neo4 Ultra rig together 2 days ago. I purchased it @ mwave.com for $140 shipped after a coupon . It has been running fine so far, with some minor quirks. My northbridge/chipset fan is running at a whopping 7300rpm and it's a bit noisy. I also noticed my northbridge/chipset temps aren't coming up in Nvidia nTune or MSI CoreCenter, has anyone else have this problem? I've also had this system boot on its own after shutting down twice now... can't figure that one out.

I noticed the same thing. I can't get any NB temperature readings out of nTune or CoreCenter either. If anyone knows if/how to get them I'm all ears....

As to the noisy chipset fan, I plugged in a Zalman Fanboy2 controller ($10 at newegg, incl. shipping). At 5000 rpm the noise dies down considerably, to where my other fans drown it out.

 

[taelee1977]

Broken Visage,

Yes it does. I have that same exact memory working perfectly fine on mine. I haven't overclocked it yet, so I can't tell you anything about that.

 

[taelee1977]

Bukka,

Are you able to get into the BIOS? If nothing comes up, it may be the video card. Do you get any beep codes when the computer starts up? If you are able to get into BIOS, try turning off dynamic overclocking until you get your system up and stable. I noticed it was turned on by default.

 

[taelee1977]

Jim Bancroft,

I looked it up on Newegg... it is a Zalman fan mate 2 by the way, not fanboy 2.
I'll try giving that a shot. Thanks a bunch.

 

[s8v4o]

Originally posted by: Bukka
I haven't loaded any drivers - can't even get to a boot screen.

This may be a stupid question but did you plug in the 4 pin power connector located by the CPU and MOSFETS. I forgot to plug it in and when I went to fire it up I got nothing. So double check that.

 

[Bukka]

I have tried resetting using the Clear CMOS button, and never get to the point where I can configure the BIOS. I don't hear beep codes, but like I mentioned the LEDs show a "bad RAM" status (which I don't think is really the problem). The 4-pin power connector is plugged in. What I haven't tried is disconnecting things and running as bare-bones as possible, I'll try that tonight.

 

[thuff]

Here's my issue (I sent this to MSI's Tech Support):

After POSTing, my system will hang (with a blank screen) just before the normal "Windows XP" splash screen would appear - It will remain there until I reboot it. When I boot it again, it will then display the "Reboot using last known good configuration" screen from which I usually choose, "Continue..." From this point, it will then boot into Windows fine, but I MUST perform this method EVERY time after POSTing. I've completely reinstalled twice with the same results both with each version of the BIOS installed.

This is a total mystery to me. I've built hundreds of systems and I've never come across an issue like this one.

Bossybum: I experince the same BIOS crash whenever I attempt to auto-detect either of my two SAA HDDs. I have to reset the system both times I attempted it, and this is with both version 1 and 1.1 BIOS revisions.

 

[Haipyng]

I was just in the process of setting mine up last night, I get to the first "Platinum" screen where you need to either "tab" or "del" to enter the BIOS. Can't do either. The screen just sits there...mocking me. PS/2 for keyboard seems bad. I get the usual num/caps/scroll lock lights on cold boot then nothing. Resets don't even get me that. Tried a couple of good keyboards from other systems still nothing. Legacy USB isn't enabled by default, so that is out.

PS/2 keyboard problems seem rampant in MSI's K8N Neo line of boards from their website forums: http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=61832.0

I checked for shorts, and moved the the MB on to a rubber mat to make double sure. Same thing. Tried memory from another known good system. Going to bring home an old AT keyboard with a PS/2 adapter in hopes the old chip can survive the keyboard initialization long enough to enable legacy usb support for the usb keyboard.

I hate to RMA, and of course NewEgg is now out of Stock which leaves me going to MSI on the RMA. My first experiance with MSI, usually buy Abit or Asus, not impressed so far. :|

 

[anax]

Hi All,

I just wanted to share some minor experiences with the board. Sorry that some of you are having serious issues. So far I've been very pleased with the M/B and didn't have any problems setting things up.

I'm Running:

CPU AMD 3200+ 939
Memory OCZ Tech OCZ4001024PDC-K (2.5,3,3,8,2T)
Video Card ATI X700PRO
Case Cooler Master Cavalier 3
HD Seagate 160GB-SATA NCQ
DVD-RW NEC ND-3520

I've 'quieted' the system with a Zalman CNPS-7000B AlCu on the CPU and a VF-700 Cu on the X700. I put a Zalman Fanmate on the Northbridge and reduced the speed to 3700 RPM which made a noticable difference.

Like some of the others here I don't get the temperature from the Northbridge appearing in any of the tools. Also I found that when I had both NTune and MSI Core Center I found that they would overide or cancel some of each other's settings so I just left the MSI tool on.

The Nvidia Firewall works well, but I had a problem deleting the rule for Spybot S&D , not sure why the page for that rule wouldn't load properly, but I tried the 'delete all rules' button and then my whole system went to the crapper after the next reboot - The firewall wouldn't load properly and SVCHOST.exe would die and XP would issue an automated shutdown - I couldn't get out on the network or start most applications. I recovered with a backup (DriveImage 7.0) with out any issues.

As for overclocking, I've only tinkered with the MSI Core Center settings. I've had no problems speeding things up, but the system locks when I go from a high setting to a lower one.

Anyone know about SATA NCQ settings? As far as I know the chipset supports it, but I'm having trouble finding information.

 

[jtenney]

I'm running two ST3200826AS 200GB NCQ Seagates in RAID 0, and device manager says NCQ is enabled on both of them. My one ST380817AS 80GB NCQ Seagate is also installed (from time to time, hot pluggable!), and NCQ is also enabled for it according to device manager.

I haven't had any problems, though others have said something about mass data corruption with NCQ turned on. What am I missing?

 

[jtenney]

Hi everybody.

Anyone using S3, Suspend to RAM? I really like it, but I'm having a couple of problems with it.

First, when coming out of S3, the CPU fan goes to full tilt (around 3800rpm for my AMD boxed fan) and stays there. The temperature-controlled speed is gone. If I reboot, the fan speed goes back to being temperature controlled, which usually means about 1100rpm. (Much quieter, the better to hear my northbridge fan :roll: ) I don't have any kind of monitor/control SW running (like CoreCenter, NTune, SpeedFan, etc.)

Second, also when coming out of S3, my FSB overclock goes away. Goes right back to 200.

The reason I like S3 is that the MB (mine is Neo4 Platinum, non SLI) doesn't seem to support keyboard wake from S5 (soft off). Besides, even if it did, I'm starting to like how fast my computer goes from S3 (using almost no power) to up'n'running.

 

[lordhawk]

Hi All,

My first post here, btw.

I've recently assembled my first Neo4 system and oced it. Here are my results.

AMD64 3500+ Socket 939 Winchester @ 2596 (236x11)
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
PDP Patriot RAM DDR400 2x512Mb 10:9 (i.e. 180Mhz) 212Mhz 2-2-2-5
MSI 6800GT PCIe
Coolermaster Praetorian
Antec Neopower 480
Stock HSF (53 deg C at full load)

I found that my main limitation for ocing the Neo4 is the voltage settings. I can only squeeze out a max of 1.68V (which fluctuates down to about 1.65V) out of the board, and using 1.21b BIOS at that. Hopefully, future BIOS updates will allow more voltage options.

Other than that, no complaints at all. Very satisfied with my Neo4.

 

[Therlisian]

Have a question about the onboard sound blaster on the SLI model for those running it. I'm running a JVC 5.1 Receiver with S/PDIF in and DTS/DD Decoders connected to the Built-in SB by S/PDIF Fiber. I have tried tweeking every setting I could think of including the latest drivers and turning on the Pass Through for decoding. On the speaker test screen and DVD's the most that is pushed to my receiver is a 2 Channel Pro-Logic II signal, No DTS, no DD, no response from the surround speakers when testing the channels. My old Mobo ran a 7.1 DTS/DD Fiber as well and worked perfectly, so I know my receiver can handle the decoding. If anyone has any thoughts for how to get it to push a DD signal I would much appreciate it.


T.E.

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, ran a search, came up with nada.

 

[imported_scoobydoo]

Originally posted by: lordhawk
Hi All,

My first post here, btw.

I've recently assembled my first Neo4 system and oced it. Here are my results.

AMD64 3500+ Socket 939 Winchester @ 2596 (236x11)
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
PDP Patriot RAM DDR400 2x512Mb 10:9 (i.e. 180Mhz) 212Mhz 2-2-2-5
MSI 6800GT PCIe
Coolermaster Praetorian
Antec Neopower 480
Stock HSF (53 deg C at full load)

I found that my main limitation for ocing the Neo4 is the voltage settings. I can only squeeze out a max of 1.68V (which fluctuates down to about 1.65V) out of the board, and using 1.21b BIOS at that. Hopefully, future BIOS updates will allow more voltage options.

Other than that, no complaints at all. Very satisfied with my Neo4.

You can set it up to 1.710v if you drop down to ~1.3v. If you set the set voltage at something around ~1.3v, the percentage over increases up to around 23%. Every little bit helps!

 

[Haipyng]

For giggles I reset the CMOS on the board and it finally detected the Keyboard in PS/2, at long last. Oddly enough it seems my USB optical mouse causes the system to hang when I plug that in. I used a PS/2 to USB adapter and have been using it that way. It's a really fickle MB. I think it was Scotty that said, "The more you overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."

Just to torture myself with more issues, I loaded Windows x64 Preview onto the Raptor SATA Striping RAID, under an open umbrella, holding a black cat, and breaking a mirror. :shocked: Oddly enough it's running great. I'll tackle the USB issue and see if I can track that down later tonight. If I get past the USB issue then I'll setup some moderate overclocking before I give the Dynamic Overclocking a try.

After getting past the silliness with the keyboard, I must say I like the feature set on the board.

 

[MTSteel]

Any problems using the 20 pin PSU's with this board?

 

[imported_promtbr]

After vewing this thread and others that led me to get this board, I thought I'd chime in w/ my build results.

Total AMD noob and this is only my 3rd PC I built. I did OC ("by the book") by isolating
the CPU, memory and Board's FSB limits.

MSI K8Neo4 SLI
AMD Winchester 3500 (don't know week) 2400mhz (x10) HTT (x4)
Zalman 7700 fan (BARELY able to get ram in DIMM 1&2!)
2 x 512mb Corsair 3200XLM @ 2.5-3-3-6 1T
BFG 6800gt (one for now)
Silverstone Temjin T206 (upside down mobo w/ windtunnel)
OCZ Powerstream 520
Plextor 716sa SATA dvd/r
2x 120gb WD Caviars on RAID 0

First off on when putting it together, I noticed the manual and mobo set up iw WAY user friendly to a noob, nice quality and even the SATA/RAID drivers already provided in floppies!
Setting up RAID (my first time) was a breeze w/ the manual's instructions
The BIOS is easy to navigate.
The wierd part was reading closely that this board wants the memory in adjacent, (different color) dim slots compared w/ other boards I've used.
The only hitch was having to splice an extra length in the 4 pin power lead from the Powerstream because my case has the CPU on the bottom and the psu lead was 6 inches short.

It posted first time and the windows recognized the bootable raid drive right away and the install was fast.

After burn in I started the OC procedure. I did the FSB first after setting back the CPU and memory clocking. I stopped @ 300 fsb as I didn't see the point of going higher.
I then tried OC ing the CPU and worked up to 2500 and each time it would post OK but would fail prime. I upped the voltages but after figuring the slightly tricky two settings in the BIOS , the max I could see on CORE CENTER and CPU-Z was 1.55 volts.
I raised the Chip voltage too to 1.6 and 2500mhz kept failing prime. I read about Prime being sometimes a poor stability tester on AMD chips, I ran 3dMark03 and it failed half way. I had to drop the CPU clock back to 2400mhz to gain stability. I must have a poor OCing chip and am somewhat dissapointed there.
The Corsair had 2-2-2-5 lat ratings, but when testing memory, it HAD to run @ 2.5-3-3-6
or it wouldn't even post and I had to clear CMOS about 3 times. once I got the timings up though, I could run 280 w/ that ram!

Overall I'm a happy camper. Will probably drop a next gen CPU in when they get affordable and possibly a second 6800gt and go SLI, but w/ a 11960 3dmark03 score, it killed my previous DELL p4 and its 9800pro @ 5600.
Sandra won't run on this for some reason so I have no Sandra benchies.
Ran HD Tach and the the WD Caviars' gave a 212 burst time and 111 ave read time and a seek time of 13ms so I'm good to go.

 

[Haipyng]

The board works fine with the 20 pin plug. If you want to latch so it locks in get an adapter.

 

[abcampa]

As far as the 20 pin connector, I read on the review at newegg for this board, that if you dont have 24 pin with -5v on pin 20, the onboard sound will not work.

I guess the 24 pin is Required for a fully functional neo4 mobo????

 

[xjoe]

Originally posted by: abcampa
As far as the 20 pin connector, I read on the review at newegg for this board, that if you dont have 24 pin with -5v on pin 20, the onboard sound will not work.

I guess the 24 pin is Required for a fully functional neo4 mobo????

I believe that is only for the Creative sound on the SLI version