Diamond Plus; Cell Menu CPU FSB Set at 250 x11 but Board Running 200.9 x14

Question

I have FSB set at 250 with the CPU multiplier set at x11. Memory is set at an FSB / DRAM ratio of 1:1. The memory modules are in slots 1 and 2 (green / purple). While in the BIOS Cell Menu it is reporting Memory frequency at DDR500 and the CPU at a slight underclock. This agrees with the above settings. However, in BIOS / Standard CMOS Features / CPU Configuration, it shows the CPU running at 2816Mhz with a multiplier of x14. This is equal to the settings (200.9 x14) that are applied when "Load Optimized Defaults" is loaded and saved. All of the settings in the rest of BIOS setup are definitely set to Manual and the setting values as noted in the first sentence.
CPUZ is also reporting a FSB of 200 with a multiplier of x14. It's showing the memory as PC3200 and running at DDR400 which makes sense if FSB is really running at 200. Long story short, it's reporting everything at the stock settings as set by "Load Optimized Defaults". It is correctly showing the memory in dual channel and the command address rate at 1T. This is the latest version of CPUZ. I had an older version saved on CD. I tried this old version and it reported the same thing.
I have all of the dynamic overclocking options, wakeup options, cool n' quiet and automatic fan speed controls (except northbridge) disabled. If there's any other options that could throttle down the CPU I sure couldn't find them. Even if there were, my CPU is running atb 39C at idle so it shouldn't kick in any thermal throttling. When I flashed to the version 1.19 BIOS version at MSI Tech Support's direction to solve the "phantom modem" issue, I took the extreme route to clearing CMOS; powered down, removed or disconnected all the components, pressed the clear CMOS button, removed the battery for 30 minutes, pressed the clear CMOS button again, reinserted the battery, pressed the clear CMOS button yet again, reinstalled / reconnected the minimum required components, flashed the BIOS, cleared CMOS again, cleared nvram, loaded optimized defaults and saved, manually adjusted all the settings, reinstalled / reconnected the remaining components.
I'm at a loss to explain this. MSI Tech Support says they can't help me because this involves overclocking and they're not allowed to provide advice.
Anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing this?
Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Answer 1

I've been experimenting with different combinations of FSB / Multipliers / Memory dividers. My best performance is with the CPU at 250 x12 for 3.0 GHz, and memory still at 3-3-2-8, 1:1 and 1T. This is all at stock voltages and I'm not willing to risk frying anything by raising it even a little bit. It's running fast, smooth and cool. That's all I'm looking for so that's as far as I'm going to take it.
Here are a few reports from Everest:
OC:
 CPU Properties:
      CPU Type                                          AMD Athlon 64 FX-57
      CPU Alias                                         San Diego S939
      CPU Stepping                                      SH-E4
      CPUID CPU Name                                    AMD Athlon(tm) 64 FX-57 Processor
      CPUID Revision                                    00020F71h
    CPU Speed:
      CPU Clock                                         3000.0 MHz  (original: 2800 MHz, overclock: 7%)
      CPU Multiplier                                    12.0x
      CPU FSB                                           250.0 MHz  (original: 200 MHz, overclock: 25%)
      Memory Bus                                        250.0 MHz
      DRAM:FSB Ratio                                    CPU/12
   Chipset Properties:
      Motherboard Chipset                               nVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16, AMD Hammer
      Memory Timings                                    3-3-2-8  (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
      Command Rate (CR)                                 1T
    SPD Memory Modules:
      DIMM1: Muskin 991492                              1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM  (3.0-3-2-8 @ 200 MHz)
      DIMM2: Muskin 991492                              1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM  (3.0-3-2-8 @ 200 MHz)
    BIOS Properties:
      System BIOS Date                                  03/21/06
      Video BIOS Date                                   06/24/04
      DMI BIOS Version                                  080012
    Graphics Processor Properties:
      Video Adapter                                     nVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX
      GPU Code Name                                     G70GTX  (PCI Express x16 10DE / 0091, Rev A1)
      GPU Clock (Geometric Domain)                      275 MHz
      GPU Clock (Shader Domain)                         275 MHz
      GPU Clock (ROP Domain)                            275 MHz
Idle:
Sensor Properties:
      Sensor Type                                       Winbond W83627EHF/EHG  (ISA A10h)
      GPU Sensor Type                                   Analog Devices ADT7473  (NV-I2C 2Eh)
      Chassis Intrusion Detected                        Yes
    Temperatures:
      Motherboard                                       35 °C  (95 °F)
      CPU                                               32 °C  (90 °F)
      Aux                                               39 °C  (102 °F)
      GPU1: GPU                                         35 °C  (95 °F)
      GPU1: GPU Diode                                   43 °C  (109 °F)
      GPU1: GPU Ambient                                 37 °C  (99 °F)
      GPU2: GPU                                         30 °C  (86 °F)
      GPU2: GPU Diode                                   42 °C  (108 °F)
      GPU2: GPU Ambient                                 34 °C  (93 °F)
    Cooling Fans:
      CPU                                               6027 RPM
    Voltage Values:
      CPU Core                                          1.41 V
      Aux                                               2.98 V
      +3.3 V                                            3.30 V
      +5 V                                              5.54 V
      +12 V                                             12.46 V
      +5 V Standby                                      4.92 V
      VBAT Battery                                      3.01 V
      GPU1: GPU Vcc                                     3.26 V
      GPU2: GPU Vcc                                     3.26 V
Load (Prime95):
Sensor Properties:
      Sensor Type                                       Winbond W83627EHF/EHG  (ISA A10h)
      GPU Sensor Type                                   Analog Devices ADT7473  (NV-I2C 2Eh)
      Chassis Intrusion Detected                        Yes
    Temperatures:
      Motherboard                                       37 °C  (99 °F)
      CPU                                               49 °C  (120 °F)
      Aux                                               40 °C  (104 °F)
      GPU1: GPU                                         35 °C  (95 °F)
      GPU1: GPU Diode                                   43 °C  (109 °F)
      GPU1: GPU Ambient                                 38 °C  (100 °F)
      GPU2: GPU                                         30 °C  (86 °F)
      GPU2: GPU Diode                                   42 °C  (108 °F)
      GPU2: GPU Ambient                                 34 °C  (93 °F)
    Cooling Fans:
      CPU                                               5819 RPM
    Voltage Values:
      CPU Core                                          1.45 V
      Aux                                               2.98 V
      +3.3 V                                            3.28 V
      +5 V                                              5.54 V
      +12 V                                             12.46 V
      +5 V Standby                                      4.92 V
      VBAT Battery                                      2.98 V
      GPU1: GPU Vcc                                     3.25 V
      GPU2: GPU Vcc                                     3.26 V
I'm getting the same anomaly with the value for CPU Fan. That's the chipset fan speed for sure. It matches the BIOS reading and it's the only fan I have plugged into the mainboard. Everything else is running from a rheobus.
The NB temp on this mainboard is really exceptional. The NB on my old DFI SLI-DR routinely ran in the 48-49C range. I guess the MSI cooling solution is pretty efficient. One other thing though, I'm using Arctic Silencers on both of my graphics boards. The intake fan on the "slave" board is directly above one of the chipsets. That may be drawing an additional bit of heat off of the chipset.
As far as the voltage values, I'm getting the same skew with a different mainboard, BIOS and PSU  so this looks like an Everest issue.
IMHO, if your machine isn't doing flakey things that can't be attributed to anything else then your PSU is adequate. If you do go with the Diamond Plus and SLI, I would suggest upgrading the PSU. It seems that the 1 kilowatt PSU's are all the rage now but in reality 700W is more than adequate. Adjustable potentiometers must be nice if you know what you're doing with them. I don't so I don't bother looking for that feature.
Hope this is helpful or at least of some interest.