Diamond plus low fsb ???

I was thinking of buying a diamond plus, what i read though is that the fsb is maxed out at 300, anything over and it becomes unstable, is this correct, if it is then the board is not a good overclocker and i will have to look elseware.
I have an OPTY 144 9x multiplyer, 9 x 300 = 2.7    Hopefully i am wrong, either i missread or what I read is wrong.

I am talking about the ability of the board to overclock taking memory and cpu into consideration.
I.E. best overclocking ram, best overclocking cpu, test the boards FSB and stability.
http://club.fnatic.com/news/955
Quote "The MSI K8N Diamond Plus makes 300 MHz FSB achievable, but no step further.
Automatic dynamic OC is possible by using MSIs CoreCell-Chip and the CoreCenter for Windows. With OC up to 300 MHz it´s behind the ASUS A8N32 SLI or DFI's LANParty UT NF4 SLI which can handle more than 300 MHz internal clock"
I read also someware else that the max stable was 300 fsb
then i came across one review that said they managed 360 FSB.
I would like to know before i buy though what the max is because 300 would be low but 360 would be good
The DFI EXPERT can manage 430 FSB

Similar Messages

  • Default FSB on K8N Diamond Plus and system restart

    Hello,
    I'm just wondering why the default FSB value on the mobo is 200.9 mhz and not 200.0? I find that this is odd so I changed it to 200.0 since the first day I use the mobo. Before this I used a Gigabyte K8N Pro-SLi but since the upgrade to Diamond Plus my system always restart just like pressing the reset button. I did a fresh install of Win XP for the upgrade. I never had this problem my old mobo. I've ran memtest and prime95 but found out no error. Now I'm changing back the FSB value to 200.9 mhz to see if that is the problem.
    My spec:
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
    Enermax Liberty 500W PSU
    2X Gainward Geforce 6800Ultra in SLi
    2gb OCZ Platinum EL dual channel kit DDR400
    HDA Xplosion sound card
    WD 250gb Sata II 16mb HDD (WD2500KS)
    Samsung SH-S162L DVD-RW drive

    Quote from: BOSSKILLER on 09-August-06, 16:48:44
    "the upgrade to Diamond Plus my system always restart just like pressing the reset button. "
    give more info how, where, what was last action before happend?
    It happens when I ran 3Dmark 06 at the beginning of the deep freeze test. Sometimes I experienced BSOD during boot just before the welcome screen comes. I don't think this is a power issue since my PSU is pumping 22A at both of the 12V rails. The change to 200mhz didn't solve this and I think the problem is from nVidia drivers. I've tried the chipset driver version 6.82 with graphic driver version 91.31, better but still having restarts. I tried chipset 6.86 with graphic 91.31 and that makes thing even worse. I also tried chipset 6.86 with graphic 84.21, the result is the same as chipset 6.82 with graphic 91.31
    Edit: The restarts occur at times(not everytime) when the screen resolution change. I use a lower resolution (800x600) for Windows to make the text easier to read.

  • Diamond Plus Users - Who doesn't have low microphone volume?

    I apologize if I might be beating this topic to death.  But, I don't know if I should RMA my board or not and would like some feedback from other users.  I've been told the problem of low microphone volume is a software issue... but I'm quite certain I've installed my drivers correctly.  If this is a problem with the board in need of a new driver fix, I can accept that.  However, if the problem of the low microphone is isolated to a number of defective boards, that is a different story.
    That being said, if any users of the MSI K8N Diamond Plus motherboard have NORMAL microphone volume (using the onboard SoundBlaster chip), please respond here with the operating system used, the Soundblaster driver version (and where it was downloaded), and microphone model & type.  Thanks

    Quote from: Salahuddin on 06-September-06, 08:54:01
    Well I took my system to get it checked out from the place I bought my motherboard from.  He tried everything and agreed there was something wrong with the microphone volume.  As a result, he has agreed to replace the motherboard, but it appears as if the Diamond Plus boards are in short supply.  His supplier has none in stock with no ETA.
    If he doesn't get one in soon, anyone know of any other good Socket 939 Dual x16 SLI boards available?  I'd prefer to stay with MSI, but don't want to wait a month for a new board.  I know ASUS has the A8N32-SLI Deluxe... but the board layout doesn't look to good (the primary reason I bought the MSI instead).  I've also seen some good reviews on the Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI.  Any suggestions?  Thanks.
    I'm using the Gigabyte Mobo but unless you wan to go with DFI or just wait for the replacement. Gd luck

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

    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.

    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.

  • Diamond Plus Temps........

    Hey Guys
    Is there anyone who can compare Core Centre temps against actual temps i.e. probes??
    Got my Opty 170 @ 280x10 with no stability issues, but the temps are all over the place and @ 36-38'c idle, I feel they are a touch on the high side especially as I am only loading 1.4 +0.05v through my CPU!!
    Any helpers?????
    Thanks in advance

    JonnyManc,
    Just remembered that I had a Type “K” thermocouple when last calibrated it was +/- 0.4 C.  It is left over from the days when I worked for a living.
    Placed the TC bead between the fins on the C51D (NB) radiator but not ones that have cooling airflow from the fan, inserted it until it was touching the base block of the radiator.  That is on the Heat Pipe end of the Radiator, third slot in from the end right up next to the Heat Pipe.
    Readings I got were just under a degree C less than the reading displayed by both Core Center and nTune.  That is what I would expect, with the sensor their using located on the chip itself.
    Know you have all ready made you decision to by another case, but this should backup you decision.
    I maybe a little biased, but I would recommend the Cooler Master CM Stack 810, but it is a big sucker, but if you have room for it, the case for the Diamond Plus.  The system is in my signature and I am using nothing but low speed fan all of which are no more than 20lb.  The only fan you hear individually and that is only, when it cycles is the fan on the Radeon X1800XL.  I currently am running FSB of 225 MHz on AMD 64 X2 at 2.7 GHz with memory running at DDR450.  That is with system at Idle, CPU is 29-30C and System is 34C.  With low speed, low noise fans it takes 11 fans including PS, CPU and C51D (NB).  It take many modes, you spend most of you first day just removing what you not going to use form the case.
    Good luck with your new case, what ever you buy and keep us posted on its progress.
    If you should buy the CM Stacker 810 let me know and maybe I can save some money by not making the mistakes I made an had to redo.
    Roger
    When submitting a problem, include a complete list of your system components; include part numbers, all Power Supply Voltages, and their output ratings.  It is almost impossible to estimate what your problem is without knowing something about it.

  • Diamond Plus overclocking problems - memory related?

    Here's my setup:
    K8N Diamond Plus (stock BIOS)
    x4 512MB Corsair TWINX1024-3200XL PC3200 Memory (2-2-2-5 factory settings)
    AMD San Diego 3700+
    Seasonic S12 500
    If I run two of the sticks in dual channel (1 gig of memory), I get DDR 400 but any attempt to change FSB results in Windows being unable to start.  I've tried x10 and x11 mults. Being able to overclock with only one gig of memory is my main priority since I can use my extra gig for another machine. That and I want to run at true DDR400.
    Here's where I'm really confused: If I run all four sticks (2 gigs), my memory runs in DDR333 and I can get the following overclock:
    CPU @ 2.64 ghz (up from 2.2): x11 Mult, 240 HTT, +.05 additional voltage. Temperatures all seem fine, but I know people have been able to get this CPU up to 2.8 ghz. Any higher than what I have, and I can't post or Windows will crash.
    Prime95 ran once overnight w/out error. Will try again tonight.
    My memory is set for 1:1 and it shows up as DDR400 in the BIOS, but detects as DDR333 at post (why?). Also, CPU-Z shows my memory frequency as only 188.6 MHZ (too low?) and FSB:DRAM as CPU/14 (also too low?). Command rate is 2T and the volts have been set to Corsair's spec of 1.75.
    This is my first overclock so I'm sure I've screwed up somewhere. For example, in the Hyper Transport settings, I set all three of the possible settings to 1000mhz from 400mhz. Is this wrong?
    Thanks for any help you guys can give me. Just to reemphasize- I'd like to overclock with only 1 gig of my memory in the system, or have higher clock and memory speeds using two gigs.

    you will get the DDR333 when using 4 sticks because of the memory controller limitations on the CPU. there is nothing you or MSI can do about it, it's the CPU's fault. however, san diegos might be working at DDR400 with 4 sticks if you set the command rate to 2T. it doesn't always work, but sometimes it does.
    as for the hyper transport, do the following. divide the number that you set in BIOS for all 3 to 200 (for example if you set it to 400 then 400/200 =2). that gives you the HT multiplier. now, multiply that by the FSB that you are using, so at 240, you will have 240x2=480. you always have to keep the resulting value between 600 and 1000.
    hope it's clear. you can read some more on the OC-ing in the stickies of this section.

  • Best 2 gb kit of memory for a K8N Diamond Plus ?

    I have the Diamond plus mainboard on its way, should be here Monday.  I just received Wednesday a 180 opteron and a 2 gb kit of Corsair XMS 3500LL pro.  I installed these in an Asus A8N SLI deluxe and have spent the last day trying to unsuccessfully install windows, only to find out one stick of the XMS is shot terribly, 7,776 errors in the first 10 minutes of Memtest86.
    So needless to say these sticks are going back.  I have never in my years of building computers received memory in this bad of condition before,  and although an isolated case it could very well be I have a very bad taste in my mouth considering the 300$ price of these.
    I would welcome recommendations on 2 gb kits that would be suitable for this board and processor, preferably low latencey,  doesn't have to be more than PC3200-3500 since I am not an extreme overclocker,  tighter timings on a lower FSB are more important to me since I have a larger processor. G-Skill, Patriot, Mushkin? what works best for this board/bios?
    thanks!

    Grouse - I think you can increase your voltage to ram by moving the  jumper pins JV1 on the motherboard 1 - 2 to 2 - 3 which gives 3.1 volts and up. But by moving that jumper voids the warrenty of the motherboard. Well that's what the sticker on it says :(
    Jumper is JV1 on the motherboard
    Select DDR Power Jumper: JV1
    The DDR Power Jumper is used to boost the DDR power. The BIOS will auto
    detect the mode you configure by hardware and provide the properly selection for
    DDR Voltage field. The hardware jumper setting and the software BIOS selection
    have to complement each other.
    JV1 - Pins
    1   |-  3|
    -   |-  -|
    16 |- 18|
    ^
    Boost Mode
    (3.3V~4.1V for you
    to select in BIOS)
    |1   -|  3
    |-   -| -
    |16 -| 18
    ^
    Normal Mode
    (2.6V~3.2V for you
    to select in BIOS)
    (sorry about that, but you get the idea)
    MSI Reminds You...
    We are not responsible for any damage from changing the default value of
    DDR voltage.

  • K8N DIamond Plus- 4 sticks of memory problem

    I have a new Opteron 180 with a K8N Diamond plus mb. I am thinking about getting another 2g of memory to run with my current 2g of 3200 memory to speed up Vista even more.  I thought the new chips could run 4 sticks of memory at 400 with a command rate of 2t.  I wanted to try to see if it would work so I pulled two 512 pc3200 sticks from my wifes computer and installed it. At boot up it clocked the memory to 333 (which I expected it to actually) and I got into the bios and set it to 400 with 2t command rate and everything else at default settings.  All the memory is Kingston value ram.  The computer randomly booted and I had lockups at 400, but at 333 it ran fine, but I still couldn't run the memory at 1t with 333.  I am using bios 1.33 as the other bios's always set the HT bus wrong for me. Is this just a function of the motherboard or is the memory not compatable with each other? I thought the motherboard is irrevelant since the memory controller is on the cpu?
    Thanks for your help,
    Scott

    The memorycontroller IS inside the CPU.
    And some are lucky to get it stable booting at DDR400 with 4 sticks, some get crashes.
    However, most have drop-backs to DDR333.
    It's a CPU limitation when using unbuffered memory.
    Buffered memory should be able to do it, however, I'm not quite sure as this is an S939 type CPU.
    You could try something if you know somebody that has buffered memory.
    Sometimes it helps if you lower the other timings.

  • Bios translation needed for my new diamond plus

    i just got my new diamond plus over the weekend and i loke the board except that im a bit confused about the bios.     my last mobo spelled everything out i.e htt 1x 2x 3x...  ddr 266,333,400.   but the diamond has everything in mhz and 1/2, 2/1 and so on. also i cant change some things it says i should be able to change, like the cpu and ddr voltages. i HAD MY VENICE 3200 RUNNING @ 2.5 on my gigabyte k8nxp-sli but cant get it past 2.2 on the diamond, prob because i have no idea what im doing on this board.
    also can anyone tell me y there is a 1.9 bios as well as a 3.0a and a 3.09 ? and which one is best ?

    Quote
    like the cpu and ddr voltages.
    Use the + - keys (the ones on the numeric kb side) or PageUp/Pagedown to change values .
    Enter to select an item , Esc to go back .
    Dram/FSB under "Cell Menu" - "AMD Overclocking Configuration" is
    1/1 , means 200mhz index/divider
    5/6 , means 166mhz index /divider
    2/3 , means 133mhz index/divider
    1/2 , means 100mhz index/divider
    HTT under "Cell Menu" - "Hyper Transport Configuration"
    LDT (K8) to C51D (NB) Freq. : Manual(disabled) -> Enables you to manually set all HT related data .

  • Diamond Plus SLI Mysteries starting to expose themselves.... LONG

    Arg...  to many shots in the dark with folks' SLI problems and the new SLI X16 getup .  Probably not the power supply, nor the video cards, not the memory, nor anything else obvious.  It may be those things, but after weeks of experimentation, there seem to be lots of other things to look at as well.   I've discovered several things about this mobo that didnt appear obvious in the beginning.
    The obscure BIOS settings seem to matter in SLI mode, not in single card mode.  I think I'm starting to understand why.  Also, most of the drivers that are out there from Nvidia simply suck, and the right combination has to occur for the whole thing to remain stable, especially in SLI mode. WHQL has NOTHING to do with it, which I discovered after much pain and deinstalls and reinstalls.
    The board comes set up from MSI in a conservative state, not prepared for SLI, or at least balanced SLI performance.   This can be witnessed in the Hypertransport settings in the Cell menu, where all NON CPU specific HT settings are 8x8 and 800Mhz.  This is clearly a setting for ONE video card, as it will create an I/O imbalance between the regular SLI ASIC (now the new southbridge) and the new SPP (system platform processor in Nvidia speak) ASIC.  Each of these 2 ASICs provide 20 lanes of PCI express each.   Each Vid card needs a complete 16 unencumbered lanes from its respective bridge chip to function properly in SLI mode, cuz if not, then one will simply not keep up and cause corruption.
    I set this up and repeated the experiments several times and found the following.   It appears that for SLI to function properly, the HT settings between the Northbridge, Southbridge and CPU must be set to 1000Mhz and 16 16, in order to balance I/O thoughout the system.  This makes sense as it could starve 1 of the Vid Cards for data, the one on the Southbridge most likely (methinks that this is true because of how the new Northbrige appears to be directly wired to the CPU, while the southbridge is now servicing all other I/O).  This is so because the Northbridge has 1 set of 16 lane PCIE and the Southbrige has the other set of 16 lanes.  This is how the SLI X16 is enabled to provide 16 full lanes to each Vid card. 
    If 1 of the PCIE slots is pumping I/O at a full 1Ghz, 16 bits in each direction, while the other is choked at 800Mhz and 8 bits in each direction, then there will be starvation on the second slot and the card that is in it when it comes to rendering large scale images at high speed.  Makes total sense.  In the networking world, its referred to as under and oversubscription. 
    However, in this case, it is unobvious cuz the MSI docs (asus, abit, indeed Nvidia too) all suck and don't tell us what to do or how to think about this stuff. 
    As far as drivers go, that is a mystery train wreck as well. 
    If you are basically familiar with NVidia drivers, then you know that they create all the building blocks, and then their OEMs take those building blocks and package them together to suit their needs.   The binaries of the actual drivers don't change, but definitions, information and config files change, as does packaging.  Thats why regardless of who provides the complete driver set, the Nvidia launcher starts at some point during the installation.   
    What Nvidia releases on their website will most likely work with all Nvidia products, but not necessarily well.   The X16 mobo chipset has its own release, and I've noticed that some of the folks here have used the regular SLI driver set.  That may not work that well, or at all, because while the southbridge is identical to the regular SLI single chip, the northbridge is brand new, and somewhere in the driver, messaging between these two has to be arbitrated.   So that's the first issue.   
    MSI ships mobo driver version 6.82 with the Diamond Plus, but Nvidia is currently presenting 6.85 on their website.  What's the difference?  It seems to be just the ethernet driver if you compare the packing lists (the SMBus looks different too, but I think its a typo as MSI's appears "newer" than the Nvidia one, which is simply not likely as its a silicon device driver that would come from Nvidia )
    So for all intents and purposes, the two releases are the same if you do not use the Nvidia Gigabit Ethernet adapter (which I do not, I only use the Marvell, much faster and lower CPU consumption).  If you use the Nvidia GigE adapter, then there may be some kind of an upgrade here. 
    Now on to the Graphics drivers.   Nvidia lists 81.98 as their current WHQL version.  This is a BFD version    WHQL means nothing really, as its a self certification in parts, and Microsoft cannot test all the components anyway, as there are zillions of driver types for windows.    There are currently about 30, (yes, you read that right THIRTY) known and CURRENT graphics driver sets for NVidia GeForce graphics ASICs (chips that is).  Ever hear of 82.65, 83.62, 83.40....  how about the hackers current fave 82.12.   Yup there are plenty of em.  Mostly OEM releases for laptops and stuff, but many of them have actual bug fixes in them, albeit you have to read through copius release notes to figure that stuff out.  (wow reading, what a concept)
    I had bad luck with 81.98, but 82.12 worked better, although SLI performance became half of 1 vid card (not good, suppose to go the other way    )   But 83.90 is working well so far, even though its a laptop release apparently.   
    So the short of it is, that we are on our own with this SLI scheme as we were before.  There is precious little information about X16, and most of the original SLI info is either dated, or marketing speak with little or no substance to the zillions of frustrated gamers who cannot get their stuff to work well. 
    Hope this info is somewhat helpful, as I pieced it together from lots of disjointed data here and there, including technical briefs, press clippings, various articles and some websites.   I'd be interested if folks either agree or disagree with some of these assertions, or if you've found similar or contradicting info, as I want my system to be stable so I CAN KILL STROGG and the like 

    Quote from: Bas on 19-March-06, 17:56:24
    Many have tried, most failed.....just because those dual-12V-PSU's stink....
    Try the OCZ Powermax 520W, yes that one, it has all the connectors en a nice SINGLE 33A @ 12V....that one will do the trick just fine.
    Read this stuff, it's very related http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29940
    It's not the board, not the videocards, not the drivers....it's your PSU!, those multiple 12V rail ones plain don't have what it takes to handle such systems, that's the problem.
    Minimum PSU Requirements from the evga website:
    1.  7900gtx single - 450w psu with 22a on the 12v rail
    2.  7900gtx sli - 550w psu with 34a on the 12v rail
    3.  7900gt single - 400w psu with 20a on the 12v rail
    4.  7900gt sli - 500w psu with 28a on the 12v rail
    5.  7600gt single - 350w psu with 18a on the 12v rail
    6.  7600gt sli - 450w psu with 24a on the 12v rail
    Plus, the new nvidia cards require less power than the previous 7800 and 6800 series video cards.  Also if you decide on an ATI card(s), they require more power than these 7900 series video cards too.  There you have it in black and white directly from a video card manufacturer.
    http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=512-P2-N570-AX
    Regarding PSUs - I have now the OCZ 520w and Tagan 480w - both are solid and heavy and the shielding looks to be made of the same material:
    OCZ PS 520w - 33a on the 12v rail, adjustable 3.3v, 5v, 12v rails, blue LED bling factor - 2 shielded 6-pin vga power cables and 2 4-pin shielded hdd cables, 1 sata power cable (2 connectors) - 23dba
    Tagan 480w U22 - 30a on the 12v rail, option to split into 2 12v rails, no LED bling - 2 shielded 6-pin vga power cables and 2 sata power cable (4 connectors) - 22dba
    Tagan 580w U22 - 36a on the 12v rail, same features at 480w U22 - 24dba
    My recommendation, if you need the bling and power, the ocz ps 520w has it.  If you need more power, the tagan 580w U22 has it, if you need the least expensive psu the tagan 480w U22 is the way to go ($91) except it is not recommended for a SLI 7900gtx setup.

  • Hyper Transport Question on Diamond Plus

    I just want a conformation about the Hyper Transport Configuration on my K8N Diamond Plus. I have my Opteron 170 running at 2.75ghz (FSB 305 x 9x CPU multiplier). In the Hyper Transport Configuration I have everything set to 600Mhz (LDT to C51D, C51D to Nvidia Frequency, & CK804 to Nvidia Frequency). Is this correct? If not, what needs to be set to what?

    keep 600mhz like stick said,(915) all others (LDT to C51D, C51D to Nvidia Frequency, & CK804 to Nvidia Frequency) setup to the max(16x16) 1000Mhz, works fine here.

  • New K8N diamond plus questions please help.

    Hi all well i am new to this msi site and am thinking of buying the new MSI K8N Diamond plus motherboard, the problem i have is that i have been a fan of ASUS and have had there last 3 SLI motherboards of which i have not been happy with.
    Well i am totaly into overclocking and have an Opteron 165, balistix ram, 600w Enermax PSU, 2x Gainward 6800gt's,
    what i am looking for is a motherboard that does what i says it will do, yes the asus a8n32 was a great motherboard but has a limitation on the voltage if useing the new E4-E6 stepping cores of which would only give a max voltage of 1.58v of which the asus spec said 1.76v.
    What i am asking you chaps is is this a great motherboard, can you play with all the coms settings without any limitation, or do you think that the DFI motherboard is better.
    If you can let me have some info on this motherboard that would be great, as i can not seam to get any reply from MSI about some information.
    what i am looking for is what is the max CPU voltage and is there any limitation on it for some chips.
    what is the max voltage for the ram
    what is the max voltage for the chipset.
    any help on this would be great.

    Quote from: Stick on 23-February-06, 17:46:08
    there is no mobo that alows 4V for the memory. i think the DFI goes up to 3.4V and you can use a DDR Booster to get to 3.8V. the only mobo that is capable to pass 3.3V is the DFI since you can have the choice to select from which rail the memory will be powered (the 3.3V or the 5V). you don't have that option in any other mobo.
    Hi thanks for the mail but i have just copied this from msi about this motherboard, see below.
    1.Adjust CPU FSB Frequency:
    You can adjust the desired "CPU FSB Frequency" by using "+,-" key. The default value of AMD Athlon™64 is 200MHz. The maximum value is 450MHz.
    2.AMD Overclocking Configuration (CPU Ratio):
    If the CPU is Athlon™64 FX series, the ratio range is from 4 to 25.
    If the CPU is Athlon™64 series, the ratio should be set according to its model number. For example, the ratio range of 3000+ is from 4 to 9, and the 3200+ is from 4 to 10.
    3.Adjust Extra CPU Voltage:
    This is for adjusting CPU voltage while overclocking. Following the CPU default value, the maximum is 1.8V. The interval is 0.05V.
    4.Adjust DDR Memory frequency:
    The Memclock is the major part which has four different frequencies to match many kinds overclocking memory modules. The memory frequency settings includes DRAM/FSB=1/2, 2/3, 5/6, 1/1.
    5.DDR Memory Voltage:
    This is for adjusting memory voltage while overclocking. K8N Diamond Plus has a special design.We use jump to distinguish two level arrangement of voltage. In this way it can get maximum 4.1V for overclocking modules. As you can see the below pictures, the left one is the standard mode when jump hat is located at the top postion. The default value is 2.5V, and the maximum is 3.2V. The interval is 0.05V. As the right one, it is overclocking mode when jump hat is located at the under postion. The default value is 3.2V, and the maximum is 4.1V. The interval is 0.05V.
    What i am asking is there any limitation on the cpu voltage like the asus a8n32 as this had a max voltage of 1.58v due to it having a limit put on it by recomendation of amd.

  • K8N Diamond Plus... Lots o Crashes, and other wierdness

    Well, gotta new build here.   Ran fast and hard from an Abit A8N SLI that was never stable, after 5 months of tinkering.
    Moved to the Diamond Plus SLI X16.  Never had an MSI before, but had lots of the others (Asus, Epox, Abit, ECS, PCChips, etc)  and am so far pretty happy.
    However, there are some strange things happening as I iron out the bugs.
    No BSODs fortunately yet to speak of, but plenty o crashes when exiting FarCry, Quake etc.   Never during the game, but when I exit it blows up.   Also, lots of graphics distortion, which I never had before.
    The thing'll run Prime stable for hours with stock settings for everything plus OCZ mem settings specifically for this mobo (1T).
    But the crashing while exiting is wierd.   The windows dump file has no reference to drivers or anything else, niether does the event viewer, so I have no leads, especially as I'm not that experienced in this Mobo yet.
    I have the latest Nforce and Geforce drivers.   The thing is pretty stable, but gets a little wierded out in games.
    Ideas greatly welcomed, no matter how hairbrained (but please don't tell me its my power supply  )

    Nanohead,
    First off this is not criticism, but the Diamond Plus uses AMD Hyper Transport Technology more than any MB I seen, there may be high end severs that use it more, but I am not into that.
    If you are going to be OC, the Diamond Plus you are going to have known something, a lot, about HT or you MB is going to be unstable.
    The lay out of the BIOS HT parameters may not be prefect, but it is not bad for a companies first draft and that is what its.
    With HT the timing and bandwidth between Processor, Northbridge and Southbridge is all variable in word length and clock speed.  If you do not have them all set correctly you reduce system stably and throughput.
    Because to be the maximum performance out of the system yon not only have to tune FSB, Memory Clock and all memory parameters.  You are now PCI Express Bus parameters and HT parameters tune.  You will notice I did not say adjust, they now need to be tuned, because they all have to be running just the right data rate or you will get corrupted data.  Anyone of the subsystems now running to slow or to fast can crash the system.
    And right now the  Diamond Plus is stall a mix of old and new Technologies and everything has to be tuned manually or just leave it a factory default values, which will not be the fastest the system will run, but it hopefully will be the most stable.
    The days of just cranking up the clocks to OC your compute are over.
    Roger
    When submitting a problem, include a complete list of your system components; include part numbers, all Power Supply Voltages, and their output ratings.  It is almost impossible to estimate what your problem is without knowing something about it. 

  • K8N Diamond Plus chip temperatures

    I do not have air conditioning, and with the arrival of summer I was having an apparent overheating problem, so I investigated further.  MSI CoreCenter showed CPU and Sytsem were fine (low 50's under load).  But when I started up the nVidia Monitor, my nForce chip was running high 70's.
    The temperatures between CoreCenter and nVidia Monitor match well, and the nForce chip was darned hot to the touch, so I assume all the readings are reasonable.
    The heat pipe appears to be working (the pipe is hot all the way up to the Zalman cooler, and there is a pretty good relationship between the System temp and the nForce temp - when nForce goes up the System temp also goes up).  There is about a 28C degree difference between the System temp and the nForce temp.  The little system fan on the MSI Zalman cooler modulates up and down to hold the 50C setpoint.
    In summary, my system IDLES in an 30C room with:
    CPU: 37C
    System:  46C
    nForce:  75C
    That nForce temperature seems way too high to me.  Anyone else notice this?  Does it sound like something is wrong, or is this just the nature of the heat pipe solution on the nForce chip?
    Thanks,
    DJG
    MSI Diamond Plus SLI x16 mobo  (MS-7220?)
    AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 4200+  running at 2.5GHz w/ Zalman CNPS9500 cooler
    4 x Kingston HyperX 512MB ram (2 Gig total)
    Dual eVGA 7800GT video cards in SLI mode w/ Zalman VF-700 CU coolers
    Antec 550W True Power 2.0 power supply
    Creative x-Fi sound card
    Cooler Master Centurion CAC-T05 case with upgraded fans
    Envision Professional Series 20" LCD @ 1600x1200

    I believe there is some confusion here caused by the SLIx16 capabilities of the Diamond Plus board.  Let me try to give a quick, non-technical explanation:
    Back in the old days, there were three major chips on a board - the CPU, the Northbridge and the Southbridge.  The Northbridge handled memory addressing and the AGP bus.  The Southbridge handled most other communications (drives, serial port, etc...).  Then AMD put their memory controller on the CPU chip, and the need for the Northbridge went down.
    With the later nForce chips, nVidia started producing a one-chip solution.  The Northbridge and the Southbridge were combined together in what became the nForce4 chip.  Now there were only two major chips on the motherboard - the CPU and the combined Northbridge/Southbridge nForce chip.  This was a a very popular solution, and so you saw a lot of motherboards and software and BIOS implementations that would only show two temperatures, the CPU and the SYSTEM.  That's also why you only see two cooling solutions on a lot of modern motherboards, something for the CPU and that little high speed fan mounted right over another chip - the nForce.
    With the release of SLIx16 nVidia had to go back to a two chipset solution.  They probably ran out of pins or something, but they went back to the concept of a Northbridge (which handles one video card) and a Southbridge which handles the second video card and other communications).  This is what the MSI Diamond Plus motherboard implements.  So now there are three major chips on the motherboard again - the CPU, the Southbridge and the Nortbridge.  But, since lots of software and BIOS implmentations altready existed that only showed only two temperatures they just stole the software and the naming.  So the Southbridge chip became labeled as the System chip (and of course the CPU was still labeled as the CPU).  But they have not added the Northbridge temperature to tools like CoreCenter (CoreCell?) or the BIOS.
    That's also why on the Diamond Plus board you've got three heatsinks - one for the CPU, a heatsink with a heatpipe (the low profile chip underneath the video cards, with that stamped silver MSI label on it) for the Northbirdge nForce chip, and a Zalman copper heat exchanger over the System (Southbridge) chip.
    The nVidia nTune version 5+ tool will reveal all three temperatures - the CPU, the System (Southbridge) and the nForce (Northbridge).
    This thread is about the temperature of the Northbridge chip.  Again, the standard tools of CoreCenter and BIOS do NOT show its temperature.  But the nTune 5+ version does.  On my board, both the CPU and the System (Southbridge) chips are running perfectly acceptable temperatures.  But the nForce (Northbridge) chip is idling in the 70C+ range.
    I'm trying to see if other people's Diamond Plus board are also seeing those temperatures.  If you do not have a Diamond Plus board, this may not make much sense.  But it is something I am worried about.
    Thanks, and hope this helps clear up any confusion.
    DJG

  • K8N Diamond Plus BIOS problems

    Hi , just replaced my lanpartyUT sli-dr expert with K8N Diamond Plus mobo and having problems allready :D
    Just finished overclocking and now running at (250 x 11 x 800mhz x 1.300v+0.2v x dram/fsb 1/1 x 2.80v)
    Memory timings --> (3,7,14,3,2,8,2,2,1,3,200mhz(15.6us),1,16x,7x,7ns,5ns,0clk,DiCC:enabled,1T,8beats,reduce 00%... ...)
    The problem is "BOOT" related... System is PRIME95 stable , but still when trying to "restart windows" or "reset" the system wont BOOT !!?
    When i shutdown and then power up, the system boots perfectly !? What can cause this kind of behaviour :/
    I have OC:d quite many systems , but this is new even to me

    The windows core program shows htt link 1000mhz exact. Memory settings are all "manually" adjusted. Cpu vcore is 1.300 & extra voltage 0.2v=1.5v.
    All ECC options are disabled.Hdd:s adjusted manually. Should i rise the (NB) voltage , or does that have anything to do with this !? Maybe not at 250fsb only :D Cool & quiet is disabled naturally :/ All fan controls disabled , connected directly to psu. No D.O.T,s or anything automatic overclocking enabled. The (L cache & data cache scrubs) are strange to me, so those are disabled.After flashed bios , enabled boot sector protection. All the mobo power connectors are in use (24pin+8pin+4pin) Could it be that the memory modules should be used on ports 3 & 4 (now on 1 & 2) ??
    The mushkin redline xp4000 memory specs                            Fortron Epsilon 700W Psu specs
                                                                                 Output Voltage Min. load Max. load             Load Reg.        Ripple & Noise
    Frequency:   500MHz                                                         +5V           0.5A       30.0A               +-5%          50mV  P-P
    Latency:   3-3-2-8                                                         +12V1   0.0A       18.0A               +-5%          120mV P-P
    Parity:   Unbuffered                                                     +12V2   0.0A       18.0A               +-5%          120mV P-P
    Voltage:   2.6V-2.9V                                                      +12V3   0.9A       18.0A               +-5%          120mV P-P
    Module:   128MX64                                                        +12V4   0.1A       18.0A               +-5%          120mV P-P
    Chip:   64MX8                                                                    +3.3V   0.8A       36.0A               +-5%          50mV P-P
    Pins:   184                                                                        -12V           0.0A        0.8A               +-10%          120mV P-P
                                                                                         +5Vsb   0.0A        3.0A               +-5%          50mV P-P

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