K8N SLI & PCIE_PW1 connector

Hi,
I have a K8N SLI motherboard, and a GeForce 7900GS video card. A 6-pin PCIE connector from the power supply must be plugged to the card in order to satisfy power requirements. But there is also the PCIE_PW1 molex connector on the motherboard... should I connect this one too?
The manual is pretty confusing, since on page 2-9 it says:
"This connector is designed to connect 12V power supply for add-on PCI Express
graphics card(s). If users fail to connect this connector with an adequate power
supply, the alert LED (LED1) will glow."
"Maker sure that all three connectors are connected to adequate
ATX power supplies to ensure stable operation of the mainboard."
This would indicate that I also have to plug a molex into the PCIE_PW1 connector. However, on page 2-28 it says:
"The onboard PCIE_PW1 VGA power connector (p.2-9) is designed
to connect 12V power supply for add-on PCI Express graphics card
(s). Make sure that you connect an adequate power supply to this
PCIE_PW1 connector (or to the power connection on the graphics
card) to ensure stable operation of the graphics card."
In this case, I would assume that the 6-pin PCIE connector of the power supply is enough. ???
So, do I have to connect both or just the one that goes directly to the graphics card does the job?
I have:
Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice)
MSI K8N SLI
1 GB Kingston DDR 400 RAM
nVidia 7900GS 256MB
2x WD 250GB HD
Thanks for your help!

Quote from: BOSSKILLER on 06-February-07, 08:41:35
yes connect it both.
Yes..agreed with bosskiller suggestion.

Similar Messages

Missing USB connectors on K8N SLI Platinum

I recently ordered the K8N SLI Platinum, but when it arrived the board didn't match up with the picture you can see here:
http://www.msicomputer.co.uk/Products.aspx?product_id=703525&cat_id=77
http://www.msicomputer.co.uk/Images/Products/ProductImages/LargeImage/7100Platinum.jpg
The yellow plastic surrounds that support the JUSB1, JUSB2 and JUSB3 USB connector pins on the motherboard are missing. The connectors I'm talking about are the three smaller yellow blocks you can see lined up in a row. This fault seems to make it far too likely that the pins will snap at some point in the future (lack of support), or that the USB cables may be attached incorrectly (no keying). Has anyone else experienced this problem? Can anyone tell me how best to proceed to resolve this issue?

As mentioned, you'd be hard pressed to plug them in the wrong way, but if they are separate, you'd still have to sort them out anyway.
They look purty 'n all but it is nothing to worry about. It's not like there is a lot of movement in your case.
So you're saying that the connectors are just the standard jumper blocks like the pic below?
This does not surprise me, since I am in the PCB industry so I see things like this happen all the time. Not to make excuses or try to minimize it but sometimes, for one reason or another there could be a shortage of parts based on avalability from the part vendor. Perhaps even there might have been a defect in a shipment of connectors.
It really is nothing to be concerned about, I'd be bummed, but not enough to go through the hassle of returning the board based on that.
As for aicjofs comment about building boards years ago and it being a new thing, is true, I still see the old style on other boards still.

Tagan 480W and MSI K8N SLI-FI

Just about to install a Tagan 2force 480W PSU into an MSI K8N SLI-FI motherboard. This board requires 3 power connections, the 24pin ATX, 4 pin for CPU and there's a 4 pin molex (PCIE_PW1) connection for PCI-Express VGA cards.
From the Tagan website, I thought that this power supply had a blue 4pin connector to use for this PCIE_PW1 connection. It doesn't, it only has the two 6pin PCI-Express connections. Can I use one of the white molex power cables that would normally be used for drives?
This PSU also has a GND/RTN grounding cable. Do I put this under one of the screws fixing the motherboard to the case?
Thanks

Hello !
Yes, you can use the standart connectors for your VGA Cards, but it should be the only device attached to this power string. Do not use it in combination with other devices as power source for your card. I do not know exactly if your PSU has two 12V Power Rails, but if so, try to combine them to one 12V Rail. There should be a switch on your PSU to do that.
You can install the grounding cable to any place in the case, i would not put it under the motherboard, i suggest mounting it to a HDD cage.
Greetz

SATA 3GB/s Setting In WINXP Pro SP2 For K8N SLI/FI

I have been trying to resolve this issue for a while with no sucess. I have contacted numerous sources and no one can solve this so I hope you people can.
I have two SATA II 3GB/s HDDs installed on a MSI K8N SLI/FI w/ver. 1.8 BIOS. I cannot get these drives to run at 3GB/s. The drives are a WD2500KS w/02.01C03 firmware and a Seagate ST3250410AS - Barracuda 7000.10 w/3.AAA firmware. All jumpers are removed from each drive. I have tried diff. SATA cables. You name it, I tried it. This includes loading and not loading SATA driver via F6 at OS install time and using diff nVidia SATA drivers; 6.66, 6.99, etc.
The problem is that when I view the speed setting options for the nVidia SATA controller in WIN XP Pro SP2, I see all three options shown 1.5 GB, 3.0 GB, and PIO 4 with 1.5 GB set as default. I have tried to manually override to 3 GB but upon reboot, it goes back to 1.5 GB? The Seagate drive has NCQ enabled by default.
I looked at the SATA driver WIN XP registry entries for each drive and SataSpeedSupported is 3 and SataSpeedAllowed is 1? Also appears UDMA is being downgraded from 128 to 64? I have tried to override both these only again to have XP reset them back to their original values on reboot. It is as if XP will not allow any option above 1.5GB?
Finally, the drive speeds are great. I am getting avg. sustained speeds of 80 MB/s on the Seagate and around 60 MB/S on the WD per HD Tach. Also appears that the drives are running in ATA133 mode?
Is their a problem with XP SP2B recognizing newer SATA 3GB/s HDDs

As far as peaks and valleys on the HD Tach display, it's fairly smooth. Starts in the low 80s and goes to about 90 for the first 120GB or so and then gradually drops to around 50 at the end of the drive. When I was running with the default MS default PCI IDE drivers, I was getting a few large downward spikes.
Use BIOS defaults is set on by default. Setting it on or off makes no difference in setting or performance.
As far as BIOS setting to 1.5GB that's what I thought initially but on a EPOX nForce board I have that only supported 1.5GB, the 3GB option was never shown as an option. So it appears to me that the BIOS is indeed passing the 3GB setting to XP. It looks to me like XP is downgrading these drives to 1.5GB and for the life of me. I can't figure out why. What I did as a prior experiment was to set the SataSpeedActive to 2 and bumbed up the UDMASupported registry settings to the max. 127. That resulted in the 3GB option being shown as the default. Ran a couple of benchmarks at that setting but results were the same as 1.5GB except that the max. speed bar on the nVidia SATA controller showed 300MB. When I rebooted as I stated previously, the settings went back to 1.5GB in the SATA controller display.
What I am wondering is if there was an earlier ver. of the m/b that only supported 1.5GB? I bought this board a couple of months ago from the MSI online store and it was an open box sale. What is strange is the four SATA board connectors are orange and every pic. I have seem of this m/b on the web shows purple connectors? MSI swears the board I have supports 3GB SATA?
On other point. Everest shows the SATA port transfer speed at 300MB in both it's Windows and ATA device displays?
Also, when I look at the driver properties, it is shown as a PCI device. Is that right? If somehow these drives were running off the PCI bus instead of the CK08-04 chip, that would explain the speed limit factor.

MSI K8N SLI Freezes when using PCIe GFX

Build a new system with K8N SLI motherboard, AMD 64 3200+, Chill Innovation 510W PSU with 20 pin - tried with a 20-24 pin converter - no difference.
My problem is that when i use a PCIe GFX card the system freezes randomly, tried 2 different cards. An Asus X600XT Extreme and Leadtek 6600GT Extreme, but problem is the same. I have an old PCI Radeon 7000 GFX and with this, the computer runs perfect.
Both CPU and motherboard has been changed to a new one - didn't help.
Have installed newest graphic driver and Nforce driver. Tried both 3.0 and 3.1 motherboard bios. Changed HTT to 800, PCIe to 90 (clock generator).
Can it really be my PSU which causes the problem?
HELP!!
TiM :(

Sorry of course, here it's
My system:
Athlon 64 3200+
MSI K8N SLI (tried both bios 3.0 and 3.1)
2*512 Elixir PC3200 3-3-3-8 running at 166 mhz right now.
Chill Innovation 510W (20 pin connector, specs : http://www.chill-innovation.com/cp510A-output.asp)
160 GB Seagate Baracuda
Creative Audigy 2
Pioneer 108 + 109 dvd burner
Leadtek 6600GT Extreme PCIe or Asus X600XT Extreme PCIe
Saphire Radeon 7000 PCI

Difference between K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI and K8N-SLI Platinum

Hey guys.... I have one question and i hope you can help me.
I'm about to get an MSI SLI Platinum motherboard, but it seems that there are two versions, the K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI and the K8N-SLI Platinum.
What is the real difference between them? As i can see in the manual, the Neo4 version has the additional SATA2 and Gbit LAN controller.
Anyone: Does your K8N-SLI board have 4 or 6 SATA2 ports? and 1 or 2 LANs?
At this picture http://www.midtdata.dk/asp/index.asp?varernr=K8N-SLI-PLAT&goto=productinfo&mainfunc=link I can see that there are 6 blue SATA connectors (lower right corner), and 2 LAN ports left to the LPT port... But the description says 4 SATA and 1 LAN, and so says the manual.
To all owners of this mobo: Does this picture look like your K8N-SLI Platinum or does it look like your K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI ?

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?board=36.0
d/l a raid manual and all should be clear

Is the Hiper Type- R 580 modular PSU compatible with MSI K8N SLI Platinum?

Hey guys, i just recently bought a Hiper Type R 580w PSU after my old PSU went bad.
I installed the new PSU a few hours ago and came across a problem, nothing shows up on screen.
When i turn on the computer, the green light is constantly on including my dvd/rw light.
I double checked everything were connected properly and everything seemed to be connected properly.
The cpu's fan are running properly including the graphics cards and the case's fan but i can't pinpoint whats causing the the green activity light to light constantly including the dvd/rw.
I also tried resetting CMOS but it didn't fix the problem.
So now i'm starting to wonder if it's to do with compatibility issues between the Hiper Type R PSU and my K8N SLI Platinum motherboard.
So i just wanted to know if the Hiper Type R 580 PSU is compatible with the K8N SLI platinum?
I would grately appreciate any assistance.

In short no.
The Hiper Type- R 580 does NOT have a -5V supply line
Although the -5V requirement has been removed from some MSI designs, the MSI page for the K8N SLI Platinum http://msicomputer.co.uk/Products.aspx?product_id=703525&cat_id=77 states:
Quote
MSI Reminds You...
• These two connectors (JPWR1 & JPWR2) connect to the ATX power supply and have to work together to ensure stable operation of the mainboard.
• Power supply of 450 watts (and above) is highly recommeded for system stability.
• For ATX 12V power connection, it should be greater than 18A.
• For this model, you must use the power supply that with a -5V pin supply.

So, is a -5V pin supply still required for MSI K8N SLI Platinum or not ???

I am looking to buy a new custom made computer. I want the MSI K8N SLI Platinum motherboard for it. The problem is that the non-USA page claims that it requires the -5V pin supply. I have read many threads on this same topic, but havent found a definitve answer.
Is the -5V rail still needed or not ???
I read somewhere that USA models dont require it, as its not mentioned on the USA site. Well my one will most probably be from Taiwan.....
Is there a check, through which I can confirm whether the motherboard my local hardware store is selling, requires a -5V pin supply or not???
lastly, is that a specific model number, from which onwards, the requirement is no longer needed ????
thanx in advance

I agree with SAB only because mine has been rock solid for quite some time. If I could afford it, I would have purchased SAB's PC Power & Cooling 510 model.
The only other model that seems to have the -5v rail are the OCZ psu. However, I have noticed a lot of users with tagan's and have yet to see someone complain about this psu. Im running the 12v rail as a single rail at 30a...you can experiment with the dual rails and it will adjust to the need of your mobo up to 20a on each rail but then the other rail gets only 10a (at least I think thats how it works).
The tagan 480w u22 was built for the future:
1. has a 20/24 pin main power connector - shielded
2. a 4/8 pin cpu power connector - shielded
3. 2 - 6pin vga connectors - shielded
4. 4 - sata hdd connectors
5. Whisper quiet - you just dont hear it
6. 12v rail at 30a - peak load at startup to 35a for 60 seconds
7. 70% to 73% efficiency rating
Is it enough juice? It seems to me that the manufacturers have realized that pretty soon we will have to purchase $500 psu's just to keep up. So IMO, the manufacturers seem to be getting the point. The new 90nm AMD chips take less power than the 130nm chips...and the new 7800gt video cards take up less power than the 6800gt video cards. In the future, AMD will be coming out with a 65nm chip, which will need even less power.
So I think Im right at the sweet spot with the 12v@30a and its also flexible enough to switch to a dual rail system if I need that feature in the future. Tagan does make a 530w and 580w psu too, but they are not as quiet and you only get 2 more amps on the 12v rail as you go up the line. Just my 2 cents.

K8N SLi Platinum USB keyboard boot issues

Hello, I have a K8N SLi Platinum connected via an Aten US221 USB switch (http://www.aten-usa.com/?product&cat=804&Item=US221) and a Kensington USB hub to a Logitech MX518 mouse and a Logitech multimedia pro keyboard. I use this to connect the same two input devices to two computers and toggle. Previously I used a keyboard to each, with a Dell PS/2 used on the MSI motherboard.
The problem is that the MSI motherboard fails to detect the keyboard every other boot or so. It doesn't matter if I unplug the Aten switch, the USB hub or even connect it directly to the USB root hub. The only thing that solves it to restart the MSI computer over and over until it decides to start working. And I need the keyboard since I have a bootloader (GRUB) that I select which OS to boot with. The switch and keyboard works without a hitch on an older Dell computer which is also connected in tandem.
Since I need both mouse and keyboard on a single wire I cannot use a USB-to-PS/2 connector. I've found several posts here which suggests this motherboard is buggy, if that's the case shouldn't MSI issue some sort of BIOS patch?
Sincerely, Martin "xarragon" Persson

Might work.
I don't like the inconsistency you describe: working sometimes and after a lot of reboots. Would you say your system parts, please. Troubleshooting this in your end must include finding a situation where it never works, and when it always work. For example, if you don't have the mouse connected at all, if you don't use the hub, etc.
Not saying motherboards can't be damaged, specially port end, but the hub thing is a more likely culprit.

K8N SLI Platinum Won't boot...

Hello!
Yesterday i got my computer parts, i slowly assemblied it and read all the instructions.
The parts was:
MSI K8N SLI Platinum
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939 (Boxed)
Asus GeForce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 2xDVI-I
Corsair TWINX Xpert 3200C2 DDR 1024MBC
Tagan 420W PSU(I didn't get any info from the reseller about me needing atleast 450W, but it booted so im happy)
Samsung SpinPoint P120S 250GB SATA2.
It booted and i was happy, i installed all drivers from the cds and installed a game and it ran smooth.
I looked up on nvidia.com and saw that there was a newer driver for my graphics card so i downloaded them and got asked to reboot my computer and so i did.
But it didnt get any further than the re, since it didn't boot up...
All the fans are running in the computer, the memory display started and displayed info.
The screen was dead and by pressing numlock repeatedly on my keyboard i noticed it didn't work either.
I've tried to change spot on both the SATA disc and the Graphics Card. I've tried to reset cmos by holding the button.
And now im out of ideas
Thanks in advance /Hugge

Quote from: SAB on 17-September-05, 19:44:06
If you have your D-Bracket connected, what light pattern is it displaying!? Also, recheck your physical SATA connectors, as they have a tendency to back out.
I had it at first, but when i moved my gfx-card i removed it.. Should i connect it again?
Edit: Ok now i saw what use it has, i will connect it and i'll be back in a few..

K8N SLI Simultaneous Front + Rear Audio

Hi all,
I'm having terrible difficulty in trying to get front + rear audio connectors at the same time on my K8N SLI. What I want is audio always coming out of the back, but also when I want to plugin some headphones to be able to plug them into the front connector without having to get around the back of the case to take cables in + out? Does this mobo only support 1 connector at a time? The case is a coolermaster wavemaster btw.
I have searched and found a few people who had problems with front connectors but didnt find any threads on people who wanted both working at once.
Thanks in advance

Just realised - I don't know if everyone can see that forum, so...
I have the 5.1 system working 100% of the time off 3 stereo plugs on the back of the PC and headphones working off the front audio panel when they're plugged in Perfect!
So media, I guess you now know of a board that does both!
For anyone who ever has a similar problem, the wiring was:
Case Motherboard
1) MIC IN (red) a) AUD_MIC
2) MIC OUT (white) c) AUD_MIC_BIAS
3) AGAND (black) b) AUD_GND
4) EARO-L x2 (black) i) AUD_FPOUT_L
5) EARO-L x2 (black) j) AUD_RET_L
6) EARO-R x2 (green) e) AUD_FPOUT_R
7) EARO-R x2 (green) f) AUD_RET_R
Not connected d) AUD_VCC
Not connected g) HP_ON
Not connected h) KEY
Woohoo!

K8N SLI Platinum PSU issue

Hi there,
My K8N SLI Platinun is due to arrive on Monday, but while doing some reading tonight I encountered some problems/questions:
The SLI Platinum and the Diamond both require an ATX 2.0 compliant PSU. This means that a 24-pin ATX mainpower connector and a 4pin ATX12V connector needs to be connected to it to ensure good system stabillity. But here's the problem that I encountered. The onboard SB-Live chip requires an -5V line wich is on ATX 1.0 (20-pin) PSU's, but NOT on ATX 2.0 compliant PSU's...
so now we have a problem... How is this supposed to be fixed?
And secondly I know that there are a lot of users out there that have an ATX 1.0 compliant PSU and that use a 20-pin to 24-pin converter to connect it to the mainboard. Will this sollution work? or does the 24-pin to 20-pin converter remove the -5V line? Personally I still have a good ATX 1.0 PSU, so if the 20-pin to 24-pin converter option isn't working I'm going to cancel my order.
Anybody?

Using ATX 1.3 PSUs with the Diamond..

Help understanding SATA on K8N SLI Plat

Looking in the manual for my K8N Sli Plat, it mentions support sata 5 and 6 - but how do I actually get those physical ports?
Also, and more importantly, the manual claims speeds of upto 300 mb/s on each port but also says. That the connectors are fully compatible with SATA 1.0 specifications. Does this mean that it will or will not function properly with the following HD; http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?IBM-HDS728 ? Thanks.

Hmm.
Are you talking about the K8N SLI Platnium or K8N SLI? You said K8N SLI Plat
The K8N SLI Platnium has the 2 Silicon Image ports on the very bottom of the board by the last PCI slot and are purple.
The K8N SLI does not have the Silicon Image Controller.
The Diamond and the Platnium are identical you can even use the BIOS's interchangeably. But if you have the Diamond you get to be a cool guy and be in an MSI club...oooo....aaaahhh
Edit: What's weird is after looking more into this the newest Platniums don't have it??? If you look at Rev 1.1 of the SLI Platnium manual it's there but it rev 1.3 it's gone. Of course MSI's website still shows it being on the platnium. So maybe I'm wrong then, Wonkaboy may be right for your board it sounds like. Guess it depends on when and where you buy your board. I looked online and a few retailers have boards with the Silicon Image ports and some do not. Maybe you have the old manual with the newer board???...
I know the 3 SLI Plats I have seen all have them.

MSI K8N SLI and Athon 64 X2 4200+: some problems

Hi from France
I've try to upgrade my computer all day long, and still have no solution about this..
Mainboard: MSI K8N-SLI
Processor: Athlon 64x2 4200+
RAM: CORSAIR 1Go *2 PC 3200
Graphic card: MSI X1950 Pro 256 Mo Radeon
2 HD (WD 250 Go and WD 160 Go) on IDE 133 (supplied by the mainboard)
OK, I've connected everything, everythings seems to be well started, the CPU is recognized as ATHLON 64 X2 4200+, and I try to go into BIOS by pressing "DEL", as it is written on my screen (just beside "F11 to boot sequence)
Nothing happened, it seems that it freezes...
When I start the computer, I hear my HD starting, the graphic card also, everything...
But what's going on ??
I'm a little bit disappointed, it's not the first time I do this kind of upgrade...
I've rebuilt my computer with "old" configuration MSI K7N L Athlon XP 3000+ and MSI 6600 Geforce
Every thing is ok
I don't understand, can somebody helps me
SOrry for my bad technical english...

Quote from: eagle78 on 01-January-07, 07:58:35
First of all
HAPPY NEW YEAR (in France, it's done)
And for my computer, all is allright now
Like a silly boy, I've connected too much things in the beginning (USB Hub I've forgot not to plug)..
And so without that, computer boots well, CPU is seeing good, RAM is OK and all the drives..
Some problems with my OS (XP and SP2), but as somebody says above, I needed to "repair" it, and all is good now
Thanks for your answer...
Best regards...
happy new year nice everything goes well

[Resolved] No boot with K8N sli Platinum & AMD 64 X2 3800+

Hye,
I've received these new stuff last night (everything is good until here) :
- Antec Sonata II 450W
- MB MSI K8N SLI Platinum
- Proc. AMD 64 X2 3800+
- GC Sapphire X800 XL 256Mo
I've assembled all and turned it on... No bip... but all the fans are turning... and the screen says "No signal" and becomes black ( and me )
Can someone help me? Please?
On the MSI site, I also found this :
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=641&kind=1
Maybe the proc. and the Motherboard are not compatible? Has someone already tried this combinaison (MB+Proc.)?
My Thanks in advance.

Quote from: darinn on 12-November-05, 03:22:08
I will ask the sellers if they can update the Mobo for me.
But with the last version of the bios, will the mobo accept the dual-core with this proc. AMD 64 X2 3800+?
And if it's not possible I'll change the mobo.
Thanks .................................. again.
Pretty much any SLI motherboard supports the X2 3800. MSI is just really pathetic sometimes. So, I had the Abit AN8 SLI before and their latest BIOS (17) supports all X2 CPUs. But Im sure most other brands support them too.

K8N SLI & PCIE_PW1 connector

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for