MSI P6N SLI-FI / Platinum (650i) Thread

pfefferpezz said:
Wow! Those are some heavy voltages you are running there. I have the same CPU and memory that you do and I think you will find that the ram is your trouble with losing your BIOS settings. I am runnning at 3.33 (1480 x 9) ram at 740mhz. I think you need to loosen your timings and bump the ram voltage to 2.30. I have the CPU voltage to .1125 and the fsb VTT at 12%. I sure hope you are running some kind of fan on your SB at that voltage. Not sure if that will help you, but I am going to go out and buy some higher end ram and will report back my findings. I have not found Prime95 to be a very good test bed for the quad core cpu's, it only loads one or two cores. Give Sandra or some other benchmark that will load all your cpu's and see how it performs.
Click to expand...

I just tried lowering FSB to 12% and memory to 2.3V. Prime95 failed almost immediately. For me FSB must be set to 20%. I tried 16% as well and it too failed almost immediately.

I then raised FSB back to 20% and lowered SB to stock. Prime95 failed. Raised it up in increments. Back at 1.7V.

I pointed a laser thermometer 2" from the SB and temp was 112F. It never fluctuates. I am not sure if this is too high. Will need to check into it.

Thanks again for the input.

Tony

Just tried raising only memory volts to 2.3V, everything else stock, Prime95 failed immediately. Allowed BIOS to set both CPU and Memory at stock settings... running prime95 now. All looks good. Still have BIOS corruption. I will test at stock settings to see if it BIOS corruption still occurs. I have an RMA request in to replace the board. If the new board exhibits the same behavior it may be time for different memory.
 
tonycooper said:
I just tried lowering FSB to 12% and memory to 2.3V. Prime95 failed almost immediately. For me FSB must be set to 20%. I tried 16% as well and it too failed almost immediately.

I then raised FSB back to 20% and lowered SB to stock. Prime95 failed. Raised it up in increments. Back at 1.7V.

I pointed a laser thermometer 2" from the SB and temp was 112F. It never fluctuates. I am not sure if this is too high. Will need to check into it.

Thanks again for the input.

Tony

Just tried raising only memory volts to 2.3V, everything else stock, Prime95 failed immediately. Allowed BIOS to set both CPU and Memory at stock settings... running prime95 now. All looks good. Still have BIOS corruption. I will test at stock settings to see if it BIOS corruption still occurs. I have an RMA request in to replace the board. If the new board exhibits the same behavior it may be time for different memory.
Click to expand...

Those voltages are fine IMHO. I have to run my NB @ 1.5V, SB @ 1.7V, FSB @ 20% as well for my o/c on my Q6600. If you take a look at the P6N's review @ Anandtech, you will see they had the run the same voltages we are when using a quad core. O/c'ing a quad places a huge strain on the power and memory subsystems, so they are using a ton of voltage to remain stable. As far as the random issue you have, I suspect the ram as well. Try moving ur ram from slots 1+3 to 2+4. I had to do this in order to o/c my ram past 1000mhz, or the board wouldn't boot regardless of voltage settings.
 
roflcopter90 said:
thanks for ur help :D.
im gonna go with the antec 900 and tuniq tower.
i have the sli-fi board, not the platinum so do you think the stock heatsink on it is good enough cooling @ 1.4+ v?

EDIT: another question about the tuniq tower...i have corsair dhx ram with the big heatsinks...do u think it will interfere with the tuniq tower?
Click to expand...

If you can afford it, I would replace the stock NB cooler with this. I believe you can rotate it so it will clear the Tuniq Tower. Other wise you could always rig up something; I'm using a Vantec 60mm Stealth @ 9V that is secured by some backstrapping from HomeDepot. As far as it clearing your ram, I wouldn't worry too much. I am using the OCZ reaper's, and they are pretty tall. Keep in mind that I am running my ram the 2nd dual channel config, I believe it's 2+4. I had to do this to get my board to boot with my ram over 1000mhz, and it hasn't given me any trouble/performance trouble. Keep me apprised, and goodluck with your build. I am going to be jumping ship to the new MSI P35 based Neo I think.
 
Hey, Purchase this board when it first debut and its been rock solid!!!

My Specs.
E6850 @ 3.8 GHZ 9x 425 on a Scythe Infinity
MSI P6N SLI Platinum BIOS 1.5
Buffalo FireStix DDR 800 @ 5-5-5-15
Evga 8800GT SC
320GB Seagate HD & 160GB WD HD
OCZ 700watt GameXstream
CoolerMaster Stacker
5 120mm Antec Green LED fans on Rheobus Fan controller
CPU Features

C1E..............................................Disabled (Hidden - Press F4 to access)
Executive Bit Support..................Disabled
Set Limit CPUID Maxval to 3........Disabled

Cell Menu

HPET............................................Enable
DOT..............................................Disabled
EIST..............................................Disabled
System Clock Mode......................Manual
FSB Clock....................................11700
Adjust CPU Ratio..........................9
Memory.......................................800
Spread Spectrum

CPU....................................Disabled
All others............................Leave at default

Advance Dram Config...................Manual 5 5 5 15 Auto Auto Auto Auto Auto 2T

Voltages

CPU...............................................+ .15 Volts
Memory.........................................1.9 Volts
NB.................................................1.5
SB.................................................1.5
FSB...............................................8%


IMG_1605.jpg


Zalman Bracket with a 92mm Fan blowing onto the video card & NB.

38_5-5-5-15_3d14000.jpg


3Dmark06 Score at 3GHZ on a EVGA 8800GT SC
 
Hey guys im having trouble getting my e6600 2.4 on msi platinum 650i mb to 3.6 everything starts up fine cs 1.6 runs fine when i play css i crash and i cant run orthos for more then 10 secs i get errors on small cpu stress test i have the following voltages

Core 1.464
NB 1.5 max
SB 1.5
VTT 0%
ram 2.10


i have 3 gigs of pc2-6400 G.skill F2-6400PHU1 timings at 400MHZ 1:1 4-4-4-12

any suggestions to get this core stable at 3.6 =)


Running Win.XP BIOS ver1.5

my Core Temp on idle at 3.6 is 25C
 
I'm getting my mobo tomorrow (again); had to RMA the first one, was DOA (everything would come on, but computer didn't post or anything). I'm going to OC it tomorrow night. I'm have the e6750 and was wondering what people were able to get this to OC to (starts at 333, so pushing it further might be a challenge).

Also, 1:1 or unlinked fsb to dram? I read the article posted about memory timings and linked vs. unlinked, and was curious what everyone thought.

For the northbridge, what does everyone think about adding the northbridge fan? I know I'm going to have some trouble with it since I have the thermalright 120 Ultra, but wanted to know if it made a huge difference for overclocking.
 
Momba121 said:
Hey, Purchase this board when it first debut and its been rock solid!!!

My Specs.
E6850 @ 3.8 GHZ 9x 425 on a Scythe Infinity
MSI P6N SLI Platinum BIOS 1.5
Buffalo FireStix DDR 800 @ 5-5-5-15
Evga 8800GT SC
320GB Seagate HD & 160GB WD HD
OCZ 700watt GameXstream
CoolerMaster Stacker
5 120mm Antec Green LED fans on Rheobus Fan controller
CPU Features

C1E..............................................Disabled (Hidden - Press F4 to access)
Executive Bit Support..................Disabled
Set Limit CPUID Maxval to 3........Disabled

Cell Menu

HPET............................................Enable
DOT..............................................Disabled
EIST..............................................Disabled
System Clock Mode......................Manual
FSB Clock....................................1333
Adjust CPU Ratio..........................9
Memory.......................................800
Spread Spectrum

CPU....................................Disabled
All others............................Leave at default

Advance Dram Config...................Manual 5 5 5 15 Auto Auto Auto Auto Auto 2T

Voltages

CPU...............................................+ .15 Volts
Memory.........................................1.9 Volts
NB.................................................1.5
SB.................................................1.5
FSB...............................................8%


IMG_1605.jpg


Zalman Bracket with a 92mm Fan blowing onto the video card & NB.

38_5-5-5-15_3d14000.jpg


3Dmark06 Score at 3GHZ on a EVGA 8800GT SC
Click to expand...

What program do you have running in your tray that shows you all those voltages and temperatures?
 
Bio-Hazard said:
First thing is to read through the first post in this thread and read through the links posted there, there is a ton of great info there.............:eek:

Next thing to do is post up the current settings you have the bios set at and some of the ones that you have tried.

Your CPU/MoBo combo should beable to do 3.2 fairly easy with only some small bumps in the boards/CPU, NB, CPU voltages. 3.6 will take a bit more adjusting.

On my system I only need the following setting to get to 3.2

FSB->1600
Memory->800
CPU voltage->stock to at the most (my system)->+0.0125
Memory voltage (4-4-4-12)-> 2.1v
NB voltage->1.325v to 1.35v
SB voltage->stock
VTT->+0% to +2%

3.6GHz on my rig.

FSB->1800
Memory->900
CPU voltage->stock to at the most (my system)->+1.1250
Memory voltage (4-4-4-12)-> 2.2v
NB voltage->1.4v to 1.45v
SB voltage->1.55
VTT->+4% to +6%

Before you begin overclocking your system, you must first disable a few features
that would prevent your system from reaching its maximum potential. More
specifically, the following BIOS settings must be disabled:
q CPU Thermal Control
q C1E Enhance Halt State
q Intel Speedstep.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Bio-Hazard.
I did the exact same settign to get 3.2 and it worked like a charm. Ran test for 16 hours and everything passed. Temp only went up about 2 degrees.
I have MSI Plat SLI board and cricial memory.
 
Hey again, been a long while, still got the FI board. Have any of you gotten 440+fsb with a well cooled NB? I'm thinking of getting a waterblock for it next month. My e4300 has a fsb wall of about 375, so I'm gonna retire it soon and look for a deal on a e6420/6600. Want to run high as I can 1/1. Got an 80mm rigged on the NB atm, but that wont be enough once I start pushing beyond 425 with voltage maxed.

Hey Momba. I have those same Firestix and they will run 4-4-4-12 at that speed at 2.1, so tighten those things UP!!! They're D9 for peets sake. Just dont run more than 2.15 or they'll die quick. I just RMA'd all 4 sticks of mine today (3 gigs) cause the sets died within a month of each other from running them 925 +mhz 4-4-4-15 2.3v. The sticks a reported to run up around 1000 with 5-5-5 timings on 2.1 though.
 
op1e said:
Hey again, been a long while, still got the FI board. Have any of you gotten 440+fsb with a well cooled NB? I'm thinking of getting a waterblock for it next month. My e4300 has a fsb wall of about 375, so I'm gonna retire it soon and look for a deal on a e6420/6600. Want to run high as I can 1/1. Got an 80mm rigged on the NB atm, but that wont be enough once I start pushing beyond 425 with voltage maxed.

Hey Momba. I have those same Firestix and they will run 4-4-4-12 at that speed at 2.1, so tighten those things UP!!! They're D9 for peets sake. Just dont run more than 2.15 or they'll die quick. I just RMA'd all 4 sticks of mine today (3 gigs) cause the sets died within a month of each other from running them 925 +mhz 4-4-4-15 2.3v. The sticks a reported to run up around 1000 with 5-5-5 timings on 2.1 though.
Click to expand...

o WOW.. 2.1 is high already, 2.15 and die sheesh. Thanks for the info, I can prolly hit 4GHZ.
 
2.1 is the rated voltage for your ram. Look at the sticker on your heat spreader.
 
can anyone help me out here...
i have p6n sli-fi and i was wondering wat the FSB VTT is?
also, i`ve read that theres strap changes or something like that...what does that mean?
and is it true?
 
I have my e6750 running at 3.55 ghz (443.8 x 8). Ran prime95 for 9 hours.

NB Voltage = 1.45
CPU Voltage = 1.50
Memory Voltage = 2.20
VTT Voltage = +0.00%

Next week, I'll get everything for my video card and start to over-clock that as well. Right now idling it runs at 61C (ambient in the room is 25C). Under load it gets up to 85C+.

My processor runs at 47(core 2)/45(core 1)/36(CPU) idle and got up to 60/60/54 while running prime95 (according to everest).

When people report temperatures, do they report the core temps or the CPU temps? My core temps seem awfully hot, but the CPU temps are reasonable.
 
nelyboy27 said:
I have my e6750 running at 3.55 ghz (443.8 x 8). Ran prime95 for 9 hours.

NB Voltage = 1.45
CPU Voltage = 1.50
Memory Voltage = 2.20
VTT Voltage = +0.00%

Next week, I'll get everything for my video card and start to over-clock that as well. Right now idling it runs at 61C (ambient in the room is 25C). Under load it gets up to 85C+.

My processor runs at 47(core 2)/45(core 1)/36(CPU) idle and got up to 60/60/54 while running prime95 (according to everest).

When people report temperatures, do they report the core temps or the CPU temps? My core temps seem awfully hot, but the CPU temps are reasonable.
Click to expand...

where do i change that for mine? i have the same mobo and cpu. i found somehting that overclocks by 10%, but i dont see any difference. i have the 6400 g.skill ram (4Gb) that id like to oc. i have no idea where to start.... man, things have changed since the old pc133 days. :(

also, i cant get any of the software to run even though i am admin and rt click and select run as admin.
 
There should be a Cell (or Core) menu- should be the furtherest thing up and right in the BIOS- where you can adjust all that stuff. Before you OC though, make sure you turn off all the things they tell you to on page 1- I didn't turn off C1E and it made my multiplier really low so that my processor would be at 2.7ghz. Also, the voltage I'm using is the most you should use for C2Duo's unless you have serious cooling, like water cooling or phase change.
 
I was wondering what temps people were getting with their Thermalright Ultra-120's. My temps seem a bit high for this cooler with a medium yate loon fan blowing the air out the back and 2 120mm rear exhaust fans on my case. According to everest, I'm at 36 idle, and when running prime 95, I've gotten damn close to 60 (58ish). Ambient temperature in the room is 25.
 
I took the advice of several forum responders to my BIOS checksum problem and replaced my memory with OCZ SLI Dual Channel memory. BIOS checksum errors disappeared immediately! Thanks all!

I have been running prime95 constantly since my last post. I found reliability and accuracy at 1320 FSB. I was quite surprised to find that no matter where I set my CPU voltage (as high as +.15v) I could not get accuracy (prime95 for 24 hours without error). It appears my peak overclock is 2.97 Ghz. I am happy with an almost 24% increase.

I then set out to determine how low I could set my voltages and maintain system integrity. Each step consisted of a minimum 24 hour test cycle. I found I could lower CPU voltage to stock voltage without impacting the system. However anytime I attempted to lower any of the FSB, NB, or SB voltages, errors rather dramatically reappeared.

With my present settings, idle temps are at 34C-35C at 78F (25C) ambient room temp. CPU temps climbed to 55C but typically ran at 48C-50C during the Prime95 tests. In an effort to further lower, and more importantly equalize processor temps, I lapped the Q6600 (I had previously lapped the 120 Ultra as it was obviously in need). Lapping the CPU did not alter my temps. Core 2 is typically 6C cooler then Cores 0 & 1, and 5C cooler then Core 3. Right now the Core temps are 34C, 34C, 28C, 34C.

A note about spread spectrum settings. I found that only the CPU needed to be disabled. If I disabled the other settings I picked up stray noise in my 5.8 GHz phone and my flat panel display.

Anyway here are my settings that resulted in an accurate and stable system using the components listed below. Thanks for all the advice and counsel.


P6N SLI Platinum BIOS Settings BIOS v1.5

Settings
CPU Features​
C1E..............................................Disabled (Hidden - Press F4 to access)
Executive Bit Support..................Disabled
Set Limit CPUID Maxval to 3........Disabled
​
Cell Menu​
HPET............................................Disabled
DOT..............................................Disabled
EIST..............................................Disabled
System Clock Mode......................Manual
FSB Clock....................................1320
Mem Clock....................................800
Adjust CPU Ratio..........................9
Spread Spectrum
CPU....................................Disabled
All others............................Leave at default​
Advance Dram Config...................Manual 4 4 4 15 Auto Auto Auto Auto Auto 2T​

Voltages
CPU...............................................+ .0 Volts
Memory.........................................2.1 Volts
NB.................................................1.5
SB.................................................1.7
FSB...............................................20%​

Temps @ Ambient 77F
CPU.......................Idle 34C Prime95 Stress 55C
System..................Idle 27C Prime95 Stress 45C​

OverClocked 23.75%
CPU Freq 2.97 GHz FSB 1320 Memory Dram 800 (5/6 ratio) 4-4-4-15 2T

MB.................MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel
Case..............CoolerMaster Centurion 5 - CAC-T05
CPU...............Q6600 GO 2.4GHz
CPU Cooler....Thermalright Ultra-120A CPU Cooler
Memory..........OCZ DDR2 800 Dual Channel SLI 2GB (2x1GB) Kit OCZ2N800SR2GK
Video.............PNY nVidia GeForce 8600 GT 512MB OC
HD..................Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 SATA 3.0Gb/s
Power............OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W PSU
 
With the upcoming E8400/8500 CPUs, would these work with this board or should one wait for a BIOS update before purchasing? Specifically, the E8500 with the 9.5 multiplier.

I'm thinking since it is LGA775 and FSB 1333 compatible, that it should not be a problem........any thoughts?
 
It's under testing right now...

You can go here for a list of supported processors for this board.

But that link's for the Platinum, you seem to have the SLI-FI.. I don't know the difference but to compare here's the link for the regular P6N SLI (i.e. non-Platinum);
Link for CPU support for P6N SLI


I don't see a page for the SLI-FI
 
Thanks for the link. I see its still under testing; as I have no desire to purchase a new mobo just to support this chip. Hopefully the answer is yes with the latest BIOS.
 
Yeah, I decided I don't have the money to upgrade the computer for penryn. I'll stick w/ the 65nm and save money for whatever comes after Nehalem. Until then if some penryn works (and some do, for the Platinum at least) I might buy it or I may go quad core w/ a q6600.

But I am building a new one for my family soon.. so I can't decide if I want to use this board or an MSI p35 board which would support the penryns but at the cost of DDR3, I think. And yes, I believe it's a "cost" because the benefits of DDR3 aren't yet fully appreciable.

Update: I was wrong, p35 uses DDR2 as well, sweet. I may get that. But I'll have to get all new DVD/CD drives to fit the SATA plugs, or get adapters. Anyone here use adapters w/ this board?
 
saso said:
I have read here http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?...d_no=1140&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=#menuthat this motherboard supports new quads Q9300 and Q9550. I thought that 650i sli supports penryn but I have heard that it won’t support quads :confused:
Click to expand...

That's interesting that there's claimed support for at least the lower end 45nm quads... everything I've read so far was claiming that the 650i chipset wouldn't be able to handle those.

On a related note - I'm getting ready to 'jump ship' as it were... I just ordered a DFI LanParty LT P35-T2R board (kinda pricey, but has oodles of support/options) and a G0 Q6600 (and some other parts). I'm going to use my current P6N board and some other parts in a build for my nephew for his birthday :).
 
Whats the max you guys are getting in stable FSB out of this or the Platinum, and with what bios? Going to watercool the Northbridge and try to get past 450. Will vmod this board if I have to get more NB voltage. Anandtech review showed them get close to 500, but with stability dropping off steeply after 465 FSB. This would mean 4185 on a 9 multi.
 
Quick OC question for the SLI-FI
System specs first:
msi p6n sli-fi bios 2.3
C2D E6750
2gb pc6400
eVga 8800GT

I have disabled and enabled all items in the bios recommended. My question is when you set the FSB frequency control(manual, auto, linked) to manual, are the frequencies that pop up for FSB freq and mem freq just generic default frequencies (because they DO NOT add up) I.E. the fsb that pops up reads 800mhz and the mem = 666mhz, now the funny thing is, if those values were reversed it makes a semi amount of sense. with cpu-z my system is at a default 5:6 fsb/dram ratio I searched through the bios and there is no way to alter the ratio, just the multiplier. so since those numbers looked odd and made no sense compared with the values others were manually entering. I decided to play it safe and lower each of those numbers by 20mhz to see what the actual read out would be so maybe I could figure out their relevance. Well upon save/exit, no post, bios wouldnt even load up after restart, had to hit the reset cmos. (OCing my p4 I had before I built this one seemed infinitely simpler fsb clock/ratio and done). So finally my question is after that incoherent rant is, once you set the clock setting to manual are the numbers that populate fsb clock and memory clock just generic values that need to be changed? Because according to what I have seen they dont make a lick of sense. (My default multiplier is 8 btw)
 
Spanki said:
I wouldn't bother... you can get a really decent SATA CD/DVD drive shipped for ~$30ish bucks these days.
Click to expand...

Thanks Spanki. I felt more comfortable buying new drives anyway, I don't like the idea of using adapters.

Jumping ship eh? Does that mean you won't be passing by this thread anymore? That'd be kind of sad, as this thread has been helpful to so many largely because of your time/energy in making it so. But I don't blame you, I guess. Though I'm going to get a Q6600 too (G0) in a few months (waiting for potential price drops from the release of Wolfdale quads). May I ask what about that new board is making you want to jump ship?
 
Sorry, I posted something which was already on here but I don't know how to delete this post.
 
My issue from a few posts above was solved with resetting cmos. The proper values now show up when I set manual clock.

Only problem now is even modest overclocks, give me a BSOD. The highest I have gone so far is 2.8ghz (1400mhzfsb) from 2.68. I have everything enabled/disabled that needs to be any help as to discovering the issue would be aappreciated. I shouldn't have to up the vcore for that small of an overclock, as its just over 100mhz. My goal is simply to get it to 3-3.2 ghz(as with 3.2 I can get a 1:1 ratio). After reading this board alot of people have cranked their system up in excess of 600mhz, stable. Runs great when its not OCed, but it really doesn't like me the moment I screw with that clock speed no matter how modest a change. I'll screw around with it some more, next BSOD I get I'll post the results (windows was still set to reset immidiately before).

Again system:
winXp pro 32 sp2
MSI p6n sli-fi bios v. 2.3
C2D E6750 (2.66ghz)(Arctic cooler freezer 7 pro)
Seagate Sata primary drive
Seagate IDE backup drive
IDE lite on DVD/cd-RW
Soundblaster Audigy 2
2gb Corsair value
eVga Nvidia 8800GT
 
TSD16 said:
My issue from a few posts above was solved with resetting cmos. The proper values now show up when I set manual clock.

Only problem now is even modest overclocks, give me a BSOD. The highest I have gone so far is 2.8ghz (1400mhzfsb) from 2.68. I have everything enabled/disabled that needs to be any help as to discovering the issue would be aappreciated. I shouldn't have to up the vcore for that small of an overclock, as its just over 100mhz. My goal is simply to get it to 3-3.2 ghz(as with 3.2 I can get a 1:1 ratio). After reading this board alot of people have cranked their system up in excess of 600mhz, stable. Runs great when its not OCed, but it really doesn't like me the moment I screw with that clock speed no matter how modest a change. I'll screw around with it some more, next BSOD I get I'll post the results (windows was still set to reset immidiately before).

Again system:
winXp pro 32 sp2
MSI p6n sli-fi bios v. 2.3
C2D E6750 (2.66ghz)(Arctic cooler freezer 7 pro)
Seagate Sata primary drive
Seagate IDE backup drive
IDE lite on DVD/cd-RW
Soundblaster Audigy 2
2gb Corsair value
eVga Nvidia 8800GT
Click to expand...

I've been doing a little experimenting with my E6750 too. you should be able to get a stable 3.0GHz without increasing the voltage(I did). i'm testing a 3.2GHz OC right now after reading up about this proc and mobo.

E6750 @ 3.0GHz
MSI P6N SLI-FI bios v2.4
2x1GB OCZ Gold XTC OCZ2G800R21G PC2 6400 800MHz
XP Pro SP2 32-bit

update: failed on orthos at 3.2GHz 1.37Vcore 1.3V NB. getting mad and trying 3.5GHz at 1.42Vcore 1.3V NB
update2: 3.5GHz at 1.42Vcore 1.3V NB has been stable on orthos using small FFTs for 13 hours. load temps are 56-60 C for the cpu.
 
usama_ah said:
Thanks Spanki. I felt more comfortable buying new drives anyway, I don't like the idea of using adapters.

Jumping ship eh? Does that mean you won't be passing by this thread anymore? That'd be kind of sad, as this thread has been helpful to so many largely because of your time/energy in making it so. But I don't blame you, I guess. Though I'm going to get a Q6600 too (G0) in a few months (waiting for potential price drops from the release of Wolfdale quads). May I ask what about that new board is making you want to jump ship?
Click to expand...

Thanks, but I was mostly just the facilitator (sp) - several others in this thread have provided valuable help though!

I still like the P6N - it's sevrved me well, and been very stable, but my initial concerns came about from reading that the 45nm cpus (quads, at least) wouldn't be supported by the 650i chip. That got me looking around at the P35-based boards. Since then, three things have happened:

1. Reports of the 54nm quad overclocking capabilities have been less than optimal - lower FSB walls than 65nm parts, combined with lower multipliers in the inexpensive cpus, limiting the overall overclocking. On the bright side, you should still be able to hit 3.6GHz or so relatively easily, with less overall voltage and heat generated.

2. I decided not to wait for the (purposely delayed) release of the new 45nm quad cpus and just go ahead and buy a Q6600 for now.

3. MSI website is now reporting that at least the lower-end 45nm quads will be supported on the P6N Platinum (I haven't checked the FI).

...so in the end, I could have probably just stuck with this board, but I had already spent a lot of research effort into P35 boards and was impressed by the miriad of options of the DFI boards. The BIOS on them takes more work than other boards (like the Abit IP35-Pro, etc), but that's because they offer more tuning options than any other BIOS on the market.

I wanted to get a board that would tide me over until LGA 775 socket boards are no longer useful (Nahalem comes out in '09, with a new socket) and the DFI board looked like it would handle whatever 775 chip you might throw at it.
 
Has anybody recovered from a hosed bios, is there a recovery procedure for the p6n sli-fi. There was no bios flash involved, just blue screen, power on, no post, have tried clear cmos, battery out, atx, left overnight, still not post, changed ram etc

thanks
 
Max Tractor said:
Has anybody recovered from a hosed bios, is there a recovery procedure for the p6n sli-fi. There was no bios flash involved, just blue screen, power on, no post, have tried clear cmos, battery out, atx, left overnight, still not post, changed ram etc

thanks
Click to expand...

I had that happen to my SLI-FI too. I was just putting my Q6600 up to 3.3ghz and frooze like it always does when it's unstable but it never turned on again. I got a new board and hooked everything up and my psu blew up with a huge spark and smoke so IDK if it was related, but luckily it didn't burn out my new asus maximus formula :) I'm not sure it actually is the bios, I think OC'ing the q6600 might just be too much for a lower end board to handle like the P6N
 
Even though I've had this board (P6N SLI-FI) for a while, I never tried OC w/ it until last night. I have a simple e4300 cpu. When I bumped the FSB up past 800, I recieved the following message when booting -

A 200 MHz System Bus Processor is Installed. This Processor Is Not Supported On This Board And Will Run At A Reduced Processor Clock Speed. System Performance Will Be Impacted.
Click to expand...

Right now I have it running at a 966 FSB (2175 core speed). It seems that if I push it past 1000FSB then it refuses to post. Using stock cooling. No changes in the voltage on the cpu, nb/sb or memory.

Also, any idea if uping my memory speed is possible/viable? Its PNY 5300 running at 333/667 w/ 5-5-5-15 timings.
 
OK I have a few questions...

I have speedfan installed and running. Which labeled temp is the one I should watch to keep any eye on the northbridge temps?

I currently have my e6420 running at 3.2 Ghz (1600fsb) VERY, VERY stable on stock OEM intel heatsink/fan cooling and with only the OEM northbridge fan installed on the bulky copper heatpipes.

I am currently looking to upgrade the OEM heatsink/fan on my e6420 for this OC (orthos runs for 60 seconds before temps crawl over 60C - no crash though - just the temps make me too nervous to continue).

SO, I want to upgrade both my CPU heatsink (prob going with tuniq or zerotherm) and, if needed, find an additional (non-water) way to cool the northbridge IF I even determine it's needed.

What solutions have people used (include southbridge ideas if necessary)? Additional fans? My case is an old (but superior) Lian-li 3 fans total in front and one exhaust on back + PSU.

Thanks

Thanks guys
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top