Official MSI P7N Diamond (780i) Discussion/Review/Overclock/Guide/BIOS Thread

[FedericoUY]

Put the CPU under load and see what happens.

You won't belive me, but disabling C1E and EIST same happens (2nd and 3rd core at 6x multi). I'v e put the cpu under Prime95 v25.6 stressing the 4 cores and nothing.... 2nd and 3rd core were at 6x multi and 2000mhz. The only way to get it to 8x all four cores is enabling EIST. I've heard that ESIT won't allow to get a high OC. Why I have to enable it in order to get 4 cores on 8x?
Shouldn't it be otherwise? Thanks

[vince2g]

Noobie needs some help here,
I have a E8200 running, and i have been trying to overclock it to 3.2GHz. I followed all the basic instructions on what to enable and disable. FSB is set to 1600 and RAM to 800. I set the Vcore to +0.11250 and the vNB to 1.3. Everything else is set to AUTO. I have been tweeking these voltages around a bit, and it was with these that i got the furthest. I have Vista 64 bit running, it started up, but like 2 mins later it jsut froze. Also on a different note, is it normal that the sphere gets really hot? I have speed fan running to slow down the cpu fan so it makes less noise (cpu heat is not the problem though, as its always under 35 degrees), but speed fan shows that on one of the temperature readings, the temp goes up to as high as 58 degrees. Is this high or ok?
Any help is welcome

Additional System info:
Vista Home Premium 64 bit
E8200 cpu
Air cooled by Xigmatek HDT-SD964
2x2GB DDR2 OCZ reaper 8500
NVIDIA 9800GTX

[loonym]

Sphere? Your nb heatsink? Are you manually setting ram timings and voltages? Do you have command rate at 1T or 2T? What bios? I wouldn't worry too much about the temps. They look good and there's really not much you're going to do to improve them with that heatsink except maybe use a more powerful fan. 1600fsb may take more nb volts as well as raising fsb voltage.

[vince2g]

Yeah i ment the nb heatsink. For the RAM everything is set to Auto. You think i should put in the timings and voltages and the command rate manually? If you think i should, do, ill start of with the factory defaults. What command rate do you think i should use. As for BIOS i am using the 1.2 version.
Thanx for the response

[loonym]

If you're crashing try 2T until you can resolve it. In the end you should have no trouble with 1T though.

[FedericoUY]

Hi. I asked MSI technical support for my problem with multi (two last cores with 6x multi with esit disabled on Q9450). They had the same problem that I had, so they tell me to wait some days until problem is fixed. They said that once they have some solution, they will let me know ASAP (??).
I have a friend with this board and a Q6600, and this one runs good with no problem (same bios as me). Any of you with Q9450/45nm quad had the same problem?

[vince2g]

Hi, so far i havnt been able to make my E8200 stable at 1600. So i decided to go lower and see if i could get it stable there first. I went for 1500. Put the Vcore to +0.1 and the Vnb to 1.3, with ram timing on 2T still. This so far is stable. I am running Prime95, its only been going for 15 minutes, but thats already longer than my system has worked when running at 1600. So if this is stable, ill keep this for a while, and save it in the BIOS. After that ill experiment some more to get it stable at 1600. Thanx for the help though. If i ever get it stable at 1600 ill post it.

[bluspikez]

Hi, so far i havnt been able to make my E8200 stable at 1600. So i decided to go lower and see if i could get it stable there first. I went for 1500. Put the Vcore to +0.1 and the Vnb to 1.3, with ram timing on 2T still. This so far is stable. I am running Prime95, its only been going for 15 minutes, but thats already longer than my system has worked when running at 1600. So if this is stable, ill keep this for a while, and save it in the BIOS. After that ill experiment some more to get it stable at 1600. Thanx for the help though. If i ever get it stable at 1600 ill post it.

I'm pretty sure that you were being too conservative with voltages...sounds like your lockups at 1600 were voltage related. Try putting the vNB at 1.375v and run some more voltage to the cpu, like maybe +0.15v. If it is still unstable, add more volts to the proc. By the way, what is your VID?

[loonym]

Hi. I asked MSI technical support for my problem with multi (two last cores with 6x multi with esit disabled on Q9450). They had the same problem that I had, so they tell me to wait some days until problem is fixed. They said that once they have some solution, they will let me know ASAP (??).
I have a friend with this board and a Q6600, and this one runs good with no problem (same bios as me). Any of you with Q9450/45nm quad had the same problem?

No FedericoUY, I never saw that before, that's why I asked you for screens. It's a very strange problem. I'm sure within a few days they'll give you a bios to try.

[FedericoUY]

No FedericoUY, I never saw that before, that's why I asked you for screens. It's a very strange problem. I'm sure within a few days they'll give you a bios to try.

I hope so. The MSI guy was trying with a ES q9450 C0 (not C1), and he had that problem, so I guess anyone with this processor sould have it. I'll let you know when they answer me.
If there's someone else with this same problem please post it.

[vince2g]

I'm pretty sure that you were being too conservative with voltages...sounds like your lockups at 1600 were voltage related. Try putting the vNB at 1.375v and run some more voltage to the cpu, like maybe +0.15v. If it is still unstable, add more volts to the proc. By the way, what is your VID?

Its perfectly stable at 1500. Currently im not home, so i cant try out the 1600 with ur recommendations right now, but ill try as soon as i get home. Also what is VID?
Thanx for the help.

[loonym]

The vid is the voltage info programmed into the cpu that allows the bios to know stock voltage. For instance you see in this screen the vid of a x3360 I have is 1.2375v

[vince2g]

According to RealTemp my min VID is 1.1500v and the max is 1.2250. I also found out that the temp sensor in core 1 is stuck. I always wondered why, when idle, it reports a temp 10degrees higher than core 0. Also for trying out 1600, Bluspikez suggested i use +0.15, but thats going into the red area in BIOS. I take it its ok to go into the red?

[wolf1974]

i have had this board from the time it came out,,do youre self a favor and get the new evga ftw 780i mobo, i now have no problems and full 45nm q9650 support i can also up my multi and be stable WOW!!!,,THROW YOURE P7 IN THE TRASH,,,,,SORRY ALL AFTER 4 RMA'S 2 DOA,S AND NO QUAD EXTREME SUPPORT MY P7 HAS BEEN SMASHED WITH A HAMMER

[bluspikez]

According to RealTemp my min VID is 1.1500v and the max is 1.2250. I also found out that the temp sensor in core 1 is stuck. I always wondered why, when idle, it reports a temp 10degrees higher than core 0. Also for trying out 1600, Bluspikez suggested i use +0.15, but thats going into the red area in BIOS. I take it its ok to go into the red?

Yeah, its fine. MSI just is trying to remind you that if you don't have sufficient cooling, you might start to push it on the chip. Just remember that as long as you stay below 1.45v for a 45nm chip and 1.65v (iirc?) for a 65nm chip you will be fine as long as you have decent cooling.

[theYipster]

Hi all, after a week away from my PC (at a conference in Vegas) I came home to try a few things and do some more testing. In the end, it looks like a dead drive and nothing more. I don't think I'm ready to throw away the motherboard setup yet, as to do so would mean spending nearly $1000 on a new drive setup, P45 board, and a single graphics card that will at least keep up with my two 8800 GTX cards. Thanks for everyone's help.

[loonym]

Too bad about the drive but it was pretty much what I figured. I really haven't heard of any nvidia south bridges failing like that.

[theYipster]

Hi all,

Regarding my last comment about not switching my setup atm... well, the hardware nut in me won over the more sensible side. Figuring that I'll have to do a software reinstall anyway, I've decided to swap out the hardware while I'm at it. The point of this is to build something that fits my current lifestyle better -- something a bit more stable and cooler running vs seeking a massive performance increase.

I've thus pulled the trigger on a P5Q Deluxe and a 4870 X2. Since I really only build and maintain one rig at a time, I'm afraid this will be it for my contribution to the P7N Diamond discussion (though to be fair I haven't said much in months anyway.) Being that the first post is a bit stale, I'll do a final update this week with information about the 1.2 BIOS and the latest best settings for overclocking.

Thanks to everyone for making this thread so lively and such a great repository for P7N information. I know the board can be very tough to work with, but this vibrant thread has helped many, and I hope it continues to do until LGA775 is dead and buried.

Btw, I'll be putting many of my current parts up for sale soon (likely on [H].) If anyone is interested in my P7N Diamond, which for all accounts has been a proven OC supporter (I've reached 4ghz with my Q6600,) let me know!

[panheimer]

Does someone know if this mobo supports E8600 and the new E0 stepping?

[AaronYuri]

I'm no longer modding at the MSI forum, so I won't be uploading any more betas. You'll have to ask someone else for them.

[PapaMambo]

Long time listener, first time caller.. I just have a few questions about the x-fi card that comes bundled with the P7N. First and foremost, is have any of you had any sort of luck having the card do EAX 5.0 or whatever the latest EAX version is? I'll look at one site and it'll tell me that the card can do EAX 5.0, and the MSI site will tell me only EAX 4.0

The reason I am asking is that I have been trying to get my sound card to work properly with games like BF2, and BF2142, and to take advantage of the features of the built in X-fi support for both of those games, yet they both tell me that the hardware is incapable of using these features.

I had read about the Youp-Pax drivers, but navigating that site is an absolute mess, and I was wondering if anyone here had any sort of luck, or could point me in the right direction for drivers that will unlock some of the x-fi features in Vista x64.

[Fiskbit]

I'm using the standard drivers and have also been unable to get any sort of EAX working (such as in Bioshock). The impression I've gotten is that this card is only a slight step above integrated audio; if you want good sound, then buy a real sound card. Perhaps it's possible to get more functionality out of this card, but if so, I've not heard about it.

Also, for those wondering about how I've been doing regarding reboots, I recently eliminated another source of reboots for my system: nVidia's ntune. I'd have random problems with reboots when settings profiles were loaded (both automatically and manually), as well as reboots when doing simple things like changing fan speeds. Other issues were profiles not always loading when I told them to, which was actually a godsend at times when loading them would cause a reboot. I've replaced it in its entirety with RivaTuner, which so far has been both reliable and stable. Since I'm sure most people with this board have it for its SLI abilities, I figure there are probably other people out there with ntune that may have similar problems. If you have it, I recommend getting rid of it.

[loonym]

Long time listener, first time caller.. I just have a few questions about the x-fi card that comes bundled with the P7N. First and foremost, is have any of you had any sort of luck having the card do EAX 5.0 or whatever the latest EAX version is? I'll look at one site and it'll tell me that the card can do EAX 5.0, and the MSI site will tell me only EAX 4.0

The reason I am asking is that I have been trying to get my sound card to work properly with games like BF2, and BF2142, and to take advantage of the features of the built in X-fi support for both of those games, yet they both tell me that the hardware is incapable of using these features.

I had read about the Youp-Pax drivers, but navigating that site is an absolute mess, and I was wondering if anyone here had any sort of luck, or could point me in the right direction for drivers that will unlock some of the x-fi features in Vista x64.

If you message the owner of that site (also the author of the driver) or make a forum post, he'll help you.

[zillmc]

Hey all, hope everyone is doing well. Haven't checked the forum in awhile but its nice to see its still kicking strong ! I happened to check the MSI page for new bios updates and grabbed 1.2 this morning. I've been running my x3350 stock for the past 5 months or so but I decided to do some OCing for a lazy saturday .

Did a modest OC to 3.0 & 3.1 ghz stable:

Benchies:
3.0 Ghz


3.1 Ghz


Let me know what you think! :b

I tried getting it stable at 3.2ghz w/:

vcore:1.3v
vdram: 2.1v
nb: 1.325v
fsb: 1.313v

It'd post just would start loading up windows and stop in an endless loop, monitor lights would stay green but would have the black screen and reboot itself and repeat until i switched it back. Anyways good to see every!.

[bluspikez]

I tried getting it stable at 3.2ghz w/:

vcore:1.3v
vdram: 2.1v
nb: 1.325v
fsb: 1.313v

It'd post just would start loading up windows and stop in an endless loop, monitor lights would stay green but would have the black screen and reboot itself and repeat until i switched it back. Anyways good to see every!.

Probably need more volts on the nb and vCore. Go to about 1.375-1.4v on nb and just go in increments on the vcore till you get it stable.