The OFFICIAL MSI K8N Neo2-939 tips and tricks guide thread

[Zeus...]

fishgoh0nk overclocking is an art and takes time some r lucky and some are not. take your time and this is very useful, one step at a time - good luck

[fishgoh0nk]

yea... i'm just saying that things aren't going well with the setup i have now...

1. I have 1.7tb HD space on my comp, i don't want to sacrifice a HD to use only slot3/4 for sata
2. i'm using a stock cooler, i'm afraid a lot coolers i wanted don't fit with my xlpro ram
3. i hate data corruption!

zeus, i do take time to do all the things on the guide, i'm not new to OCing, but the ram subtimings are somewhat new to me... i want to squeeze out every drop of performance i can get... so what i'm weighing is... 1 HD vs. +2k on 3dmark2001. ...

[TMM]

I can't believe this thread is still going! Over 3 years now My Neo2 is still crunching away at 323HTT with an Opteron 144 @ 2.9ghz

I have bios 7025NMS V1.DB1 Mod by Sideeffect.I tryed to activate C&Q but it didn't work.I installed the proper driver but syill no working!is it because of the bios?

Have you selected the minimal power management scheme?
http://www.mytechguide.com/4/how-to-...et-in-windows/

[clon22]

Man, this board is wonderful.
Mines still alive in my friend's rig...
Those were the days...

[mhenry676]

Hi all,

I'm new to the a64 overclocking but not overclocking. My Asus A7N8X-E with Athlon XP Mobile (Stock 1.8) Running at 2.5GHz with OCZ Gold at 2-2-2-5 and thermalright SP-97. I didn't see the need to go all the way to the newest stuff, so got the K8N Neo2 Plat off ebay, picked up an X2 4200+ and a Thermalright SP-97A, 4 1GB sticks of G.Skill (F1-3200PHU2-2GBNS) from newegg. Still got my XFX 6800 (overclocks/unlocks to Ultra levels) and a Thermaltake Pure Power 480w (W0019).

At stock of 2.2 on CPU and setting the RAM to 200, everything seemed to boot up fine, but I think there might be issues with using 4 1gb sticks. (did the memory map and xp64/suse64 both saw 4gb, xp32 saw 3gb.

Now for overclocking...

BIOS = MSI 1.D (Jan07)
So far pushed CPU to 2640, ram to 480
HTT=240
CPU Mult=11
CPU Voltage 1.4 (clockgen shows 1.3?)
RAM=set to 200 (memtest/clockgen showed 240/ddr480) 1:1 ratio
RAM Timings=2.5-3-3-6-2T
RAM Voltage=2.7

HTT got a little flaky at about 245, so for now stayed at 240 (will try higher later)

Now, here's what I'm having a problem with=Running all 4 sticks!
Both pairs tested with this config for 10hrs in memtest no problem @480

testing all 4GB OCd at these settings just doesn't work (superpi stops in less than a minute, have not tested memtest, but expecting the same results). Loosening the timings didn't seem to help.

I will try at home tonight running the ram at 2.8, but most posts I've seen on this ram say that voltage doesn't seem to make much difference.


Does this board just not like 4 sticks (or 4GB)?
Is my PSU the limiting factor? (See link below for specs)
Does this board play nice with X2?
Seen anything regarding 4GBs in this or other mobos N-force3?


FYI...
RAM
http://www.gskill.com/en/f1-3200phu2-2gns.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231047

PSU
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/purepower/w001920.htm

[KamuiLong]

Ok i just got myself a computer that has a K8N Neo2 Mobo,doom3 graphics card, AMD athenlon 64 processor 3200+, has 2gb ram. but the Hard drive wasnt working. The old HDD was 250gb Seagate barracuda 7200rpm sata, i decided i wanted to have more space than that since it wasnt working anyways so i bought a 500gb Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm sata to replace it. But heres the kicker the Mobo wont auto detect it, I even went and set the jumper to 1.5 instead of the full 3. i have checked and its connected right i grabbed my friends sata HDD to test it and it works. oh it also reads on the Mobo MS-7025VER:1 all i want to do is get my hard drive detected so i can install the new OS its a Windows XP Pro x64 Sp2. i hope sumone can help me.

JT

[KamuiLong]

bump need help bad

[Poki]

I have one of those boards sitting here but I can't offer you advice other than trying the general hardware section for more traffic. What you've described sounds like an unfortunate bug to me. Maybe a newer firmware release for the HDD corrects this?

[oqix]

Hi,
I have K8N Neo2 FX and I have problem with overclock my Athlon 3700+ San Diego (KACAE). I cant set more FSB than 255x11. When I set more and restart my PC windows didnt start and when I go to bios Current CPU Clock show me 44 MHZ on my CPU. Bios in this board is 1.B 090705. I set 1.55 Volt on CPU and I do not using SATA ports. My 3 RAMs runs on 333 Mhz and 2T
first two RAMs are next CPU and third RAM is on the last purple slot. I set optimal timings.

Bios setings:
High Performance Mode - manual
Agressive timings - disabled
Dynamic overclocking - disabled
HT frequency - 2
Cool n quiet - disabled
Adjust COU ratio - startup
Adjust COU FSB frequency - 255
AGP - 67
CPU voltage - 1.550
memory voltage - 2.8
AGP voltage - default

Now I run my CPU on 255x11=2805 Mhz and temperature is low. I have modded Thermaltake volcano 9 on CPU and power supply q-tec PSU 650 Watt Tripple FAN 24P.
How can I clock FSB more than 260x11. Did change bios help me?
Sorry for bad English .

One more thing when I OC FSB to 256. Bios detect 0 Mhz CPU and when I increase the FSB to 257 bios detect 11 Mhz CPU next step +11 Mhz... What is this? Bios problem? THX.

[Karaya]

Hi mhenry676

I've been overclocking this magnificent motherboard since it was released and I've been very pleased overall. I'm' still using it on my main rig while waiting for the next AMD platform.

It does have it's quirks, not many though. Probably one of the best 939 boards ever released.

Regarding your questions:
Many nForce3 boards prefers 2 sticks of memory, maximum 1GB sticks that is.
The Neo2 can be picky regarding PSU's, 500W High quality items are recommended.
The board does play nice with X2's if the BIOS is updated accordingly.

Hi all,

I'm new to the a64 overclocking but not overclocking. My Asus A7N8X-E with Athlon XP Mobile (Stock 1.8) Running at 2.5GHz with OCZ Gold at 2-2-2-5 and thermalright SP-97. I didn't see the need to go all the way to the newest stuff, so got the K8N Neo2 Plat off ebay, picked up an X2 4200+ and a Thermalright SP-97A, 4 1GB sticks of G.Skill (F1-3200PHU2-2GBNS) from newegg. Still got my XFX 6800 (overclocks/unlocks to Ultra levels) and a Thermaltake Pure Power 480w (W0019).

At stock of 2.2 on CPU and setting the RAM to 200, everything seemed to boot up fine, but I think there might be issues with using 4 1gb sticks. (did the memory map and xp64/suse64 both saw 4gb, xp32 saw 3gb.

Now for overclocking...

BIOS = MSI 1.D (Jan07)
So far pushed CPU to 2640, ram to 480
HTT=240
CPU Mult=11
CPU Voltage 1.4 (clockgen shows 1.3?)
RAM=set to 200 (memtest/clockgen showed 240/ddr480) 1:1 ratio
RAM Timings=2.5-3-3-6-2T
RAM Voltage=2.7

HTT got a little flaky at about 245, so for now stayed at 240 (will try higher later)

Now, here's what I'm having a problem with=Running all 4 sticks!
Both pairs tested with this config for 10hrs in memtest no problem @480

testing all 4GB OCd at these settings just doesn't work (superpi stops in less than a minute, have not tested memtest, but expecting the same results). Loosening the timings didn't seem to help.

I will try at home tonight running the ram at 2.8, but most posts I've seen on this ram say that voltage doesn't seem to make much difference.


Does this board just not like 4 sticks (or 4GB)?
Is my PSU the limiting factor? (See link below for specs)
Does this board play nice with X2?
Seen anything regarding 4GBs in this or other mobos N-force3?


FYI...
RAM
http://www.gskill.com/en/f1-3200phu2-2gns.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231047

PSU
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/purepower/w001920.htm

[Den Leiw]

This board is awesome

after running it for almost 3 years 24/7 at stock settings I'm gonna use it for overclocking. I hope I'll have no problem with my BH-5 ram and DDR-Booster

I also have a 4000+ 1.35 stock voltage, hopefully I can get it to 3 Ghz 250 Mhz 1:1 Overclock or even more.

[trajik78]

mhenry676 -

bump the vDIMM about .2v, run 2T command rate, and loosen your timings to 3-4-4-8 for testing/stability.

XP and Vista 32bit will only see about 3gigs since it can't address anything higher.

[Turrican]

This board is awesome

after running it for almost 3 years 24/7 at stock settings I'm gonna use it for overclocking. I hope I'll have no problem with my BH-5 ram and DDR-Booster

I also have a 4000+ 1.35 stock voltage, hopefully I can get it to 3 Ghz 250 Mhz 1:1 Overclock or even more.

hi

i'm running my msi k8n neo2 as my second rig with 2x 256mb bh-5 and the ocz ddr booster.

i've no problems at all.

[ogy_j]

hi all

i think i've got some problem with my new nec ad-7170a and this motherboard...

i've got 2 msi k8n neo2 platinium, one with the bios 1.8 and the other with 1.d1 sideeffect.

i try it on the 1st computer but i can't read my DVD, then i put it and my hard disk on the 2nd computer and it work...

so i think that the bios problem......
but i don't know where to find the best bios...
on my 1st computer i've got TCCD ( 2x512 centon PC3200LL )
i need the link to download it, i try on google but i found nothing...
and the unofficial website of sideeffect is dead...

and which one is the best 1.c? 1.d?

thank's

[Calilis]

Hello all, been following this topic for a long time now, already sorted me out countless times...

Could someone help me? I need to know if this board will fit a Zalman CNPS8000 cooler... Will the heatpipes or fins get in the way of capacitors or ram slots?

Thanks in advance!

[oqix]

Hi,
I have K8N Neo2 FX and I have problem with overclock my Athlon 3700+ San Diego (KACAE). I cant set more FSB than 255x11. When I set more and restart my PC windows didnt start and when I go to bios Current CPU Clock show me 44 MHZ on my CPU. Bios in this board is 1.B 090705. I set 1.55 Volt on CPU and I do not using SATA ports. My 3 RAMs runs on 333 Mhz and 2T
first two RAMs are next CPU and third RAM is on the last purple slot. I set optimal timings.

Bios setings:
High Performance Mode - manual
Agressive timings - disabled
Dynamic overclocking - disabled
HT frequency - 2
Cool n quiet - disabled
Adjust COU ratio - startup
Adjust COU FSB frequency - 255
AGP - 67
CPU voltage - 1.550
memory voltage - 2.8
AGP voltage - default

Now I run my CPU on 255x11=2805 Mhz and temperature is low. I have modded Thermaltake volcano 9 on CPU and power supply q-tec PSU 650 Watt Tripple FAN 24P.
How can I clock FSB more than 260x11. Did change bios help me?
Sorry for bad English .

One more thing when I OC FSB to 256. Bios detect 0 Mhz CPU and when I increase the FSB to 257 bios detect 11 Mhz CPU next step +11 Mhz... What is this? Bios problem? THX.

Nobody can help me please?

[JWilson]

Rebels Haven posted a mod of the MSI Neo2 Platinum 1/29/07 7025v1D0 bios: here......

It provides adjustable settings for the mem timings that sideefect put in as fixed timings.

[oqix]

THX for help,
i just try this bios but it cant help me get more than 255. There is the same problem. I dont know what is with that.

[Den Leiw]

ah crap, the board just died on me

I bumped the vcore up to 1,55v and after saving the bios settings it didn't turn on. Northbridge fan doesn't spin anymore either. My CPU is fine though. Never exceeded 50° in my OC tests. Clear CMOS and changing battery doesn't help. Oh well I'm not really complaining since the motherboard has been running almost 24/7 for 3 years straight. I could RMA it since it has a 3 year warranty but...

I ordered a DFI Lanparty nf4 board already ^^


RIP MSI K8N Neo 2

[Calilis]

First of all, sad to hear about your Neo2. I guess nothing lasts forever...

To answer my own question: the board will fit a zalman cnps8000 easily. My cack-handedness almost killed a capacitor, but I guess the gods were smiling on me during my upgrade from a winnie 3200 to an opty 180....

[Izagaia]

Am the proud owner of a Compaq GX5000Z X Gaming PC. I purchased mine off of eBay roughly two years ago and have never regretted it. Truly an amazing machine. And I did so thinking that someday I could easily upgrade it to Microsoft's next-gen operating system. The system is as follows:

CoolerMaster WaveMaster aluminum case
Enermax NoiseTaker 470watt powersupply
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (ver 1.0, bios: 1.D)
AMD64 X2 4200+
1024MB Ram
GeForce 5700 256MB
Audigy 2ZS Platinum
Compaq FP7317 17" LCD Monitor

Not exactly "cutting edge" by today's standards, I know. However, I prefer to think of it as owning a classic Corvette. You're not exactly going to "smoke the competition" with the thing, yet you do still catch quite a few eye-poppings from the "awe factor" visually. Since I have owned it, I have upgraded the CPU from the AMD64 3800+ that came standard. As well as upgraded the bios from the OEM version to Award's most recent. I even had gone so far as branding the new version with the Compaq logo to retain the overall "feel".

Mind you, I had done all of this with the notion of eventually upgrading to Windows Vista. I even convinced HP of sending me an Express Upgrade Kit free of charge letting them believe that this was a qualifying system. So Vista is installed at this point. And for all practical purposes seems to be running well enough. But it appears that the board has some sort of conflict with Vista in that it refuses to "restart" when so directed by either my own or the operating system's direction. After being directed to restart, it powers down somewhat, then hangs in a sort of hibernated state without powering back up. At this point, the bios will not post and the system seems to "freeze" with only the case's front lights and powersupply fans to identify that there is any life at all therein. I have to completely disconnect the power then reconnect it before the PC will start and post once again. After which, all seems to be fine.

I contacted eSupport from Phoenix Technologies to see if there was indeed another bios version out there that might aleviate this porblem. He assurred me that I had the latest and that the issue was most likely a driver. I am not software expert or even a PC-building expert, by any means so I knew I was out-of-my-league on this one. The support individual then attempted to sell me a subscription to obtain the latest drivers that were available for any PC make and model. Stating that vendors often release new versions all the time and that what we commonly find through Windows Update and manufacters websites are often out-dated and ancient by the time they actually post them. So he clues me to the fact that there are driver upgrades out there that have yet to go through digital-signing process, but out there in limbo nonetheless. So rather than allowing him to con me out of even more money (I purchased my recent bios upgrade from him), I sought out and obtained software which scans your system and finds these "unreleased" drivers for you. Driver-Soft's "Driver Genius Professional" indeed found several drivers for my nForce3-based motherboard. Including a set not released by either nVidia or MSI for Vista. However, even in upgrading all my drivers, my system's powering problem persists.


If you have kept up with me to this point; my apologies for my rant, however this problem is truly annoying. And I cannot possibly believe, given the poularity of this board, that there are others out there attempting to run Vista who have not experienced this problem as well.

If there is anyone who can shed some insight to me on this, izzy would be grateful... Thanks!

[Izagaia]

A little lesson to share for those who do encounter a similar problem as mine:


It seems that Vista refuses to "play nice" with certain USB devices running on their own powersources. In my case - an I/O Magic 320GB external USB harddrive. Izzy is guessing that Vista recognizes such devices as part of the operating system and computer (it is afterall a formatted harddrive, in my case) and attempts shutting it down as well as it would any normal internal harddrive. Mind you, while under it's own power, it simply cannot. Therefore, the OS encounters a "glitch". In this instance, not knowing how to proceed from here, it simply "hangs in limbo".

The fix... power-off these devices before restarting.

[sinister1st]

Vista works good with this board, just dont try and use a AIW!