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

[theYipster]

Yeah that's what I was looking for.. thx 1.38v for 3.6ghz is quite impressive for an L740 with a 1.25 VID... but this of course assumes stability. What stability tests have you run?

[loonym]

While water interests me a great deal it's just a little too much investment for me right now. This is definately the right place for info and ideas though.

[zillmc]

Hey all,

You may have seen some of my posts over on the MSi user forums, but I thought I'd post here as well. I wanted to inquire about the P7N and 45nm quad support. I'll be slapping my box together here in a few hours and I wanted to know if you guys would advise me to flash my bios to either P07 or 1.16? I currently am using a Striker II Formula w/ an Intel X3350 Quad (Q9450 equiv). I've read a couple posts saying that P07 and 1.16 provide some further support for 45nm quads. Is this statement true?

While I do not plan to overclock right now, I probably will do so later if this thing is stable for about two weeks. Please see the quoted post below as well as my signature for specs on my machine for some additional details and why I'm using the P7N over the Striker II Formula (POS!).

Thanks!

Some background information on my build may help your responses. I had been running the aforementioned hardware w/o problems for 2 weeks. I do not plan on overclocking and the system ran stock speeds/etc for 2 weeks. I was playing some World of Warcraft and the system locked up on me. I rebooted and was unable to get any graphics from PCI-E Slot1 on my Striker II Formula. Did a number of tests and found that the issue was not with the gfx cards, but in my opinion, a bad PCI slot (which in my experience is virtually unheard of).

I had the system stable for about a day or so running on 1 of my 8800GTS. It then started locking up again about after anywhere from 20minutes to 2 hours of gameplay. From my research, I know that 780i NB/SB temps get really hot. My temps are as follows as per bios/other utilities are reporting:

MB: 32C idle / 35C load
CPU1: 40C idle / 51C load
CPU2: 40C idle / 51C load
CPU3: 37C idle / 42C load
CPU4: 37C idle / 42C load
NB: 75C idle (damn thats hot!) / 78C load
SB: 60C idle / 63C load
GPUs: Idle 40-45C / load 50-55C max

Based on that info, I'm thinking that the NB/SB temps got so hot and unstable over 2 weeks, that it caused my PCI-E Slot1 to burnout/malfunction.

So the point I'm at right now, I purchased an MSI P7N Diamond as I heard that this board is having the most success/longevity out of the 780i boards and has cooler temps on the NB/SB. Also, I've always been a fan of MSI over Asus but my last two builds have had no issues with my Asus boards. I'm going to install all my components on this board and see if I can get it working while my Striker II Formula ships back for RMA.

I have a couple of questions for those of you who are using the MSI P7N Diamond:

1. Anyone have any thoughts on my initial issue with my other motherboard as described above?

2. Will the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme fit on this board? I've heard both yes and no. According to Thermalright's
website, it says that the Ultra 120 will fit. Anyone had any experience with this? If this will not fit, what air cooling solution can you suggest for this board and my setup?

3. Will the MSi P7N Diamond support the Intel Quad Xeon X3350? I've heard mixed things about the 45 nm quad support, however people have seemed to have some success with the latest beta bios available for the P7N and seen people running this board with the Q9450 which is the exact same thing as the X3350. Where can I download the latest beta bios to best support my build?

4. Will the Creative X-Fi Fatality fit while running in x2 SLI? I've heard yes and no on this one as well.

5. Do I need/do you suggest to get any additional chasis/nb/sb cooling? The case is very open and I have a great airflow system going with equal intake/exhaust.

6. Any other suggestions/advice you readers can provide is greatly appreciated in advance. My goal for this build is to have a stable system using 780i with 2-way SLI DDR2 on air cooling that I can enjoy for a couple years before I get the itch to build another system.


Thanks in advance!

[loonym]

I've seen several posts confirming that the multis, including halfs, do work with P07 and 45nm. The x-fi card fit's nicely in the second pci-e x1 slot with even the double slot vid cards. My answer to extra chipset cooling is my ghetto fan and bracket which you've already had the pleasure(?) of seeing.

[zillmc]

Sweet deal, one thing to note is that I'm not going to be using the card that comes with the P7N, but the Creative X-Fi Platinum Fatality Champion which is standard PCI. It needs an available PCI 2.1 slot or whatever, which I think on the P7N board is the yellow or white.

[loonym]

With a double slot cooler the vid card crowds that 1 lonely pci slot pretty tight.

[zillmc]

Yah, I'll probably go with 1 card in a blue PCIE slot and 1 card in a white PCIE slot to fit it in. I can't live without my front panel LiveDrive. I've read that some people see a drastic drop in fps or performance with this setup and most people have reported minor issues (1-3 fps) in games. I can definitely live with 1-10 less fps in games if it means I can use my livedrive =).

What im going to do is just use the soundcard that comes with the P7N and get my system up and running and do some 3dmark/prime/memtest etc benchmarking with the 2 blue pcie slots and then switch it to white and see how big the difference actually is.

[theYipster]

Zillmc,

Please read me top post for information regarding 2x SLI with a PCI Slot. It can be done, but you will need to run one of your cards in the white x16 PCI-E 1.1 slot, assuming both are dual width cards. This is because the board's only PCI slot sits below the second blue PCI-E 2.0 slot.

Some report a slight 500-700 point drop in 3DMark Scores when running SLI with one card in the PCI-E 1.1 slot, although I've seen bigger swings just by switching drivers.

[loonym]

The drop I noticed and tested was in the area of 5% or less depending on usage.

[zillmc]

Yup, thanks. I'm not super familiar with 3dMark, i probably run it 2-5 times per build the first week (which is like 10-15 times total ;])

What would drops in 3dmark score of lets say, 500-1000 points translate into gaming and FPS?

[theYipster]

depeends on the game and on other components in the system... at most, maybe 1-3fps in most games with all other things being equal.

[zillmc]

So I got the rig up and running. Posted on the first attempt w/o any issues, recognized the X3350 quad and my 1066 OCZ.

As I was installing Vista x64, it wouldn't make any progress (Expanding Files 0%) and would BSOD w/ 0x00000109 or 0x0000007E. Did that a few times and I chalked it up to some sort of filesystem or disk error. So as it was trying to expand the files I opened up a DOS prompt w/ shift-f10 and did "md windows" and it started working lol. Have nooooo clue what was going on there .

With the TRUE, Coretemp is reporting cores idling 35-40C and under load fluctuating between 44-50C.

Next steps ->

Finishing Vista 64 SP1 install
Pop in other stick of 2gb
Setup SLI in the two blue PCIEs and 3dmark/prime
Setup SLI in 1 blue 1 white and 3dmark/prime
Try to squeeze in my beloved X-Fi Platinum Fatality Champion Ed w/ LiveDrive

I'll post some results and follow up soon!

[malik22]

Hi guys I just set up my board and everything is running great I have a question though this is the fan on my thermalright 120 X
http://www.nanoxia.com/?go=fx12&cat=products&lng=de
It comes with a small fan controller but I broke it and dont have any other fan controllers so I just hooked up the fans 3pin into the mobo.How can I know at what cfm the fan is running and can I change that in the bios?

[loonym]

If it's connected to the cpu fan header on the mobo you can check it in the H/W Monitor section of bios. There is a fan control setting in that section but I haven't tested it.

[malik22]

Thx loonym the cpu header is a 4pin will it be ok cause the fan is only a 3pin.

[loonym]

As long as the yellow wire for the sensor is there I think yes.

[zillmc]

Hey guys, I'm up and running right now but I had a quick question about my temps. They seem a tad bit high for not overclocking. Check the screenshot. It's about 70-80°F in my room right now as I'm in Cali so keep that in mind. Let me know what you think. Again, I have a Stacker 830 Evo, x4 chasis Scythe SFLEX 120mms, and a TRUE. I wish I could see what my NB/SB temps are as those worry me ;/

CPU Temps

Summary:

X3350 Thermal Spec: 71°C

Idle:

MB: 41°C
CPU: 27°C
Core1: 47°C
Core2: 47°C
Core3: 44°C
Core4: 42°c

Load:

MB: 43°C
CPU: 48°C
Core1: 63°C
Core2: 62°C
Core3: 57°C
Core4: 56°C

As this is my first multi-core processor, I'm not too familiar with the expected values/limits for CPU and individual core temps. As such, I' unsure of the implications of my CPU being quite cool but the cores running ~20C hotter.

Btw, not sure why it's not displaying correctly, looks fine on my side. Could be using cmd.exe ftp to put the file or something ;]

[malik22]

As long as the yellow wire for the sensor is there I think yes.

Is there a program that will tell me what cfm its running at?

[overheat13]

I just downloaded beta bios 1.16 and P07 is it good for q6600? or P05? if P05 is better, where can i find it? i just getting the P07. thx

[theYipster]

P07 and 1.16 are better for the Q6600 than P05. I recommend avoiding P05 in general as it had issues with video card drivers.

[theYipster]

Zillmc,

Those temps do look high, but then again many have had issues with accurate 45nm temp reporting. What software are you using to monitor temps?

[overheat13]

P07 and 1.16 are better for the Q6600 than P05. I recommend avoiding P05 in general as it had issues with video card drivers.

Thx bro, soon i'll will update my bios to P07 n 1.16 bios. n trying to set similar like ur post for my quad. hope my system can get stable as ur system got. ^^ oor is it possible to get 3.8ghz stable with air cooling? i'm using Thermalright 120 ultra extreme with 2 fan from thermaltake. n for the nb n sb i'm using 1 antec spot cool, is it enough for that?

[theYipster]

It really depends, as every chip is unique when it comes to overclocking. Good luck

[zillmc]

Zillmc,

Those temps do look high, but then again many have had issues with accurate 45nm temp reporting. What software are you using to monitor temps?

I'm using Everest Ultimate 4.50 to monitor my temperatures as you can see in the screenshot above.

According to this guide posted here it looks like my temps aren't that bad: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/22...perature-guide

Scale 2: Quad
Q9x50: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping C1
Q9300: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping M1
Q6x00: Tcase Max 71c, Stepping G0

-Tcase/Tjunction-
--70--/--75--75--75--75-- Hot
--65--/--70--70--70--70-- Warm
--60--/--65--65--65--65-- Safe
--25--/--30--30--30--30-- Cool

As I have an X3350, it's equivalent is the Q9450. It looks like my temps are in the safe range according to that guide, however I'm not sure what truely is correct. My chip's thermal spec is 71C, but I'm not sure what my Tcase temp is or if its even being displayed in Everest.

[gamin]

new problem here : has anyone of you tried to install linux with this mobo ? I'm actually trying to get sound working with Ubuntu 7.10 (haven't tried 8.04 RC. waiting for the final release next week). for what I've read around, there are many problems getting X-Fi sound cards to work under linux. already tried the latest creative beta drivers that appeared yesterday on their website, but no way to get the card recognized. also tried alsa 1.0.16 and oss 4, but still no luck.

any help greatly appreciated...