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

[XavierMaxx]

I had to do a complete reinstall of windows last night and will be looking at SLI again soon. Perhaps things will run more smoothly this time.

Sounds good, let us know. No new information for you, although I poked around SLI Zone a bit...only real cause mentioned was a CPU bottleneck. Oh well, keep truckin', a format is a clean slate.

[nugzo]

This board will now not post at all at the same settings as before. I've been playing the past 2 hrs with no luck. Posts at default settings but thats all.

Edit: Re-Flashed bios and now booting at 4200mhz again with all 3 video cards. Re-installing windows with OC'd settings on RAID array. I'll post 3d performance soon

[loonym]

LOL @nugzo... I don't know if I really called you out but I just know what this board is capable of with a little patience. Very odd it wouldn't post again with same settings nugzo until you reflashed. I can usually get by with a cmos clear if I get a no post due to bad settings. I see you're using that 1.22 beta bios. I still haven't tried it but I suppose I should. Do you suppose the original flash could have been partially corrupted? I can remember some of the old nf2 boards needed to be flashed twice for it to 'take' good, and dogg had kind of a similar problem that was solved by a reflash or 2 I think. Nice to see those numbers you're putting up with 8gb. Very nice results. Makes me wonder if the issues some have had w/8gb are related to brand and model although a couple others in this thread posted some great 8gb numbers too. I'll be looking forward to your tri-sli tests. I don't think I've seen any from this mobo yet so I'm very interested. As far as the P7N2 goes, I've been waiting all spring for it since msi added it to their website products list. So far all I've seen are a very few people with samples and not much even of that. I've emailed MSI and also a couple of their distributors and the last answer I got was mid-june which of course has come and gone. Very disappointing. I'm going to try an XFX 790i reference board for a bit until the MSI finally hits shelves.

edit: Here's a new MSI P7N2 790i review posted today at tweaktown so it must be near.
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/148...ard/index.html

[nugzo]

LOL @nugzo... I don't know if I really called you out but I just know what this board is capable of with a little patience. Very odd it wouldn't post again with same settings nugzo until you reflashed. I can usually get by with a cmos clear if I get a no post due to bad settings. I see you're using that 1.22 beta bios. I still haven't tried it but I suppose I should. Do you suppose the original flash could have been partially corrupted? I can remember some of the old nf2 boards needed to be flashed twice for it to 'take' good, and dogg had kind of a similar problem that was solved by a reflash or 2 I think. Nice to see those numbers you're putting up with 8gb. Very nice results. Makes me wonder if the issues some have had w/8gb are related to brand and model although a couple others in this thread posted some great 8gb numbers too. I'll be looking forward to your tri-sli tests. I don't think I've seen any from this mobo yet so I'm very interested. As far as the P7N2 goes, I've been waiting all spring for it since msi added it to their website products list. So far all I've seen are a very few people with samples and not much even of that. I've emailed MSI and also a couple of their distributors and the last answer I got was mid-june which of course has come and gone. Very disappointing. I'm going to try an XFX 790i reference board for a bit until the MSI finally hits shelves.

edit: Here's a new MSI P7N2 790i review posted today at tweaktown so it must be near.
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/148...ard/index.html

I give this board a so far. Tri-SLI numbers are close to the Striker II F. A couple of hundred points lower but i havent tweaked this board at all yet. It boots faster than the Striker. The USB keyboard bug sucks.. I'm using a new G15. I have a ps2 keyboard under the desk though so i can live with it for a while. Vcore is also lower for same settings but i havent stressed it for any length of time yet. I may need more voltage but dont know yet. I havent tried to push the CPU any further yet either. I wanted to see if i could get what my MAX stable on the striker was.... and i have quite easily. Video cards are OC'd to 800/1200 with fans set to 100% and they never passed 60c during 3dmark06 and vantage. It looks like there may be a Diamond Pwns Striker II thread in the near future. My Striker Pwns EVGA thread brought alot of attention to the striker, maybe its time the Diamond got a little dap. 3d mark screenies on the way!

[AaronYuri]

P7N2 Diamond will pop up when the P45 Diamond boards do (before the end of this quater/July timeframe).

Update on my results with the Q9450:

FSB mode: "Linked"
CPU vCore: +0.175000 (I think | VID is 1.1500v)
NB: 1.55v
SB: 1.525v
FSB VTT: 1.313v
PCI-E: 102MHz







Currently trying to get 450 x 8 stable. But the NB keeps giving up on me. Tried 1.6v and max ref, still not stabilizing.

I've been running these speeds for a few hours, appears stable. Still haven't hit the minimum of 3.6GHz I set in my mind. Got plenty of temperature headroom.

[Vladik]

There is no possibility to underclock on the 1.21B BIOS, is there on the official 1.1? And Nice Aaron I get about 15000 3dmarks with my E8400 at 3.8ghz. I want to underclock to minimize powerdraw while simply torrenting. But it fails to post with a lower clock or multiplier lower than 8. Can't lower Vcore at all.

[loonym]

Should automatically lower vcore and multi in certain conditions if you enable C1E and EIST

[Vladik]

You'd think but it will not even post if I lower it too far (which, isnt far)

[nugzo]

Here's some 3Dmark scores. I've been having some issues though. Twice my system has degraded to the point of no post. 3dmark scores and memory bandwidth will drop. memory read will go frm 11k to low 9k. This last episode i re-flashed bios 3 times still no post at these OC'd settings. I had to slowly up the OC until i reached theses settings, now i'm good to go. I'll play with voltages and see if i can figure it out...

[loonym]

Very impressive vantage run. I'm still really puzzled by your no-post situations. That's very odd behavior. If you hit on a cause or solution please keep us innformed.

[AaronYuri]

I also had to slowly go up the settings. Going too high, too fast, resulted in a no POST. I've experienced this on many MSI boards and have just accepted it.

Got some free time tonight, I'll try aiming for the 3.6 stable I'm looking for.

[dogg]

hi all...

loonym..
I've got a problem with P07 flash but by your recommendation I flashed with all blocks programming setting ... that worked well... since then I'm using this setting every flash and it works on first flash...

With 1.2B1 I'm able to run my RAM with CL4 and T1... So my issues are solving one by one with every bios update..

P7N2 in Czech online store with delivery in 2 days...
http://www.czechcomputer.cz/product.jsp?artno=56218

[Leeroy]

New to the site, very impressed with all the info and help !

Talking about help

I've got my Q9450 to 3.3Ghz on air so far and am having a few issues priming it, i get to about 3 - 4hrs and Vista 32bit freezes

I've been slowly upping the FSB Term and CPU GTL and it doesn't seem to be helping, didn't want to up the Volts of the CPU and NB anymore if possible.

Settings so far are

FSB Clock - 1650
DRAM - 900
CPU Ratio - 8
CPU Volts - 0.1250 (CPUZ = 1.26 idle, 1.22 load)
DRAM Volts - 2.20
NB Volts - 1.4
CPU GTL Ref Volts - 0.861 (think, will check)
NB GTL Ref Volts - 0.851
FSB Term Volts - 1.281

Everything else on Auto, all the usuals in BIOS are disabled.

OCCT's 1 hour runs fine, did multiple times, Temps with room temp of 18c get to 48c with Real Temp.

Question is do i need to keep playing with the FSB Term Volts and CPU GTL Ref Volts or am i heading in the wrong direction ???

Cheers

[loonym]

To be honest Leeroy, you may not be able to push much further without upping the vcore some more.

CPU Volts - 0.1250 (CPUZ = 1.26 idle, 1.22 load)

Very good results with that little voltage

[Leeroy]

To be honest Leeroy, you may not be able to push much further without upping the vcore some more. Very good results with that little voltage

Cheers Loonym

Guess i'll have to up the vcore a bit more to gain some Prime stability, just trying to keep the temps down

Running BIOS 1.1 and have noticed that when i up the FSB Term V, the CPU GTL Ref V goes up automatically, however if the CPU GTL Ref V is up too high it doesn't happen.
Haven't noticed this thoughout this thread so i'd thought i'd mention it.

[aelgen]

Hi guys! This is my first post and I'd love if you could help me with a few things! I'm not a complete moron(;P) but there's something that is buggin' me with my brand new computer.

I get these freakish random reboots and I'm not sure what can cause them. Although nothing seems to be wrong in prime95, memtest and Everest doesn't show anything specific either.
I've tried to swap the RAM modules and only using one.
I've tried switching to another PSU.
I've tried with another graphics card.
I've tried in all kids of operative systems and live-cd's.

But nothing seems to help!

After a good hour of "googling" I read that it might be the motherboard that doesn't set the voltages right. So. Here I am, trying to figure out how to flash my BIOS with the new beta version available on MSI's forum (that I read in the first post in this thread). I tried to flash with my USB memory stick, but I get a message telling me that the partitions are faulty. Is there any way I might flash with a floppy disk instead?! I know how to make a start-disk but where do I put the BIOS? :o

Please, I'm kinda desperate for help here! Is there someone that has had the exact(or same) problem that I have? And do you have a solution?! : (



My specs are:

Motherboard: MSI P7N Diamond, nForce-780i
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
RAM: Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF Dominator 2x2048MB (with the fan)
GFX: XFX GeForce 9800GTX 740M 512MB XXX
PSU: CORSAIR TX 750W (ought to give my system more than enough power!)
HDD: Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000rpm 16MB cache

Also: I'm sorry for my typing, I'm Swedish so there's probably a few errors.

[Leeroy]

I flashed my BIOS to Official 1.1 with a Floppy, put the BIOS stuff on one floppy and used a boot disk to startup, swapped floppies and flashed the BIOS

Not the recommended way but it worked

[>|S|<blaster]

Hi Peeps !!

Does anyone have any 4GHZ settings for a Q6600 yet ?

I can be at 3.6 ghz all day but struggle to go any higher, i have had a 3.78GHZ but it wouldnt pass prime testing

im running aQ6600 @ 3.6 at 1800 x 8 vcore +.235 on bios with a 1.250 vid
1.475 NB 1.55 SB FSB term .879 v...

Im getting some really good 3dmark 06 scores 18500 with two 8800GT in SLI and prime is stable for like ever !!! ( Im saving for two 280 GTX`s) that should kick ass !!

Also does anyone have the new dtek fusion V2 ?? im gettin some weird readings for the temps, ihave two cores running 6-7 deg C higher than the other...is this ok?? or am i gonna fry something ????

[loonym]

I flash with a floppy drive too. Just the way Leeroy described it.Boot with one disk, flash util and bios on a second disk. aelgen, I have had random reboot issues early on with this board but that was all several bios releases ago and I haven't even thought about it for at least 2-3 months. Are you certain you have correct ram timings and voltage? Some ram won't stabilize with 1T command rate and there are a couple bios' for this board that set that as default.
>|S|<blaster, nice that you're finding that easy 3.6ghz oc with your quad, that's as it should be 4ghz is a lofty goal and I hope you achieve it. Personally I'm not willing to pump the volts into my cpus that I know is needed to run like that 24/7, although on good water I might be a bit more daring. I routinely run 4ghz+ for benching fun whether it be on the x3360/q9550 or the q6600's but stabilizing for daily operation at those frequencies is something I haven't tried with my modest air cooling. It's not out of the ordinary for 1 or more cores to run at different temps from the others. I see it all the time on my setups and there are people that report cores that vary as much as 10c. At first I didn't like it but now I simply ignore it as an intel quirk. For awhile I carefully calibrated realtemp to average the temps out but now I don't even bother with that although it works well.

[>|S|<blaster]

LoonyM....

This may sound daft but if i have the 4 pin power cable in at the moment for 12v and i have the 8 pin cable available, would it be better to use that one and if so what differance does it make ????

[loonym]

By all means use the 8pin if it's available to you. I'm quite certain that power socket supplies the cpu socket exclusively so you may find it easier to stabilize using the 8 vs 4pin.

[aelgen]

I flash with a floppy drive too. Just the way Leeroy described it.Boot with one disk, flash util and bios on a second disk. aelgen, I have had random reboot issues early on with this board but that was all several bios releases ago and I haven't even thought about it for at least 2-3 months. Are you certain you have correct ram timings and voltage? Some ram won't stabilize with 1T command rate and there are a couple bios' for this board that set that as default.

I still have BIOS 1.0.. and everything is at default (auto) settings. I have no clue what ram timings I should have. The voltages listed on Corsair's web page says 2,20 V. But I have the default value of 1,80 V. (I think)

Would it be safer to up the voltages a bit or do you recommend that I flash bios to the latest beta? (would also be great if someone can link to some flash-utility with a brief explanation how I should go about doing it! :p)


Thanks for the response.

[crucial33]

Hi, my first post here. Just so as you know, the P7N2 Diamond is now available in the u.k. I was at a computer fair on 29.06.08 in Woking, and the guy's there had 2 of them on there table. I could tell you who had them, but i dont want to infringe any sort of advertising rules, (especially on my first post), but feel free to PM if you want to know who has them.However, im pretty sure they will be everywhere in the next few days. The board looks very clean, and according to the retailer i spoke to, "has all the features of the striker extreme, with none of the problems!", thats what he told me anyway. I nearly bought the thing, but was really after the striker extreme myself, but im now wondering if this board would be a great alternative. Just thought i'd post a heads up for you anyway, and i hope it helps.

[theYipster]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of participation recently. Other parts of my life have taken over atm and I've had very little time to tweak or otherwise enjoy this hobby of mine. As the originator of this thread, I do want to point out however that messages should stay related to the original P7N Diamond. The P7N2 is based on a different chipset with different characteristics and will likely contain a different BIOS. The information we've compiled in this thread about the 780i P7N is fantastic, but it can easily become confused with information from another board (as if the P7N wasn't confusing enough.) When the P7N2 becomes widely available, I'm sure a similar thread will be started on XS dedicated to that particular board (if one hasn't already.)

Thanks!

[panheimer]

Hi, i didn't played with this board for the whoole weekend as i've sold the dfi mobo and the q6600. I've just putted a q6700 on this mobo and have some strange issue. First of all i've cleared cmos with the apposite button, and entered bios to set everything at default, f10, saved and waited win to boot and...the system restarted!
Cleared cmos again, checked all parameters and restarted win again...another reset...what's wrong with it?
As i've heard somebody else having problems with default settings, i tried one the latest stable config found for the q6600 with this board, nothing special, just the first oc settings i've found stable (bios 1.2b1):
CPU Multi X9, FSB 1360, RAM 680, NB 1.225, CPU GTL 0.833, FSB 1.250v and a little bump of +0.025 on the CPU just to give some margin. Saved bios, passed POST and started loading windows...and another reset!
But this time i've noticed that while i've setted a x9 multi in bios, during post it displayed a x10, so i've ended with a 3.4 Ghz oc instead of a 3.06 Ghz!
Entered bios again and checked againg: x9. Saved and restarted and x10 again! What's wrong? Tried even to change to x8 and saved, but after restart the same x10 was displayed during POST.
So: is it a bios bug? Can't change multi with a q6700?