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

[AaronYuri]

Anybody else noticed inconsistent or lower than expected 3dmarks with the diamond? Ive had this board running for a few weeks now and cant match my SIIF scores. i consistently scored 19,500 with tri-sli with my striker, but with the diamond i havent been able to even hit 18,500. Same issues with 3dmark vantage. I was hitting 20k with the physics drivers with the asus and cant break 18,500 with the diamond. On 3dmark06 i always pay close attention to the very first framerates that pop up on the first test, i could normally come close to guessing final score by the first couple of numbers. On the striker i would get 120-130 fps on the first couple of frames, but with the diamond i get 100-110. Another strange issue is if i change the resolution to 1920x1200 i get a couple of frames higher than @ the default 1280x1024. I wonder if it has anything to do with the diamonds SLI bridge(s)? The striker has 1 solid 3-card bridge. The Diamond u have the single bridges.

Diamond: [IMGhttp://img297.imageshack.us/img297/8817/capturevo6.jpg[/IMG] Striker: [IMGhttp://xtreview.com/images/mio%203%20way%20sli%20bridge%209800%20GT.jpg[/IMG]

You could try using the Striker's SLI bridge. If the score doesn't come back, then try some different drivers. If drivers don't work, I'll see if there is some tri-SLI problem with the P7N.

[nugzo]

You could try using the Striker's SLI bridge. If the score doesn't come back, then try some different drivers. If drivers don't work, I'll see if there is some tri-SLI problem with the P7N.

Cant use the striker bridge or else i would have from the beginning. Theres an extra slot between the first 2 cards with the P7N. Since my earlier post i swaped motherboards and re-installed vista. As expected my scores returned to what i remembered. Now i will take the Striker bridge off and use the 3 msi bridges. I did use the X-fi that came with the P7N though. I had to cut the corner off of the PCB with a dremel to make it clear the NB, but it works and sounds better than the asus solution. Changing bridges now and will post back in a few.

[nugzo]

Its not the bridge. This screenshot is the with the MSI bridges on the Striker. The striker is definitely faster than the Diamond. Both b3nchmarks were ran using the specs in my sig. Well actually the MSI was was runing at 4208mhz instead of 4200.