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

[loonym]

I don't remember which bios it was but early on with this board there was one that would not let me run any nvidia graphics driver if I had the 9600gt cards on board. It was very odd but a bios fixed it. I would say that you are on the right track Fiskbit and I certainly hope you can finally get some relief from mobo issues. I know how frustrating it can be (I'm playing with that &?#%! 790i ) My limited understanding of fsb term is that it should never be set higher than vcore and that when correctly dialed in, in combination with the gtl ref which is linked to it, goes a long way toward being able to stabilize at lower volts. It's a useful but delicate setting but I don't think this board offers the kind of fine tuning options as some of the more popular and visible overclockers. I'm trying to learn more about it but it seems that the info I find is either so technical that my eyes glaze over or so over simplified that it's useless.

[Fiskbit]

After I've run Prime95 for a while, I'll try flashing to the newest BIOS and also dropping my FSB term and CPU GTL Ref settings. Right now, both my CPU vCore and FSB Term are 1.225. I wasn't aware of the fact that FSB term should be no higher than vCore. Should I be taking vdroop into account at all? According to CPU-Z, my vCore is at 1.160v to 1.168v, which seems very low.

What 790i board are you using? The P7N2?

[AaronYuri]

New beta BIOS v1.2B3: http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=115073 | No change log, don't ask me for one.

Enjoy!

[BababooeyHTJ]

Is it possible for your my pci frequency to mess with your sound card? I get some audio distortion. Should I try moving my sound card to the bottom pci-e slot?

[Fiskbit]

Could you elaborate on 'audio distortion'? I've noticed occasional crackling that I attribute to the subpar sound card that came with this board and its poor drivers. I also get crackling when starting up MemSet, but I think that's just with that one program.


I've refined my settings to 1.25v NB, 0.83v CPU GTL Ref, and 1.219v FSB Term for 1333 FSB and 666 RAM, and everything else on Auto. Been running Prime95 for a while with no errors. I had an error at one point after exiting the BIOS without saving while using these settings, so I imagine I might have to bump something up a little bit eventually. Not really sure what to expect, though. At the very least, there've been no random reboots yet, but it's still way too early to tell.

I might try tightening my RAM to 1T from 2T and see how it fairs. I've had really good luck with RAM settings so far, it seems; it's 4-4-4-12 2T at 1.9v and seems to have some pretty good values elsewhere, such as 43 tRFC. From what I've seen up to now, I'd happily recommend this RAM to anyone.

[BababooeyHTJ]

I replaced the sound card that came with this board with a xonar dx. I occasionaly get crackling but Ive mostly noticed some faint buzzing. Its very annoying.

[BababooeyHTJ]

I am trying to dial in on the optimal voltage on my southbridge because of my raid array. Is there any dangers in setting it too high? I have it set at 1.65 now. I might try to go higher my cpu useage in everest disk benchmark is a little high. Could that be because the raid array is software driven?

[malik22]

Hi guys I posted a couple of pages back on how I had cold boot issues with all the latest bioses ocing was fine but starting the pc when it was shutoff I would have to clear cmos everytime I think I missed a setting the Dram/Pci frequency does it need to be disabled?

[AaronYuri]

You can have it enabled or disabled. Doesn't make much of a difference...

[BababooeyHTJ]

There is a new offical bios 1.2. Has anyone tried this out?

[loonym]

There is a new offical bios 1.2. Has anyone tried this out?

I haven't yet but thanks for the heads up. I'm liking the beta 123

[AaronYuri]

Judging by how fast the official 1.2 was released, the 1.2 official may just be a re-numbered 1.2B3.

If anyone posts any info on a change log, it will be Jack.

[loonym]

Judging by how fast the official 1.2 was released, the 1.2 official may just be a re-numbered 1.2B3.

That was my thought too Aaron.

[BababooeyHTJ]

I haven't yet but thanks for the heads up. I'm liking the beta 123

Better than the 1.2b1? I have had good luck with that.

[loonym]

An email today from MSI sales confirms there will be no P7N2 Diamond release for North America.

[AaronYuri]

An email today from MSI sales confirms there will be no P7N2 Diamond release for North America.

If that's true, then NVIDIA's chipsets are a dying(/dead) breed...

[theYipster]

If that's true, then NVIDIA's chipsets are a dying(/dead) breed...

Very true. If Intel's upcoming x58 chipset for Nehelem support SLI, then what need is there for a high end nVidia chipset?

[loonym]

I could see the writing on the wall when it became available in Europe and Asia/Aus. I was trying to hit them up for a sample, I know they must have a few kicking around. Even one just to try for a couple weeks would be cool.

[wolf1974]

Hey Loonym. I Also Was Having Great Results With Beta .123 I Am Now Testing The New Official Release And All Seems Good The Only Thing I Have Noticed Right Away Is No Half Multi For My Qx 9650 But I Am Still Only Using 9x With 1700 Fsb ,,fsb Term 1.313 N/b 1.4 S/b Auto Dram 2.10 5-4-4-15-22-2t,and Occt Stable After 1 Hour And I Am Now Running Prime Over Nite, But For Some Reason With P07 I Can Up My Multi And Be Stable "and Game" Every Other Bios Will Give Me Cold Boots Randomly And A Wierd Surging In 3d Aps During Game Load Then The Game Will Crash But Not The Os??? So I Have Been Limited To Fsb Overclocking,so For Now I Have Waisted My Money On A Cpu That I Can Not Up The Multi On This Board And Game With But It Will Pass 3dmark06 No Problem But No Games??? Got Any Suggestions??? I Realy Want To Stay With This Board But 1050.00 Us Dollers For A Cpu That I Cant Up The Multi Is Killing Me, Oh And I Would Of Just Stayed With P07 But It Also Gave Me Cold Boots And Random Hard Lock Ups ??????????

[malik22]

Dam ever since I flashed to the 1.2b2 I have tried 1.2b1 and B3 P07 but I always have cold boot issues I have to clear cmos everytime my oce doesnt stick but If I set my oce after cmos is cleared I can boot into windows play for countless hours reboot as many times as I want and theres no problems.I have tried taking everything apart that didnt help booted with one gpu same problem removed dvdr everything usb still same problem memtest ran all night with my oce and so did prime so I have no clue why I cant cold boot anymore I was using one of the first beta bios before I flashed to the 1.2b2 dont remember which one but its not on the msi forums anymore anyway.

My Specs
P7N
8800gtxsli
Q6600@3500 thermalright ultra extreme
Antec 900
Thermaltake TP 850
Liteon DVR
2 HDD

At this point I have no clue what to do

[loonym]

I have all the bios releases for this board. If you remember which one it is I'll host it for d/l.

[AaronYuri]

I could see the writing on the wall when it became available in Europe and Asia/Aus. I was trying to hit them up for a sample, I know they must have a few kicking around. Even one just to try for a couple weeks would be cool.

I may be able to get you one. Cost a lot to import it though...

[malik22]

I have all the bios releases for this board. If you remember which one it is I'll host it for d/l.

Thx loonym i think it was the 1.1B6 hope that fixes it but its strange it happening with all thse bioses.

[loonym]

I may be able to get you one. Cost a lot to import it though...

Yeah I can order from overseas but the shipping cost is insane.

edit: malik, here's that bios. If anyone else wants any previous bios' just let me know and I'll put them up. http://lakesidepc.com/A7510NMS.116

[Overspeed]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to load the new 1B3 BIOS to my P7N. I just bought a new 32GB flash drive and loaded the BIOS onto it using the MSIHQ USB Bootable Tool. When I restart the PC, it hangs for about 15 seconds on the "Configuring USB Devices..." screen during BIOS POST. If the USB drive is not plugged in, then the PC loads fast as normal. Eventually, it gets past that hung screen and I press F11. The USB key is not listed. I used to use a standard SD card with a USB adapter and that worked fine. Any thoughts on why this new dedicated USB isn't being recognized by the BIOS? Also if this is in any way relevant, if the new USB key is plugged in while Windows Vista loads, it cannot start the device. I get an error message saying that the device was found but could not be started. Then ... if I unplug the USB key and plug it back in, it works fine. Does the file system have to be of certain type to be bootable? Vista will only allow me to format it as FAT32/NTFS/exFAT. Your thoughts r appreciated.

P.S. I lost my other SD > USB adapter, thats why I bought a real USB drive.