MSI 815E Pro - Old Thread Lost - Lessons Learned

[snuggy]

The old thread was well on its way to classic status...

then it "went away". I think a lot of tweakers...and a lot of newbies gained a little knowledge living that thread. It should have been allowed to GROW!!!

Lessons learned - since the old thread...

I have been tweaking this sweet board for awhile now - to me it's fun and keeps me pleasantly occupied. In recent weeks, I have tried every possible combination of video drivers (migrated from Vanta to Radeon), Intel ATA drivers, etc. Every time I wanted to evaluate a new combination, I usually did a clean install of Win ME and benchmarked everything again for a new "baseline" - overkill? YES; definitive? YES.

I'm sharing this today because I heard the MSI version 1.3 bios was available. Well, I tried it. With my version of the board (probably the very first), 1.3 will NOT allow voltage adjustments - that's why I had stayed with 1.0 in the first place. However, I did remember to jot down a few benchmarks (Sandra) after the 1.3 upgrade and then did them again after flashing back to 1.0.

1.3 - CPU 2570/1248 MM 2920/3888 Memory 390/453 Disk 15,826
1.0 - CPU 2571/1249 MM 2921/3888 Memory 389/451 Disk 20,264

Hmmm...and I can tweak voltage again. I'm fortunate - I can run my 700@933 at 1.60 (PC Health), 1.65 in Bios Voltage section (like a lot of you, the adjustment is 0.05 higher than the actual). If I couldn't...someday soon I may want to try higher...for fun.

For those of you confused about the Intel ATA driver thing, I can only say that my personal experience is that the Intel driver on the MSI CD is the fastest!.

So, for those new MSI 815E Pro board owners who may be frustrated at first, be patient. Step through installation slowly, load the Intel driver from the CD. If bios version 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 won't allow you to adjust your voltage - go to:

http://www.msi.com.tw/support/index.htm and try version 1.0 (follow all instructions - download 1.3 at the same time - prepare a floppy for each bios version to cover your a@@).

This board always has and always will ROCK!!!

snuggy

 

[nino]

Hi Snuggy,
Are you saying that the 1.0 bios version will give you 33% increase in disk scores alone? That's incredibly high. Might it be something else. I am running version 1.3 now and if this is true then I may head back to 1.0. How can MSI create a BIOS revision that results in much worse disk performance?
Any ideas?
Nino

 

[snuggy]

nino,

I didn't attempt to totally isolate anything yesterday regarding the disk scores. I had simply remembered to take a couple of quick notes on the 1.3 scores before I went back to 1.0. Since I was not going to give up voltage tweaks on my board, 1.3 was history for me. As mentioned, over the past 3 to 4 weeks, I have done a TON of benchmarking using different drivers and combinations of drivers - I hope to tabulate them all this week. The Sandra scores were taken and jotted down because they are so quick and easy to get. Other benching scores to be tabulated include HD Tach (11.2/58.4 after reinstalling 1.0)and Winbench 99. The disk scores included variables such as ATA 33 vs ATA 66 cables, different drivers, different virtual memory settings, cas 3 vs. cas 2, etc. Since I was changing out/around a lot of stuff, I decided to make it a "comparison" project and attempted to print most of the results - did so much fdisk/format work, didn't attempt to save files.

It is important to remember that the results, including the failure of version 1.3 and the increased disk scores, reflect failure or success on MY set-up only. I would think they would be reproducible on other systems, but you never know. My ram has been very good - Mushkin rev 1.5; ny Maxtor (20GB) has had zeros written to it so many times, it can't have any factory "slow-downs" left on it. I can't wait to see what some of the available tweaks for ME will do...if they work. XTEQ awaits!!!

I will keep you guys posted. If I get gutsy, I may install the Intel ATA driver released a couple of days ago - maybe tonight.

snuggy

 

[nino]

Cool, I'll be interested in your results.
Nino

 

[Raincity]

what up with this not being able to adjust the vcore. I set mine to 1.80 to really get 1.75 and its at 1.75 acording to the winbond monitor chipset. What cpu are you trying and what type of slocket are using if its a slot 1 cpu.

Rain

 

[snuggy]

Rain,

Nothing has changed - same old PIII-700 cBo @933 that I have been running since day 1. I flashed to 1.3 yesterday when I hadn't heard back from you. I couldn't believe it when I couldn't get the bios to maintain the entered change - I figured if you had upgraded to 1.3 and kept it that 1.3 was working for you. I did not notice any other impact other than the voltage reverting to default.

 

[Raincity]

Well I stumped then. I dont know why the voltage adjustment works for me and not you. This is very strange indeed. Is there any other users right now using 1.3 having this same problem or is the vcore adjustment working for you also. Lets unravel another mystery behind this vcore bios bug.

Rain

 

[Raincity]

I also forgot to add my advice on the Intel Ata storage drivers.DONT MESS WITH THEM unless you want to add to the list of these poor souls who cant get any burning programs to work in Win2k or the others that noticed a performance decrease in Win98 and winme. Intel forums

Rain

 

[nino]

Running 1.3 right now and I have voltage control. I wish that somebody knew why varying versions of the bios work for various boards.

 

[snuggy]

nino,

If 1.3 is working for you, stay with it. I second what Rain is saying regarding the new ATA drivers. As stated previously, I have benched them all except for the newest (iie_260_001). I had considered trying it tonight, but I am smokin' with the driver from the MSI CD as I stated.
I will probably leave here and try the 1.3 right now - only takes 20 minutes to attempt and switch back if needed. Version 1.0 has a few quirks I would like to leave behind, but I want to OC a little higher soon. Be back in a bit...

snuggy

 

[snuggy]

Should have known better...

Tried 1.3 again - twice! No go. Now my disk scores are down around 11,000 - no idea what the deal is now. Have nothing to lose, I'm going to try the new ATA...

 

[snuggy]

Beginning to think that the Sandra disk test is quirky. Scoring around 11K on it now. HD tach scores at 10.9/58.9 - guess I'll have to wait for time to use Winbench 99 again and compare past results.

What I thought was the new Intel ATA was only a new INF which doesn't take - WinME seems to have the latest. Running on Version 6 ATA again.

Without a doubt, I can NOT adjust voltage with 1.3, yet go back to 1.0 and everything is fine again. Doesn't make sense, Rain, unless you possibly have a newer board which doesn't seem likely.

 

[cracker099]

Hey guys I have bios version 1.3 and I can change the voltage but it doensn't do me any good because my P3 700 won't hit 933. Im begging to think its my generic(xerox?)ram, ahhh time to go to the computer shop.
Does anyone know if the Mushkin rev2 ram is fully compatable with this board.

 

[snuggy]

cracker099,

I'm using rev 1.5 and have run 933 at cas 222 since day 1, but I'm at default voltage - obviously a sweet cpu.

 

[snuggy]

Well...

I feel a little better: http://hardocp.com/reviews/mainboards/shootouts/s3vs815/index4.html

...especially since they're at 7.5x133 vs me at 7x133. All my benches are higher!

HDTach seems to be the reliable one and my fears for Sandra may hold true - but it doesn't fix my 1.3 enigma!

 

[nino]

Hey Cracker,
I'm using Micron on 3rd party board for $71/128MB and it works fantastic for me. So much better than my expensive Kingmax. I couldn't get to 933Mhz (PIII-700) w/the Kingmax but I can with this stuff. I bought 1 GB of memory today (not all mine) from Verasoft. Buy the Micron w/lifetime warranty.
Nino
I realize that many prefer the more expensive stuff but I can't afford it myself. I'm just glad that I found what works for me and I can run with it. I spoke to the owner (actually their tech support guy) and he mentioned that he gets the Micron's to run over 140Mhz and the Samsung 256MB module over 150Mhz on his cheap i815e board.

 

[cracker099]

If rev 1.5 works rev2 should work.(cross finger) Oh well here I go, I'll tell you if I could my 700 to 933.

 

[snuggy]

Way to go nino !!!