MSI 845G Max

[CoolBlue]

Although this is kinda old, I would like to ask the question since I have this board and am trying to do some troubleshooting on it as far as my overclocking problems. Is there software that can tell me the actual speed of my pci and agp bus? If so, where can i get it and then i can do some experimenting and post the results as to whether this board automatically locks the buses.

 

[Silhouette1034]

Thank god I found somebody talking about this motherboard. I just brought two of these motherboards and I have a few problems with them. I noticed that somebody mentioned that they can't change their ram frequency to 333 and I have the exact same problem. Here's a summary of the issues I have with this board. If you are wondering, I brought both board from Newegg.com as well just two days ago.... Both have the same problems.

1. I can't change the dram frequency to 333 even though it states in the manuel that I can. Only option their bios offer is 200, 266, and auto. Reviews on website like Hardocp.com was able to change the frequency to 333 (they mentioned this as well as posted a screenshot.) I updated the bios and everything trying to get this to change but no luck so far.

2. Front side bus error. I would try to overclocked my cpu by changing the front side bus from its default of 100 but there is no effect. For example, I set the front side bus to 150, it would post 2.70ghz (1.8 X 150) and runs window fine but wcpuid and Msi's own WMInfo which tells you what your cpu is running at both stated that the front side bus is still 100 and cpu is running at 1.8ghz. Frustrating as hell.

Edit. 3. After messing around a bit, I installed Fuzzylogic 4 from Msi, live update. I was able to change the FSB now but Fuzzy logic doesn't affect the bios setting... It appears that if I want to overclock, I have to open up fuzzy logic and tell it to overclock EACH time I reboot.

After some more experimentation, if I set the FSB low, ie, 100-130, sometimes it will overclock and sometimes it will just ignore my setting and boots into windows using 100 FSB. That's annoying as hell. I don't want to boot all the way into windows and having to check wcpuid to make sure I am really overclocked. To top all this off, when I set the FSB too high, it would freeze until I reset CMOS.

Here is my configuration

MSI 845G Max-L Motherboard (6580) 533 Mhz rated.
Intel P4 1.8A 512 cache Northwood.
2 X Mushkin 256 DDR3000 rams.
Gainward Geforce 4 4200ti
Maxtor 80 gig Quiet drive
Soundblaster Live 5.1

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
Silhouette

 

[xgsound]

I have one too, and there is no 333 ddr setting. I'm about to try an older bios to see what happens there.
It seems that any settings around (150 fsb at 1/1) 300 ddr crash at bios boot or windows reboot.
There is no setting for pci/agp bus speed, and 3d apps crash above 140 fsb.
corsair xms 3000 mem
1.6A
Antec 380 ps

xgsound

 

[xgsound]

I had bios 1.3 installed and have now tried v 1.2. Neither bios allowed a 333 mem setting. I intend to try older bioses until the 333 is avaliable.
System specs
MSI 845g
1.6A
ATI 8500 LE
corsair XMS3000
In 2d apps I got to 166 FSB with 1.6 volts to cpu and could loop Sandra burn in wizard, but no 3d apps and a restart would lock on "mem "during bios reload.
For stable 3d I went to 140 FSB , mem at 200 (act. 280).
It seems that not having a PCI/AGP lock is the problem, but I have heard that the 845G doesn't like the 3000 class mem?
Other peoples experiences welcome. Please comment

XGsound

 

[acejj26]

i just built a system this weekend using this board, and here are my observations:

DDR333 is NOT an option with this board. ACPI would not work. i had to disable it in the BIOS to install XP. i see that a BIOS update should solve that issue, though.

memory performance at 266, CL2 is a little lower than what i thought it would be (around 2000 MB/s for both FP and Int in Sandra). however, i was able to take PNY PC2100 over 150 MHz at CL2, which gave me better memory benches (around 2200 MB/s for both FP/Int in Sandra).

stock settings for 2266 MHz P4, 512 MB CL2 PC2100, GF4 Ti4400 yielded 9500 in 3DMark2001 SE at 10x7x32

haven't yet benched 3DMark2001 SE at 2550 (17*150). currently stress testing/burning in at this speed right now.

i think the motherboard is reporting higher temps than what it should. my basement is around 70F (23C), and with the case cover off, the mobo is reporting around 90F (33C) temps. it is also reporting idle at around 120F (48C). the system is running stable at 2550 right now, so i'm not worried about temps too much.

the network controller, when hooked up to my cable modem, could not connect to the internet. it was sending packets but not receiving them. i'm not sure what is wrong here. anyone have any ideas?

i cannot get the front USB ports functioning. i will look at the pinouts tonight, but i thought i had them set up properly. i will update this post tonight when i test some more.

in all, this is a nice board, and the manual helped me out when assembling the PC (this is my first P4 build). but i wish it would have been shipped with the updated BIOS, that DDR333 support would be included, and that the memory performance would be increased. other than that, this is a pretty nice board.

 

[Larc]

I could be missing something here, but all this talk about DDR333 has me a bit confused. The Intel 845G chip on this mb isn't shown to support that. Intel claims the chip supports SDRAM PC133 and DDR200/266 only.

 

[acejj26]

ok, everything is installed, and here are my final observations:

updating to the 1.40 bios allows for XP to properly install the USB 2.0 drivers. however, it does not give the DDR333 option (although it clearly shows on the bios that it should be a selection).

temps are still higher than what i was expecting, but the system has managed to stay incredibly stable at 2550 MHz, so i'm not gonna complain. i'm putting arctic silver on tonight as i completely finish the install and get it ready to ship out to the customer.

the network controller works perfectly. it was the fault of my cable company, not the onboard Intel network controller.

front usb ports still don't work properly. oh well. i'll live with the four ports on the back.

ACPI works with the new bios, as well.

in all, a good learning experience, since this was my first P4 build. the heatsink mechanism was too easy. i'm used to using a flat head screwdriver and worrying about crushing the core or slipping with the screwdriver and destroying the motherboard. not with the P4. good job intel on designing an idiot proof heatsink mounting mechanism.

 

[HDoofus]

I have a theory about the ddr333 setting, which is to be found in this post over at Ars (I am HipsterDoofus there).

I, too, am in quite desperate need of something besides Sandra that will report pci/agp speed. Someone's gotta know one. I do quite strongly suspect that it's just permanently locked, or perhaps different dividers kick in a certain bus speeds. Say, it switches from 1/3-2/3 to 1/4-1/2 when you get to 124fsb. I don't know about that, though, since I don't think there can be a 1/5 pci divider with the 845G, so you'd be at 41.5 PCI at 166fsb (!). I also suspect it's just locked for another reason: I also have an Abit BG7 here, and I've observed that with pci/agp locked, Sandra won't report it no matter what bus speed, but it will report it when you just run it at 100fsb and 1/3-1/2. Whereas in the MSI, Sandra won't report it no matter what.