MSI K8N Neo4 nForce4 Ultra Socket 939

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: GeezerMan

Originally posted by: nyker96
Fear baby fear, it is awesome!

lol, just noticed blck said "I'll be upgrading my dad ..." ya, is your dad the upgraded v2.0 now? Just in time for Xmas ! An upgraded dad is the best gift for the holidays!

I would like to upgrade a certain blonde I know to do some cooking around here.

lol, yeah yeah

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
Well I'm looking at picking up the FX-55 over on Newegg that comes as a package deal with the 250gb Seagate SATA drive. I couldn't justify $200 bucks for just the chip, but the chip and a drive I can justify. I could always sell the drive if I find I'm not going to use it. The one over FSFT got snatched up before I could get to it.
So now I'm looking at heatsinks and memory. What are you guys using for an hsf? As far as memory goes, I'm not going to get the super duper overclocker memory. I don't do much overclocking, I've found the value ram to work just as well for my purposes and I'm trying to keep the costs of the upgrade down. So as far as memory goes, what's a good cheap 2gb dual channel kit that you guys would recommend? Looking on Newegg I've been looking at the G.Skill and A-Data(both of which I've never used before) and the more expensive Kingston value ram. Any recommendations welcome.

Nice cooler, decent price...

I have used Geil in the past without issue, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.

Nat

*Sorry about that, I have also used G. Skill without issue. I would just get the cheapest DDR400 you can, CAS 2.5 or 2 is better but not worth more than a 10% premium IMHO.

 

[GeezerMan]

I like the AMD Heatpipe HSF that got good reviews. As long as you don't want to overclock a bumch, it should do a good job. It comes for free in the retail boxed X2 CPU, 4400 and above. Maybe the retail boxed FX-55 already has it included? It's 20.00 more for the retail box.

 

[AMCRambler]

I just remembered I've got a heatsink I bought a ways back by accident that will fit this socket. I'm not sure if it will handle the FX-55 though. It's a Kingwin K8CU-8025. They don't even list it on their site anymore though. I'll have to do some searching around to see what it's rated to handle.

Edit: Found a LINK to it on their site. Still doesn't say if it will handle the FX-55. Hmmmm...

Fan speed is only 3000rpms so it might be a little week. I've also got some spare 5500rpm Sanyo Denki 80mm fans. Maybe I could bolt one of those on to get some better cooling.

 

[Lurker1]

Originally posted by: LeonarD26
Just an update... Got my Opteron 165 running on this board. No problems with installation at all. It's overclocked at 250HTT and is prime stable. I bumped the memory down a bit though. I'll probably leave it as is until I have some more time for some serious overclocking. I paired this with a 7900gs and it screams through games.

Way cool - I'm ready to plug in my 7900gs into this board as well. The BB deal was awesome - $142 incl tax out the door! I have a 3800+ X2 ready to drop in, not as nice as that 165, but good enough.

I've got 2 sticks of 1GB DDR 400 Patriot RAM, which should be able to handle what I'm going to throw at them.

 

[imported_maildude]

Originally posted by: GeezerMan
I like the AMD Heatpipe HSF that got good reviews. As long as you don't want to overclock a bumch, it should do a good job. It comes for free in the retail boxed X2 CPU, 4400 and above. Maybe the retail boxed FX-55 already has it included? It's 20.00 more for the retail box.

Good cooler....you can get one here.
http://www.heatsinkoutlet.com/

 

[GeezerMan]

Say, what kind of overclock could one expect to get with the Opteron 165, and a 1GB stick of fairly cheap PQI Turbo ram, timings of 3 4 4 8, in this board ? I see some previous posts about success with the 165. Is this ram gonna hold it back?

If, and I do mean if, I did this just for fun on this board, it would be my first overclock. I keep saying I'm gonna venture into the OC world, not that I really need it mind you, kinda like having a 600HP corvette in a crowded city. I guess I should just do it as a learning experience...............:shocked:


Link for ram

 

[Lurker1]

I don't know about the OC, but with some care, 300 HTT looks possible (50%). 250 HTT seems standard, which is 25%.

 

[JoeyM]

Is anyone having problems connecting to the internet with this board? I'm using Windows XP Media Edition and I want to use live update. Did people have to flash the bios before they could connect?

 

[LeonarD26]

Make sure you have the Nforce chipset drivers installed. Part of that is the ethernet driver for this board...

 

[GeezerMan]

Originally posted by: JoeyM
Is anyone having problems connecting to the internet with this board? I'm using Windows XP Media Edition and I want to use live update. Did people have to flash the bios before they could connect?

We connected just fine, but we had to load the drivers for the Lan first. I used a driver CD from my old Asus board since they use the same chipset. It worked fine.

 

[GeezerMan]

Originally posted by: LeonarD26
Make sure you have the Nforce chipset drivers installed. Part of that is the ethernet driver for this board...

Say Leonard26, did you get your Opteron 165 going OK in this board? or I am thinking of someone else?

 

[JoeyM]

Originally posted by: LeonarD26
Make sure you have the Nforce chipset drivers installed. Part of that is the ethernet driver for this board...

I can't burn the downloaded drivers onto CD for some reason!
I downloaded the drivers from both Nvidia and MSI and I was unable to burn either download . I tried two different computers and 3 different burners. The burn goes well until the last step when it gets hung up at the "making CD ready to be used" stage. Can someone help me find a way to burn the drivers onto a CD that I can then use in my new machine?

Thanks,

Joey M.

 

[GeezerMan]

How about just loading the drivers onto a second IDE or SATA drive using another PC, then install it into the new PC? I know, long way around the problem..

 

[JoeyM]

Thanks Geezer. I'm an idiot. I forgot that the last computer I built had an Nforce4 motherboard. I don't have the computer but I do still have the driver disc. It worked perfectly and now I'm writing from my new toy.

Joey M.

 

[Lurker1]

Got the board, got it installed and flashed (what a pita - no floppy and a quirky Plextor that won't recognize CDR??? WTF?) and I'm up and running. Looks good so far, still loading drivers. Looks like a smokin deal though.

Oh, and Geeks definitely could use a lesson in packing these.... Geez, I've had boards bought on ebay sent better packaged than this.

 

[LeonarD26]

Originally posted by: GeezerMan

Originally posted by: LeonarD26
Make sure you have the Nforce chipset drivers installed. Part of that is the ethernet driver for this board...

Say Leonard26, did you get your Opteron 165 going OK in this board? or I am thinking of someone else?

The Opteron 165 is running great. I'm running at 250HTT with my memory clocked down to 166mhz since it's not high end memory. It's been prime stable and hasn't crashed on me at all. Once I have some time, I plan to overclocking this more.

My 7900GS is also running well and I plan on ordering a harddrive today..... just need to figure out what's the best deal for me today.

 

[blckgrffn]

My opteron 165 is also running great on this board, 240 htt with 4x mutli and DRAM set to 166 mhz right out the box. I'll push more when I go back to my parents again in a couple of weeks for an early Christmas

Nat

 

[Soyoki]

So far I have nothing bad to say about this motherboard. It was worked great, as everyone else has said already.

I am currently running an Opteron 165 at 250 FSB with a HTT of 4x, 2Gb (Patriot PDC2G4000ELK - 2 x 1Gb) RAM is set to 200 Mhz at 3.0-3-3-6 (actually runs at 250 Mhz, BIOS reading is misleading). The board was able to detect the Opteron 165 with the correct timings with the BIOS version it came with, and a BIOS update was quick an easy. (Since I had bought 2 boards, tried both windows and CD - both worked fine)

My only real concern is finding a temperature monitoring program that will work flawlessly with it. After so many years with MBM, it's hard to find something as suitable.

 

[SithSolo1]

Originally posted by: Soyoki
I am currently running an Opteron 165 at 250 FSB with a HTT of 4x, 2Gb (Patriot PDC2G4000ELK - 2 x 1Gb) RAM is set to 200 Mhz at 3.0-3-3-6 (actually runs at 250 Mhz, BIOS reading is misleading).

This confused me too but someone earlier set me straight. The numbers in the memory section(133,166,200,233,250, etc) are actually memory dividers. 200mhz = 1:1, 250mhz = 5:4

Explination

 

[kenton]

I received my Opteron 165 from newegg about a week ago. It's a CCBBE (!) stepping, week 17 of 2006.

I am waiting on my $65AR TruePower Trio before I shoot for the moon, but so far I'm Dual Prime stable for 21 hours at 2200MHz (HTT244, Stock Voltage)

Shooting for 2600MHz-2800MHz. 2800 would be great because with the 133MHz divider I can keep my RAM at 200MHz (DDR400)

 

[kenton]

Sorry for double posting, my browser doesn't like to let me edit posts. (?)

Anyways, as far as temperature monitoring, I've been using SpeedFan. The +12V value it gave me with my X-Finity 500w was way too high (13+ volts, way over ATX spec) and then that PSU failed on me (I doubt it was from "13v" on the "+12v" rail because the BIOS read +12v as like 12.14 -- normal)

Anyways, on my backup PSU (Antec 350w, pre-True/SmartPower era like circa 1999 LOL) SpeedFan is reading 12.4-12.5 which is closer to being believed, but I still doubt it's accurate.

+3.3 and +5.0 are believable, though. It reads the temperature directly from the die so the CPU temp is accurate, I guessed the other realistic temperature sensor on the motherboard is the case temperature (or motherboard?)

 

[GeezerMan]

Don't tell me that. I have a X-finity 500 watt right here I was planning to use. I decided to try an Opteron 165 and this board myself. Hopefully, your X-finity was just a bad example.

 

[GeezerMan]

I know people say the CCBBE is the best, but does the day and week matter that much?

 

[vadp]

Originally posted by: GeezerMan
Don't tell me that. I have a X-finity 500 watt right here I was planning to use. I decided to try an Opteron 165 and this board myself. Hopefully, your X-finity was just a bad example.

The PSUs made by Ultra are a bad choice if you consider overclocking.