Read about OCing problems with MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum/SLI Motherboard

[yolt2430]

I was looking to buy one of these boards, as I have read numerous excellent reviews about the mobo, including a good review by Anandtech, and then I came across an excellent review by HardOCP, but at the end of the review this was added:

"We at HardOCP are sorry to report that this MSI K8N Neo4 motherboard has experienced errors in the field with overclockers. There seem to be some bugs that MSI cannot fix that are specific to this board that we never experienced in our testing. That said, we are pulling our award given, and advise you to look elsewhere should you be in the market for an enthusiast motherboard."

Now that I saw that, I don't know what to think. Should I go with the board still, or look elsewhere? Anyone have any personal experiences to share on this board? If looking elsewhere, whats a good socket 939 SLI board to get around $150.00? Any help would be much appreciated, as I was looking forward to getting this board, just wanting to make sure that this problem with OCing isn't common.

 

[imported_Kensai]

DFI UT SLI-D?

 

[yolt2430]

I'd like to find out if anyone has been having problems with this board before I look elsewhere, thanks for the suggestion though

 

[The Pentium Guy]

The DFI. MSI's a great board, especially in terms of quality and features (yet it's still a little shaky in the bios upgrades department)...but it's not meant for extreme overclockers

 

[yolt2430]

 

[yolt2430]

That's suprising, every review I've read had the MSI board hit really high OC's. The DFI UT SLI-D is the way to go in terms of overall performance? I also liked the integrated auto on the MSI board with the 24bit creative.

 

[imported_Kensai]

The DFI can provide voltages which the MSI lacks, you'll lose pretty features though. I myself prefer the MSI board for normal to mild overclocking.

 

[yolt2430]

What I am mainly looking for is a response to the quote I pasted from HardOCP. They said some people were having issues when they tried overclocking the board, as stated in this quote:

"We at HardOCP are sorry to report that this MSI K8N Neo4 motherboard has experienced errors in the field with overclockers. There seem to be some bugs that MSI cannot fix that are specific to this board that we never experienced in our testing. That said, we are pulling our award given, and advise you to look elsewhere should you be in the market for an enthusiast motherboard."

I was just wondering if anyone else has had problems? I am now reading that only people that have a winchester core are having these problems.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: yolt2430
What I am mainly looking for is a response to the quote I pasted from HardOCP. They said some people were having issues when they tried overclocking the board, as stated in this quote:

"We at HardOCP are sorry to report that this MSI K8N Neo4 motherboard has experienced errors in the field with overclockers. There seem to be some bugs that MSI cannot fix that are specific to this board that we never experienced in our testing. That said, we are pulling our award given, and advise you to look elsewhere should you be in the market for an enthusiast motherboard."

I was just wondering if anyone else has had problems? I am now reading that only people that have a winchester core are having these problems.

Never had those problems at all. I find that they're great boards and I easily recommend them to anyone but serious-extreme overclockers, to which I recommend DFI's board.

 

[yolt2430]

I've heard that the MSI board had a 4000+ OC'd to 375FSB, which I consider to be pretty good. I probably won't overclock right away, but it's always in the back of my mind. I wasn't planning on buying a sound card either, so figured the SB Live that MSI provides would do pretty well for onboard sound. Everywhere that I've read a review of the MSI board, it has been able to be OC'd pretty well.

 

[yolt2430]

Even the Anandtech review shows Overclocks to be similar to those of the DFI board, according to this link of overclock performance http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358&p=15

 

[yolt2430]

If those problems aren't common, I'll probably go with the MSI board.

 

[yolt2430]

Also, would the MSI motherboard support my crucial Ballistix RAM that requires 2.8v? I looked at the specs of the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI mobo, and it says 2.65 max? Or am I reading it wrong?

 

[imported_Vanden]

I have the k8n neo4 ultra, one of the first boards that was available. never had any problems that couldnt be fixed. Just do some reading on what drivers and bios versions work best. There is the well known 219 bug, but there are workarounds ( there is no garantee that you will actually encounter this, it seems to pop up rather at random, i never had any trouble).
I use ocz plat rev2 at 2.8 volts. No problems there. Later bios versions even support higher voltages, i'm using 1.3 however because other problems with 1.4 and 1.5, 1.6 or 1.7 should fix these.( Never just update to the latest available stuff on any board, first read around)

My winchester tops out at 2570 MHz 1.45 V, stock cooling, 24/7 stable. So oc'ing seems fine to me.

About six months have past with this board, and no complaints. I love all the options it has.

If i wanted to build a setup with the only purpose to overclock i would get a dfi. But to me oc'ing is something i do when i get a new system, find some good settings and leave it there. No crazy voltage increases and cooling solutions, i want my setup to last and be absolutely perfectly stable under any circumstances. Dont get seduced by all the extreme guys. To me it doesnt seem worth the money they trow at it. Whats the point to oc'ing when the price/performance ratio goes up.

 

[yolt2430]

Good advice, I definately don't consider myself an "extreme" overclocker, I just don't want to have a lot of problems with the mobo I end up buying. I guess if you go looking you'll find problems people have had with any board. I do want to be able to overclock my board when I feel I need a performance boost, but I also want my hardware to be able to last a long time, and not get it fried by OCing too far. Knowing me, if I get the DFI and start OCing, I will end up pushing it too far. The MSI board could prevent me from overclocking to dangerous levels by preventing me from going past 2.85v for my DRAM voltage. I'm just wanting to make sure that I won't run into any problems if I do decide to go with the MSI K8N NEO4 PLATINUM/SLI.