The *Official* MSI K8NGM2-FID GeForce 6150 Motherboard Thread

[Olive Yew]

In BIOS 3.2 you lose the ability to set your CPU multiplier in the Cell Menu, which means you can no longer use the workaround to get +.05 Vcore. So this BIOS is not for me, I've gone back to 3.13 already.

 

[Raydur]

Originally posted by: Olive Yew
In BIOS 3.2 you lose the ability to set your CPU multiplier in the Cell Menu, which means you can no longer use the workaround to get +.05 Vcore. So this BIOS is not for me, I've gone back to 3.13 already.

How do you get the additional +.05 vcore??

 

[Artanis]

PC Alert4 reports the same temperatures and voltages. And no, there is no Vcore adjustment...

 

[Olive Yew]

Originally posted by: RaydurHow do you get the additional +.05 vcore??

If you set your CPU multiplier manually in the Cell Menu (as opposed to leaving it on auto), you'll get that +0.05 Vcore.

 

[pctwo]

aeroguy: have you tried pricegrabber.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getp...hp?masterid=14985815&search=k8ngm2-fid

lowest price for me is yesmicro, 2 in stock.

 

[renethx]

+0.05 voltage boost appears only when Cool'n'Quiet is disabled.

 

[aeroguy]

Originally posted by: pctwo
aeroguy: have you tried pricegrabber.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getp...hp?masterid=14985815&search=k8ngm2-fid

lowest price for me is yesmicro, 2 in stock.

Techonweb is the cheapest for me at ~$89, but I'm always leery of buying from places I haven't heard of. I'm getting anxious though and might just have to give it a try... I have a $1000 burning a hole in my pocket.

Thanks.

 

[pctwo]

OliveYew: with the extra +.05v, what are you running your CPU at? I can already get mine stable @2420-2440 at stock volt, so I don't know if it's worth it to up the voltage from 1.35 to 1.40 to run 2500.

I emailed MSI support to ask about adding vcore adjustment and adding back the cpu x, here's the reply::

<<<
Dear Customer,

This recommendation and implementation has requested by the processor
manufacturer which our bios team needs to follow.
>>>

So does that mean none of the MSI boards have vcore adjustment? That can't be true.

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: aeroguy
Techonweb is the cheapest for me at ~$89, but I'm always leery of buying from places I haven't heard of. I'm getting anxious though and might just have to give it a try...

I ordered from Techonweb many times. They are a good seller.

 

[renethx]

Changes in My First Post

1. Information on BIOS v3.20 was added.
2. A quick fix for the problem that the CPU multiplier does not change when running Prime95 was added.
3. Quick Overclocking Recipes > Remarks > Boosting CPU Voltage by +0.05V (BIOS v3.00 and v3.13 only) was added.

 

[Jhhnn]

MSI is just blowing smoke about the vcore stuff, pctwo. They sell several boards that have vcore adjustments.

It's called market segmentation strategy- if you want all the overclocker options, they want you to spend more for that kind of board...

Like this-

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzE0LDIsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

 

[renethx]

One user reported error in Memtest with BIOS v3.20. My system faild in Prime95 with v3.20 while it is OK with v3.00. It seems that v3.20 suffers from the same problems as v3.10.

 

[Olive Yew]

Originally posted by: pctwo
OliveYew: with the extra +.05v, what are you running your CPU at? I can already get mine stable @2420-2440 at stock volt, so I don't know if it's worth it to up the voltage from 1.35 to 1.40 to run 2500.

The difference for me between stock and +.05 Vcore is 2300mhz versus 2500mhz. So it's well worth it for me.

As for your situation, well what is the downside to +.05 Vcore? A ~4% bump in Vcore is not going to affect the life of your CPU in any remotely meaningful way. It certainly doesn't pose any risk of frying the CPU. And it'll hardly affect the thermal output of your CPU. The only real downside to it is that you lose Cool and Quiet. I could care less about shaving a dollar or two off my monthly electric bill, or keeping my CPU a few degrees cooler while idling. So it's a nonissue for me. Though if your priorities are different it might not be so easy a choice.

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: Olive Yew
The difference for me between stock and +.05 Vcore is 2300mhz versus 2500mhz.

Thanks for information. I changed my description accordingly.

 

[imported_taku]

Great board thanks

MSI K8NGM2-FID
2000 pro . sp4
xfx 6600GT antec tx 640b sp400 amd 939+3700 single layer Emprex dual layer cd dvd r/w floppy
2x120 ide maxtor corsair 2x512 3 dell 1905 FP protait mode 1024x1280
P4C800 deluxe p4 chip
2000 pro . sp4
everthing else about the same
except 4 dell 1905FP
pny 5500 dual port analog agp
and another one PCI dual port
portait mode 1024x1280
ASUS A8N VM CSM stored in the dust bin.

 

[renethx]

Good News

Finally *** The ULTIMATE Motherboard Selection Guide For New Users *** changed its Budget recommendation from ASUS A8N-VM CSM to MSI K8NGM2-FID:

My recommendations
Budget:
If you're on a STRICT budget, MSI K8NGM2-FID is my recommendation. What more can you ask for? It's got all the big features (Firewire, SATA II), and integrated graphics. What else? It's mATX, so you can squeeze it in that tiny case of yours. And heck, its a pretty decent overclocker too. Watch out though, if you're using DVI. For such a low price ($86), it's excellent.

 

[bigfootindy2k6]

Kind of a bump from my previous post - can anyone confirm that putting 4 dimms in definately decreases the speed from DDR400 to DDR333? Is this a "feature" of the chipset or just the board? Is there a way around it?

 

[R3MF]

My recommendations
Budget:
If you're on a STRICT budget, MSI K8NGM2-FID is my recommendation. What more can you ask for? It's got all the big features (Firewire, SATA II), and integrated graphics. What else? It's mATX, so you can squeeze it in that tiny case of yours. And heck, its a pretty decent overclocker too. Watch out though, if you're using DVI. For such a low price ($86), it's excellent.

what's wrong with the DVI?

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: R3MF

My recommendations
Budget:
If you're on a STRICT budget, MSI K8NGM2-FID is my recommendation. What more can you ask for? It's got all the big features (Firewire, SATA II), and integrated graphics. What else? It's mATX, so you can squeeze it in that tiny case of yours. And heck, its a pretty decent overclocker too. Watch out though, if you're using DVI. For such a low price ($86), it's excellent.

what's wrong with the DVI?

Nothing is wong with DVI. Perhpas The Pentium Guy replaced "ASUS A8N-VM CSM" with "MSI K8NGM2-FID" without changing the rest.

 

[Artanis]

I confirm Memtest96 errors with 3.2 BIOS, in spite of running fine Prime95 and SuperPI, and having no BSOD. It's sad because the temperatures were corrected in this version, but for safety I flashed back to the unofficial 3.13 version.

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: bigfootindy2k6
can anyone confirm that putting 4 dimms in definately decreases the speed from DDR400 to DDR333?

I tested it. If four DDR400 modules are inserted, then they work only as DDR333. My findings are

1. Memclock Values [Auto], [200 MHz], [183 MHz], [166 MHz] all have the same effect as Memclock Value [166 MHz]. So leave it to Auto.
2. If CMD-ADDR Timing Mode is set to [1T], the system won't POST or cannot load OS. So set it Auto (= 2T).
3. If all the memory settings are Auto, there is no problem. Overclocking works fine and if you overclock, you will eventually lower Memclock Value to 166 MHz. So this is not a real disadvantage. In my system, CPU frequency is 2360Mhz and memory frequency is 200/166 x 10 = 12, 2360MHz/12 = 196.67MHz.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: Artanis
I confirm Memtest96 errors with 3.2 BIOS, in spite of running fine Prime95 and SuperPI, and having no BSOD.

Thanks for the info.

I don't understand what incidence the BIOS can have on a memory integrity test such as memtest. To my knowledge, this test is made to check if the memory is physically OK. In the past, I have run it a couple of times, from a floppy.

So it would seem that the BIOS would cause an erroneous defective memory report in memtest...

How can the BIOS cause this to happen?

Could the problem rather be a compatibility problem between the BIOS and memtest, as there seem to be no other symptoms of defective memeory?

If someone could explain this to me, I would appreciate it.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: renethx
I tested it. If four DDR400 modules are inserted, then they work only as DDR333

Any idea of the performance penalty in a non-overclocked system?

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: BernardP
Any idea of the performance penalty in a non-overclocked system?

For a x10 multiplier system, memory frequency will be

200/166 x 10 = 12, 2000MHz/12 = 166.67MHz.

This will cause overall performance decrease, in particular for applications that heavily depend on memory bandwidth.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: renethx

Originally posted by: BernardP

Originally posted by: renethx
I tested it. If four DDR400 modules are inserted, then they work only as DDR333

Any idea of the performance penalty in a non-overclocked system?

For a x10 multiplier system, memory frequency will be

200/166 x 10 = 12, 2000MHz/12 = 166.67MHz.

This will cause overall performance decrease, in particular for applications that heavily depend on memory bandwidth.

Yes. Can a typical % of performance drop be estimated, or would it vary from 0% to 16.6% according to the memory-dependency of the application?

I am asking this because I want to go with 1 GB in my new system for now. Is it better to go for 2x512 Gb (dual channel) and suffer the memory frequency penalty *IF* I upgrade in the future.....OR.....Go with a single 1Gb stick now (and suffer the no-dual-channel penalty) AND get the dual-channel performance gain at full DDR 400 *ONLY IF* I upgrade to 2 Gb in the future?

IF...OR...AND...I am almost threading into boolean logic here