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

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RjG

Member
Mar 14, 2006
82
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0
akassam, turn the computer off (by the switch on the back) and hold the little red button beside the battery down for 15 seconds or so. That completely resets the bios, then you should be able to reboot and try again.
 

imported_jawgee

Junior Member
Apr 5, 2006
14
0
0
Hi folks,

I hope this isn't too off-topic, but my wife just bought this MSI motherboard for my birthday and now I'm trying to decide which CPU to get for it. I'm looking at the 3000+, 3200+, and the 3500+ (all Venice models). My current goal is to be able to play 720p files, but I'd like to be able to play back 1080p videos as it becomes more prevalent. I do have an HDTV capable of displaying 1080i and lower resolutions, but I think a 1080p set could be in my near future plans. ;) This would all be done with the onboard video of the MSI board.

So, that's my number 1 requirement. Heat ranks as my second criteria. My current HTPC (2.2GHz Celeron 478) is in a mostly enclosed area. It's functioned well for a few years now without any problem. I'm worried about how much heat the 3500+ and the 3200+ will put out. I'll be using the Zalman 7000 Al-CU CPU cooler unless someone can recommend something better in the same price range. I know the 3000+ performs well heatwise, but it seems like the other two run significantly hotter during heavy loads.

Basically, I'm trying to get away with the least amount of CPU I need to get the job done. If I can't get 1080p now with any of the CPUs I listed, then oh well. I can always upgrade to a 7600GS or whatever down the road. I've tried searching this thread, but I wasn't able to come up with any real life anecdotes on HD video playback.

Thanks!
jawgee
 

avi85

Senior member
Apr 24, 2006
988
0
0
I can't help you as far as HD video playback is concerned but your heatsink should be fine, I have the same one with a 3200+ on this board and even when I overclock it to 2300MHz it only hits 42 degrees @ load (room temperature is about 25-27 degrees)
Hope this helps a little.
 

RjG

Member
Mar 14, 2006
82
0
0
Originally posted by: jawgee
Hi folks,

I hope this isn't too off-topic, but my wife just bought this MSI motherboard for my birthday and now I'm trying to decide which CPU to get for it. I'm looking at the 3000+, 3200+, and the 3500+ (all Venice models). My current goal is to be able to play 720p files, but I'd like to be able to play back 1080p videos as it becomes more prevalent. I do have an HDTV capable of displaying 1080i and lower resolutions, but I think a 1080p set could be in my near future plans. ;) This would all be done with the onboard video of the MSI board.

So, that's my number 1 requirement. Heat ranks as my second criteria. My current HTPC (2.2GHz Celeron 478) is in a mostly enclosed area. It's functioned well for a few years now without any problem. I'm worried about how much heat the 3500+ and the 3200+ will put out. I'll be using the Zalman 7000 Al-CU CPU cooler unless someone can recommend something better in the same price range. I know the 3000+ performs well heatwise, but it seems like the other two run significantly hotter during heavy loads.

Basically, I'm trying to get away with the least amount of CPU I need to get the job done. If I can't get 1080p now with any of the CPUs I listed, then oh well. I can always upgrade to a 7600GS or whatever down the road. I've tried searching this thread, but I wasn't able to come up with any real life anecdotes on HD video playback.

Thanks!
jawgee

If you use the Nvidea Purevideo codec, 1080P is a walk in the park since it uses some very good hardware assist built into the 6150. 3200+ is plenty. If you're not in a hurry, you might want to wait a month until the 50% off CPU sale though.

As for heat, if you stick with a Venice CPU then there is very little heat to get rid of. They run very cool.
 

imported_jawgee

Junior Member
Apr 5, 2006
14
0
0
Thanks for the replies, avi85 & RjG. I guess I was worried about HD performance as I read about stuttering all the time with higher performance vid cards & more powerful CPUs over on AVSForum.

How does PureVideo affect playback performance on non-MPEG2 material like x264 videos? Maybe I'm confused as to what PureVideo assists with.:confused: Anyway, after doing some investigation on AVSForum, it would seem like I could either use PureVideo or CoreAVS for my HD playback to improve performance.

As for the heat concern, I'm was referring to what I saw for numbers posted in these CPU comparison charts:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article313-page5.html (there's another chart on page 6)

It appears that the 3000+ performs much better than the 3500+ in terms of power consumption at different states.

That's it, I've had enough...a little less talk and a lot more action. I'm gonna order me a 3200+ Venice chip right now.:)

Thanks for the suppport!
jawgee
 

avi85

Senior member
Apr 24, 2006
988
0
0
you may as well go for the 3500+ it's only like 10$ more, unless your on a tight budget.
 

imported_jawgee

Junior Member
Apr 5, 2006
14
0
0
Too late!:D Already ordered the 3200+ OEM from eWiz for $89 shipped. I feel much better now. Also ordered (2) Zalman 7000B AlCu coolers from ClubIT, some Arctic Silver, and a Yate Loon 120mm fan from Jab-tech. Oh, I also ordered a USB-UIRT from pcalchemy to replace my serial-based IRMAN. Still need to get a SPDIF-to-optical converter. I think I have a link for one around here somewhere...

No, the extra $10 or so for the 3500+ isn't going to break the bank as the wife is going to scream regardless. I just thought I'd split the heat/performance difference between the 3000+ & the 3500+ and go for renethx's recommendation of the 3200+ for this board.

Thanks,
jawgee
 

RjG

Member
Mar 14, 2006
82
0
0
Originally posted by: jawgee
Thanks for the replies, avi85 & RjG. I guess I was worried about HD performance as I read about stuttering all the time with higher performance vid cards & more powerful CPUs over on AVSForum.

How does PureVideo affect playback performance on non-MPEG2 material like x264 videos? Maybe I'm confused as to what PureVideo assists with.:confused: Anyway, after doing some investigation on AVSForum, it would seem like I could either use PureVideo or CoreAVS for my HD playback to improve performance.

As for the heat concern, I'm was referring to what I saw for numbers posted in these CPU comparison charts:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article313-page5.html (there's another chart on page 6)

It appears that the 3000+ performs much better than the 3500+ in terms of power consumption at different states.

That's it, I've had enough...a little less talk and a lot more action. I'm gonna order me a 3200+ Venice chip right now.:)

Thanks for the suppport!
jawgee


I don't get those numbers... 20 watts difference between "min" and "stock" at 100% cpu? What does that mean? Anyway, if it draws 6 watts at idle, and 40 at max, it's still averaging nice and cool for me :) and mine is clocked to boot.

If you give me a link to a 1080P or x264 video somewhere, I'll play it for you and report back the CPU. I played pretty much everything I could find at the start, and the only think that sunk me was HiDef Quicktime fullscreen... which apparently has no way to use hardware acceleration. It worked OK, but swamped the machine when full screen at 1920x1200. It still kicked my Barton XP3200+ 9800 pro's butt, even at that though.

I chose the 3200+ because of the multiplier. I bought DDR500 Ram to go with it, and to overclock it is just too easy, one setting to change (fsb=250) and it's done.
 

avi85

Senior member
Apr 24, 2006
988
0
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Originally posted by: RjG
I chose the 3200+ because of the multiplier. I bought DDR500 Ram to go with it, and to overclock it is just too easy, one setting to change (fsb=250) and it's done.

you're lucky, I got an e6 that will only top out at 234 w/ stock voltage, I plan on getting an x2 3800+ when the prices drop, hopefully I'll have more luck with that.
 

kymas

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2006
1
0
0
I am considering buying a SFF case and need to find a uATX motherboard to use with it. I am considering the MSI K8NGM2-FID and the Foxcom 6150K8MA-8EKRS. I would prefer the MSI board since it has component out and a 1x pcie slot but I am concerned about the over clocking capabilities. I do moderate over clocking at best but I am wanting to run with a 250 MHz htt, which seems to be the max on the MSI board. I'm also a bit concerned with using an older bois for over clocking purposes. So I have two questions: Can the MSI board be over clocked with the 3.4 bois and if so, what are the limitations? Is the 3.13 bois completely stable?

Thanks for you help,

Kymas
 

pctwo

Senior member
Oct 12, 2003
397
0
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Originally posted by: jawgee
Basically, I'm trying to get away with the least amount of CPU I need to get the job done. If I can't get 1080p now with any of the CPUs I listed, then oh well. I can always upgrade to a 7600GS or whatever down the road. I've tried searching this thread, but I wasn't able to come up with any real life anecdotes on HD video playback.

I have this board with the an X2 3800+. Here's my experience:

1) for some reason, I get interference with components out. I have these little wavy lines going up and down the screen. It's not really noticeable far away, but I'm anal. I seem to be the only one who has this problem though. Fixed it by using VGA to RGBHV cable I got for $20. I have a 1080i TV, like you.

2) CPU usage is low (<20%) with purevideo decoder on all mpeg2 transport stream contents I've seen. But even with just software decoder using Media Player Classic (MPC), CPU usage is still <50%. I'm talking even 1920x1080 mpeg2 with 17mbps average bitrate. But that'll probably be near max for your CPU. So you definitely want purevideo or something like powerdvd which supports h/w acceleration to help the cpu out.

3) I also have no problem playing any of the 1080p WMV HD on MS's site. CPU < 50%, but again, that may be pushing it for your CPU. I don't know if there's any h/w accel going on.

4) as for h264 aka mpeg4 AVC, good luck trying to get h/w accel to work on that. It seems to require just the right combination of h/w, s/w, and voodoo magic I haven't been able to figure out. Fortunately, you can buy the coreavc s/w codec for $10 ($20 for pro version) and it'll do the job nicely. With coreavc, I can play all the 1080p quicktime trailers with <50% CPU.

The one thing I cannot do is play the highest res stuff smoothly using VMR9 renderless. I have to use overlay, which to me, is okay. Purists want to use VMR9 b/c it's supposed to give you more accurate colors or something. I can barely tell any difference, and I can't say one is better than the other except VMR9 is slower and I get stuttering even though my CPU is far from maxed out. (In other words, it's the GPU that can't keep up.) However, certain features like subtitle and screen capture doesn't work in MPC if you use overlay, but that's not so serious b/c other players don't have that restriction.
 

imported_jawgee

Junior Member
Apr 5, 2006
14
0
0
Thanks for posting your experiences, pctwo. I'm going to pick up CoreAVC if I need it.

AS for VMR9, I can definitely tell the difference on my HDTV. The colors just look...right. I was hoping I wasn't going to have to use exclusive renderless mode, but we'll see.

What kind of services (assuming XP or MCE) are you folks running on your HTPCs that are having trouble playing back HD stuff?

Thanks,
jawgee
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
SpeedFan 4.29 beta 7 works very well with K8NGM2-FID. So I added new subsections:

Section 13. Tweaking the System II. System Monitoring (old name: Safety Cautions)
  • SpeedFan
    1. Installing and Running SpeedFan
    2. Configuring SpeedFan
Section 14. Tweaking the System III. Cool'n'Quiet
  • Implementing Quiet Part
    1. Using Smart Fan
    2. Using SpeedFan
 

avi85

Senior member
Apr 24, 2006
988
0
0
Originally posted by: amrl
Anyone got NCQ working with this board? I see the option to turn it on under device manager but it's greyed out. Yes, my hard drive supports it.

nobody has answered this post from 2/17, I have the same problem, what should I do?
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
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0
Originally posted by: avi85
Originally posted by: amrl
Anyone got NCQ working with this board? I see the option to turn it on under device manager but it's greyed out. Yes, my hard drive supports it.

nobody has answered this post from 2/17, I have the same problem, what should I do?
Date Posted: 04/26/2006 01:01 PM Posted By: chup(Junior Member)

NCQ is enabled with the latest driver (SATA Driver 6.54 WHQL) from MSI!
http://cweb.msi.com.tw/program/support/.../dvr/spt_dvr_detail.php?UID=702&kind=1

Tested with FID + Barracuda 7200.7 NCQ enabled so far so good.

Download here:
http://66.96.84.4/support/dvr_exe/mbd_dvr/NV61xx-Chipset_8.25_2kxp_WHQL.zip
The latest driver Version 8.26 in the nVidia site also supports NCQ.

To search in the entire thread, convert the thread into raw text format and use Browser's search tool or Google Toolbar.
 

avi85

Senior member
Apr 24, 2006
988
0
0
What am I doing wrong? My drive supports NCQ (Western Digital - WD2500KS) and I have the latest Nvidia drivers installed but the option is still grayed out.
Is there anyone here who has the same drive who got it working?
 

renethx

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2005
1,161
0
0
WD2500KS does not support NCQ.
Regrettably, despite the "SATA II" moniker, the WD2500KS does not implement SATA Native Command Queuing (NCQ). Though competitors such as Seagate and Maxtor have commenced with NCQ inclusion even on desktop-oriented drives, WD claims that NCQ does not help and can even hurt single-user performance. (Western Digital Caviar WD2500KS in Storage Review)
 

avi85

Senior member
Apr 24, 2006
988
0
0
Originally posted by: renethx
WD2500KS does not support NCQ.
Regrettably, despite the "SATA II" moniker, the WD2500KS does not implement SATA Native Command Queuing (NCQ). Though competitors such as Seagate and Maxtor have commenced with NCQ inclusion even on desktop-oriented drives, WD claims that NCQ does not help and can even hurt single-user performance. (Western Digital Caviar WD2500KS in Storage Review)

that really sucks! I thought it had NCQ!