MSI AGP card

[Booky]

I have the Starforce 815 Pro. I have emailed MSI and they wont respond so im going to ask you all. The card is supposed to be MS-8820, but on the card itself it says MS-8815. Is that what it is supposed to say? MS-8815 on MSI website says its the GTS and the Pro is MS-8820. Anyway anyone know a 1-800 number I can call? All I can find are the long distnce ones, and it says a hold time of about 15 min. They must be on crack if they think im going to hold while on long distance. Anyway thx for any help anyone has.



Crap, all the good ones are already taken.

 

[Guest]

I just got my MSI StarForce 820 GeForce2 Pro a few days ago. I decided to check the clock settings and noticed that the memory clock was set to 333MHz, when the box claims 400MHz. I tried to increase the clock to 400, but that caused the system to crash. That's when I figured something was up.

The "information" tab on the 3D!Turbo application identifies the card as "MS-StarForce 815 Pro(Nvidia GeForce2 Pro)".

However, on the upper right hand corner of the card, it says "MS 8820", not "8815" or "StarForce 820"--as the box shows. The box also shows that the chip says "Pro" on it. I didn't take the time to remove the fan to see.

This really seems to be a GTS, rather than a GTS Pro. Let me know if you find some info about this.

Domm

 

[Booky]

Well thats odd. My memory is at 400, I set it to 415 and it was fine but im not about overclocking so I put it back. Did you say that MS-8820 is stamped on your PCB? I am starting to get the feeling that MSI is doing some wierd things, especially with everything going on with this K7T266 Pro motherboard I got.

Crap, all the good ones are already taken.

 

[Booky]

Well thats odd. My memory is at 400, I set it to 415 and it was fine but im not about overclocking so I put it back. Did you say that MS-8820 is stamped on your PCB, mine says MS-8815? I am starting to get the feeling that MSI is doing some wierd things, especially with everything going on with this K7T266 Pro motherboard I got.

Crap, all the good ones are already taken.

 

[Crashman]

Yes, I have the answer. I noticed a while back that several manufacturers were selling the GTS with the PRO chip and calling it the PRO. To be a true PRO, it needs to have 5.5ns DDR SDRAM. But on a lot of websites you'll notice that they actually tell you that it has 6ns memory, or else they don't tell you at all. The PCB revision makes sense as the achitecture is the same, meaning that a manufacturer could even make a true pro on a GTS PCB by simply using the PRO chip and 5.5ns memory. But they don't. You may notice that on many sites that say 5.5ns, they also say "specifications subject to change without notice". It's a rip off. I first became suspicious when I saw Pro cards selling for the same price as GTS from several manufacturers. So you got taken, and because of the "specifications subject to change without notice" clause, there is nothing you can do about it but cry.

If you pulled the heatsink, I bet you would find that the chip itself is a PRO chip, but if you look at the memory, it's 6ns, which is made to run at 333MHz DDR instead of 400. I warned people of this several moths ago, a few said I didn't know what I was talking about and the rest didn't even bother to respond.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[Guest]

And I thought the MSI pro was such a deal for less than 150$. The way I heard it, they don't even have to change the chip. They can still use the GTS chip, slap 5 or 5.5ns ram on it and it becomes a pro (both GTS/Pro cores run at 200MHz). I think I'm staying clear of MSI geforce cards. They "must be on crack", one guy gets MS 8820 to find it a GTS, the other gets MS 8815 and turns out to be a pro. It sure is a ripoff.

 

[Booky]

How do you check the latency of the meory on the card? MSI told me it was 5ns, not 5.5 or 6. I have also heard from others with the card that it is 5ns, I want to know how to check. If I got 6ns I'll just send it back and get a new one at least MSI is good for that. I'm sure I can find something thats is broke (or may break) on it to get a replacement.

Crap, all the good ones are already taken.

 

[Guest]

The best way it to check the numbers on the memory chips itself. You must take the heatsinks off if it has any.

This is what it says on Newegg:
MSI StarForce 820, GeForce 2 GTS, 32MB 6ns DDR RAM, 4X/2X, AGP, W/TV-out, Bundled with MSI DVD & 3D! Turbo 2000 Utilities, <b>MS-8820</b>, Retail box.

 

[Crashman]

The last guy posted that the memory is listed as 6ns on newegg.com. That explains it. You actually have to look at the individual memory chips to find a number (usally the last number) like 6 or 5.5. The 6ns memory runs stock at 333 but can be pushed to about 380 or a little more using a tweak program.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[Booky]

OK here is a link to the card I have:

http://www.msicomputer.com/products/detail.asp?ProductID=163

I don't know what card newegg is advertising, but it doesn't appear to be the one I have. MSI has no Starforce 820 on there site, but MS-8820 does refer to Starforce 815 Pro. Which is what I have, but mine is 64MB not 32MB. Either way I will look at the memory in the morning when I get home and post what I find.


Crap, all the good ones are already taken.

 

[Crashman]

HA! They got you alright, my calculator says that 5.3GB/s, which they advertised, is 128-bit 333MHz DDR. How did I figure that out? First of all, we know that 64-bit PC2100 is 266MB/s (DDR). Now that implies that 128-bit PC2100 would be 4200 MB/s. 5300/4200=1.26. 1.26x266=335. So they rounded up. Rechecking my calculations in the other direction, I found that 128-bit 333MHz DDR is 5258MB/s, which, using 1000MB/GB (instead of 1024) as manufacturers tend to do, rounds off to 5.3GB/s. So they are even ADVERTISING that it only has 333MHz memory on it, in a round about way which requires you to do your own math, in hopes that you will not do the math, of course.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[Crashman]

Oh, and I forgot to reiterate, that by selling a card advertised as a PRO with GTS memory, you still got ripped off, it's just that, by telling you the memory speed in a round-about way, they did it legally.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[Booky]

Well, how do you explain that my memory is running at 400MHz? BTW I looked at the memory and the last number is a 5, I do believe that means it is 5ns right? Now I just have to figure out why the PCB says MS-8815.

Crap, all the good ones are already taken.

 

[Crashman]

It is possible that there are 2 or more versions of the card floating around, especially if there were a revision, or if their is a Retail version such as yours with good memory and an OEM version with the crappy stuff. It would still have little if anything to do with the revision of the PCB itself.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[Booky]

Well I am just confused because when I look at pictures of the cards from various retailers the PCB says MS-8820 on it. I also have been haveing some problems with wierd dots and found something in the geforce faq web site about it. It said that it is a common problem with overclocking, and if you get this problem with a non-overclocked card it is most likely defective. Now that makes me want to ship it back and get a new one, but with it takeing them so long on getting my motherboard back im not sure if I will do it yet. I am still waiting for a reply from there tech support. BTW is there any reason why MSI should not send me a replacment before I send my card to them? I mean with my motherboard they didn't, but was that just because it was a repair not replacement? Cuz if they will send me one before I send it in I will do that. Anyway im rambling so thx for the replys.

Crap, all the good ones are already taken.

 

[Crashman]

Some companies will send you a new one in advance if you give them a credit card number. That way, if they don't get the old one back, they can bil you for the new one. I have never heard of a board manufacturer doing this, but you can ask them if they do.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine