MSI P965 Platinum overclocks poorly.

[JuiceJones]

Hello, I've been having some strange overclock hold backs, and other forums have failed. I think the TG forums will be a little more helpful ; any advice is appreciated. My system is as follows:

MSI P965 Platinum mobo

Core 2 Duo E6400

1Gb (2x512Mb) Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 4-4-4-12

Antec 500W Smartpower

7600GT

Zalman CNPS9500

Here's my problem:

My old Asus P5ND2-SLI with an nForce4 chipset was horribly unstable and finnicky with hardware changes, and finally totally conked out. But while it was working, it would overclock my old Pentium D 805 to 3.8 reasonably stablely but with heat issues, and rock solid to 3.6. After it died, I prepared for Core 2 by purchasing the MSI P965 Platinum. However, it wouldn't even post the PD805 at 3.8, it was unstable at 3.6, and was only solid at 3.4. This was with the exact same cooling and voltage settings, and keep in mind 3.4 is only a 170Mhz FSB, far below its maximum.

For Christmas, I got my E6400, and was excited to pop it in. 2.4 rolled around easily with no voltage bump, 2.66 perfect, but then, with 2.7 and beyond, Prime fails immediately regardless of voltage and the system will lock up. Temps are ideal, 27C idle and barely breaching 44C load, I set my RAM severely underspec to rule that out, 5-5-5-18 at DDR2-667, updated the BIOS, turned off most available BIOS options, bumped north bridge voltage, etc. etc., I just can't figure it out. The current FSB is only 333Mhz, which is commonly and easily exceeded with my setup. I would just say I got unlucky, but the fact that 333Mhz FSB for an e6400 is so uncommonly low and the motherboard has proven it underclocks sub-par with the PD805, I think there's something I'm overlooking. It also seems that adjusting the voltage in the bios is very unresponsive to stability, most of the time only making it worse. Is it possible the VRM is just defective?

My other current prime suspect is a BIOS option I'm unaware of, or perhaps just some other general aspect I missed out on. I have fairly good overclocking experience and have read extensively into the subject, but this anamoly has me stump. Please share if you have experience with this mobo or this type of overclocking wall before I buy a new Gigabyte DS3.

Thanks.

 

[Lowtrawler]

Same motherboard using an E6600 and 2 x 1Gb 800Mhz Nanya memory / Leadtek GF7950GT 512Mb. the highest FSB I can get stable is 301Mhz. As soon as I clock over 300Mhz, I get a BIOS warning on boot that the motherboard doesn't support my CPU. Like you, temperatures are well within spec. Making even slight changes to voltage on the memory causes it not to boot.

I read an overclocking review comparison between 965 motherboards and the MSI was by far the worst for overclocking. The review speculated that this could be corrected by a BIOS update. I think we are overdue for one as AMI are up to version 1.6 and we are still stuck at 1.2.

 

[JuiceJones]

While I hate to hear someone else having the same problems, this is somewhat good news as hopefully a BIOS update will fix us up.

I also notice both of our limits is about 2.7Ghz.

 

[Lowtrawler]

Yes, 2.7Ghz appears to be the stable limit. I think we might have "updated" hardware as well because most of the early reviews achieved speeds closer to 3Ghz. I attempted to reinstall BIOS version 1.2 in case it was corrupt in some way. Unfortunately, it made no difference.

Failures to boot don't appear to follow any logic. If I underclock my RAM, it fails to boot. If I increase the CPU voltage slightly, it fails to boot. In essence, I am only able to play with the FSB settings.

The reason I get a warning with a 301 FSB is that once you go over 300Mhz, it appears to reset the Board to operate at 333Mhz and thinks it is being underclocked to 301. It knows that the processor should operate at 266Mhz and so sends a warning to say that you shouldn't be using 333Mhz. I've not heard of any other board doing this.

The dual core center software is a joke. Each time I have used it to move my settings to those which I have previously used successfully by manually setting the BIOS, I have had a system failure.

This is meant to be MSI's flagship product. It's about time they got it fixed.

 

[Original]

Unfornately MSI motherboards do not overclock well. They are fairly stable at stock FSB but as soon as you try to overclock a little bit they star showing their weakness.

 

[JuiceJones]

Failures to boot don't appear to follow any logic. If I underclock my RAM, it fails to boot. If I increase the CPU voltage slightly, it fails to boot. In essence, I am only able to play with the FSB settings.

The reason I get a warning with a 301 FSB is that once you go over 300Mhz, it appears to reset the Board to operate at 333Mhz and thinks it is being underclocked to 301. It knows that the processor should operate at 266Mhz and so sends a warning to say that you shouldn't be using 333Mhz. I've not heard of any other board doing this.

The dual core center software is a joke. Each time I have used it to move my settings to those which I have previously used successfully by manually setting the BIOS, I have had a system failure.

This is meant to be MSI's flagship product. It's about time they got it fixed.

I have the exact problems. Raising the voltage over a certain, reasonable point results in failure to boot, and I get the same warning message. My RAM is very finnicky, when I set it to a 4:5 ratio for DDR2-832, it will always fail despite extremely relaxed timings and hiked voltage. A measly 32Mhz over rated speed should not cause that.

The only thing the Dual Core Center is somewhat useful for is temps, but other, free apps are just as apt. When I barely dip past 2.7, it will give me warnings that all of my fans are at 0 RPM, when they clearly are fine, and eventually freezes. Overclocking with it rather than the BIOS doesn't really even work; benchmarks were slow and the system soon crashed.

It's very frustrating after reading the positive reviews here and with the simple expectation of all high-end P965 boards to perform similarly.

 

[outlw6669]

With latest bios this board is known to max out kinda low.
370MHz is the most you should expect to get from it.

I have the same board with a E6600 that tops out @ 367FSB.
It is kept at 360FSB, 1.285V no stability issues.

Don't worry about the post message as it dosen't affect anything.

Keep playing with the settings and if it dosen't OC far enough for you, rma it for an Asus P5B Delux or another known good OC board.

 

[cappster]

I also have this board and I agree that it is not the best overclocker. Especially with trying to overlcok the ram past 850mhz. Here are my specs:

Antec 550w
MSI P965 platinum of course
e6400
Crucial ballistix ddr2800 4-4-4-12 2gb
zalman 9500
evga 7800 gt
and some other stuff not relevant to what I am going to say.

Have you checked out Toms overclocking guide? I am somewhat new to overclocking but the guide helped me a lot. I am running a fsb of 358 with 1:1 memory timings. Overall effective clock of 2.85 stable with memory timings at 4-3-4-12. I believe I can go further but am happy with my clock speed. I am going to continue working with the timings (only started yesterday).

I also had problems when I first started trying to OC. I couldn't get stable at 310! This is what I did to reach my stable clock.

1. set NB voltage to 1.51
2. Memory voltage at 2.2
3. disabled c1e stepping ( can't exactly remember what its called in the bios...will repost when I get home and I can see it)
4. disable the spread spectrum
5. set memory at 533mhz ( it increases with clock speed)
6. I did a slight VCore bump of .0250
7. memory timings (to start) were 4-4-4-12

That should get you close I believe since our systems are pretty similar.

I hope with the next bios revision that the board will be a little more memory friendly. I would like to start off with a memory speed of 667 but overall I am happy because I achieved the overclock that I wanted. I am not one of those that "goes for the gusto". I just wanted something respectable and reliable.

 

[outlw6669]

Set your timings to 5-5-5-18 and you should be able to push your ram much further.

 

[Lowtrawler]

Thanks Cappster. I have used your settings except that I moved my memory to 5-5-5-15 (the official settings for my memory are 5-5-5-18 ) and set the FSB to 340. This appears to be stable. Couldn't see any settings that looked like c1e stepping and so ignored that part of your post. If you find out what that is, let me know.

I initially tried a FSB of 358 then 350 but was unstable at those settings. I will be playing around with the new settings over the next few days and so should be able to tweak upwards from here.

I had tried most of the tweaks that are now working except previously:

1. I had only underclocked my memory to 667, never to as low as 533.
2. I hadn't played with the NB voltage.
3. I had left the spread spectrum setting enabled.

Once I've played around and established optimal settings I'll report back.

 

[cappster]

I believe the c1e stepping is listed as "speed step technology" under advanced chipset features or the in the bios . Try disabling that because I read it can "fight for control" with your manual OC settings. You can also disable the "vanderpool technology".

I have to say I ran Prime 95 that is designed to push both cores last night and one core would fault out within an hour. I guess its not as stable as I would like but while running the regular prime 95, it doesn't fault out. Then again it only runs the cpu at 50% instead of 100% with the dual prime. :/

I just think this board doesn't overclock well and that is the long and short of the problem. I can't even run my ram at 5-5-5-15. It runs 4-4-4-12 or below. Can't figure that one out :?

 

[AdamBomb42]

Did you try lowering your memory speed?

 

[cappster]

Yesterday when I got home, I got my system 100% stable while running Dual Core prime 95. I adjusted my Vcore up by .100 for a voltage of 1.3 and it ran beautifully for 6 hours (thats when I stopped it). I did back the fsb back to 350mhz. It idled at 33 and maxed out at 57c under load but averaged 55-56c under load.

I was also surfing the net at the time of the stress test. Now I just need to work on getting my memory OC'd to where I want it to be!

 

[Lowtrawler]

I'm going to check out the new BIOS Version 1.3:

BIOS 1.3

My system has been moderately stable from 334 FSB - 340 FSB but has crashed when put under heavy use for a few hours. I've tweaked the memory timings and processor / memory / NB voltages but with no improvement. I can use a FSB of up to 355 but the system is very unstable at anything over 340. Hopefully the new BIOS will improve things.

 

[cappster]

Thanks for the info about the new BIOS 1.3. I was going to pose a question on here today asking if anyone knew about a new Bios version and you answered my question. This proabably seems like a dumb question but since I have never flashed a bios, how do you do it/what is the best way?

I hope with the new bios, it will solve some of the issues with OC'ing and with the memory divider.

Cappster

 

[Lowtrawler]

The simplest way is to use live update. You will be able to flash from within Windows and then reboot. All your BIOS settings will return to their defaults and so make sure you know what your current settings are before you begin. If you use the file from my linked page, you can also flash from within windows and it has the same effect. Make sure you turn off all firewalls and anti-virus / anti-spyware software.

The only real risk is a power failure in the middle of the flash. If this happens, it could fry the motherboard.

 

[cappster]

The last time I checked live update, it didn't have bios 1.3 available. According to the date of the bios and the last time I checked live update, it should have been in there. I guess I will check when I get home to see if it is there and if it isn't, I will have to find out how to do it the old fashioned way.

 

[Lowtrawler]

I've upgraded to 1.3 and as far as overclocking is concerned, I see no improvement. If anything, it is slightly worse ( I now cannot boot at 350 using settings which were previously unstable but which did enable the machine to boot).

 

[cappster]

Same here, It still doesn't overclock worth crap. Oh well, I guess we should have purchased a different board!

 

[F2_Orbit]

Have bought more or less identical hardware last week:
MSI P965 Platinum
E6400
Kingston HyperX DDR2 800 (4-4-4-12)
Thermaltake BigTyp 120VX

Am running stable at FSB 375 (3Ghz), 4-4-4-12 memory settings (started with 5-5-5-15) and BIOS 1.3. Ran Orthos - dual core Prime95 (100% load on each core) for 12 hours without problems. Core temp during test did not exceed 48 C.

So no need to buy another board. Did notice that raising Vcore with more than +0.05 only raised the heat, not performance. Memory voltage was key to stability (2.2 volts). Try to find out what the max voltage is for your mem and see if that helps. Then try backing it to reduce the heat.

 

[RJ]

Hello, I've been having some strange overclock hold backs, and other forums have failed. I think the TG forums will be a little more helpful ; any advice is appreciated. My system is as follows:

MSI P965 Platinum mobo

Core 2 Duo E6400

1Gb (2x512Mb) Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 4-4-4-12

Antec 500W Smartpower

7600GT

Zalman CNPS9500

Here's my problem:

My old Asus P5ND2-SLI with an nForce4 chipset was horribly unstable and finnicky with hardware changes, and finally totally conked out. But while it was working, it would overclock my old Pentium D 805 to 3.8 reasonably stablely but with heat issues, and rock solid to 3.6. After it died, I prepared for Core 2 by purchasing the MSI P965 Platinum. However, it wouldn't even post the PD805 at 3.8, it was unstable at 3.6, and was only solid at 3.4. This was with the exact same cooling and voltage settings, and keep in mind 3.4 is only a 170Mhz FSB, far below its maximum.

For Christmas, I got my E6400, and was excited to pop it in. 2.4 rolled around easily with no voltage bump, 2.66 perfect, but then, with 2.7 and beyond, Prime fails immediately regardless of voltage and the system will lock up. Temps are ideal, 27C idle and barely breaching 44C load, I set my RAM severely underspec to rule that out, 5-5-5-18 at DDR2-667, updated the BIOS, turned off most available BIOS options, bumped north bridge voltage, etc. etc., I just can't figure it out. The current FSB is only 333Mhz, which is commonly and easily exceeded with my setup. I would just say I got unlucky, but the fact that 333Mhz FSB for an e6400 is so uncommonly low and the motherboard has proven it underclocks sub-par with the PD805, I think there's something I'm overlooking. It also seems that adjusting the voltage in the bios is very unresponsive to stability, most of the time only making it worse. Is it possible the VRM is just defective?

My other current prime suspect is a BIOS option I'm unaware of, or perhaps just some other general aspect I missed out on. I have fairly good overclocking experience and have read extensively into the subject, but this anamoly has me stump. Please share if you have experience with this mobo or this type of overclocking wall before I buy a new Gigabyte DS3.

Thanks.

Shoot for the moon. Drop your multiplier to 7x and set the fsb to 405. Mem divider should be 1:1(533).
my CPU is @ 1.43v, MCH is 1.4v and ICHIO is 1.6V

I wouldn't be surprised if your comp says....is that all you got? If you read the link in my SIG, you'll see the 965 chipset has issues with the mid to high 300s. Once I past 400, no stability issues. It engages the next FSB strap, which loosens the timing latencies. Once you see how nice it runs, you can either bump the multiplier back up to 8x, or bump your fsb up incrementally. I'm @ 450, which means my cheapy A-data memory is chuggin along @ DDR2-900. Your Crucial should handle that no sweat. 7x450 should get you 3150 mhz, which will actually get you 3.6 ghz, because the NB fsb is actually 512 mhz, not the 450 you set. Have fun.

 

[cappster]

F2 orbit, can you post your settings for me? You know as far as all of your settings for NB voltage, cpu voltage, c1e stepping and all of that good stuff. I don't know if it is something that I need to disable or enable to help me get over the hump.


RJ, How did you drop your multiplier to x7 on the P965 platinum?

thanks

Cappster

 

[F2_Orbit]

Cappstar, my settings are actually not that different than mentioned earlier, that's why I only mentioned the ones which were different but here are the settings I changed:
- BIOS 1.3
- Virtualization Technology (Vanderpool): disabled
- Disable bit:disabled
- MPS version: 1.4
- Memory hole: 15-16MB
- FSB: 375
- NB voltage: 1.51
- Mem voltage: 2.20
- Spread spectrum: disabled
- Speed step: disabled
- Memory FSB: 533
- Vcore: +0.05
- Memory timings: 4-4-4-12

Am pretty sure the FSB can be set higher (not taking the multiplier into account) but I thought 3.0 was a good result at these temperatures.

Let me know if it works for you!

 

[cappster]

I pretty much had my pc set up like yours. I made changes to the mps version (switched it to 1.4) and added the 15-16mb memory hole. I could not OC past my current level. No matter how much voltage I put to the vcore and memory.

I did, however, lowered my fsb to 330mhz and set my ram at 5-5-5-15 at stock 800mhz setting. I was able to hit 990mhz after ocing to 330fsb. I tried switching my divider to everything else but the only 2 that work are 533 and 800 stock before ocing. Memory just wouldn't go over 1000mhz no matter the voltage.

I am really kind of disappointed in this board. I should be hitting well over 3ghz and my memory should be over 1000mhz. Contemplating buying a new board. I can say that my machine is quite a bit "quicker" for multitasking. Benchmarks are real close and almost identical to when I had it oced to 2.8g. In 3dmark05, the cpu actually had a higher score with the way I have it now.

thanks

Cappster

 

[RJ]

F2 orbit, can you post your settings for me? You know as far as all of your settings for NB voltage, cpu voltage, c1e stepping and all of that good stuff. I don't know if it is something that I need to disable or enable to help me get over the hump.


RJ, How did you drop your multiplier to x7 on the P965 platinum?

thanks

Cappster

You can't adjust the multiplier on your board? That kinda bites. I just looked at MSI webpage...BIOS isn't even listed for your mobo. I guess my advice is to wait for MSI to catch up to everyone else who makes P965 chipset.

Gee, for $10 more you coulda had a mobo that ACTUALLY overclocks. Sorry dude.