MSI's K8N Neo Platinum SLI and dual-channel memory

Post by **R00k** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:34 pm

Some of you guys have probably already seen my thread in GD. TBH, I never even looked over here, because I could have sworn the last few times I popped in this place was dead. I apologize, T&T.

Anyway, I'm planning on getting the K8N Platinum board, and when I finally did look in here last night, I noticed that a couple people here are already running one.

If any of you are running it with Dual channel DDR 400 memory, could you tell me if you had any problems getting it set up?

Because on MSI's site, it sounds like the board is really picky about memory speeds when it comes to running DDR400 DIMMs in a dual-channel config:
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_sp ... I&class=mb

Says something about not being able to run the memory at its full speed in dual-channel if it's double-sided RAM.

Have you guys come across this at all? It just doesn't sound right, and I think I might be reading it wrong or something.

Thanks. :icon14:

Post by **Tormentius** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:43 pm

T&T still lives.

It looks like it will be fine so long as you're installing matched sticks (timings, brand, and speed). I think where the single/double sided issue comes into play is when you want to install four sticks and still remain dual channel.

Post by **R00k** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:12 pm

Do you think that's the case? Their wording is a little confusing, but it warns against double-sided memory being installed in certain slots:

Post by **Tormentius** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:20 pm

R00k wrote:Do you think that's the case? Their wording is a little confusing, but it warns against double-sided memory being installed in certain slots:

[img]http://rook.perfunction.com/msispecs.jpg/img]

I'm pretty sure. Most RAM is now double-sided anyways iirc.

Post by **Psyche911** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 12:03 am

Yes, you're pretty much guaranteed to have double-sided DIMMs if you get 512MB or up.

I tried researching that "issue" there, R00k, and I honestly couldn't find any further information. From their site it seems they recommend using the green slots first but doing so with double-sided DIMMs reduces the frequency to 333MHz DDR. I just can't find out if that's true or not. Or what happens if you use the purple slots instead.

Either way, I'm not sure that board would be my first choice. For one, I'm against SLI. The whole idea behind it is just flawed, at least with today's GPUs. So I myself would get an nForce 4 Ultra board to save a few bucks.

But if I were to buy an SLI board for the price of the MSI one (seems to be $160-170), I'd probably go with the ASUS A8N SLI-Premium for about the same price (the Deluxe should be just under that price). The Premium is a very decent board, has a passive chipset cooler (I've heard the MSI's Northbridge fan is rather noisey) and I really trust ASUS. My ASUS board I have now has been a great one.

Post by **R00k** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 4:50 pm

Well, the main reason I want SLI is because I can get a pretty good vid card now. And down the road, if some games come out that require more horsepower, I can buy another one and pop in beside it to get a boost, and it will probably be faster (in terms of raw GPU power), than any one card I could buy to replace the one I had.

And I have to admit that MSI has made me a fanboy. The last 4 mobo's I've owned have been MSI, and I have been extremely impressed with every one of them. They're easy to setup, they're very stable and reliable, and they have some of the easiest updating software on the market. And I have never had even one issue with any of them. That, to me, makes it worth sticking with them, instead of taking a risk going with a different manufacturer that I've never used before.

That being said, if I can't nail down this confusing memory mess with their latest board I'm looking at, there is no way I can buy it. I am not going to purchase this thing with a chance that I won't be able to use my memory in the configuration it was made for.
So I'm hoping I can find some clarification somewhere. If not, I may just take your advice and check out the Asus.

And thanks for looking around too. You know better than I do where to find this kind of info. :icon14:

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:35 pm

i have built about ~8 computers now with the K8n Neo 4 Mobo ( Three where with the SLI model, one was SLI/Platnum )

and it has taken Every piece of mem tha ti have tossed at it, Cheap Samsung, Kingston Value select, OCZ Performance, OCZ platnum.

i say dont worry about it too much rookah,

and i'm glad to hear that my advice to try out msi has went to hart for ya

Post by **R00k** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:50 pm

Did you set them up in dual-channel?

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:15 pm

No, i opted not to simply because performance dosent interest me...

WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:35 pm

AmIdYfReAk wrote:No, i opted not to simply because performance dosent interest me...

WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!

:icon6:

Post by **R00k** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:40 pm

AmIdYfReAk wrote:No, i opted not to simply because performance dosent interest me...

WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!

Hey shut it, I had to ask!

Post by **R00k** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:41 pm

You make me laugh amidah.

Post by **Psyche911** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:45 pm

AmIdYfReAk wrote:No, i opted not to simply because performance dosent interest me...

WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!

- Me, 5 seconds ago.

Post by **R00k** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:05 pm

This is the memory I'm planning on getting - two of them:

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant ... ed_Corsair

That's good enough, performance-wise, isn't it? I don't seen any reason to spend more money to get ram with a heat sync or any of that extra stuff. The timings are 3-4-4-8.

Post by **Tormentius** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:15 pm

R00k wrote:This is the memory I'm planning on getting - two of them:

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant ... ed_Corsair

That's good enough, performance-wise, isn't it? I don't seen any reason to spend more money to get ram with a heat sync or any of that extra stuff. The timings are 3-4-4-8.

Those are pretty bad timings for 3200. Have you considered OCZ Performance RAM? I wasn't so sure last spring when my system got a RAM upgrade but Soap had ranted about it a fair bit so I decided to give it a try. It's been excellent and reliable memory and cost half of what Corsair XMS would.

Post by **R00k** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:25 pm

I'm having a hard time finding that memory for half the price anywhere... Got any links?

Post by **Tormentius** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:32 pm

NCIX.

Post by **R00k** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:35 pm

I don't understand. What I'm seeing on their memory page isn't half the cost of Corsair.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... rcatid=105

Am I missing something?

Post by **Tormentius** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:13 pm

I stand corrected. The cost when I bought it was a fair bit different than it is now (damn, this almost makes me want to throw in a second GB). It's still about $40 cheaper than the Corsair nonetheless.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:06 am

i cant help you with pricing and shiet, im canadian remeber

paying ~160 for 1gig of dualchannel Lovin is considered a good deal

Post by **SOAPboy** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:10 am

Tormentius wrote:
R00k wrote:This is the memory I'm planning on getting - two of them:

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant ... ed_Corsair

That's good enough, performance-wise, isn't it? I don't seen any reason to spend more money to get ram with a heat sync or any of that extra stuff. The timings are 3-4-4-8.
Those are pretty bad timings for 3200. Have you considered OCZ Performance RAM? I wasn't so sure last spring when my system got a RAM upgrade but Soap had ranted about it a fair bit so I decided to give it a try. It's been excellent and reliable memory and cost half of what Corsair XMS would.

/bow

Oddly i had some OCZ come DOA recently.. went back to mushkin.. *shrug

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:19 am

We'll what ever you do, STAY AWAY FROM KINGSTON!

Stable as hell, Works in Anycomputer...

SLOW

seriously, FUCKING... SLOW

Post by **shadd_** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:27 am

with a64 it has the mem controller on the chip. therefore latency is largely reduced from not having to travel across the motherboard and all the little electric thingys inbetween.

think of it like having a dsl connection to someone 250ms away and someone 5ms away. you could send say 50 100kb packets to the 5ms connection faster than 1 1000kb packets to the 250ms one.

they don't really care about bandwidth as much as low latency. i think the best value for tight timings lately is the 2gig ocz platinum kit at ncix for 300cnd. subscribe to their newsletter, every week they have some awesome deals. but you have to get the newsletter.