MSI 865PE NEO2 LS & TwinX1024-3200LL stability issues

Hi all, I have just installed my new motherboard/ram/cpu which are as follows: Mobo: MSI 865PE NEO2 LS Ram: Corsair TwinX1024-3200LL CPU: Intel P4 2.8GHz with 800MHz fsb and HyperThreading I then installed a fresh copy of Windows XP Professional I have not overlocked the cpu and have set the bios on "slow" setting (lowest chipset timings) I have then disabled the SPD setup of the ram and set it manually. I have tried every setting from 2-3-2-6 as the ram is build for up to 2.5-4-4-8 I have run memtest86 with the 2-3-2-6 setting and 2-4-4-8 and both ran without any errors. now my problem is: I experience lots of random crashes in WinXP, they happen no matter what but more frequestly when running tighter ram timings (at 2-3-2-6 WinXP tends to crash within 5 minutes of login) the system seems pretty stable at 2.5-4-4-8 which is the slowest setting possible, but it doesn't seem right to me that i should have to run at this setting when i have paid alot of money for fast ram. I have tried every voltage setting for the ram between 2.55 and 2.75 and it seems most stable on 2.7 but still the computer is far from stable unless I completely cribble the speed settings. The rest of my system setup is: Video card: MSI G4Ti4400-VTD (Nvidia TI4400) 2 * Promise Ultra100Tx2 PCI IDE controllers 11 120 GB harddrives seagate/western digital/Maxtor A plextor plexwriter 24/10/40A All drivers are the newest possible digitally signed version for every hardware unit Ideas for making this system stable would be very appriciated Regards Martin

Also, I would do a search here at the HoH forums under the General, Compatibility, and Enthusiasts sections for MSI MOBOs. There have been several posters here with MSI 875 and 865 boards that have had various issues. Hopefully, someone has found a resolution that will help you. Good luck, Mike.

Hi and thx for your suggestions :) I have no errors when running memtest at any settings - i never had usb legacy support enabled (i had already read throgh the forum before posting and seen the usual suggestions) I have tried now to set by spd and voltage to 2.7 and the same thing - zero erros in memtest. The things is that the ram seems to be working fine, i just cannot get the system to be stable unless i cribble the ramtimings - maybe i need to reinstall windows, although i am doubtfull to weather or not it will help. Maybe it is a problem with the motherboard?

Hi there, Same problem here, I got exactly the same setup as you and can only get a stable system on 2.5 cas, 2 cas is a no go, me thinks that msi boards have a LARGE problem with this ram, anyone with any ideas on how we can fix this or are we stuck. Babyface uk.

ok i went and did something seemingly futile, but it might just have worked... My system has been running stable now for 2 hours on the following settings: ram timings: 2-3-3-6 ram voltage: 2.8 fsb speed: 225 system setting: Turbo (there is a choice between slow, fast, turbo and ultra-turbo) the reason i tried the overclocking was because i read somehwere that som msi boards has problems with tight ram timings at ceratin fsb settings so i figured "maybe mine has this problem at the default fsb setting" so now i have a, seemingly, stable system that runs 3,16GHz and 900 Mhz on the fsb instead og 2.8Ghz with 800 MHz fsb... and pretty tight ram timings... been running sisoft sandras burn-in test for 2 hours now without any stability problems... weird but hey, i'll take it ;)

what ram speed does it say you run at in bios?? 400 or more/less?? plus in sandra whats your meg per sec in ram test?? Many thanks, Babyface uk

i set the bios to auto detect (or is it default it is called?) so it is running 1:1 (or 400 if you wish) sandra test: (i set the bus to 225 in the bios, not sure why the mobo makes it into 226) Int Buffered iSSE2 (Integer STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 3377MB/s Scaling : 3370MB/s Addition : 3315MB/s Triad : 3321MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Float Buffered iSSE2 (Float STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 3360MB/s Scaling : 3353MB/s Addition : 3339MB/s Triad : 3334MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Test Status Memory Used by Test : 512MB SMP Test : No Total Test Threads : 1 SMT Test : Yes No Test SMT (per CPU) : 2 Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No Processor Affinity : No System Chipset Model : Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI) Unknown (2570) Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 226MHz (904MHz data rate) Max. Bus Bandwidth : 7232MB/s (estimated) Features MMX Technology : Yes SSE Technology : Yes SSE2 Technology : Yes HTT - Hyper-Threading Technology : Yes

heres mine with no o/cing Int Buffered iSSE2 (Integer STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 3589MB/s Scaling : 3586MB/s Addition : 3562MB/s Triad : 3593MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Float Buffered iSSE2 (Float STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 3570MB/s Scaling : 3563MB/s Addition : 3560MB/s Triad : 3562MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Test Status Memory Used by Test : 512MB SMP Test : No Total Test Threads : 1 SMT Test : Yes No Test SMT (per CPU) : 2 Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No Processor Affinity : No System Chipset Model : Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI) Unknown (2570) Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 201MHz (804MHz data rate) Max. Bus Bandwidth : 6432MB/s (estimated) Features MMX Technology : Yes SSE Technology : Yes SSE2 Technology : Yes HTT - Hyper-Threading Technology : Yes when i go to cas2 in bios then i can run sandra ( just ) and get a average mem bandwith near 4300 mb/sec, but then unstable, the ram don't get near the fsb limit that you up'd if anything your mb/sec ram bandwidth in a bit less than mine. Babyface uk.

then again if you have gone to a stable 3.16 gig, much better performance increase than uping the ram bandwith so i would not moan about it lol. Out of interest do you have stock cooling and what temp is your processor running at, mines at 68 - 70 c. a little hot if you ask me. Babyface uk.

should of been clearer, 70 c on full load 50 c idle

mine runs at 36C idle 55C full load i use stock cooling but with arctic silver II thermal compound between the heatsink and the cpu (i scraped off the goo that was at the bottom of the heatsink and cleaned it off with petroleum before i installed it) my case also has loads of fans (mostly because of all the harddrives - it gets damn hot in there ;) Right now i am just sorry i didn't buy faster ram than pc3200 since the cpu seems to be able to overclock like forever - i haven't even upped the cpu voltage from standard and it runs fine at 360MHz over standard... i bet if i put in a better cooler, switched the northbridge cooler and put in some better ram this cpu would run 3.5 GHz without probs - prolly more :/ i have tried to go over the 225 tho and the ram fails, even at loose timings

it seems i had been daft enough to install my ram in the wrong memory banks, so it ran in single channel mode *yells DOH! homer style* i now reinstalled the ram so it runs dual channel, rest is same setup as before, but behold the new benchmarks ;)) SiSoftware Sandra Int Buff iSSE2 (Integer STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 5166MB/s Scaling : 5166MB/s Addition : 5351MB/s Triad : 5393MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Bandwidth Efficiency : 73% (estimated) Float Buff iSSE2 (Float STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 5152MB/s Scaling : 5153MB/s Addition : 5360MB/s Triad : 5354MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Bandwidth Efficiency : 73% (estimated) Test Status Memory Used by Test : 512MB NUMA Support : No SMP Test : No Total Test Threads : 1 SMT Test : Yes Number of Test SMT (per CPU) : 2 Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No Processor Affinity : No Chipset 1 Model : Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI) 82865G\PE\P Processor to I/O Controller Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 226MHz (904MHz data rate) Width : 64-bit Maximum Bus Bandwidth : 7232MB/s (estimated) Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks Bank 0 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-3-3-6CL 1CMD Bank 1 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-3-3-6CL 1CMD Channels : 2 Speed : 2x 226MHz (452MHz data rate) Width : 64-bit Performance Acceleration Technology : No Maximum Memory Bus Bandwidth : 7232MB/s (estimated) Features MMX Technology : Yes SSE Technology : Yes SSE2 Technology : Yes SSE3 Technology : No HTT - Hyper-Threading Technology : Yes

Guys. THis thread has been invaluable as I have the exact same configuration. I have a question for you though. What setting do you guys have for dynamic overclocking. I notice that the higher up the ranks I go (i.e. Corporal, Captain, Colonel), the worse my memory benchmark seems to be. I was thinking of setting it to the lowest setting (Private) and see how it goes. Also, it was my understanding that the MAT/PAT technology built into this motherboard could only be activated on Ultra Turbo mode. I dont know about both of you, but I cant even get the system to POST under that mode. The settings you have Embeejay, work great in my machine. Thoughts?

MSI 865PE-FIS2R P4 2,6 800 not overclocked Corsair Twinx1024-3200LL (1gig) OEM Radeon 9700 not overclocked | AGP 8x | fast write on Zalman 400 W Power supply Zalman 7000 CU CPU cooler Thermaltake Xaser III Maxtor Diamondmax IDE XP prof lo guys, i set up my system and i think it runs stable. here r my sandra stats: SiSoftware Sandra Int Buff iSSE2 (Integer STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 4490MB/s Scaling : 4475MB/s Addition : 4590MB/s Triad : 4593MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Bandwidth Efficiency : 70% (estimated) Float Buff iSSE2 (Float STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 4460MB/s Scaling : 4459MB/s Addition : 4558MB/s Triad : 4562MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Bandwidth Efficiency : 69% (estimated) Test Status Memory Used by Test : 512MB NUMA Support : No SMP Test : No Total Test Threads : 1 SMT Test : Yes Number of Test SMT (per CPU) : 2 Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No Processor Affinity : No Chipset 1 Model : Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI) 82865G\PE\P Processor to I/O Controller Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 203MHz (812MHz data rate) Width : 64-bit Maximum Bus Bandwidth : 6496MB/s (estimated) Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks Bank 0 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-3-2-6CL 1CMD Bank 1 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-3-2-6CL 1CMD Channels : 2 Speed : 2x 203MHz (406MHz data rate) Width : 64-bit Performance Acceleration Technology : No Maximum Memory Bus Bandwidth : 6496MB/s (estimated) Features MMX Technology : Yes SSE Technology : Yes SSE2 Technology : Yes SSE3 Technology : No HTT - Hyper-Threading Technology : Yes ram runs a 2-3-2-6 @2,7 Volt on DIMM 1 and DIMM 3 Vcore: 1,5 mem voltage: 2,7 AGP volt: 1,5 FSB: 200 3dmark03: 4404 cpumark: 609 i had a crash in test one at 3dmark (wings of fury). after enabling fast write in radeon smartgart it worked. will start overclocking soon thx for the backgroundnfo embeejay and ram guy. greets DK

overclocking not possible ? when i raise the performance mode from slow to fast,turbo or ultra turbo xp crashes. the different military rank levels work ? can someone tell me if there is a chance to overclock anything with this combo. seems it runs only stable in standard settings. thats bad cause i bought the msi 865pe for his overclocking abilities. 2-3-2-6 i still have thx in advance

MSI 865PE-FIS2R (bios 1.9) P4 2,6 800 not overclocked Corsair Twinx1024-3200LL (1gig) OEM Radeon 9700 not overclocked | AGP 8x | fast write on Zalman 400 W Power supply Zalman 7000 CU CPU cooler Thermaltake Xaser III Maxtor Diamondmax IDE XP prof SiSoftware Sandra Int Buffered iSSE2 (Integer STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 4704MB/s Scaling : 4711MB/s Addition : 4887MB/s Triad : 4940MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Bandwidth Efficiency : 74% (estimated) Float Buffered iSSE2 (Float STREAM) Results Breakdown Assignment : 4699MB/s Scaling : 4709MB/s Addition : 4889MB/s Triad : 4927MB/s Data Item Size : 16-bytes Buffering Used : Yes Offset Displacement Used : Yes Bandwidth Efficiency : 74% (estimated) Test Status Memory Used by Test : 512MB NUMA Support : No SMP Test : No Total Test Threads : 1 SMT Test : Yes Number of Test SMT (per CPU) : 2 Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No Processor Affinity : No Chipset 1 Model : Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI) 82865G/PE/P, 82848P DRAM Controller / Host-Hub Interface Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 203MHz (812MHz data rate) Width : 64-bit Maximum Bus Bandwidth : 6496MB/s (estimated) Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks Bank 0 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-3-2-6CL 1CMD Bank 1 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-3-2-6CL 1CMD Channels : 2 Speed : 2x 203MHz (406MHz data rate) Width : 64-bit Performance Acceleration Technology : Yes Maximum Memory Bus Bandwidth : 6496MB/s (estimated) Features MMX Technology : Yes SSE Technology : Yes SSE2 Technology : Yes SSE3 Technology : No HTT - Hyper-Threading Technology : Yes PAT is working now !! check the perfromance differences above. bios 1.9 rockz !

I searched the MSI support site, and their latest BIOS for the 865PE NEO2 FIS2R (MS-6728) appears to be v1.8 posted on 11/03/03. Where did you find v1.9?

If I'm not mistaken, MSI does not post their beta bios so I'm guessing that this 1.9 is either a beta or mebbe available thru an alternate site (Germany or Belgium mebbe?) IF MSI has more than 1 site. OR, you might have to get MSI Tech Support to email you a bios if DerKomtur does not reply soon. Mike.

[url]http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=462[/url] there is 1.9 @ .tw sorry i am in a hurry Dk