well after playing with my old 2.4B B0 stepping and managing a 162FSB*, I finally got my 2.4C in yesterday :D
*
previous thread
it will POST at 3.54GHz/295FSB but no Windows with vcore @ 1.7v, POST and get into Windows at 3.42GHz/285FSB on default Vcore but it's unstable. I finally found the 'sweet spot' for now, 3.3GHz/275FSB with Vcore @ 1.6v
I got this mobo firstly because of all the features it has, some initial reviesw showing it as a good overclocker and finally the way it looks :D After the first week it was available at various retailers and people got it up and running horror stories started cropping up in various forums, anything from not able to OC, all the way to exploding south bridge with pics for proof
. I was starting to get worried since my order had gone through, but I was commited to making the best of this as all the other 875 mobos didn't have as many features and were more expensive [a LOT more expensive if you wanted one of the models with comparable features as the Neo].
Likes:
a)full feature set
b)overclocking options
c)bundle pack [software, S-ATA cables and power adapters for all 4 connections, brackets for 1394 and USB 2 ports, etc]
d)looks
e)price
Now some issues:
a) the Vcore fluctuates about .25v +/-, that's why I had to set it to 1.6 in BIOS to ensure stability when in Windows, if left to default setting it would even dip to about 1.5v, now stays in the 1.56-1.61v range.
b) the board does not like CAS 2, very unstable at anything other than DDR400 setting, even though my CorsairXMS is rated for CAS 2 @ DDR434, after much benchmarking and testing out different timings I settled on the ones in the screenshot, even though they're 'horrible' [I'm used to 2-2-2-5], I can't complain when the mem bandwidth still comes in at 5648MB/s, I guess I will wait for some DDR500 [GeiL, where are ya?] so I can at least use a higher bus/mem ratio and get more bandwidth through raw MHz.
By now you're all probably thinking, "is he ever gonna show us the benchmarks?" Well, here you go, I'll let them tell you the rest of the story.
testing system:
MSI Neo 875P FIS2R
P4 2.4C SL6WF/L310
Alpha PAL 8942 with 80mm Tornado
2x512MB CorsairXMS 3500C2
ATI Radeon 9700pro
SB Audigy
WinTV
