Help me solve this X-File, missing bandwidth on A64 w. MSI Neo Plat & OCZ EB...

[Richdog]

OK well the reason i'm asking this is because my mem scores using A64 and my MSI Neo Platinum seem really low compared to what others are getting with Skt 754 rigs. I'm not posting this in the memory section because I don't think it's anything to do with any fault or problem with my memory.

At 225Mhz FSB 3-2-2-11 timings I get 3230/3230 running at 1T command rate, and at 230Mhz I get 3311/3311. Now obviously I know that Skt 754 is single channel but form the scores i've seen other people getting it behaves very much like Nforce2 DC rigs, except Float Bandwidth is higher and on a par with the Int.

Im running 3-2-2-11 timings, and as many of you know this isn't a world away from BH-5 performance, the tight-ass timings mean that the CAS latency is pretty much irrelevant... so why the low-ass scores? At 250Mhz FSB running 3-3-2-11 timings i'm only getting 3500/3500, and as I said before, command rate is 100% set at 1T.

Just to sum it up i'm getting...

225Mhz FSB, 3-2-2-11, 3230/3230
230Mhz FSB, 3-2-2-11, 3311/3311
250Mhz FSB, 3-3-2-11, 3520/3520

WTF is going on? I can't see a single BIOS option i've missed, and all is set to aggressive performance except the "Agressive timings" option as all that does is fix Tras to 5. Has anyone with a similar rig got any ideas... in fact anyone at all? I'm stumped...

Let me stress here that I am a pretty advanced PC-user and have tried everything I can think of, all of the BIOS settings, I even re-installed the board + windows and still no dice.

To the experienced among you, do you think this could be a driver issue? Motherboard defect? Act of God? I've never experienced anything like it, os if anyone has any ideas... i'd greatly appreciate it. This lack of bandwidth is hurting performance in my system.

Regards,

Rich.

[Stoo]

which test are you using?

what figures are the others getting?

[Richdog]

Others are generally getting 200mb/s higher, including my mate who has exactly the same rig as me bar a couple of minor components, measured using SANDRA. Now I know SANDRA is synthetic, but the memory bandwidth loss it shows is noticeable in other benchmarks, and in performance as a whole. The fact that my old Gigabyte K8N A64 mobo was also 200mb/s higher leads me to believe something is wrong here, but I can't think what type of problem would cause a loss of bandwidth on this scale. Most strange...

[Stoo]

I wonder if there's anything in the bios?

Might be worth comparing with your mate?

[Richdog]

No nothing in the BIOS mate, that was a first port of call. But the hell with it, im getting rid of this mobo and getting the EPOX or the ASUS. That'll solve the problem once and for all. Last MSI product I will ever buy.

[Stoo]

sound plan chap

Your A64 754 pin?

[Richdog]

Aye, tis indeed. Skt 939 is a bit pricey to justify upgrading from a 3400+, not enough of a performance increase.