Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 + ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA + ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[Hlafordlaes]

@All,

Seems my harping about maintaining XP Mode compatibility is fairly useless. According to latest news, it is merely a form of MS Virtual PC that is more integrated with Win7, but it does not offer any true extra goodies other than desktop integration. So, if you really need it for an old app or business task, you can install Virtual PC yourself, then XP, on any VT or no-VT supporting CPU and get the job done. The lack of VT support will slow it down some, that's all.

Guess what my darling legacy app is: Internet Hearts. I confess it brings out the wicked side in me.

 

[Deanodarlo]

Is that true Hlafordlaes? I thought they'd blocked MS Vitual PC from running in Windows 7.

I thought they are forcing you to use their integrated version in Windows 7, which requires a VT CPU.

Or you can just dual boot as well I'd imagine? More of a pain though.

EDIT: You are right, you can install Virtual PC IF you remove the integrated version from Windows 7 first.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Still working through it, and maybe dual booting will be the only option if using only MS solutions. But I guess my point is there is nothing really sexy about it, and if your needs are as simple as mine, not worth bothering about with CPU choices; there are other work-arounds (dual boot, VMWare, etc.).

As an aside, I just finished reinstalling XP and his time decided to do away with my Win7 RC partition. I may not upgrade to Win7 until I am on another mobo, since the goodies I care about (gaming under DirectX11) are not practical on my setup (PCIe4x).

 

[Deanodarlo]

I agree, I'm running Windows 7 RC on my main computer, but apart from pretty visuals and using all 4GB of my memory, it pretty much does exactly the same as my XP install. There is dx10 and 11 of course, but nothing in that area excites me either yet as the games don't feel that much different from DX9 mode on my 9800GTX+.

I'll be sticking with XP on the 4coredual as it's not getting more than 2GB RAM, and Windows 7 on my main computer, but I could quite happily slip back to using XP on there too to be honest.

 

[MKD]

Delighted to report that for a week now my Intel Pentium DC E6300 upgraded 775Dual-VSTA has been entirely stable ever since "fixing" the drivers as reported above (09/30/2009 02:58pm) - phew

As a matter of interest/anticipation does anyone have any view on what (if any) drivers are going to be useful for Windows 7 as I have it on order and intend to do a fresh install on a fresh 1TB drive soon after release.

ie The Via Hyperion Pro v5.17a set I'm currently using as recommended - I can't see any reference to any Windows version(s) compatibility ?

MKD

 

[Hlafordlaes]

@MKD,

Just checked VIA Arena and if you choose Win7 as your OS, it won't even list chipset drivers. However, the 5.17a you already have is rated for Vista 32 and 64 bit, and that should do it. I used 5.17a in my Win7 64b test install and there were no problems.

 

[Ileader36]

I just installed Windows 7 (64 bit) last week, and so far no problems whatsoever.

I am using the standard Windows 7 chipset drivers, they seem fine. Latest Realtek Sound drivers and ATI'S latest 9.9 Radeon which my
HD3850agp works ok with. Win 7 installed it's own drivers for the network as well, but I have a Gigabit Lan Pci card installed.

Win7 in definitely faster with 2 gig ram than Vista was, as usual I have tweeked the crap out of it and am quite impressed so far.
The X3 Terran conflict benchmark (with exactly same settings as XP) actually is about 7-8 fps faster than in XP, but don't
bother with older benches like 3dmark2001 as it is Dx8.1 and Win7 and Vista suck at it.

The best way to dual boot is Not to at all, I have found that installing 3 Os's (Win 7, Ubuntu, Xp) on 3 hard drives works best when
the installations are all stand alone, just press F11 at the bios screen and select which hDD you want to boot from, also when
installing each OS disconnect the other hdd's and there will be no stuffing up of drive letters, etc.
As an example in XP the boot drive is C and Win 7 is E, likewise when in Win 7 the boot is C and XP is E drive, works perfectly.

 

[PrTv1980]

Hello everyone

I'm also a 4coreDual Sata II user and my current config is:

E5200 @3.458Ghz
1Gb of Corsair Value Selected
XFX 9600GT
300GB WD Sata2
250GB Seagate Sata2
Pioneer DVD-RW IDE
Enermax 465Watt PSU

My problem is when I use 2 slots of DDR2 memory, I can't make the system stable.

My memory is 2 Corsair Value Selected 667, and they work together without any problem in other M/B (Asrock 4Core-133 FullHD).

If I use only one slot (meaning 1 GB), the system works fine, but if I put the other one in, I start to see all kind of stability problem eg BSOD, lock-up on post, etc.

What's interesting is this only happens when I O/C my CPU (my CPU went from 13*200 to 13*266).

But I'm use it's not my CPU's stability issue as it passes all tests at that speed with only 1 slot of ram used.

The BIOS is the newest version, and I tried specifying the ram speed manually (tried both 266 and 333). I even tried enabling Flexibility memory config, but all that doesn't seem to help.

All advanced memory configulation eg TAS, RAS etc, are left AUTO.

Tried all possible BIOS configuration for several hours without success.

Does anyone have any idea how to make it work?

P.S. I know I can use 2 slots if I put my CPU back at stock, but please don't suggest me to do so, since it's already too slow at 3.458, and most importantly, it's not the CPU's fault (perfectly stable at that speed with 1 slot of ram used).

 

[Deanodarlo]

Hi PrTv1980 - a couple of things to try first off would be make sure you have 2T command on the mem and V-Link speed set to normal in the bios. (if you haven't tried already).

 

[PrTv1980]

Originally posted by: Deanodarlo
Hi PrTv1980 - a couple of things to try first off would be make sure you have 2T command on the mem and V-Link speed set to normal in the bios. (if you haven't tried already).

Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately those options are already as you suggested.
From my further experiment, I'm able to rule something out:

1. It's not my processor's fault, and it's perfectly stable at that speed on this MB with 1 GB of ram installed (one slot).

2. It's not the ram's fault, since it's matched pair and it's stable together when used with all other MB(s) I have (1333FullHD and Gigabyte EP45UD3R). If I only use any of the two with this MB, it's fine, but I can't put them together.

I suspect that this MB is the one to blame, as I can think of no other factor.

One thing I want to try is increasing DIMM voltage from Normal to High but I don't know how much "high" is.

FYI, my ram's spec is 1.8V and I don't know how far it will go with "High" setting, as this MB doesn't report Dimm voltage.

I really want to install another Dimm in as I want to try some Win7.

FYI, I actually have 3 of 1GB 667 Corsair Value Selected modules, and I tried swapping them all (1 with 2, 1 with 3, 2 with 3, etc), but nothing worked.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[Ileader36]

Just found this info about Ram voltage relating to DDR2 and DDR1

DDR2 high = 2.0 volts, normal = 1.9volts and low = 1.8volts.
DDR1 high = 2.7 volts, normal = 2.6volts and low = 2.5volts.

AGP volts is the same as the Northbridge IC volts, so put that to high.
Also I had to put Vlink speed to fast as Vista kept crapping out in games at normal.

I would suggest You put your Ram to high as well, 2v won't kill any ddr2 stick.

It is well known that these mobo's run ddr2 ram best at a 1:1 ratio, so I suggest
you give ddr2 667 mode a miss and just play with the timings at 533 mode

 

[PrTv1980]

Thanks for the reply, Ileader36.

I think I finally sort it out. The one to blame at the end is not the ram nor the MB, but it's me. -_-!

Well, I initially left all memory settings at AUTO, thinking that the MB should detect the ram and set everything properly, but later found out that all memory settings were too aggressive.

Using CPU-Z to see memory details revealed that timing was set at 3-3-3-12 or something like that which is not good for a value memory like mine, so I manually change the memory settings to appropriate value (4-4-4-12-15), set Dimm Voltage at AUTO, and manually set DIMM mode to Dual Channel (originally was AUTO).

Now it's the first time that the system can finally load windows successfully (stable or not is remain to be seen though).

Thanks for all advice.

 

[Deanodarlo]

Originally posted by: Ileader36
AGP volts is the same as the Northbridge IC volts, so put that to high.
Also I had to put Vlink speed to fast as Vista kept crapping out in games at normal.

So strange! I was the opposite. I had to set V-Link to normal, or USB sticks hang my machine. It could be an incompatibility with the IDE->SATA adaptors I'm using however to allow me to run RAID, but I get rock stable performance at normal. You'd expect V-Link speeding up would not sort out stability, but perhaps it's a strange latency/timing or motherboard FSB hole issue that it balances out. Or perhaps helps with timing to your bridgechip 3850 - I've found they can be temperamental on VIA AGP chipsets in the past.

PrTv1980, glad you sorted it!

This board is quirky and tests the best of us. But that's why I kind of like it. It's so unpredictable and unique!

 

[Ileader36]

The Rialto bridge IC on my card has a heatsink on it, which together with a pencil mod for 1.4v, allows up to 891mhz on the core, I only use that for benchmarking though.

And PrTv1980, I would still suggest You put your ram on 2.0v for stabilities sake. You never mentioned whether or not You modded your cpu to get
266fsb and 3.4ghz +, the e5300? likely won't be too stable on default voltage at that speed.

 

[PrTv1980]

Originally posted by: Ileader36
The Rialto bridge IC on my card has a heatsink on it, which together with a pencil mod for 1.4v, allows up to 891mhz on the core, I only use that for benchmarking though.

And PrTv1980, I would still suggest You put your ram on 2.0v for stabilities sake. You never mentioned whether or not You modded your cpu to get
266fsb and 3.4ghz +, the e5300? likely won't be too stable on default voltage at that speed.

I did not mod my CPU to receive higher VCore at that speed. I just change FSB up from 200 to 266. So far I haven't encountered any stability problem even with extensive stress test.

Regarding the ram, tonight I will leave it up with Memtest and if it's still alive in the morning I think it should be fine at 1.8. If not, I'll increase the dimm voltage as you suggest.

BTW I have another question.
I'm about to install 7 in a couple of hours, and would like to know if I still need all the drivers!

My concern is that VIA Hyperion, since there is no 7 version even on VIA website. Do I still need Hyperion on Windows 7? If yes, which one is the best one to install?

Another thing is the audio driver, can I use Vista one? I checked Asrock website and found that the most recent one for VISTA was released in 2007. Is it OK to install that on Windows 7?

Any suggestion on the drivers and where I can find it it would be greatly appreciated (since I tried the place where it supposes to be found but couldn't find it).

FYI again, my MB is 4CoreDual-SATA2.

 

[MKD]

Originally posted by: PrTv1980
I'm about to install 7 in a couple of hours, and would like to know if I still need all the drivers!

My concern is that VIA Hyperion, since there is no 7 version even on VIA website. Do I still need Hyperion on Windows 7? If yes, which one is the best one to install?

Another thing is the audio driver, can I use Vista one? I checked Asrock website and found that the most recent one for VISTA was released in 2007. Is it OK to install that on Windows 7?

Any suggestion on the drivers and where I can find it it would be greatly appreciated (since I tried the place where it supposes to be found but couldn't find it).

FYI again, my MB is 4CoreDual-SATA2.

VIA: Advice above indicates NO NEED for Via drivers with Windows 7 - whether there is some benefit or not if/when Via release any remains to be seen.

REALTEK: their website DOES have Windows 7 (&Vista) HD drivers - I used the latest package from their site when I redid my Via/Audio/Graphics drivers - see posting above from 09/30/2009 02:58 PM

MKD

 

[PrTv1980]

Thanks for the reply, MKD.

I've just installed seven and everything seems to be working fine.

 

[MKD]

Re upgrading my CPU : as well as the symptom I had with Vista HP Media Center getting very upset afterwards (solved, via Googling as described above), just found that iTunes no longer regarded the PC as authorised!

From iTunes help seems my workaround is
"If you forgot to deauthorize a computer you no longer own, you can deauthorize all your authorized computers at once. You can use this method once a year."

BUT just thought I'd mention it in case others are considering upgrading their CPU:
a) Check out what to do re Media Center if using/recording with that
b) Deauthorise iTunes before changing the CPU to keep things simple it seems!

MKD

 

[PrTv1980]

Hello again,

It seems I encountered a strange stability problem with Seven.

At first, the computer seemed to be "stable"
- I can install 7 without any problem.
- Pass Prime95's Blend test for 12+Hours straight [in XP].
- Can play game and any program that stress components for hours without any sign of problem [in XP and 7].

But it randomly locked up in Seven for no clear reasons!

I mean, it may lock up when I'm browsing the internet without doing other CPU intensive thing, or it may locked up after returning from screen saver while the system is 100% idle. It seemed to happen whenever it felt like it!

I tried using the CPU and ram at stock speed but didn't help. The thing is, it's perfectly stable in XP and completely unrealiable in Seven!

My setup again for your convenience.
-E5300 (@ stock to rule it out) *the temp never exceeded 50 no matter how high the load was*
-4CoreDual Sata2
-Geforce 9600GT @Forceware 191.03
HDD -250GB Seagate Sata2
HDD -320GB WD Sata2
HDD -80GB Seagate IDE
DVDRW Pioneer DVR115 IDE
Windows 7 latest Beta *Can't really remember the number and I'm not at that machine ATM, but it's the latest one before MS stop providing the download*

After I install windows 7, I installed the following drivers:
-Realtek Latest windows 7 lan driver
-Realtek Latest windwos 7 audio driver
-Forceware

The above is all I installed. No 4in1 (as you guys said VIA told us it's not necessary in case of Win7).

What's bugging me is the system is rock stable in XP but locks up every couple hours in 7.

Any idea?

 

[tw924]

Hi everyone,

I use the 4coredual-sata2 motherboard with this current setup.

E4500 @ stock
PNY 8800 GTS 640mb
1TB Hitachi Sata2
160GB Maxtor IDE
Corsair VX550W PSU
OS: win 7 x64

I recently picked up 4GB of OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 SLI-Ready Dual Channel to replace my 2x1gb of ram.

I've updated to the latest bios 2.20 but have been having difficulties trying to get the 4GB of ram to work. When I put both sticks in the computer won't post properly and nothing is picked up on the screen. However it works when there is only a single 2GB stick in either slot.

I have tested both sticks of ram and both of the slots to verify that they work. I've also played with some of the bios settings like trying to set the timings, setting DRAM voltage to low, DRAM frequency to ddrii 667 but nothing seems to work for me.

Currently I'm just running it with single stick but am stumped with the problem, because it appears the ram slot can read the 2GB sticks but I have no idea why it doesnt work when both sticks are slotted.

Any advice or ideas would be welcomed!

Thanks!

 

[Ileader36]

PrTv1980, try putting Vlink speed to fast and see if that helps.

I am having no probs like that with Win7.

 

[PrTv1980]

Originally posted by: tw924
Hi everyone,

I use the 4coredual-sata2 motherboard with this current setup.

E4500 @ stock
PNY 8800 GTS 640mb
1TB Hitachi Sata2
160GB Maxtor IDE
Corsair VX550W PSU
OS: win 7 x64

I recently picked up 4GB of OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 SLI-Ready Dual Channel to replace my 2x1gb of ram.

From what I know, this MB only supports up to 2GB of ram, so I guess that's why it didn't want to work with 4GB.

Originally posted by: Ileader36
PrTv1980, try putting Vlink speed to fast and see if that helps.

I am having no probs like that with Win7.

I'll try that. Now I've raised DIMM voltage to High and will see if it helps.

BTW, would you tell me how you mod your E5200 ?
I'd like to know how to force it to use higher VCore. Do you have some kind of diagram?

I want to make my E5300 use 1.3xx as the default voltage is too low to make it stable at 3.6Ghz.

Thanks

 

[tw924]

The bios update allows for 4gb ram support now and I've read other accounts of people running 4gb. Just baffles me, no one else seems to be having the same problem tried searching online.

 

[Deanodarlo]

tw924, if it won't post with the two sticks I don't know what else to suggest. The only thing I found that changed between one stick and two was the command rate had to be dropped from 1T to 2T or I got errors. As you said, others are using 4GB sticks to get 3.25GB or so of useable memory, but it's not officially supported. I guess the only thing to do would be to use the same brand and make as them or sell the ram and settle for 2GB on the 4coredual.

Another thing I noticed with this board which I have NEVER come across before from other manufacturers. The Power LED pins are side by side, when my cases have a three pin Power LED connector with the middle pin a null connection (no wire)??? Every other motherboard I've owned has a three pin Power LED connector and I thought it was standard.

Were the 4coredual engineers on drugs, or is this a common design on Asrock boards?

eg Motherboard (x x) vs Case connector (x 0 x)

Luckily, I had an unused HDD LED connector I could use for power as this case has three HDD LEDS.

 

[tw924]

I've fixed my problem..was a pain and took me awhile... just for reference incase anyone else has the same difficulties... had to reset the CMOS..at first it would load up once then after a restart/shutdown it would not load up on the screen again... I then manually put in the RAM timings from CPU ID and set DRAM voltage and frequency to low and 667 respectively and it works now... on boot it shows 3.3gb ram but on cpuid and win7 shows 4gb