Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2

[Nsaney]

Originally posted by: fortunzfavor
I noticed there are several e5200 users here, but all the oc results I found were after a bsel or volt mod. Anyone remember results from before they modded? What was the best stable OC you could get?

I'm considering this board combo as a way to hold on to my AGP card and delay buying new RAM while still getting a stellar clock boost. I don't really feel the need to get every ounce of juice out of it, but if I could get 2.9ghz, that would make me happy. Is that doable without mods?

Thanks.

I've got an E4500 running stable at 2.79ghz with just bios settings.

 

[Ileader36]

I only tested my E5200 up to 230*12.5 (2875), with Ram at 1:1 before doing the bsel mod, but did actually get it to boot to windows once
only at 266fsb, can't remember the multi I used but it wasn't 12.5
I don't think the AGP bus locks at 66mhz on this mobo, pci stays at 33 though, which is likely why most have
issues over 240-250 fsb.
Depending on Your Ram, you may have to either run 333mhz or turn flexibility mode on to find max stable overclock.

 

[anonxlg]

Originally posted by: Nsaney

Originally posted by: fortunzfavor
I noticed there are several e5200 users here, but all the oc results I found were after a bsel or volt mod. Anyone remember results from before they modded? What was the best stable OC you could get?

I'm considering this board combo as a way to hold on to my AGP card and delay buying new RAM while still getting a stellar clock boost. I don't really feel the need to get every ounce of juice out of it, but if I could get 2.9ghz, that would make me happy. Is that doable without mods?

Thanks.

I've got an E4500 running stable at 2.79ghz with just bios settings.

i have the e4500 and i've only got it to 2.4ghz stable with bios, what settings and what's the rest of your setup

i wanna get this, OCZ (OCZ2P8004GK) DDR2 PC2-6400 Vista Performance Platinum 4GB (2x2048) Kit Dual Channel
i wont have problems right? i think this mobo supports 4gb ram even though it says 2gb

 

[fortunzfavor]

Originally posted by: Ileader36
I only tested my E5200 up to 230*12.5 (2875), with Ram at 1:1 before doing the bsel mod, but did actually get it to boot to windows once
only at 266fsb, can't remember the multi I used but it wasn't 12.5
I don't think the AGP bus locks at 66mhz on this mobo, pci stays at 33 though, which is likely why most have
issues over 240-250 fsb.

First, thanks for all your posts. You were who I found in Google that got me to this thread.

I'm not 100% sure I understand your premod results though. You say you got it to boot to windows just once? You mean specifically for the 230*12.5 settings? Or with some 266*unknownmulti setting? Did you not have any stable OC beneath that that you can remember (even if you don't remember what the settings were for it--it kind of sounds like you're saying there was almost nothing stable or at least no oc that you tried before modding)?

Depending on Your Ram, you may have to either run 333mhz or turn flexibility mode on to find max stable overclock.

I'm planning on using 2 gb dual channel DDR400 from patriot. And I really haven't a clue what that will mean for my OC (I'm pretty much a n00b at this). Any input on the impact it could/should/might have on my final unmodded stable speed?

Originally posted by: anonxlgi wanna get this, OCZ (OCZ2P8004GK) DDR2 PC2-6400 Vista Performance Platinum 4GB (2x2048) Kit Dual Channel

i wont have problems right? i think this mobo supports 4gb ram even though it says 2gb

If 4gb works, it works with a custom unofficial bios flash. I can't find the link right now, but it's somewhere in this thread.

 

[francisA]

Ileader36 has helped me with my oc attempts too and I believe what he meant was he was able to OC up to 230*12.5 without doing the BSEL mod. I can also attest to that as I did the same thing. Over 230fsb and my PC isn't stable. So 230*12.5 was the max stable OC before BSEL.

Now doing the BSEL mod, you start off with 266fsb. The bonus with that is all other components run to spec, at least from what I've read and seen. PCI, AGP, and RAM all run to standard spec. I too use 2GB of DDR400. If you set the RAM timings to DDR200 (I think, or DDR400) in the BIOS then you wouldn't have any problems. Even now, I'm running 280fsb and the memory is at roughly 210Mhz, it's totally stable.

If only I can get the dang ATI 4850 to work with my mobo then I'll be happier

 

[fortunzfavor]

That doesn't sound so bad. I can live with 2.8+ghz for now. Especially since the e5200 is due for a price cut in a couple weeks.

At such a modest boost, I can probably use stock air too.

And later if I get to feeling boxed in later, I can always try the mod. The bsel mod is easily undone, right? Are there any n00b-proof instructions for it specifically on the e5200? I've come across some "I did it!" threads, but I didn't seen any step-by-step threads.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[francisA]

Np.

The BSEL mod is easily reversible. I used the rear window defogger kit which can be removed with isopropyl alcohol or just by carefully scraping off. Took me 3 tries but I really took my time and experimented a bit. In the end I just used a sewing pin and load it up slightly with the defogger solution and painted on the CPU. You can also use the circuitwriter pen. Some say it's easier.

BSEL is easy. I believe Ileader36 posted a link to Intel's site that shows the pin outs for the E5200 (or E5000 series). I have to find the link or if you go a few pages back, I'm sure you'll find it.

Then next is the vid mod. If you do BSEL to 266Mhz, I'm sure you'll need to up your vcore as my stock vcore only got me to 230Mhz. But before you would know what to mod for vcore, you'd have to find out your stock VID. You can use CoreTemp to get your stock vid. Mine ended up being 1.225v. Then the same doc I referred to earlier can tell you which pins to insulate or short to Vcc to reach your target vcore.

Once you have that detail, I or others can help you with the other steps.

 

[Ileader36]

Here's some links to Bsel mod on e5200

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=2933913

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=586596

Leaving Your DDR1 Ram at 400mhz 1:1 in bios will limit Your overclock if Your ram won't run past 220 fsb, so to determine the max stable overclock of Your cpu, You may need to drop the ram speed back to 333mhz in bios.
I only tested up to 230mhz (cpu fsb) with my Gskill Ram at 230*2 460mhz cas 2.3.2.5.
Not all ram overclocks that well, You might also try with higher latency and timings.
Then again Your ram may overclock very well, just make sure You set Dram and AGP voltage in bios
to HIGH.

I do not remember what multi I used when I got it to boot at 266fsb before doing the bsel mod, but it was not stable at all.

 

[Ileader36]

I can verify that the Bios on the Asrock mobo is not very stable at times, as I recently tried running my Ram at 1T settings instead of 2t settings.
It seemed ok for a few days until I started getting BSOD's, and eventually computer would not boot at all!
I was about to pronounce the mobo dead, when I tried shorting the cmos for about 20 secs, bios screen came back again
and I quickly put ram back to 2t, has run perfect ever since.
I also tried every other thing imaginable, but am certain that the Ram timings somehow corrupted the bios temporarily.

 

[francisA]

Gotta report new updates on my setup.

Just installed a Sapphire HD4850 and right at this time, it's working perfectly well. First attempt, Windows will just hang after a few minutes with official BIOS 2.10 and ATI Catalyst 8.12. Nothing else changed except the PCI-E settings in the BIOS.

Got some excellent advice from the forum and downloaded pctreiber's 2.12a Bios and whatdya know, it works!!! Have done GPU stress testing for 4hrs last night using Fur Rendering benchmark as well as ATI Tool and no artifacts found and has been declared stable by the apps. ATI's implementation of the fan control just makes me quite worried as sometimes, the card sits at 71-73C idle so had to override it and keep fan at static 38-40%. This brings down idle temps < 50C.

The only hiccup I have now is that the 4850 does not work 100% stable if I keep the OC (280fsb). I have to take it back down to 266fsb for it to run stable otherwise, games just lock-up after a few minutes. Maybe it's the nature of the mobo in addition to the ATI drivers causing this but I'm not complaining. Benchmarks look great with 3dMark06 and 3dMark05 reporting almost twice the ratings as well as Aquamark compared to my x1950xt AGP

4CoreDual-SATA2 (v2.12a) + HD4850 == WORKS!!!!

 

[fortunzfavor]

Once I found a nice combo deal on newegg for a 790gx board with good bios OCing options, the 7750 be (which oc well together with the sb750) and a nice rebate on some ram ($10 after rebate), I abandoned my pursuit of the 4coredual. The onboard gfx is probably on par with my old AGP, and the potential for a cheap boost with hybrid crossfire wins.

It's a better upgrade path for me down the road as well.

But thanks for your help guys. And if anyone else is looking for the e5200 combo with this board, keep in mind that the e5200 price drops in late january. I don't know how long it will take the price to filter down to retailers, but I suspect it will be speedy.

http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/...0-65w-tdp-quad-191124/

 

[Ileader36]

FrancisA, could You let us know what Your benchmark scores are? Would be good for future reference.

 

[francisA]

Oh yeah forgot to post the benchmark results.

These are the results for this setup:
E5200 @ 3.33GHz (@ 266fsb)
2GB OCZ DDR400 @ 3-4-4-8
Sapphire HD4850 (625/993)

3dMark06 - 11376 (5400 - x1950xt AGP)
3dMark05 - 17408 (10600 - x1950xt AGP)
Aquamark - 128,771 (97,000 - x1950xt AGP)

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not sure why the VPU resets itself when I'm running the E5200 @ 280fsb. Didn't try anything between 266 and 280 as I feel it's not really worth it.
Marks show good gains over my older x1950xt AGP setup.

Ileader36:
Comparing to your 3dMark06 results, my HD4850 performed slightly less than your HD3850.

 

[Ileader36]

FrancisA, I'll do a benchmark with my cpu at 266x12.5, as that is the only fair way to compare scores.
I'll leave my HD3850 overclocked though, as they are not the same card anyway.

I would say that Your pci-ex being 4x is strangling the video card to an extent.
Your loose Ram timings will affect the scores, but not massively, might be an idea to
get some ddr2 while it's cheap.
Try running "vpu recover" turned off in CCC or Ati Tray Tools (if installed), actually maybe try getting rid
of CCC altogether and just using ATT.

I assume You have set the pci-ex to 100mhz in the bios?,
as having read through these forums, pci-ex cards need the bus speed to stay around 100mhz.

 

[Ileader36]

OK, I'm back after running benchmarks

CPU E5200@3333mhz 266x12.5
G.SKILL ZX PC3200 @ 2.3.2.5
HD3850@891/990(1980ddr)

3DMARKO6 - 11694
3DMARK05 - 18641
AQUAMARK - 135521

 

[francisA]

Thanks Ileader36.

Your benchmark results are still higher than mine. Though not overly concerned, I still am surprised (or maybe not) that a PCI-E 4850 will not perform better. What's worse is that I have to keep the 266fsb or it gets screwy. Any slight overclock of either the CPU or GPU will cause instability issues.

This is with PCI-E set to 100Mhz in the BIOS. Not sure if I've set all BIOS parms correctly though .........

I can boost CPU to 280fsb, will get through 3dMark06 and give me 11676 but it's not stable so I kept everything now stock at 266fsb so all bus speeds are stock.

I'm resigned to the fact that this is as good as it will get with this mobo, maybe it's got its limitation on the PCI-E bus. The benchmark results are great improvement over my previous setup, and shows on gaming as now I can bump up all settings on COD5 to full without any glitch. But AA is still a hit or miss with ATI cards and besides, at 1920x1200, I don't think I need AA at all.

 

[doubleOseven]

Francis... with your 4850, if you haven't already, change the MB's bios setting that disables the PCIE downstream pipeline option. That may help your video problems when you o/c the FSB...

 

[KhaosDvorak]

I am having some problems with this board and getting even post to show up with my Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512MB agp. I know agp is flaky on this thing, but my old MSI PM8PM-V flaked on me, and this board seemed the way to go.

I have tried the offical bios, and now am running 2.12, have tried everything possible in the bios to make it work, and my psu works great, used it with my MSI board and this same card no problems. Also, the card works fine in a friends agp machine.

Any suggestions or perhaps bios configs that people have found to work?

 

[Ileader36]

Originally posted by: KhaosDvorak
I am having some problems with this board and getting even post to show up with my Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512MB agp. I know agp is flaky on this thing, but my old MSI PM8PM-V flaked on me, and this board seemed the way to go.

I have tried the offical bios, and now am running 2.12, have tried everything possible in the bios to make it work, and my psu works great, used it with my MSI board and this same card no problems. Also, the card works fine in a friends agp machine.

Any suggestions or perhaps bios configs that people have found to work?

Please post all Your system specs and We can help You

I had a similar problem and it was my power supply, Antec Smartpower 2 500w, was fine in old sys with my Powercolor HD3850 agp, but not good enough for the e5200 cpu.

 

[KhaosDvorak]

My System Specs are as follows:

Intel Pentium 4 531 3.0Ghz with HT (Tried Enabling or disabling it with no effect)
2 GB Dual Channel DDRII at 533 MHz
4CoreDual-Sata2 R2.0 With 2.12 Bios
450 Watt PSU With 25Amps on 12V
Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512 MB AGP
Soundblaster XtremeGamer PCI Soundcard

 

[Ileader36]

If anything it is Pci-express that is flaky on these motherboards due to being 4x only.

Try different voltage settings on Your Ram, low, med, high. Also make sure AGP volts is high.
What makes You think it is the video card? Have you tried another?
There are compatibility issues with certain ddr2 ram sticks that like high volts, try some old ddr1 if You have any lying around.
Also remove Your pci sound card to eliminate that as a potential conflict.

 

[Ileader36]

please delete these 2 extra posts

 

[Ileader36]

sorry , didn't realise my reply post was next page, kept refreshing nothing appeared

 

[francisA]

Yup, agree on that one Ileader36. My AGP x1950xt was flawless on this board. Never missed a beat. It's the PCI-E HD4850 that is giving me OC limitations. Note though, only when overclocking. At stock GPU and CPU speeds, the PCI-E card is doing extremely well on my board with the 2.12a bios.

From what I've read, the 3850 and 3870 should not have problems working on the 4CoreDual even with the official bios. It's the 48xx series that needs the non-official bios.

 

[imported_rebel]

3870 has problems cant use anti aliasing at all! otherwise artifacts.....