Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2

[Squalled]

Great, thanks!

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: donxcore
hey i read a few posts back and i just wanna know what's the difference between BIOS 2.0 and 2.0a? (besides beta)

oh and i have E7200 + 3850 agp + a bunch of ddr1 lol

Latest Bios 2.02a supports 4Gb of ram
Enhanced Halt State Option
Thermal Throttling Option
ATI 4870 and 4850 support
Smart Fan Control

http://www.pctreiber.net/beitr...k+4CoreDual+SATA2.html

 

[Mr Vain]

Good overclocking info in below link.

http://www.pctreiber.net/beitrag8602.html

 

[rno]

Is there some possibility to enable memory remapping feature with this motherboard? I guess we cannot utilize whole 4 GB of RAM until this is enabled or what..?
I'd like to hear comments mostly from people who are actually tried that amount of memory with this mobo

 

[doubleOseven]

Re: memory re-mapping? It can also be a software limitation with the OS.

For instance, if using XP Home, then you're basically capped at 2 gb ram... if you're using XP Pro, you can tweak it to near 4 gb.... see: http://www.cobolhacker.com/?p=765

 

[rno]

I'm not software capped if I use 64 bit operating system (64 bit Vista Business in this case).

 

[JonW]

Originally posted by: rno
I'm not software capped if I use 64 bit operating system (64 bit Vista Business in this case).

Which ram are you trying to use with this mb? Yes, you can have as much ram as you want with that O/S. Did you have any luck with the bioses that Mr. Vain linked earlier 1.9a/2.02a?

 

[vixensjlin]

Originally posted by: rno
I'm not software capped if I use 64 bit operating system (64 bit Vista Business in this case).

I am very sure that it is the limitation of the VIA chipset. I used Ubuntu AMD64 distribution and the system still reported only 3.x GB.

By the way, does anybody know if this motherboard support ATI/AMD 4670?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: donxcore
hey i read a few posts back and i just wanna know what's the difference between BIOS 2.0 and 2.0a? (besides beta)

oh and i have E7200 + 3850 agp + a bunch of ddr1 lol

Latest Bios 2.02a supports 4Gb of ram
Enhanced Halt State Option
Thermal Throttling Option
ATI 4870 and 4850 support
Smart Fan Control

http://www.pctreiber.net/beitr...k+4CoreDual+SATA2.html

Nice. Will there be a modded BIOS for the 775dual-VSTA with these same features?

 

[Squalled]

Any reason why this motherboard won't let me set my AGP card's aperture to 512 megs? It's only giving me 32,64,128,256. Windows in seeing it as 512, which is irrelevant if the aperture is set wrong....

Time to switch to the hacked bios?

 

[silversniper12]

Hey guys, I have this board along with an e6600 @ 2.6 and 2gb of ram, and I was thinking about upgrading my video card (currently its a Radeon x1600 pro AGP). I was thinking about either the 9600 gt, 9800 gt, or the Radeon 4850. Are there any issues with either cards? Do I have to flash the BIOS?

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: silversniper12
Hey guys, I have this board along with an e6600 @ 2.6 and 2gb of ram, and I was thinking about upgrading my video card (currently its a Radeon x1600 pro AGP). I was thinking about either the 9600 gt, 9800 gt, or the Radeon 4850. Are there any issues with either cards? Do I have to flash the BIOS?

Official graphics card support list.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/vga.a...TA2%20R2.0&s=775&c=VGA

ATI 4850 works according to users in this thread, you may need to use the unofficial bios from the below link.
http://www.pctreiber.net/beitr...k+4CoreDual+SATA2.html

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: donxcore
hey i read a few posts back and i just wanna know what's the difference between BIOS 2.0 and 2.0a? (besides beta)

oh and i have E7200 + 3850 agp + a bunch of ddr1 lol

Latest Bios 2.02a supports 4Gb of ram
Enhanced Halt State Option
Thermal Throttling Option
ATI 4870 and 4850 support
Smart Fan Control

http://www.pctreiber.net/beitr...k+4CoreDual+SATA2.html

Nice. Will there be a modded BIOS for the 775dual-VSTA with these same features?

Yes it is here in below link.

http://www.pctreiber.net/beitr...ight=775dual+VSTA.html

Beta bios from asrock, which adds support for radeon hd 4850 and hd 4870 cards.

Other features:
- Supports smart fan (better fan control)
- Supports speedstep
- Supports enhanced halt state
- Supports thermal trottling
- Supports up to 4 gb ram (trough chipset limitation you can only user around 3,3 GB)
- E7200 support

 

[rno]

Originally posted by: JonW

Originally posted by: rno
I'm not software capped if I use 64 bit operating system (64 bit Vista Business in this case).

Which ram are you trying to use with this mb? Yes, you can have as much ram as you want with that O/S. Did you have any luck with the bioses that Mr. Vain linked earlier 1.9a/2.02a?

Hi,

Now I'm using Kingston DDR2 800 4 GB memory kit (2 x 2 GB).
POST reports 3072 MB, if I enter BIOS utility, it shows 4096 MB installed, running Dual Channel mode and under Windows Vista x64 it reports as follows:
http://img195.imagevenue.com/i...1_memory_122_247lo.jpg
As you can see, I'm only able to use 3 GB of RAM total, because this mb does not support memory remapping feature that enables whole 4 GB. I do not know if it's VIA chipset or BIOS limitation, but I guess we have to live with it.

Btw does someone know what timings are best for this memory with 667 MHz, because I'm not really very aware about how to set memory timings to achieve better performance.

Thanks!

Edit, I'm using unofficial BIOS v2.02

 

[doubleOseven]

Technically speaking, the Via pt880 chip is capable of handling up to 8GB of RAM in Dual channel mode, see:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/produ...psets/p4-series/pt880/
I'm guessing the 3 gig limitation you're seeing could be due to the bios or the motherboard itself... and perhaps the OS drivers for the board ... Are you running the latest Via 4 in 1 drivers?

 

[rno]

VIA HyperionPro v5.18A but I don't think it does matter much because POST already reports 3072 (3 GB) as avalible memory.

 

[JonW]

Originally posted by: rno

Originally posted by: JonW

Originally posted by: rno
I'm not software capped if I use 64 bit operating system (64 bit Vista Business in this case).

Which ram are you trying to use with this mb? Yes, you can have as much ram as you want with that O/S. Did you have any luck with the bioses that Mr. Vain linked earlier 1.9a/2.02a?

Hi,

Now I'm using Kingston DDR2 800 4 GB memory kit (2 x 2 GB).
POST reports 3072 MB, if I enter BIOS utility, it shows 4096 MB installed, running Dual Channel mode and under Windows Vista x64 it reports as follows:
http://img195.imagevenue.com/i...1_memory_122_247lo.jpg
As you can see, I'm only able to use 3 GB of RAM total, because this mb does not support memory remapping feature that enables whole 4 GB. I do not know if it's VIA chipset or BIOS limitation, but I guess we have to live with it.

Btw does someone know what timings are best for this memory with 667 MHz, because I'm not really very aware about how to set memory timings to achieve better performance.

Thanks!

Edit, I'm using unofficial BIOS v2.02

I'm guessing your 2x2gb ram is using powerchip, which means it's a low voltage ic. try 4-4-4-12-42-3-3-3-4-2T (TWR-4) voltage=normal or low. If thats unstable change trfc=52/trrd=4/twr=5

 

[rno]

I don't know exactly what do you mean by "low voltage", but on the chip it reads 1,8V.
I'll try your settings if I get chance.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Nice. Will there be a modded BIOS for the 775dual-VSTA with these same features?

Yes it is here in below link.

http://www.pctreiber.net/beitr...ight=775dual+VSTA.html

Beta bios from asrock, which adds support for radeon hd 4850 and hd 4870 cards.

Other features:
- Supports smart fan (better fan control)
- Supports speedstep
- Supports enhanced halt state
- Supports thermal trottling
- Supports up to 4 gb ram (trough chipset limitation you can only user around 3,3 GB)
- E7200 support

AWESOME! The only other thing that I could want would be E5200 support. But if E7200 and E5200 are both M0 stepping, then perhaps this bios will work with E5200 too?

 

[rno]

I had several issues with 2.02 BIOS, PC started to BSOD, memtest86 threw errors and BIOS lost one 2GB stick occasionally after Windows displayed MEMORY_MANAGEMENT stop error.
So I flashed my MB again with 2.0 official BIOS and now the system seems stable. I've been running memtest for a while and no errors have been reported yet. I'll post final results later.
The system boots with 4 GB RAM and 2.0 official BIOS, but displays 3072 under BIOS.
First time when I booted my machine with 4 GB installed (after flashing back to 2.0), POST reported about 33xx MB, but then looks like it reallocated something and now it's constantly 3072 MB.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Nice. Will there be a modded BIOS for the 775dual-VSTA with these same features?

Yes it is here in below link.

http://www.pctreiber.net/beitr...ight=775dual+VSTA.html

Beta bios from asrock, which adds support for radeon hd 4850 and hd 4870 cards.

Other features:
- Supports smart fan (better fan control)
- Supports speedstep
- Supports enhanced halt state
- Supports thermal trottling
- Supports up to 4 gb ram (trough chipset limitation you can only user around 3,3 GB)
- E7200 support

AWESOME! The only other thing that I could want would be E5200 support. But if E7200 and E5200 are both M0 stepping, then perhaps this bios will work with E5200 too?

Someone in this tread a few pages back was using the E5200 with the DualCore-Sata2 board that has the same bios features as the 775dual-Vsta board. Its most likely IMO that E5200 should also work with the 775Dual-Vsta board also.

 

[JonW]

Originally posted by: rno
I had several issues with 2.02 BIOS, PC started to BSOD, memtest86 threw errors and BIOS lost one 2GB stick occasionally after Windows displayed MEMORY_MANAGEMENT stop error.
So I flashed my MB again with 2.0 official BIOS and now the system seems stable. I've been running memtest for a while and no errors have been reported yet. I'll post final results later.
The system boots with 4 GB RAM and 2.0 official BIOS, but displays 3072 under BIOS.
First time when I booted my machine with 4 GB installed (after flashing back to 2.0), POST reported about 33xx MB, but then looks like it reallocated something and now it's constantly 3072 MB.

Be careful on some bios. It can cause all sorts of instabilities. I had that bsod as well. Don't upgrade your via chipset drivers also just for the heck of updating. These 2 combo bios+4in1 drivers is a pain to troubleshoot when they don't mix. Somehow I fixed my issues with this mb with ddr2, Everything runs as they should now.

 

[cb750rob]

Hi folks, wonder if anyone can help... (jimmor if you are still around I would love to pick your brains on this)

Just bought an Asus en8800gt 512mb Current vga bios is 62.92.12.00.04 and after having installed get the black screen thingy.

Didn't know about the pci express gen 1 issue untill reading this thread but am reluctant to send card back as it was a bargain 60 pounds brand new.

So I am looking to flash the bios on this card to make it work (once I find a friend with a mobo I can do it on)

Found the following bios':

EVGA 8800GT BIOS Update (Version 62.92.24.00.XX)
This update is only for the following EVGA cards:

EVGA 8800GT BIOS Update (512-P3-N801-__)
EVGA 8800GT SC BIOS Update (512-P3-N802-__)
EVGA 8800GT KO BIOS Update (512-P3-N805-__)
EVGA 8800GT SSC BIOS Update (512-P3-N806-__)


Would I be correct in saying I should use the first one - EVGA 8800GT BIOS Update (512-P3-N801-__) ? (I read somewhere that msi do a bios as well any Ideas?)

Also Jimmor mentioned changing Timingset1 values..... would I use nbitor?? If so can you please give me more details as I have never used this.

Haven't flashed a vga bios since my geforce annihiator pro and that was a long time ago ;-) so if anyone has had a similar experience with the en8800gt and got it working I would love to hear from you

Thanks to you all for making this a great forum!!

Regards Rob



Machine specs currently from everest:

Computer:
Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 6.0.2900.2180 (IE 6.0 SP2)
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name OSIRIS
User Name Rob Williams
Logon Domain OSIRIS
Date / Time 2008-09-19 / 11:57

Motherboard:
CPU Type DualCore Intel Pentium E2160, 2616 MHz (9 x 291)
Motherboard Name ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (4 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, 2 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset VIA Apollo PT880 Pro/Ultra
System Memory 2048 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)
DIMM1: GeIL CL4-4-4DDR2-800 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM3: GeIL CL4-4-4DDR2-800 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
BIOS Type AMI (05/22/08)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter ALL-IN-WONDER X800 Series Secondary (256 MB)
Video Adapter ALL-IN-WONDER X800 Series (256 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon X800 (R420)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Realtek ALC888/S/T @ VIA VT8237S High Definition Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
IDE Controller VIA Bus Master IDE Controller - 0571
Storage Controller SCSI/RAID Host Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive SAMSUNG HD160JJ (160 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Disk Drive WDC WD2500PD-00FZB1 (232 GB, IDE)
Disk Drive WDC WD400BB-00FJA0 (37 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N (DVD+R9:10x, DVD-R9:6x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-RAM:12x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
Optical Drive SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616F (16x/48x DVD-ROM)
Optical Drive YY1091S MEA295C SCSI CdRom Device
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 152586 MB (9984 MB free)
E: (NTFS) 38162 MB (460 MB free)
G: (NTFS) 102406 MB (10017 MB free)
H: (NTFS) 136066 MB (5135 MB free)
Total Size 419.2 GB (25.0 GB free)

[ BIOS ]

BIOS Properties:
Vendor American Megatrends Inc.
Version P2.00
Release Date 05/22/2008
Size 512 KB
Boot Devices Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, CD-ROM, ATAPI ZIP, LS-120
Capabilities Flash BIOS, Shadow BIOS, Selectable Boot, EDD, BBS
Supported Standards DMI, ACPI
Expansion Capabilities PCI, USB

[ Overclock ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU Properties:
CPU Type DualCore Intel Pentium E2160
CPU Alias Conroe-1M
CPU Stepping L2
Engineering Sample No
CPUID CPU Name Genuine Intel(R) CPU 2160 @ 1.80GHz
CPUID Revision 000006F2h
Core Voltage 1.325 V

CPU Speed:
CPU Clock 2615.9 MHz (original: 1800 MHz, overclock: 45%)
CPU Multiplier 9x
CPU FSB 290.7 MHz (original: 200 MHz, overclock: 45%)
Memory Bus 363.3 MHz
DRAM:FSB Ratio 10:8

CPU Cache:
L1 Code Cache 32 KB per core
L1 Data Cache 32 KB per core
L2 Cache 1 MB (On-Die, ASC, Full-Speed)

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 63-194-0000010-00101111-052208-VIA$4CDS2194_4COREDUAL-SATA2 BIOS P2.00
Motherboard Name ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (4 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, 2 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, LAN)

Chipset Properties:
Motherboard Chipset VIA Apollo PT880 Pro/Ultra
Memory Timings 5-5-5-15 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
Command Rate (CR) 2T
DIMM1: GeIL CL4-4-4DDR2-800 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM3: GeIL CL4-4-4DDR2-800 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)

BIOS Properties:
System BIOS Date 05/22/08
Video BIOS Date 11/29/04
DMI BIOS Version P2.00

Graphics Processor Properties:
Video Adapter ATI All-in-Wonder X800
GPU Code Name R420 (AGP 8x 1002 / 4A4B, Rev 00)
GPU Clock 500 MHz (original: 500 MHz)
Memory Clock 500 MHz (original: 500 MHz)

 

[rno]

Yeah, my system seems stable now. I had to set RAM votage "Low" in BIOS and memtest is clear now. Hope it stays that way.

 

[jimmor]

Originally posted by: cb750rob
Hi folks, wonder if anyone can help... (jimmor if you are still around I would love to pick your brains on this)

Just bought an Asus en8800gt 512mb Current vga bios is 62.92.12.00.04 and after having installed get the black screen thingy.

Didn't know about the pci express gen 1 issue untill reading this thread but am reluctant to send card back as it was a bargain 60 pounds brand new.

So I am looking to flash the bios on this card to make it work (once I find a friend with a mobo I can do it on)

Found the following bios':

EVGA 8800GT BIOS Update (Version 62.92.24.00.XX)
This update is only for the following EVGA cards:

EVGA 8800GT BIOS Update (512-P3-N801-__)
EVGA 8800GT SC BIOS Update (512-P3-N802-__)
EVGA 8800GT KO BIOS Update (512-P3-N805-__)
EVGA 8800GT SSC BIOS Update (512-P3-N806-__)


Would I be correct in saying I should use the first one - EVGA 8800GT BIOS Update (512-P3-N801-__) ? (I read somewhere that msi do a bios as well any Ideas?)

Also Jimmor mentioned changing Timingset1 values..... would I use nbitor?? If so can you please give me more details as I have never used this.

Haven't flashed a vga bios since my geforce annihiator pro and that was a long time ago ;-) so if anyone has had a similar experience with the en8800gt and got it working I would love to hear from you

Thanks to you all for making this a great forum!!

Regards Rob

These days, making a 8800gt boot properly in a VIA chipset mobo generally just requires the 8800gt's bios version to be at least 62.92.23.00.XX?

When selecting to flash my Palit 8800gt sonic 512mb, I chose to use the EVGA 62.92.24.00.02 (8800GT SC) bios simply because it had the same 650/1625/950 defaults used by my Palit card. However it doesn't actually matter which bios you use other than making sure it's default speeds are no higher than your card can be run ---> and where required, changing bios speeds is easily done with NiBiTor ?

Just for interest, I tried flashing with a number of different manufacturers 8800gt bioses of rev 62.92.23.00.XX or higher, and had no problems booting my 4coredual-sata2 with any of them.

However, back to basics. To ensure the best compatability between bios and vga card it is probably better to first try flashing a bios from your card's manufacturer?

Click on the link below to download a zipfile containing Asus 8800GT bios version 62.92.29.00.00 bios. This bios is however not actually meant for your particular card since it's defaults are 700/1750/1010. Before any flashing activities it is therefore very important that you use NiBiToR to change the bios's defaults to the 600/1500/900 levels your card is probably meant to run at?

http://www.mvktech.net/compone...45ee12d33c76d6b37b569/

And as for changing bios "timingset" values, this shouldn't be necessary unless flashing with another manufacturers bios causes your cards normal selection of default timingset to change ---> like what happened when I flashed my Palit 8800gt sonic with a EVGA 8800gt bios!

Mind you, untill you find a friend with a more friendly motherboard, there's actually not much chance of you doing any bios flashing?

But when you do, generally best to remember that safest bios flashing is done when in DOS; where, at the DOS prompt, you should use Nvflash v5.57 (or newer) program with the following commands,

nvflash -r
nvflash -i0 -4 -5 -6 -A newbios.rom

You can of course have it done automatically during bootup using the same commands for example from within the "autoexec.bat" file of a DOS booting "floppy"?

Although maybe you should first use the commands below to save a backup copy of your cards original bios ?

nvflash -b ORIGBIOS.ROM