ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA

[clockhouse]

Earlier in the year I purchased an Asrock 4coreDual-Vsta mobo, two weeks ago I added an E4300 cpu, Crucial 2gb DDR2 PC2-5300 CL=5 unbuffered non-ecc DDR2 - 667 1.8v, Artic freezer 7pro. My aim was a modest overclock to around the 2.4 or 2.5 which I thought would be easily achieved. I have the latest bios update 1.70 set to its optimum settings, I have steadily increased the cpu frequency in steps of 10 from 200 to 210 and then 220 all appeared steady but when I went for 230 it booted up into windows xp pro but I have skype and msn messenger to load automatically and two windows came up to say there had been a critical error and in fact i couldnt load either. Also avast came up and said it needed to reboot, I rebooted pc three times each time the same problems coming up. I dropped the frequency back to 220 and pc boots up fine, compared to many this is really low oc and I am more than a little disappointed. I have read all the recommended guides listed in the forum but I was wondering or hoping some one could suggest any ideas. Thank you.

 

[bigsnyder]

What speed are you running the memory? The VIA northbridge seems to prefer a 1:1 ratio. If you haven't
tried that, see if it works for you.

C Snyder

 

[clockhouse]

I have got everything in auto the ratio is 3:4, could you tell me how to get it to 1:1 please?, by the way this is my first ever go at overclocking, thank you answering

 

[bigsnyder]

I don't have this exact board, but on my 775Dual-VSTA, I have three choices for DRAM freq:
Auto, DDR2 266Mhz (533Mhz), and DDR2 333Mhz (667Mhz). Since you are running a E4300,
your choices might show up differently. The lowest speed available speed (200Mhz for your CPU?)
should give a 1:1/3:3 ratio. Even though mine is set to 266Mhz, it scales with the FSB. Hopefully
another E4300 person can verify what the memory choices are.

 

[MattressTester]

Originally posted by: clockhouse
Earlier in the year I purchased an Asrock 4coreDual-Vsta mobo, two weeks ago I added an E4300 cpu, Crucial 2gb DDR2 PC2-5300 CL=5 unbuffered non-ecc DDR2 - 667 1.8v, Artic freezer 7pro. My aim was a modest overclock to around the 2.4 or 2.5 which I thought would be easily achieved. I have the latest bios update 1.70 set to its optimum settings, I have steadily increased the cpu frequency in steps of 10 from 200 to 210 and then 220 all appeared steady but when I went for 230 it booted up into windows xp pro but I have skype and msn messenger to load automatically and two windows came up to say there had been a critical error and in fact i couldnt load either. Also avast came up and said it needed to reboot, I rebooted pc three times each time the same problems coming up. I dropped the frequency back to 220 and pc boots up fine, compared to many this is really low oc and I am more than a little disappointed. I have read all the recommended guides listed in the forum but I was wondering or hoping some one could suggest any ideas. Thank you.

My rig is similar to yours except I'm running with 2 x 1GB DDR2-667 sticks of Kingston ValueRam. Video is AGP with an ATI X800XL. I've managed to run rock solid at 2,619 MHz (9x291). To get there I set BIOS :
- FSB to 291
- Overclock mode to CPU,PCIE Async.
- Memory frequency to DDRII 533
- Memory flexibility option to DISABLE

With these settings I end up with an effective memory speed of DDR2-582, running 1:1 with the FSB. I belive the AGP bus ends up at 73 or 74MHz which is all my ATI card can handle (default is supposed to be 66Mhz).

This configuration gives a Vista Windows Experience Index of 5.5 for both the CPU an the Memory.

Timing specs on the ValueRam are 5-5-5-15 at 667 and 4-4-4-12 at 533. I found a significant performance increase over CL5 when set to 4-4-4-12 at 582. Increased the WEI memory score from 5.3 to 5.5.

Took me a couple days of experimenting to get from 2.40 to 2.62. Probably could go higher but I haven't found how yet. I don't see how anyone is getting to 300 or 315 without mods. The few reports I've seen at these levels never give the details. I'm considering the volt mod to 1.4v but I'm guessing this may not do anything for this rig as the AGP bus is most likely my limit. Memory is not holding me back as it is actually underclocked at the moment.

 

[intruder13x]

I just got this board and I'm having a few problems. First, the POST codes in BIOS:

0060
0075
0078
6B38

I read, I believe, that 0060 and 0075 are indications of incorrect jumper settings on ATAPI devices. My DVD-RW and DVD-ROM are detected and running fine; however, I have not been able to use LightScribe, even though I installed drivers for it, since I installed the P-ATA (HP) DVD-RW on this motherboard. I have also had problems getting Windows XP Home Edition Setup to find a driver needed for a SATA II RAID card off of a 3.5" floppy disk.

I'm pretty sure I installed the P-ATA ribbon cable correctly (red stripe closest to the power supply, right)?

I did the following to try to resolve the issue:

I tried different cables.
I put the jumpers as Master/Slave.
I put the jumpers as Slave/Master.
I put the jumpers as Cable Select/Cable Select.


Please help me, or help me understand the problem. I would like to know what all the BIOS error codes mean, if possible.


Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo 4.2GHz@2.31GHz
Corsair 512MB DDR PC3200LL VS (x2)
GeForce 7800GS AGP 256MB DDR3
Promise FaskTrak TX4310 SATA RAID controller
16x DVD-ROM
HP DVD-RW 840
120 GB Seagate S-ATA
60 GB Wester Digital S-ATA (x2)
480 Watt Power Supply
Windows XP Home 32-bit Edition

 

[clockhouse]

I have exactly the same three choices in dram freq, I tried the following to get upto the next speed increase of 230
1. left speed at 220 but altered dram freq to 266, ran cpu-z results still same fsbdram 3:4.
3. Altered cpu freq to 230 loaded windows, same problems with skpe and yahoo messenger although nothing from avast this time, but noticed when i opened some saved pics some of the graphics were corrupt, ran cpu-z fsbdram 3:4.
4. Rebooted and this time disabled spread spectrum and boot failure guard, carried onto load windows but almost immediately a window came up giving an error windows activation service and pc held there.
5. rebooted and reversed all the above changes and pc back to normal.
I dont know if anyone can suggest anything further, i still have 2x512 ddr pc3200 i am wondering if it would be worth giving them a go with the cpu or sticking with the ddr2?, hoping for some words of wisdom from someone please

 

[clockhouse]

I just noticed an input from mattress tester a little out of my depth with the technical stuff but my card is a much lower end one, a nvidea geoforce fx 5200, maybe that will help someone guide me please.

 

[clockhouse]

I just wanted to finish my request for help by saying all of a sudden all the information on the forum seemed to make sense in my head i got the magic ratio of 1:1 and pc running so smooth and fast, I am just so pleased with myself, thank you.

 

[bigsnyder]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out!

 

[lookin4dlz]

Comments on this ram?
Corsair TWIN2X2048-5400C4 2GB DDR2-675 XMS2-5400 Xtreme Performance Memory

From his sig, it looks like that's what tigersty1e is running.

 

[Abram730]

I had this problem. Bios 1.70 and removing the creative Audigy 2 card worked. If there is another work around let me know, as I like miss my sound card already and it's only been 1 day. LOL

 

[Abram730]

Originally posted by: GWEEDOspeedo
My system is stable enough to run benchmarks that don't take much time, but it wont run games longer than 15 minutes...

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86ghz)
Zalman 9500 HSF w/AS5
ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA
2x1gb GSkill PC3200 (running DDR333 160mhz, 2.5, 2-2-5, 2T)
HIS ATI x1950pro AGP 8x (Turbo ICE Edition)
1x36.7gb Raptor HD
Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic
Thermaltake Armor Case
Seasonic S-12 600watt PSU


3DMark06 - 4725
SM2.0 -1862
HDR/SM3.0 - 2066
CPU - 1556

PCMark05
System Score - 5072
CPU Score - 4547
Memory Score - 3692
Graphics Score - 5821
HDD Score - 4966

Intel just made CPU changes of some kind and the 1.70 bios adresses that.
The Mobo locks up on my Audigy 2 so try and pull out that X-fi and test for stability.
Not driver related as I get the lockups in Vista and the audio in software in vista and the sound drivers are out of the kernel as I understand it. So it can't be a driver issue. Not sure if it is related to timing, bandwidth, or power as well this is a low cost mobo and CL uses cheap caps(snap crackle pop). I would guess that a highly demandin card with cheap caps could cause some bus problems in addition to the snap crack pop. But I'm no expert. I did read a few posts of people that solved X-fi issues with a recap.

I would love to know why I can't use my sound card with this mobo.

 

[Flapper]

My ASROCK Quad Dual board has no problem with my X-fi Xtreme Music..

 

[stevvie]

No Problems here with my X-FI either. Running E6600 at 9*296 Bios 1.70. Although I do still have my 512mb (2X256 Twinmos) DDR400 memory (untill my 2gig ddr800 arrives in the week) and AGP radeon 9800.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: kekewons
About to pull the trigger on a new build using this motherboard, but I'd like to get some opinions first about CPU choice.

I'm aware the board generally has a FSB limit of about 300 (assuming no volt mod), and it seems most peeps can get pretty close to this...

...so if can too, and if the primary use of the new machine will be for Windows gaming/simming, would I expect to see better performance from a E4400 (10x multiplier/2MB cache) running @ about 3GHz, or from a E6600 (8x multiplier/4MB cache) running @ about 2.6GHz? Or would it really not matter much at all for gaming (primarily CPU intensive apps)?

I will certainly put 2GB memory in the machine, btw. Probably DDR2.

---------

I'm using another machine (not mine), as a reference:

Conroe 6600@2.6ghz
ASRock 775Dual-Vsta
2Gig DDR400
Gainward 7800GS+ 512Mb@599/1380Mhz(Agp 7900Gt)
200Gb Seagate
Seasonic S12 600w

I'll be running a very similar 7800GS AGP video card in my PC. Moreover, we two both run many of the same apps (and this fellow seems quite happy with his).

He reports these benchmarks scores:

3DMark '05/ 9819p; '06/ 5519p; Aquamark3/ 122 158p.

Thanks for any replies.


k

The E4400 @ 300FSB =3000 MHz will beat the E6600 @ 300FSB=2600 MHz.

The 400 MHz advantage of the E4400 will beat considerately the extra 2 MB advantage of the E6600 with this motherboard no doubt about it IMO.

I have seen a comparison chat of the E6xxx V?s the E4xxx some where that shows both chips at the same speed and the E6xxx series only pulls ahead in graphics intensive apps and something else by a small margin only.
It also shows the E4xxx beating the E6xxx in other apps.

The 400 MHz extra from E4400 should put you well ahead.

 

[oogravyoo]

Originally posted by: clockhouse
I just wanted to finish my request for help by saying all of a sudden all the information on the forum seemed to make sense in my head i got the magic ratio of 1:1 and pc running so smooth and fast, I am just so pleased with myself, thank you.

just wondering what settings you ended up using, I have 2gb of DDII675 on its way to me, im using the E4300 as well..


thanks..

 

[stevvie]

I need some help setting up some G.Skill DDRII800 PC2-6400 memory.
The sticker on the box/memory says CL4-4-4-12 but cpuZ says 5-5-5-13 and my old ddr400 memory was MUCH MUCH faster than this. Sandra reported the DDR400 at INT5255 Float5267 but this DDRII800 shows INT4784 Float4722. I know this board doesn't fully support DDRII800 and runs it at 667+whatever overclock you have.
I just need a little help squeezing the most out of this memory. THANKS

 

[tigersty1e]

What's the point of flashing the BIOS to the current version?

Any improvements?

 

[kekewons]

Good deal, and thanks, Mr. Vain for the reply.

I can't be unhappy with a E4400 when I can get both CPU and 2Gig's memory for about the same price as the E6600 alone.

Yep...it's time to open the wallet. But thankfully not very wide.


k

 

[Killrose]

Too bad they cant improve the Pci-e performance to at least 8x which might convince me to get this. 4x leaves it lacking abit.

 

[focussoft]

If U plan to use a pcie why not just skip to a full pcie board
2gb of corsair ddr2 only cost like $70
I got this board coz i was dumb and bought a brand new x1650xt agp a month ago
Investing another $160 for a new pcie card and put this one on the shelves was just to much for my budget

Running this board with a e4400 @ 3.01Ghz (vagp pencil mod) ,his x1650xt turbo IceQ AGP and 2 Corsair DDR2 at 300FSB

For some odd reason i can't get the ddr2 675 to run higher then 300 (600Mhz) 1:1

 

[lookin4dlz]

For some odd reason i can't get the ddr2 675 to run higher then 300 (600Mhz) 1:1

I hope that's not the case, I just bought this ram...

 

[focussoft]

Originally posted by: lookin4dlz

For some odd reason i can't get the ddr2 675 to run higher then 300 (600Mhz) 1:1

I hope that's not the case, I just bought this ram...

Well there are reports that the 2nd ddr2 slot is weak or bugged and therefore doesn't allow higher clock speeds

I seen reports from ppl taking out 1 gb and use only the 1st slot are able to get higher clock speeds
I'm not willing to sacrifice 1 gb for a higher mem clock speed though
I bought 2 gb and intend to use 2 gb
I have them set to 266 mode and running at 300 in z-cpu 1:1 which comes at 600Mhz , now really bad though
Have the ddr voltage on low . on med and high i can't get them to run at 300 , which also has been reported that ddr2 seems to clock better on lower voltage somehow

Maybe some wiz-kid finds a way to measure the difference between the 1st and 2nd slot and come up with a idea to fix this problem ?

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Killrose
Too bad they cant improve the Pci-e performance to at least 8x which might convince me to get this. 4x leaves it lacking abit.

Nvidia and ATI are still making modern midrange AGP cards.
I don?t think VIA are going to make improvements on the PT880 Ultra chip to include more lanes and the other chips that they have are all single channel.
You can run an AGP + PCI-e SLY set up for a few more frames or and AGP and AGEIA PhysiX card combination.