ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA

[buggy]

...on 4core VSTA I have bios 2.10, PCI-e downstream disable. Instaled sapphire 3870 and it is working fine (sort of).
I have 9811 3d mark 06 (4900 with 1950pro) all stock. E4400@ 2660 Mhz. ans 2GB DDR2 RAM.

But there is some issue i don't know who to blaim.
In desktop (task bar) and browser (firefox) window I have some tinny artifacts. It looks like some pixels missing. Using 19" CRT with DVI-> VGA adapter....before with 1950 pro (also PCI-e) there was no this issue.
All games looks fine (no artifacts) and artifact tester doesn't show any errors. Hight temp on GPU was 91 C monitoring with riva tuner monitor and it was after playing Crisys for some time.
Anyone experienced the same? Using 7.11 driver with CCC and before installing new drivers I cleand all with driver cleaner.

Should I use included drivers on CD?

 

[WT]

Hight temp on GPU was 91 C

91 C ??!!??!!??!! Dear God ... your card shouldn't even WORK at that temp !!!! I have yet to get higher than 60c on even a frying pan 6800 AGP card. My 8800 doesn't break 55c, so if that 91c is correct, that is a BIG problem ! Make sure the fan is at least spinning.
:Q

 

[bigsnyder]

That does sound a bit warm for a 1950Pro, but not unusual for a XT variant.

 

[buggy]

With ATI HD3870 91 C was a maximal temp in riva tuner monitor and it last just few seconds. overall the average was at full load (crisys) arouind 83 C.
I must say this is with factory automatic fan regulator. Fan is barely turning (i think it is about 30%), I don't want to have turbo jet in my room. I Will set fan at 50% in riva tuner later...but now temp is not an issue...i believe, but never mind for temp. now.

I think I found the guilty factor for that missing pixles on task bar and in browser when scrolling. (i think).
I have installed windows blinds and Vista look on XP with that fancy crystal windows...if I unload windows blinds and use default windows sheme there is no "missing pixels" any more (I test for about half hour).

I was afraid that my ASrock 4Core VSTA doing some nasty thing with PCI-e 4x...but obviously it is OK. 3d MARK 06 score is a bit smaller (9811 points) but is is not so much.

 

[KainXS]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain
Nirvana Bios for the 4CoreDual-SATA2 board that if true may also work with the 4CoreDual-VSTA board.

Looks Like a hidden Via Bios exists that lets you changes all sorts of settings.

Could someone Techy please try it and explain what it?s all about.

Thanks Javver for making this known in another forum.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813157115

GEEKS.TECH
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week 11/30/2007 4:40:33 PM TECH AND TEST


Pros: IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE BORD TRY F9 DEL AND THEN LET THE BORD RUN A TEST WITH WILL TAKE ABOUT 2 HOURS ON A PENTIUM 4.1GHZ AFTER THE TEST THE BORD WILL ADJUST ALL THE SETTINGS WITH YOU'R SYSTEM --WARNING IF YOU RUN THE TEST AND NOT COMPLETE IT IN THE CON DOWN TIME AND YOU SHUT OFF THE SYSTEM YOU'R BORD WILL BE FRY'T BEFORE RUNNING THE TEST GO TOO BIOS AND FOR BOOT CHOICE NOTHING IT'S NO CD NO FLOOPY NO DVD NO HD DISK AND KEEP TRYING TOO RESTART THE SYSTEM AND PRESS F9 AND DELL KEY IF IT FAILS AFTER TRYNG IT MORE THEN 2-3 MINNUTES HIT THE F9-AND TAB YOU WILL GET IN A VIA BIOS NOT THE F2 BIOS THE VIA BIOS IT'S HIDDEN BIOS BUT CAN NOT BE ACCESS EASY IT TAKES TIME IT CAN TAKE HOUR'S PLESE DO NOT ADJUST ANYTHING IN THE VIA BIOS ONLY RUN THE AUTO TEST VIA BIOS HES LOT'S OFF FUTURES AND VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENT'S AND LOCKING FUTURES FOR F2 DO NOT OVERCKLOCK THE VIA BIOS DO NOT TRY TOO CHANGE ANY NAMES IN THE VIA BIOS LIKE THE MODEL NUMBER OR THE IBC NUMBERS OR THE SPCIPPNS VOLTAGE OR AGP

Cons: YOU CHOICE ALL ATT YOU'R RISK

Other Thoughts: IN THE VIA BIOS YOU MAY CHANGE THE FSB-1066-OR-800-533 AND YOU CAN ADD MORE FSB LIKE 1666 FSB OR MORE AND AFTER YOU ADD MORE FSB PLESE ADD THE MHZ FROM CPU AND THE MB SO THE PROCESSOR SUPPORT IT HIH GEEKS AND TECH AT ---NEWEGG,COM




TECH -AND TEST
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week 11/30/2007 2:30:53 PM BORD TECH


Pros: BORDS PERFECT 4 OVERCKLOCKING SUPPORT'S ALL PROCESSORS SOCKET 775 TESTED WORKS PERFECT THER IT'S A TRICK IN THE BIOS AND F9-AND DEL BUTTON WHER USERS CAN OVERCKLOK VIDEO MEMORY VIDEO VOLTAGE THER ARE MORE OPTION'S ON THIS MOTHERNBORD JUST CHEAK IT OUT CHANGE THE clrs TOO CLR AND PRESS THE START BUTTON AND PRESS TAB AT STARTUP AND UNLOCK THE WORLD WARNING OVERCKLOCKING THE VIDEO FROM 64MB TOO 10 GIG WILL FREY THE DDR OR DDR2 MEMORY SOO YOU CAN USE THE INTERNALL VIDEO MEMORY AND OVERCKLOCK IT TOO 1GIG SHARE MEMORY CLICK IT TICK IT

Cons: BORDS PERFECT 4 OVERCKLOCKING SUPPORT'S ALL PROCESSORS SOCKET 775 TESTED WORKS PERFECT THER IT'S A TRICK IN THE BIOS AND F9-AND DEL BUTTON WHER USERS CAN OVERCKLOK VIDEO MEMORY VIDEO VOLTAGE THER ARE MORE OPTION'S ON THIS MOTHERNBORD JUST CHEAK IT OUT CHANGE THE clrs TOO CLR AND PRESS THE START BUTTON AND PRESS TAB AT STARTUP AND UNLOCK THE WORLD WARNING OVERCKLOCKING THE VIDEO FROM 64MB TOO 10 GIG WILL FREY THE DDR OR DDR2 MEMORY SOO YOU CAN USE THE INTERNALL VIDEO MEMORY AND OVERCKLOCK IT TOO 1GIG SHARE MEMORY CLICK IT TICK IT

Other Thoughts: BORDS PERFECT 4 OVERCKLOCKING SUPPORT'S ALL PROCESSORS SOCKET 775 TESTED WORKS PERFECT THER IT'S A TRICK IN THE BIOS AND F9-AND DEL BUTTON WHER USERS CAN OVERCKLOK VIDEO MEMORY VIDEO VOLTAGE THER ARE MORE OPTION'S ON THIS MOTHERNBORD JUST CHEAK IT OUT CHANGE THE clrs TOO CLR AND PRESS THE START BUTTON AND PRESS TAB AT STARTUP AND UNLOCK THE WORLD WARNING OVERCKLOCKING THE VIDEO FROM 64MB TOO 10 GIG WILL FREY THE DDR OR DDR2 MEMORY SOO YOU CAN USE THE INTERNALL VIDEO MEMORY AND OVERCKLOCK IT TOO 1GIG SHARE MEMORY CLICK IT TICK IT CPU OVERCKLOCKT FROM 3.2 GHZ TOO 4.2 GHZ VIDEO FROM 64 TOO 776MB BIOS CHANGET FROM PCCHIPS TOO MOTHERNBORD.

If that was true, that would be great but I tried it on my 4coredual vsta and its a no go for me, I hope it works but I don't think it does, If id did then we might be able to do something about our crappy 4x slot.

What they say does make since though, these are hybrid boards so it wouln't suprise me if there were actually 2 bios's

 

[stevvie]

I purchased a 7600gt for £38 to tied me over until just after xmas when hopefull i'll get an 8800gt and a new mobo. Can somebody tell me what is a safe margin to run the PCI-e slot under with a 7600GT plugged into it. As I can only seem to overclock in sync mode and not async mode, which means my PCI-e bus goes up with my FSB.

At the moment I can get my e6600 to 295 FSB which takes the PCI-e to something like 113.

Thanks

 

[imported_stickboy]

I wonder if the new G92 8800GTS 512 has the same gen2 problem that the 8800GT has with the 4coredual? Anyone have any info on this? I could get this card for free with the EVGA step up but definately don't want to go through the flashing hassle.

 

[stevvie]

I've just noticed that in my bios that "Intel virtualization" is now greyed out. I was always able to change it before. I have not updated the bios as it's still on 2.00. Anybody able to shed any light onto this?

 

[Wagram]

Hello everyone.

I have an ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA board coupled with an E4300. Right now, the max overclock is 1.91 Ghz, anything higher will cause the XP not to boot. My question is: taking into consideration that the BIOS version is still 1.3 ( I havent updated it since I bought the board), will a BIOS update increase the overclock possibilities to, say, 2.2 Ghz or maybe higher ?

I would also like to confirm that the new HD3870 has no problems whatsoever with this board, unlike the 8800 GT.

Thank you in advance and Happy Holidays !

 

[imported_stickboy]

Try setting the memory setting to flexible and all memory timings to auto. Then try booting with the FSB at 266. At this speed the AGP/PCI/PCIE busses will be running at their default speeds and shouldn't cause any instabilities. If it boots then the e4300 will be running at 2.4. Unless you have a dud, the chip should be able to handle that speed.

If it boots up, then you can try tweaking the memory speeds to their fastest setting by setting memory flexible setting to off and adjust ram speeds and timings.

 

[Wagram]

Thanks a lot for the tip. I will try and come back with the results.

 

[imported_stickboy]

I would probably update your BIOS, as well.

 

[Wagram]

It still wouldn't boot with the FSB set to around 220, but I thought I'd give it a shot with 235. And it worked. I managed to take it further to 2.53 Ghz, and it was pefectly stable. Yay ! Thanks a lot for the info.

 

[KainXS]

does anyone else get 2d artifacts with the 3850 or 3870 with this board

I get 2d artifacts in some games and firefox on some web sites and the only other guy I know who has the same exact problem with a 4coredual and a 3850 can''t fix his problem either

the problem isn't 3d its 2d

I also tested the card with a friends board and it worked perfectly

 

[timzak]

Hi everyone,

I'm still chugging along with this board and am finally able to upgrade my DDR 1GB to DDR2 2GB. I'm not up to speed on what this board likes...I see A-data DDR2 800 for $36 on Newegg (2 x 1GB). This is a great price. Any bad experiences with this ram on this mobo? Any other suggestions for a tight budget. I need 2 x 1GB DDR2.

Thanks.

 

[complain]

Hello, i use this RAM with this mobo and it works in dual channel mode without problems. I only recommend to set RAM to 266 frequency instead of 333, because its than synchronous with FSB /i have same CPU and same overclock like you/ and its faster and more stable. This board apparently likes CPU and RAM running synchronously. Only one bad thing was that one module from ADATA dual channel kit was faulty and didnt pass Memtest MOve Block tests. It was changed in warranty and now everything is ok. Maybe that is why its so cheap, because of not so strict factory fault memory testing. If you want to buy very good memory, you can pay more and get Corsair, those are excellent ones.Iam overally satisifed with ADATA now.

 

[complain]

BTw, today during my visit on ASROCK website i have noticed two new interesting things. For first, there is new bios for 4CoreDual VSTA and SATA2 motherboards. Acording ASROCK, it ads Radeon HD3850/3870 PCIe support for Windows XP. So, owners of those cards, especially those with problems should check this bios update a report their findings here. Second interesting thing is that new revision 2.0 of 4COREdual SATA2 is out. I have to say am very interested in difference among this revision and older board, because new revision usually means there is a problem which cant be resolved by mere bios update. I have two ASROCK boards, one 4CoreDual VSTA and one SATA2. With SATA2 i cannot simply oveclock Intel Dual Core E2140 CPU by raising FSB, which is not absolutly problem with older 4CoreDual VSTA. Also Memory and Buses divider works very strangely for Dual SATA2... maybe new revision resolves such problems??? I dont know, but its interesting indeed...

 

[timzak]

Thanks, complain. I ended up going with gskill ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231098
When I went back the next day, the Adata was not listed on Newegg, so I got the gskill, which was $40 off instant savings, plus free shipping. So it came out just a few bucks more than the Adata would've. I should get the ram next week sometime. I plan on running at 266 to keep the ratio at 1:1, but why buy DDR2 533 when it's the same price as DDR2 800?

Take care and Happy New Year!

 

[RtbChief]

Hi all,
Been using this board for awhile now and have had no trouble with it at all. OC'd to 295 on my e6420 without any trouble for about six months now (can't seem to get it any higher then that but that's alright). I'm about to get a new HD3870 so I upgraded the bios to 2.20. Ever since then my computer randomly restarts. I just flashed it back to 2.10 and haven't had a restart yet but it hasn't been that long. Anyone else have any problems after flashing to the new bios?

 

[linuxtiger]

Hello,

Could 4CoreDual-VSTA supports 4GB (2x2GB)? Anyone could test this out?

What would the output of My Computer --> System Properties? 4.00GB of RAM or 3.37GB of RAM?

For Intel 945 Chipsets --> 3.37GB of RAM ...

4coredual with 4gb of ram. Is it possible?:
http://www.tomshardware.com/fo...-30-4coredual-possible

Search for '4GB' keyword in the following Review:
http://news.hardask.com/IT/2006-12-5/138949.html

Thanks

 

[phcahill]

Is it possible to lower the CPU multiplier on these boards?

Due to a bit of history I had an E4500 in a P35 board and a 6420 in the 4core dualvsta. Wrong cpus in the boards for OC. I've swapped them over but I can only get to 233mhz on the 4core with the E4500. This is a lot less than on the P35 board. Still this is at least a bit of an OC at 233*11.

I'm running DDRII 800 memory on slow 533 mode to get the 1:1 multiplier and lower latencies as this seems to give better results (from this forum and sisoft sandra). I cannot use 1T, even with mem voltage high.

I would like to try pumping the fsb a bit to increase memory speed but the multiplier is locked at 11. On the p35 board I could decrease it.

 

[SWIN]

Hi phcahill!

Presently running a E4500 250 FSB (2,7GHz CPU), but had no problems running the CPU at 2,9 GHz.

Downclocked it just to keep it a bit cooler.

CPU multiplers is locked on this motherboard, as far as I know.

/SWIN

 

[phcahill]

Hi Swin

Thanks for the reply. As my E4500 oc'd much better in a P35 board I wonder if the vcore is more unstable on my 4core. It does seem to fluctuate a little. It's a bit dissapointing but at least it's stable which is more than can be said for a 4core SATA2 board I bought.

BTW what BIOS are you running. As I was swapping cpusI upped to the new 2.20

 

[imported_stickboy]

I'm about to attempt to do a pin mod on my e4400 using the Napa Permatex window defogger repair kit. Does anyone have any experience with the Permatex stuff? I'm not quite sure what im supposed to use to bridge the pins... the clear blue stuff? And how long should it dry before reinstalling the cpu?

 

[MattressTester]

Stickboy - I'm currently running an E4500 on this motherboard at 3.2GHz. To get there I did the BSEL mod to trick the default FSB to 266. Also did a volt mod to hit a vcore of 1.4625v. Then I increased the FSB in the BIOS to 290 which is just short of the max mine will do and remain stable regardless of memory, vcore, BIOS settings, etc.

I used the Permatex (copper color) repair kit to bridge the pads. Put the CPU in a tiny vise to keep it stationary. Took the finest brush I could find and cut it down about 50% more. I didn't tape off the pads - just shorted the pads by hand with two coats of the paint. Before it was completely dry, used a wooden toothpick to remove any excess. Acetone will remove the Permatex after it is completely dry.

The package says to wait hours before using your repaired window defogger. I suppose that is prudent for 12V at a few amps. As we are probably looking at a tiny fraction of a volt here, I waited 20 minutes before installing and it has worked fine ever since.

I've done similar pad mods on three different CPU's and it has worked like a charm on each.

Be careful doing volt mods. I'd first see how fast you can go on default vcore. In my case I did three different volt mods. Start out low and slowly work your way up. Just use acetone and a q-tip to remove the previous mod. Also, use a program like Everest or CPU-Z to determine what the default vcore is for your CPU as well as to confirm if your mod has worked. I've seen the default vcore on otherwise identical CPU's can vary. You really can't do a volt mod unless you first know the default.

BTW - if your particular volt mod calls for covering a pad, I just use a tiny piece of scotch transparent tape, applied to the pad with a tweezer.

Good luck.