ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Slots: 1x PCI-Express Graphics slot; 1x AGP 8X slot; 4x PCI slots


1x??

1x PCI-Express Graphics slot running at 4x.

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Slots: 1x PCI-Express Graphics slot; 1x AGP 8X slot; 4x PCI slots


1x??

Who are you quoting? It looks to me that the 1x above refers to how many PCI-Express slots are on the motherboard, not the speed of the slot. Ie, there is 1 PCI-Express slot, 1 AGP slot, and 4 PCI slots.

 

[Fercyful]

hi there timzak!!

thanks a LOT for all that information. Now I understand what s happening here.
Yes, system is rock solid at 2.4 + 333 DDR but using the manual option... the AUTO option
set my FSB below... and you are right about the page file, that is why I´m using this weird memory mix

I will wait for have 2 GB of DDR2 at soon I can buy it... but your tip make me think in trying with the 1GB DDR 400 alone just for check how the performance upgrades

Thanks again for take your time in helping me out.

regards from Argentina!

 

[zanna21hg]

 

[zanna21hg]

i have a question about graphic slot - is this PCI Express (speed) x4 or x16 ???

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: zanna21hg
i have a question about graphic slot - is this PCI Express (speed) x4 or x16 ???

Its x4 and performs fairly well.
The AGP 8x is still alive with NVDIA and ATI making AGP cards.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38655

 

[timzak]

FYI, Asrock posted a new bios update 1.60 for this board. Description:

Patch Seagate SATA2 HDD(ST3120813AS,3160813AS)for S3 under Vista.

 

[zanna21hg]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain


Its x4 and performs fairly well.
The AGP 8x is still alive with NVDIA and ATI making AGP cards.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38655

im courious w what is the difference between x4 and x16 using for example GeForce 7900GS (in FPS)

ps. sorry for my english im from Poland

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: zanna21hg

Originally posted by: Mr Vain


Its x4 and performs fairly well.
The AGP 8x is still alive with NVDIA and ATI making AGP cards.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38655

im courious w what is the difference between x4 and x16 using for example GeForce 7900GS (in FPS)

ps. sorry for my english im from Poland

All you want to know on the older model mobo.

http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2814

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

Originally posted by: zanna21hg

Originally posted by: Mr Vain


Its x4 and performs fairly well.
The AGP 8x is still alive with NVDIA and ATI making AGP cards.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38655

im courious w what is the difference between x4 and x16 using for example GeForce 7900GS (in FPS)

ps. sorry for my english im from Poland

Playing games on a 7600GT, PCIe 4x is only about 4% slower than PCIe 16x. With a 7900GT, that increases to a whopping 10%

I believe the midrange (7600GT) was around 200 less in 3DMark06.

 

[Mr Vain]

320FSB attained by (ProStock) in another forum with volt mods, using the below bios settings on the older model mobo 775Dual-VSTA.


Quote
Well im back & very pleased With the results

First I would like to say big thumb up to the community you guys got a Great Forum !!
& Also a special Thx To Mallet & Jimmor with out your great infos i wouldn't be able to achive that project

So here we go Specs System OC@320FSB Prime Stable Core=1.45v Vtt=default Vagp=1.8v

Motherboard Asrock-775dual-vsta Cpu Intel-E4300 Memory OCZ Platinum Pc6400 Video card ATI X1950Pro Agp
Cpu heatsink Ocz VindicatoR Chipset heatsink Swiftech MCX159-CU Video Card Heatsink Accelero X2

Bios Settings....

Advanced:

Overclock Mode - CPU,PCIE Async.
CPUFr. - 320
PCIE Fr. - 117
PCI Fr. - 34.78
Spread Spectrum - Disabled
Boot Failure - Disabled

Max CPUID Val. - Disabled
Intel Virtuali. - Disabled
CPU Thermal Thr. - Disabled
No-Execute Memory. - Disabled
Intel Speedstep - Disabled

Chipset:

Dram Freque. - Auto
Flexib.- Disabled
Cas Latency - 3
Interleave - 4-Way
Precharge - 4
Tras - 12
trcd - 4
trfc - auto
trrd - auto
trtp - auto
twtr - auto
twr - auto
Bus Select.- Dual
Command Rate - 2T

Advanced Memory... all default
Advanced Host Conf:
Pipeline DRQCTL - Enabled
all other default

DRAM Voltage - Normal
AGP Voltage - High

Primary Gra.Adapt. - Agp
AGP - 8X
AGP Fast Write - Anable
AGP Aperture Size - 256MB
AGP Staggered delay - auto
AGP GADSTB - auto

V-Link - Normal
PCI delay Transaction - Disable <--- if anable Audigy wont work
IDE Drive Strenght - normal
PCIE Downstream Pipeline - Auto
Onboard LAN - enabled
Onboard Sound - disabled

ACPI - default

IDE - default

PCIpnp - default

Floppy - Disable
Super IO - all disabled
USB Conf. ? default

system runs smoots & i just finish Stalker at 1280X1024 no crash simply pure enjoyment
now i cant wait to get my vapochill been refill with R504 that baby as been on idle for too long now due to a leek in the evaporator

 

[ronach]

Allright guys, after all is said and done at this point..would you owners of this board do it again ? If so what suggestions would you make to others that are considering picking up this mobo ?

 

[timzak]

With the new 1.6 bios, I noticed a new setting: If you enable S3 under ACPI, a new setting called "Check Ready Bit" appears. I've tried enabling and disabling and it still doesn't allow me to go into S3 standby. S3 simply acts like S1: hdds power down but fans run at full speed. I confirmed with my watt meter that with S3, the system is drawing 79W just like S1 (vs. 130W sitting idle at the desktop), so to those who think that S3 is working when you hear your system fans running, it's not. The fans should all power off if S3 is working properly.

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: ronach
Allright guys, after all is said and done at this point..would you owners of this board do it again ? If so what suggestions would you make to others that are considering picking up this mobo ?

I really had no choice. My budget limited me to <$300 and I was using an AthlonXP with DDR and AGP. The only upgrade possible for me was this. It got me 2-3x the cpu power when the graphics or hdd are not bottlenecking the system. And I went under budget at $250. As quirky and annoying this mobo can be, it's still worth it considering my situation.

 

[ronach]

timzak,
Thanks for your reply. My plans are to pick up this board..mate it with an E6600 soon..run it with my present ram and vid card, then once it is running ok..then give it to one of my family members. I will build up another sys for myself around a X3220 come august.

 

[GWEEDOspeedo]

For the life of me i cannot get my board stable.

Intel Core 2 Duo
Zalman 9500 HSF
ASRock 4coredual-vsta w/1.6bios
2x1gb GSkill PC3200 (2-3-2-5 Rated)
2x36.7gb WD Raptors (using the onboard RAID)
HIS ATI x1950pro 8x AGP (cat 7.3 drivers)
Windows XP SP2

I started with bios 1.4 as it came with my motherboard. I read the 775dual-vsta forum and played with the bios settings and even seperated my IDE channels for DVDRW and additional hard drive. I flashed to 1.6bios and have since been playing with the settings.

My IDE drives were very unstable and wouldn't work for more than 5 seconds before freezing without BSOD. After manually setting the DMA and PIO settings in the bios they now can work for a more prolonged period of time.

One note, I first installed this cpu/mobo combo with the default settings in Vista 64-bit. I only setup the RAID functionality in the BIOS before installing the operating system. I was able to install and run Vista 64-bit very well and was able to install other programs, but when playing Vanguard SOH, it would crash after a few hours.

Should i try going back to Vista 64-bit with default settings and try the DDR333 mode?


EDIT: Just spoke to ASRock on the phone with a man named Jimmy. He had a thick oriental accent but was pretty understandable. He thinks that my problem is that my memory doesn't 'match' my processor correctly and wants me to call him back after trying some DDR2 memory like 533/667 speed. I don't have any at the moment...


What i'm really curious about is why with Vista 64-bit i could load programs and games but crash after a few hours, but with xp pro sp2 i cant even update Vanguard through the out-of-game console. It does make sense though that it doesn't sound like the motherboard is to blame because i was able to install both OS's without problem it's just that running more 'intensive' programs cause it to freeze. I'm sitting here without anything tough running and everything is working fine.

 

[GWEEDOspeedo]

I've been troubleshooting this system for several hours now and now i've been able to encode/decode mp3 and flac with not problem while having 10+ firefox tabs open and receiving/transmitting ventrilo audio.

The moment i go to use my IDE hard drive it freezes. I tried to run scandisk and it froze.

Currently troubleshooting my IDE settings in the bios with my hard drive and dvdrw.

EDIT: The IDE harddrive was last formatted in 64-bit Vista. Looking into if that is causing the problem.

EDIT: While downloading a file to the desktop it froze. I'd hate to be out of a computer while RMA'ing this thing.

 

[Mr Vain]

Are you running SATA and IDE drives toghether?

 

[GWEEDOspeedo]

I have the two raptors in raid 0 with the on board controller. I have a SYBA pci card in the last pci slot with two different sata WD drives connected. I can use those two cards on the pci card just fine.

I've been messing with the IDE channels as much as i can and i can't seem to get it to not freeze while using them.

Feel free to ask questions of what i've done, i don't know what else you might need to make suggestions.

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: GWEEDOspeedo
I have the two raptors in raid 0 with the on board controller. I have a SYBA pci card in the last pci slot with two different sata WD drives connected. I can use those two cards on the pci card just fine.

I've been messing with the IDE channels as much as i can and i can't seem to get it to not freeze while using them.

Feel free to ask questions of what i've done, i don't know what else you might need to make suggestions.

I'd start with 1 hard drive and install your OS from scratch. If it's stable, then there's some issue with RAID or multiple drives. When I installed this mobo, I took out all my drives (I have 2 IDE, 2 SATA, and 1 ATAPI burner), and installed Win2k from scratch on my main drive. Just had the hdd and burner, nothing else. After all was settled, I added in my other drives, no problems.

Edit: I also found this board doesn't seem to be able to run my memory at its rated speed. It gets worse when I'm running the memory asynch from FSB. I had to loosen my memory timings to get stable at DDR400. I'm currently underclocking my memory (running FSB 289 and memory at "DDR333" for a final memory speed of 181 Mhz). I'm not too crazy about doing this, but it seems to be the most stable configuration for me, and it's still loads faster than the system I upgraded from.

 

[GWEEDOspeedo]

Sounds like a good suggestion to me. Since this was my second XP install of the day i was trying to put that off but having it suggested to me makes me think its worth it.

EDIT: I read your edit. How did you set your memory speeds? Did you set it to DDR333 and then push the CPU ASYNC?

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: GWEEDOspeedo
Sounds like a good suggestion to me. Since this was my second XP install of the day i was trying to put that off but having it suggested to me makes me think its worth it.

EDIT: I read your edit. How did you set your memory speeds? Did you set it to DDR333 and then push the CPU ASYNC?

With DDR1, you have three choices in the bios: DDR266, DDR333, DDR400. You can set this independent of FSB, but depending on the actual FSB, it'll either run in synch (1:1) or out of synch. I posted a chart somewhere earlier in this thread, but I think it'll vary depending on the cpu and multiplier.

My goal was the highest possible FSB @ DDR400 so I get the most memory speed combined with high cpu speed. But in testing, I found it difficult to run stable @ my memory's rated speeds except at 1:1 (which by the way is the stock speed of my E4300 processor). Since the only way to run at 1:1 is to NOT overclock, that kind of got thrown out the window. So I had to settle for asynch and loose memory timings, OR asynch and underclock the memory with tighter timings.

Hope this helps.

 

[GWEEDOspeedo]

If you're using Windows XP, did you install their dual-core patch? I just finished installign XP again, it's updating.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: GWEEDOspeedo
If you're using Windows XP, did you install their dual-core patch? I just finished installign XP again, it's updating.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256

I'm running Win2k SP4, so that patch doesn't apply to me. Thanks, though.

 

[GWEEDOspeedo]

I reinstalled windows xp sp2 on one WD Raptor connected to the motherboard. The OS installed and updated via wireless card without a problem. I installed all my motherboard drivers (newer via driver than CD), my graphics drivers, and now soundcard drivers smoothly as well. I loaded Vanguard SOH via my IDE DVDRW and that went smoothly now. I even updated it smoothly through the console, which i was not able to do previously.

I shutdown and inserted my SYBA RAID Controller, which i only use for the 4-sata ports, and it started freezing again. Removing the card and running the same programs causes no errors. My card must be malfunctioning, and not the motherboard.

I'll look into RAID 0 again with Windows 64-bit after benchmarking and proving my system is stable with XP SP2 and one hard drive and post again. Thanks for the suggestion for one hard drive. I didn't want to do it since i have to call Microsoft to get my key activated again everytime, but it does prove what is erroring.