ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA

[Space Marine]

Some thoughts - findings about this m/b
Please see sig first.

My asrock is probably one of the 1st revision and came with stock 1.00 bios - so this before i assemble my rig i had already downloaded latest bios 1.80
So after i set - up parts and using stock bios 1.80 i was disappointed by the lack of the intel features like Thermal Throttling - speedstep - enhanced halt state.
Also i was disappointed by the fact that this mb underclocks as hell when trying to run stock. Personally i find that my rig does not need oc - and otherwise i do not oc
since I'm not in the financial state to substitute broken parts from failed oc. All i wanted was a transition mb to core world and would not like to recycle parts that can perform like expected and very good for my needs like my gfx card (x1950proAGP) and ram.
So although i do not oc - i expected a mb that delivers full speed@stock or a little more. Needless to remind you that most "expensive performer mbs" do this by coming actually
factory overclocked like my former abit-max3 mb which run 204fsb stock factory default and many other manufacturers like mother ASUS (ASUS AI-NOS) etc.
But hell this mb has AT LEAST a crap LATEST bios which lacks almost ALL of the intel cpu extra features and runs at AUTO a hefty 80mhz(eg my e6420@2.13 run@2.050@259mhz) less than stock. Take also that the auto ram
feature seriously runs your ram one speed scale less (eg ddr400--->333mhz) then one easily understands that a novice in pc and bioses setup easily gets less@stock than stock.
Couple all these with the fact that in latest bios there is no fan cpu throttling then i got a headache too (zalman cooler at full rpm IS noisy) and a pc that was sluggish somehow as if
the underclock seriously hurt it.

Here comes the search for solutions: (all findings using multiple sysinfo tools - like sandra-intel cpuid-everest pro-hwinfo32 -pictures and results will be posted in detail in the very nearfuture as i have no internet@home now due to problems)
Fact: Wonna run the PROPER stock speed? --> set your bios option to Cpu PCIE to Sync or Async and u will come closer to that - but you will not reach full stock speed - just a tiny bit less. About the headache u can do nothing or the features anyway.

And then comes this http://www.pc-treiber.net/datei_download_1275.html (NOTICE I ENCOURAGE NONE TO TRY IT- Use at your own risk)
WTF? No 1 AUTO CPU in bios gives that small stocklike oc of the cpu bus to 266.9 and mem of 402mhz (ddr400) - PC is now screaming in windows and benchmarks.
WTF? No 2 Intel Speedstep? Enhanced Halt State? Cpu thermal throttling? Then that option in HW MONITOR bios pages gets a meaning now -IT WORKS -->Target Cpu Temp 45c
WOW i get now a CPU THAT WORKS AS HELL as fast@stock AND NO MORE headache--->The cooler now becomes a blessing with temps idle 20-23@1601mhz for each core and hardware sensor logging a max of 29-31C while gaming at that blazing "stock" of 2135mhz and no f@cking noise no more with a cooler that runs@half speed all times... Just set minimal power management in screen saver advanced tab properties..
Now this budget puny sheep-like asrock m/b is transformed to a giant killer.. And still there is the option to run the m/b even more stock than this:
Cpu pcie set tosync or async will give a cpu bus of 266.1 and ram of perfect 200mhz. And as far as i can tell the temps of the northbridge (Motherboard temp) is 5c higher than having the cpu fan run full speed (33c--->38-39c) Hell i bet there is NO WAY the northbridge overheats with 5c more - but to be on the safe side somebody should have very good case cooling.
(My 25cm windowed side panel takes care of this for example).

All i wanted to say is this is the way the stock bios should be - i don't know about earlier revisions if they had these features but the 1.80 is crap...this beta bios is for this mb
The way it meant to be shipped.
Feel free to comment


PS: Those with sluggish bios with 8800x cards - --> At work we have 2 identical pcs with E6600 cpus on ASUS P5W DH motherboards.The only change is that one has 8800 gts 640 (club3d) the other has X9150XT (sapphire). The one with the nvidia card LAGS AS HELL IN BIOS and raid BIOS.

 

[Jellybeantiger]

Hi .
I love this forum and this thread.

I just ordered one of these mobos to tie me over till the quad processors and dx 10 vid cards come down in price later down the line.

My rig at the moment consists of a p4 prescott 3 gig ,Gainward bliss gs7800 512+ agp,Kingston value ram ddr 400 1 gig(2x512 sticks).

What cpu is my question and can my ram handle overclocking?

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this.

BTW-I'm using my rig for simming-AlliedForce-Falcon 4,Open Falcon 4.4.1,Lomac,Il2.

I've been looking at the e4400,e6600.

Which one is better with my ram speed?

Thank you all.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Simplepsy
OK, I'm having a bit of trouble finding the voltage measure points for the Vagp and Vtt pencil mods.

The pics on the thread dont show where you put BOTH probes.

Could someone enlighten me...?

Ground probe goes to ground (case, motherboard mounting screw hole, etc).

Thanks to Stevil.

http://xtremesystems.org/forum...highlight=775dual+vsta

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Jellybeantiger
Hi .
I love this forum and this thread.

I just ordered one of these mobos to tie me over till the quad processors and dx 10 vid cards come down in price later down the line.

My rig at the moment consists of a p4 prescott 3 gig ,Gainward bliss gs7800 512+ agp,Kingston value ram ddr 400 1 gig(2x512 sticks).

What cpu is my question and can my ram handle overclocking?

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this.

BTW-I'm using my rig for simming-AlliedForce-Falcon 4,Open Falcon 4.4.1,Lomac,Il2.

I've been looking at the e4400,e6600.

Which one is better with my ram speed?

Thank you all.

I don?t know about your ram overclocking potential but that should not be a problem with this motherboard as it is limited to around 300FSB on average.
At 300FSB your DDR 400 ram should be at a 4.3 divider and should not be a problem IMO.

The E6600 with x 9 multiplier x 300FSB=2700Mhz
The E4400 with x10 multiplier x 300FSB=3000Mhz
The E4500 with x11 multiplier x 300FSB=3300Mhz

The extra 300Mhz of the E4400 or the extra 600Mhz of E4500 will more that offset the extra 2 Mb of L2 cache advantage of the E6600 and your wallet will be happier.

 

[Jellybeantiger]

Thanks mate.

Great advice.

 

[Simplepsy]

Thanks Mr Vain... and I should say a thankyou to the person who copied my question over to the other forum almost word for word (oh no wait... thats you!)

Now all I need is an application to work with speedstep (got the latest 1.80c modded bios on with no issues - Thermal throttle works perfect)

I'm still having trouble getting past 300FSB, so far booted to windows at 310 but I always loose sync with the graphics.
Loads fine, but after a short time (2 - 3 mins) my screen just freezes apart from the mouse pointer then it flashes from time to time, like the refresh rate suddenly dropped to about 0.01FPS - strange how the mouse pointer still responds, just cant do anything with it.

I've had to settle with FSB 300, PCI-e 111 using a pci-e graphics card.

 

[Aeros]

Anyone have any luck geting DDR1 past the default 266FSB with an E6600? And keep is windows stable?

Ive read through this post and searched other forums with no luck.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Aeros
Anyone have any luck geting DDR1 past the default 266FSB with an E6600? And keep is windows stable?

Ive read through this post and searched other forums with no luck.

At 222FSB DDR400 is at 1.1 divider
At 267FSB DDR400 is at 4.3 divider

DDR400 ram should not hold you back and the E6600 will overclock to more than 340FSB the max this board's bios offers.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

CPU SPEED MEMORY Mhz FSB/DRAM Ratio

With an E4300

1800 (200x9)
DDR266 133 3:2
DDR333 167 6:5
DDR400 200 1:1
1900 (211x9)
DDR266 141 3:2
DDR333 176 6:5
DDR400 211 1:1
2000 (222x9)
DDR266 148 3:2
DDR333 185 6:5
DDR400 222 1:1
2100 (233x9)
DDR266 117 2:1
DDR333 146 8:5
DDR400 175 4:3
2200 (244x9)
DDR266 122 2:1
DDR333 153 8:5
DDR400 183 4:3
2300 (256x9)
DDR266 128 2:1
DDR333 160 8:5
DDR400 192 4:3
2400 (267x9)
DDR266 133 2:1
DDR333 167 8:5
DDR400 200 4:3
2500 (278x9)
DDR266 139 2:1
DDR333 174 8:5
DDR400 209 4:3
2600 (289x9)
DDR266 145 2:1
DDR333 181 8:5
DDR400 217 4:3

Good read about RAM here on previous model motherboard.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810

 

[Space Marine]

Originally posted by: Simplepsy
Thanks Mr Vain... and I should say a thankyou to the person who copied my question over to the other forum almost word for word (oh no wait... thats you!)

Now all I need is an application to work with speedstep (got the latest 1.80c modded bios on with no issues - Thermal throttle works perfect)

I'm still having trouble getting past 300FSB, so far booted to windows at 310 but I always loose sync with the graphics.
Loads fine, but after a short time (2 - 3 mins) my screen just freezes apart from the mouse pointer then it flashes from time to time, like the refresh rate suddenly dropped to about 0.01FPS - strange how the mouse pointer still responds, just cant do anything with it.

I've had to settle with FSB 300, PCI-e 111 using a pci-e graphics card.

Me 2 m8 using 1.80c -great bios ! What is your motherboard temp - do you use the quiet fan?
That stuff about northbridge overheat has scared the hell out of me!

 

[SethK28]

Anyone have an ideas as to what would cause this graphics glitch?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3fpn8nmUlo

 

[djcoolio]

Could you please give us details about your system, graphic card, psu++.....?

 

[Aeros]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: Aeros
Anyone have any luck geting DDR1 past the default 266FSB with an E6600? And keep is windows stable?

Ive read through this post and searched other forums with no luck.

At 222FSB DDR400 is at 1.1 divider
At 267FSB DDR400 is at 4.3 divider

DDR400 ram should not hold you back and the E6600 will overclock to more than 340FSB the max this board's bios offers.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

CPU SPEED MEMORY Mhz FSB/DRAM Ratio

With an E4300

1800 (200x9)
DDR266 133 3:2
DDR333 167 6:5
DDR400 200 1:1
1900 (211x9)
DDR266 141 3:2
DDR333 176 6:5
DDR400 211 1:1
2000 (222x9)
DDR266 148 3:2
DDR333 185 6:5
DDR400 222 1:1
2100 (233x9)
DDR266 117 2:1
DDR333 146 8:5
DDR400 175 4:3
2200 (244x9)
DDR266 122 2:1
DDR333 153 8:5
DDR400 183 4:3
2300 (256x9)
DDR266 128 2:1
DDR333 160 8:5
DDR400 192 4:3
2400 (267x9)
DDR266 133 2:1
DDR333 167 8:5
DDR400 200 4:3
2500 (278x9)
DDR266 139 2:1
DDR333 174 8:5
DDR400 209 4:3
2600 (289x9)
DDR266 145 2:1
DDR333 181 8:5
DDR400 217 4:3

Good read about RAM here on previous model motherboard.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810

Thank you for the info and the quick response Mr. Vain.

I have some questions however that do not seem to get answered by reading any posts.
My default FSB is 266 on this board with my CPU divider being 9 my CPU is underclocked from 2.4 to 2.39 I have read that for some reason it does this for stability issues. And kills my performance.

When I increase FSB (Async) any amount I lose stability. I can't post over 280, and can't boot Win over 275.

I have all my Bios settings optimized and am using the latest release 1.8

I have set the Mem speed to 333 and 266 and tried raising the FSB with the same outcome. DDR400 is the only setting I can use and get anywhere near 400 speed windows stable at stock 266 FSB.

Is there something I'm missing?

 

[Simplepsy]

Aeros:

Yeah.. think your missing your PCI-e bus.

On some setups, system stability is lost when the pci-e bus is not set correctly for the FSB.
As a guideline the FSB/PCI-e = 2.66 aprox.
follow that forumla and see if it improves things a bit.

so.. to work out the optimal PCI-e

FSB / 2.66 = PCI-e

Be careful if your running sata drives or a PCI-e Graphics card, dont push it too high.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: I'm still trying to find a way around this cos its seriously harming my overclock potential.

 

[Aeros]

Originally posted by: Simplepsy
Aeros:

Yeah.. think your missing your PCI-e bus.

On some setups, system stability is lost when the pci-e bus is not set correctly for the FSB.
As a guideline the FSB/PCI-e = 2.66 aprox.
follow that forumla and see if it improves things a bit.

so.. to work out the optimal PCI-e

FSB / 2.66 = PCI-e

Be careful if your running sata drives or a PCI-e Graphics card, dont push it too high.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: I'm still trying to find a way around this cos its seriously harming my overclock potential.

Thank You for the help. I tried the PCI-e adjustment and to no aval.

I can get into windows at 275 or less @ddr333 but when I use the onboard NIC or try acessing my HDD for any kind of mild file transfers windows craps out.

Can you post your Bios config for me? Keep in mind I am using DDR400.

I know my RAM can do 450 no sweat and I have water cooling on everything else so heat is no issue.

Additionally, my windows boot time is ridiculously long. >1min

 

[Simplepsy]

Almost everything is on optimal defaults except the following settings:
(from memory, so forgive some minor inacuracies)

Async
FSB: 300
PCI-e: 111
PCI: 33.4
Virtualisation tech: Enabled
Thermal throttling (1.80c bios): Enabled (a very nice temp saving feature that steps down the multipier when CPU is idle)
Spread Spectrum: disabled


Memory Frequency: Auto (sets my DDRII667 to 533 mode running at 1:1 300Mhz with the FSB)
Flexibility: disabled
All timeings are on AUTO.
PCI-e downstream pipeline: Disabled
Pipeline DRQCTL - Enabled
V-Link speed: Normal
PCI Delay transaction: Disabled

PCI-IDE Bus mastering: Disabled
Transfer rates 32Bit

 

[ObiDon]

Originally posted by: lookin4dlz

Originally posted by: Simplepsy
28 - 38c on stock HSF??

How on earth did you manage that??
Are you sure your not reading the temps of your northbridge?
Core2 temps appear as Core0 and Core1.

If this is right please share your secret!!

Temps @ 62.9% CPU usage, Core 0 & Core1 - 36C & 36C

Ambient temp is about 25C (76F).

i think this speedfan is giving low core temperature readings with this motherboard.
right now it's 74F (~23C) in here and i'm getting
core 0 & core 1 - 24C & 21C at about 3% cpu usage

this is with bios 1.5, E4300@2.4GHz (267fsb) at "stock" voltage (it's actually averaging about 1.296V), and a rosewill RCX-Z775-EX cpu cooler. no matter how much better than stock the rosewill is, it shouldn't be cooling the cpu below ambient temperature

 

[Aeros]

Thermal throttling (1.80c bios): Enabled (a very nice temp saving feature that steps down the multipier when CPU is idle)

I did not find that on the ASrock site 1.8 is all thats listed.

I will try messing around again tonight, otherwise I'll just go buy some DDR2 and see if that helps.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Simplepsy
PCI Delay transaction: Disabled
PCI-IDE Bus mastering: Disabled

Disabling those options will have severe performance implications. I recommend enabling them, unless that results in instability.

 

[igotyofire]

Hello guys,i used to be an AMD fanboy but wanted to try out the new Core2duo, i just bought this setup below

E4300 1.8ghz
Asrock 4coredual-VSTA
2X40gb Sata150 WD drives(Raid0) striped with 64
reusing AGP x800gto
2x256mb(DDR400) in Dual Channel
WinXP Coperate SP2

Just setting up the raid gave me trouble, had to use multiple floppy disk because it couldn't copy the driver for some reason and the instructions for setting up raid was not very clear had to find them i think in this thread. But finally got through that now and the system is running at stock voltage and cooling. Now that i have it setup i was wondering if its possible to get rid of the annoying Raid Config Splash screen (with yellow font) upon booting the system because i think the system will boot faster if i do this.

I was also wondering if their are any good overclocking guides out that. i know how to overclock it by raising the FSB and multiplier and totally understand the concept. but i know nothing about keeping the memory 1 to 1 like everyone is discussing and so i would like to find out more. I also dont know how to tell if the fsb is running at say 800mhz or 1066mhz

also the windows task manager never shows the CPU going over 50% so i feel like the CPU is holding back and theirs some more performance left in this thing even on stock settings

 

[DHupke21]

Hi guys, just got this board on friday(ordered from ewiz) and have been wokring all weekend on trying to get it to boot up, however I kinda took a misstep and didnt check to see if the new E6420 is compatible with the version bios....and I looked and it says 1.40. so I was wondering if anybody knows if this holds true. Also as far as my problem....I get no posts no beeps and no display however fans spin just fine, cd drives open and close, I now have it hooked up outside of case with just cpu video card and ram installed. still a no go.

I tested ram and video card in other sytem and working fan, also tested psu in another system(only dfifference is its a asus sk8n board with a AMD athlon 64 fx53 processor, other than that all componets are the same) and it worked fine, cpu is brand spanking new(got it from newegg sealed and brand new).I have reseated the cpu and ensured there was no pins damged and all that. I have gone through basically all the diagnostics. Reset CMOS, ensured eveyrhting is seated properly etc etc. Wondering if you guys have any suggestions...as I am basicall at my wits end.

Relevent System specs are as follows:
Super Alien 500 Watt See Through Power Supply w/ Fan Speed Control
Intel Core 2 duo processor E6420
2 GB DualChannel Registered ECC PC3200 DDR400 Memory (Corsair XMS Registered ECC High Performance Memory w/ Heat Spreader)....however I am just using 1 stick in case theres a problem with ram configuration.
ATI Radeon X800 PRO 256MB DDR3 8x AGP W/ TV-OUT & DVI

Any help would be great guys!

Thanks

 

[Space Marine]

By the way - Does anybody (besides me) think that bios HW monitor for the cpu is false? In bios i get 10c more than multiple software monitors in windows. M/B temp is the same. Besides that what does the M/B temp monitor ? - Northbridge temp? And above which value should i be concerned that the nb gets hot?
If i decide to go with the noise (cpu fan@full rpm) temps for the nb do not go above 35-35c while gaming. With cpu fan@half throttle (via bios option) i might get even 45-47 -is this dangerous? The thing is that nb doesn't get hot while stressing the cpu - it gets hot while gaming where the vga increases the case ambient temp with its exhaust...

 

[Space Marine]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Simplepsy
PCI Delay transaction: Disabled
PCI-IDE Bus mastering: Disabled

Disabling those options will have severe performance implications. I recommend enabling them, unless that results in instability.

Why is that?
Ok about the PCI-IDE Bus master it's understandable but about the pci delay transaction
i got to disagree as this -ON THIS- m/b is most probably about ISA cards compatibility and not
about the compliance with the PCI specification and freeing the bus whilst a pci card is idle blah blah blah

 

[Space Marine]

Got the same cpu and before i flash-upgrade my bios i had the bios 1.0 -in anycase not even 1.40 - I think or properly I AM CERTAIN your problem is this board not accepting registered memory.

 

[DHupke21]

hmmm if that were the case wouldnt the system beep or at least post and not recognise the memory ie give some mmemory error? Im getting nothing, evcen without the memory installed. All I get is fans spinning and power to drives etc.

 

[speedlever]

Dhupke21,

I don't know about your problem... but regarding the system beep... do you have a case speaker installed? I don't see them much anymore. I recently built a C2D on an Asus P5B-E and had to scrounge for a case speaker as one didn't come with either the case or mobo. I didn't see one with my ASRock 4coredual-VSTA mobo either.