ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[Conky]

I updated to the 2.20 bios with no issues other than it setting the FSB to 256 with everything set at default (effectively underclocking the system).

I set everything back to make my E6400 run at 300FSB and it's running solid at 2,400MHz but MBM5 is reading the speed a little too high(2442?) although cpu-z and other apps read the speed correctly. Just got done gaming with it for a couple of hours and no problems. I will tinker with it some more tomorrow and see if I can get lucky and wring some more speed out of this sucker.

 

[orbiter]

I updated to 2.20 today and found that my cpu fan ran flat out even with the BIOS set to adjust it

 

[Spacecomber]

Originally posted by: orbiter
I updated to 2.20 today and found that my cpu fan ran flat out even with the BIOS set to adjust it

I updated to it, today, as well. I had hoped that the changes to the Fan Control feature, which the BIOS update mentioned ("Fine tune CPU Quiet Fan function.'), would include a temperature range that included temperatures less than 45C for a target temperature, but it didn't. 45C seems a bit high for a target temperature, when I'm idling at about 30C, and even under load the temperature is only getting up around 37C.

Consequently, I wasn't even going to test this feature out. But, after reading your note, I did so, and I can confirm that enabling Fan Control now seems to do nothing, i.e., there are no changes to the fan speed, even with a CPU temperature (30C) much below the target (45C).

It seems Asrock has a funny idea about what it means to "fine tune" a feature.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: orbiter
I updated to 2.20 today and found that my cpu fan ran flat out even with the BIOS set to adjust it

I always disable that cpu "quiet fan" function. I want my cpu max-cooled 24/7 and the original fan isn't that loud. In fact, I've been thinking of getting an Arctic Pro 7 to keep it even cooler.

 

[mattrwills]

***********************************


for those of you with FREEZING issues:

after the initial build, my system was stable. i then install my wireless card drivers (D-link) and i started getting random crashes. Most often while browsing the web and several times while clicking a link. After disabling my wireless card, no more freezes



***********************************

 

[orbiter]

Anyone had a problem with their video card performance???? or know of a setting that improves it in the BIOS. My AGP Nvidia 7600GS is getting a low video performance message at PC pitstop and the screen does seem a little slow refreshing/ sometimes.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: orbiter
Anyone had a problem with their video card performance???? or know of a setting that improves it in the BIOS. My AGP Nvidia 7600GS is getting a low video performance message at PC pitstop and the screen does seem a little slow refreshing/ sometimes.

My AGP works great with these settings:

AGP Voltage = High
AGP Fastwrite = enabled
AGP Aperature = 256

Also make sure your primary display in the bios is set to AGP. All other AGP related settings are set to auto. Hope this helps.

 

[orbiter]

Thanks for the tips beachboy I tried what you said and the performance did increse a little but I could tell on the large number counting screen at PC Pitstop that it was still slow and I got the low video performance message again. I had a brainwave and thought I'd try my older 6200 card and my score increased by about 60 points.

I'm sure the mobo and 7600GS are functioning correctly as Soldier of fortune still runs just fine. I'm just wondering if I have a powerful enough PSU as the one I'm using is only about 350watt . Is this enough for the system listed below????

The system goes like this... I'm just wondering if the graphics card may not be performing too well because the power left over for it is not enough?
Asrock Dual VSTA
Intel P4 D940
2GB Corsair TwinX 3200 C2 DDR
2 x 250GB Samsung HDD's
2 X DVD RW
Audigy 4 sound card
PCI TV card

I've not really got used to this BIOS yet so there are probably more adjustments in there for me to mess with

I've not tinkered with any serious settings yet as I can't find out what anything does. The manual is rubbish

When gaming my CPU is hitting 65C is this normal for an Intel D940 or do I need more cooling too?

My USB isn't high speed either. How do I speed it up?

Sorry for soooo many questions but TIA for any help you guys

 

[orbiter]

Originally posted by: Spacecomber

Originally posted by: orbiter
I updated to 2.20 today and found that my cpu fan ran flat out even with the BIOS set to adjust it

I updated to it, today, as well. I had hoped that the changes to the Fan Control feature, which the BIOS update mentioned ("Fine tune CPU Quiet Fan function.'), would include a temperature range that included temperatures less than 45C for a target temperature, but it didn't. 45C seems a bit high for a target temperature, when I'm idling at about 30C, and even under load the temperature is only getting up around 37C.

Consequently, I wasn't even going to test this feature out. But, after reading your note, I did so, and I can confirm that enabling Fan Control now seems to do nothing, i.e., there are no changes to the fan speed, even with a CPU temperature (30C) much below the target (45C).

It seems Asrock has a funny idea about what it means to "fine tune" a feature.

I guess we'll just have to wait for a fully functioning BIOS

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: orbiter

Originally posted by: Spacecomber

Originally posted by: orbiter
I updated to 2.20 today and found that my cpu fan ran flat out even with the BIOS set to adjust it

I updated to it, today, as well. I had hoped that the changes to the Fan Control feature, which the BIOS update mentioned ("Fine tune CPU Quiet Fan function.'), would include a temperature range that included temperatures less than 45C for a target temperature, but it didn't. 45C seems a bit high for a target temperature, when I'm idling at about 30C, and even under load the temperature is only getting up around 37C.

Consequently, I wasn't even going to test this feature out. But, after reading your note, I did so, and I can confirm that enabling Fan Control now seems to do nothing, i.e., there are no changes to the fan speed, even with a CPU temperature (30C) much below the target (45C).

It seems Asrock has a funny idea about what it means to "fine tune" a feature.

I guess we'll just have to wait for a fully functioning BIOS

I wouldn't hold my breath on those BIOS improvements. My 775Dual-VSTA will be in a family member's system within a couple months and she is not as picky as we are.

In the mean time, I need to torture test this new 2.20 BIOS. I am running stable at 300FSB but there has to be more now... right? Wish me luck, I'm going in!

 

[arielp]

hmm..

after updating to 2.20. my CPU fan seem won't slow down, (i have enable cpu quiet, 45c threshold) now. eventhough the cpu is already 42c, the fan keep rotating at 2800-2900rpm (stock intel), before it was already slowed down at 1200rpm.

will testing it for another day, if still the same.. go back to 2.10 then

 

[pengo]

Originally posted by: nosleep
Try these settings:
Ram voltage on high
IDE strength on high
AGP fastwrite enabled
agp aperture size:256
agp voltage on high

and set your ram to 200mhz(ddr400) and pipeline enabled

Thanks - tried those settings and so far so good, played a game and system hasn't hardlocked yet.

So for those with freezing problems, have a try of those settings. Based on the above settings working for me I suspect this board is really sensitive when it comes to delivering power and if not enough is delivered it locks up. I have a SuperFlower 500W PSU BTW.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: arielp
hmm..

after updating to 2.20. my CPU fan seem won't slow down, (i have enable cpu quiet, 45c threshold) now. eventhough the cpu is already 42c, the fan keep rotating at 2800-2900rpm (stock intel), before it was already slowed down at 1200rpm.

will testing it for another day, if still the same.. go back to 2.10 then

I don't get why some of you are trying to keep your systems warm.

 

[orbiter]

How do i get USB 2 speed on this board please? It's anabled in BIOS but I get a message about the plugin memory sticks being able to perform faster at USB 2???

 

[FMA]

Originally posted by: orbiter
How do i get USB 2 speed on this board please? It's anabled in BIOS but I get a message about the plugin memory sticks being able to perform faster at USB 2???

If you are plugging the sticks in the USB port on the front of your case, the problem maybe due to the connctor in the case. Some older cases have connectors that only comply with USB1 standards. Try using the connctors in the back of the motherboard to see if you get the same message.

 

[munim]

What does the pipeline option do?

 

[orbiter]

Originally posted by: orbiter
How do i get USB 2 speed on this board please? It's anabled in BIOS but I get a message about the plugin memory sticks being able to perform faster at USB 2???

It seems that Windows SP2 hadn't installed the USB drivers properly. Now I have USB 2

Still can't sort the slow graphics out though.

 

[Spacecomber]

I've had a bit more time to work with this motherboard, and I think that I'm pretty close to the best settings for what I'm running on this board, i.e., an E6600, 2x1GB Ballistix DDR-800, and a Leadtek 6800GT (AGP).

I had slightly less than average luck overclocking the processor on this motherboard. A 288MHz frontside bus was the best that I could reliably get it to do. Higher speeds would often result in a failure to boot; the system locking up at the screen where you are told about pressing F2 or F11 for the BIOS and Boot Menu. I wonder if perhaps people who are getting better frontside bus speeds are using 2MB Core 2 processors?

I've been able to run the memory at DDR-577 speeds (1:1 ratio) using 3-3-2-8-2T timings. Trying to push the tRCD timing to 2 fails to boot, and a 1T CMD rate eventually produces errors when I run MemTest86+. I am accepting Gary's suggestion that a tRAS timing of 8 is optimal, since I've not really explored that, yet. Currently, on the Sandra Memory Benchmark, I get an Integer SSE2 unbuffered score - 5009MB/s and Floating SSE2 unbuffered score - 5008MB/s. This is with the Advanced Host Configuration Pipeline DRQCTL option enabled (it bumped my Sandra scores up by about 50 points from what they were).

Together these settings are getting me the following scores on Prime95's benchmark:
512K - 9.90, 1024k - 22.59, 2048k - 46.31, and 4096k - 101.92.

I've also taken to overclocking my 6800GT, now that I have a processor that is no longer holding it back (previously, I was running an Athlon XP Mobile at 2.3GHz). I was hoping that the oversized heatsink that Leadtek put on this board would help in this regard, and I haven't been disappointed. I've bumped it up from 350/1000 to 422/1126, and it seems to be running fine at this setting. This is a bit higher than the 6800 Ultra's speeds (400/1100). Beyond3D was able to get 430/1150 speeds when they reviewed this video card; so, there may even be a bit more headroom available, but I don't feel like I have to push it to the wall.

Just to offer some quick scores, Aquamark 3 yields an overall score of 82,020, with a Graphics score of 11,175, and a CPU score of 15,411. I think that this will be enough to last me until there are some affordable DX10 cards available and I finally move up to a PCI-E video card.

Space

 

[FMA]

I have an E6400. I also have an OCZ gold kit of 2 X 1 GB DDR2 800 memory. I have much better luck in getting the FSB to higher numbers with ALL the memory latency settings on AUTO. As soon as I set one of them manually, it acts up on higher FSB.

I have two scenarios that both work very well. To get the highest FSB, the memory speed has to be compromized a little bit. As you can see below, I chose to go with a little less FSB and better memory speed. I am using the latest bios 2.20

Option 1
----------
FSB 312
memory in bios set to 266
Flexibility option ENABLED
ALL MEMORY LATENCIES SET TO AUTO
Use CPUZ version 1.37 to show correct memory timings.
CPUZ shows the ratio as 4:3 resulting in FSB/Mem speed ratio of 312 / 234
CPUZ also shows timings as 3-3-3-8-2T
As you can see, the bios sets the timings very tight. You don't need it to push it yourself.
For some reason when I let the bios set the timings it will let me go higher in FSB.

Sadra score 4990 / 4993
Super Pi 1M = 24.671


Option 2
----------
FSB 307
memory in bios set to 266
Flexibility option DISABLED
ALL MEMORY LATENCIES SET TO AUTO
CPUZ shows the ratio as 1:1 resulting in FSB/Mem speed of 307 / 307
CPUZ also shows timings as 3-4-4-10-2T
As you can see, again the bios sets the timings very tight.

Sadra score 6141 / 6151
Super Pi 1M = 23.859

The only difference in the two options is that in the first one the flexibility option is enabled. It lets me go to FSB 312 and be rock solid stable. The Sandra and Super Pi scores are a little lower.

In the second option, the flexibility option is disabled. It lets me go to FSB 307 rock solid stable. The Snadra and Super Pi scores are little better with this option.

 

[Mr Vain]

340 FSB is achievable! :Q

http://upload.georgeownsme.com/image.php/11737.jpg

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=93127&page=13

 

[Spacecomber]

FMA, thanks for the tips and your experience with overclocking this motherboard. I'm always open to trying some new settings to see if they might help. For me, setting the memory timing to Auto didn't seem to make an difference. Bumping the FSB up from 288 to 290 still resulted in a failure to boot. I tried this with both the PCI-E bus set ansynchronously to 100 and set synchronously. I'm also using v2.20 BIOS.

I think that the timings that you will get when you set all the timings to Auto will depend on what is found on your memory's SPD. With the Ballistix memory that I'm using, the memory defaults to 4-3-3-12 at DDR-533. (CPUZ only shows the SPD information for DDR2-800 with this memory, which is 4-4-4-15-2T.)

Space

 

[pdawg1717]

I can get to a FSB of 297 with my E6400 and OCZ 2x512mb PC3200 "Value" ram (4:3 ratio = 224fsb)...

I believe my ram is holding me back a bit b/c with my old board I couldn't get past 224 either...I've been leaving it at 294 however as Prime95 craps out after 5 min on anything above that...294 is rock solid...memtest runs fine up to 297 and 298 freezes the boot up screen prior to the memory test (post screen)...

For me, it doesn't matter if I loosen the memory timings...my memory is maxed out at 297fsb...

 

[orbiter]

Anyone else had this problem with the Asrock mobo. When I close IE screens it seems to scroll downwards instead of just disappearing instantly, also when using Media player 10 at reduced screen size the visualisation seen to be in slow motion, However at full screen its normal. I'm also getting a massage at PC pitstop about my graphics running really slow. This happens on the large number counting screen when running the full tests.

I've even re-installed windows thinking that I had a bad install but its still the same.

I've tried BIOS versions 1.90 and 2.10 but same problem. My AGP card is a XFX 7600gs. I've altered many settings in the BIOS but to no avail

Any Ideas?

 

[hamltnh]

Originally posted by: orbiter
Anyone else had this problem with the Asrock mobo. When I close IE screens it seems to scroll downwards instead of just disappearing instantly, also when using Media player 10 at reduced screen size the visualisation seen to be in slow motion, However at full screen its normal. I'm also getting a massage at PC pitstop about my graphics running really slow. This happens on the large number counting screen when running the full tests.

I've even re-installed windows thinking that I had a bad install but its still the same.

I've tried BIOS versions 1.90 and 2.10 but same problem. My AGP card is a XFX 7600gs. I've altered many settings in the BIOS but to no avail

Any Ideas?

Check the AGP settings in the BIOS--make sure the Adapter type is set to AGP and not PCI--it's kind of easy to miss the AGP settings unless you scroll to the bottom in the Chipset settings. There are a number of AGP settings to try, but the Adapter type is probably the most important. I also set the AGP calibration to enabled.

 

[pdawg1717]

Originally posted by: hamltnh

Originally posted by: orbiter
Anyone else had this problem with the Asrock mobo. When I close IE screens it seems to scroll downwards instead of just disappearing instantly, also when using Media player 10 at reduced screen size the visualisation seen to be in slow motion, However at full screen its normal. I'm also getting a massage at PC pitstop about my graphics running really slow. This happens on the large number counting screen when running the full tests.

I've even re-installed windows thinking that I had a bad install but its still the same.

I've tried BIOS versions 1.90 and 2.10 but same problem. My AGP card is a XFX 7600gs. I've altered many settings in the BIOS but to no avail

Any Ideas?

Check the AGP settings in the BIOS--make sure the Adapter type is set to AGP and not PCI--it's kind of easy to miss the AGP settings unless you scroll to the bottom in the Chipset settings. There are a number of AGP settings to try, but the Adapter type is probably the most important. I also set the AGP calibration to enabled.

What does AGP calibration do?