ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[big arrickson]

Hey new here. Looking for some help.

My system:
ASRock 775Dual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880
Intel Pentium D 945 Presler 3.4GHz 2 x 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
Thermaltake CL-P0370 92mm CPU Cooler
Kingston HyperX 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 x 2
2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3400620A 400GB 7200 RPM 16MB IDE ATA100
HIS Hightech Radeon X1950PRO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X IceQ3 Turbo
PCI Dlink 2320 Wireless adapter
IDE NEC DVD 3520a


Heres my issue. I download all the newest drivers for this board from VIA and realtek. Newest bios is in board 2.50. I'm not even trying to overclock this board as of yet. I have set the bios to DDR400 and raid off. My system works perfect on install of vista, I install VIA drivers, realtek drivers, dlink drivers, system still works fine. I then install the ATI drivers and system locks up on random at first then it will eventually get so bad i cant even get back into vista unless going thru safe mode. After reading thru these posts the only thing I'm thinking I might have missed is when installing the VIA Hyperion drivers I dont think it installed the latest AGP driver. Do i need to install this manually? I thought I had a bad board so I sent it back and got a new one, same issue, have also tried another ATI card. Then I decided to do a fresh install of Windows XP Pro, everything works perfect and system runs great! I really want to run Vista with this setup, is there anything I'm missing when installing Vista drivers? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aussieburger]

any news on the 8600 cards coming next month then ? Will they work on 8x or 4x pci-e ?

 

[jshupp872]

Have you tried installing vista, then just the ATI drivers? I have this board with vista, and I didn't install any VIA drivers. I installed the sound drivers, the ATI drivers, and everything else worked upon install.

Also, I heard that you have to use the drivers that came with the 1950 Cd, instead of the most recent ATI 7.1 drivers. Not sure about that though.

I would recommend just installing vista, the ATI drivers, and you shouldn't need to install any Via drivers.

 

[big arrickson]

thanks for replying, yes actually I have tried it without the VIA drivers first, and I started getting lock ups then also. Thats what made me think I needed the VIA drivers but that didnt solve the problem. The drivers that came on the cd are windows xp would you recommend using the xp drivers in vista for the ATI card.

 

[jshupp872]

Well, that is interesting. How does vista run without installing any Catalyst drivers? Does it still lock up on the vista drivers?

How about your power supply? Brand? Wattage? Does the +12v rail have enough juice for your card?

 

[big arrickson]

Vista runs completely fine until i put in the newest ati drivers, but unfortunately vista does not have any basic drivers, it sees the card as a vga adapter, so cant set colors or res. I have a BFG 650 watt power supply with 12 volt rail running into the card and it has a second line that could run another card if I ever needed it. Not sure what to do, got xp running, just cant stand running xp after playing with vista on my laptop so much. Like it so much more. Want to get this working in vista and then start tweaking the processor, appreciate your help. I'm going to try to install vista again, and then manually put in the new via agp driver since its not installed when you run setup. If you have any other ideas I would appreciate it.

 

[jshupp872]

A lot of websites are saying that the latest ATI drivers will cause this card to crash constantly. And since these are the only drivers available for Vista, many users have gone back and reinstalled XP just to make it stable. I wonder if Hightech will release updated drivers for Vista for that card?

Not sure what else to say. I was looking at buying one of these cards, but my x850xtpe is running just great in Vista, and I am not sure I want to risk these issues.

 

[big arrickson]

 

[jshupp872]

That is cool. At least it works.

Do you have a monitor driver installed? Within the ATI CCC, what happens if you disable sideband writing (or something like that)? I have heard that having that enabled can cause problems with this motherboard. Just a thought.

 

[big arrickson]

deleted my last post because it didnt work. I just went to ati's site again today, and low and behold a new driver 7.2 came out. So im trying that. Hopefully this will fix it!!!

 

[big arrickson]

Newest drivers did not make a difference system still freezes. Once again system works completely great in Windows XP. I just using Windows XP, if anybody is using this card with this board and similiar to my setup and have it working in vista let me know what you did because Im having no luck. Since it is running so great in XP played around with bios settings and got my Pentium D 3.4 running at 4.0 right now. My ram has a 2 latency, and the other rankings a 2-3-2-6, where do i put this info into the bios or should i even bother putting it in.

 

[Raikku]

Anybdy tried how X1950XTX works with this board?

Of course i rather would buy 8800Gts(normal or 320-version), but 'cause 775Dual doesn't support 8800-series, i have to consider other solutions.

And they've lowered XTX's price too, in cheapest it's around 300euros here in Finland.

Of course there are those Agp 1950Pro/Xt 512Mb's around, maybe with this board i should stay with agp...

 

[Ichigo]

How do memory dividers work on this board, if I have DDR400 RAM?

 

[Raikku]

This was on other forum:

"I've noticed that quite a few people who are relatively new to overclocking seem to be having trouble setting their DDR memory up correctly on this motherboard.

The following may be helpful to someone...

You cannot lock the memory speed on this motherboard, but you can manually change the divider to bring the memory speed back down when you overclock.

The dividers aren't expressed as dividers in the BIOS. They are expressed as DDR speeds which can be a little confusing.

I'll try to explain:

At 200MHz FSB (quad-pumped 800MHz for an E4300), the motherboard will give the following memory speeds for its stated 'DDR' speeds when used with DDR memory...

'DDR400' = 1:1 = 200MHz = DDR400,
'DDR333' = 6:5 = 166.7MHz = DDR333,
'DDR266' = 3:2 = 133.3MHz = DDR266.

These dividers hold true until the we reach an FSB of 240MHz where a new set of dividers are invoked as shown below. Now, suppose that we take the FSB straight up to the level that most unmodified Dual-VSTA motherboards will reach. This seems to be around 290MHz. The dividers and memory speeds will then be as follows...

'DDR400' = 4:3 = 217.5MHz = DDR435,
'DDR333' = 8:5 = 181.25MHz = DDR362.5,
'DDR266' = 2:1 = 145MHz = DDR290.

These new dividers make perfect sense when you consider that at an FSB of 266MHz, the memory speeds are actually DDR400, DDR333 and DDR266 again. This gives the correct memory speeds for processors running at a quad-pumped speed of 1066MHz, ie, the E6300, etc.

So, we don't have precise control over the memory speed achieved for a given FSB, but we can predict what it will be and select the appropriate 'DDR' setting in the BIOS for a given FSB.

Good DDR memory with slackened timings should manage at 290MHz FSB on the new dividers. If it doesn't, then knock the setting in the BIOS down to the 'DDR' setting below the one that matches your memory's actual DDR speed and try tighter timings to compensate for the underclock.

I hope this makes sense."


Have to say that i don't understand all this, but in my case i have fsb 290 async, DDR's are in 200Mhz without flexibility, and cpu-z says that my memory run in ~417Mhz with 5/4 divider, and that seem to be quite a max with my ValueRam's (Dual C, 1T, 3-3-3-8).

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: tenax
damn..that really sucks...again otherwise, i'd be all over that board..mr. vain, what do you think the chances are that the dual core 775 vsta is going to be flashable to make it a quad core? i would suspect basically impossible given:

a) why would anyone buy a new quad core board if you could flash the bios to make it a quad core.

b) i'm assuming the pro and ultra chipset differences won't make it an option, anyway

a) The last 775Dual-VSTA board revisions have the Ultra Chipset in them, so there is a good chance that you can bios flash the 4CoreDual-VSTA bios.

b) The chipsets are nearly identical from what I have seen so far.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: fant0mkid1412
hey guys, i recently got a 805/asrock775dual-vsta combo to reuse my old AGP and DDR1

so here is the system:
pentium d805
asrock 775dual-vsta (bios 2.50)
2x512 DDR500 pc4000 kingmax hardcore ram
6800 agp
antec sp-500
tt big typhoon cooling
2x250gb ata hd
2x250gb sata hd

i've tried overclocking the CPU, but cant seem to get it past 3.0ghz
unstable at 3.1ghz - othros error almost immediately
3.2ghz - no post

i've ran rightmark CPU, or whatever its called, and found my CPU to be native to 1.375v, which is probably one of the worser chips, and the board does tend to droop the vcore from 1.35 to 1.275 when under load (so speedfan shows)

so i performed the voltage mod to raise it to 1.6v, which is quite successful, getting 1.575v. (speedfan and cpuz) however, my OC capability stays unchanged, i still get stuck at 3.0ghz

anyways, i am using 2.50 bios, maybe its a bios version or are there some secret bios settings that severely handicap my OC? thanks

It seems that higher stock voltage defaulter?s suck at overclocking.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Raikku
Anybdy tried how X1950XTX works with this board?

Of course i rather would buy 8800Gts(normal or 320-version), but 'cause 775Dual doesn't support 8800-series, i have to consider other solutions.

And they've lowered XTX's price too, in cheapest it's around 300euros here in Finland.

Of course there are those Agp 1950Pro/Xt 512Mb's around, maybe with this board i should stay with agp...

The GOOD news is that DX10 will be available in AGP cards soon, that may outperform some PCI-e cards at 4X.

Quote
Nvidia plans DirectX 10 cards for AGP slot

G84 goes Geforce 8600xx AGP


By Fuad Abazovic: Thursday 22 February 2007, 12:14

NVIDIA'S GEFORCE 7600 GS, its AGP card, will get a new follower, cleverly codenamed G84 AGP.
This card will be a Direct X 10 chip aimed at AGP upgrade market, as you have not been able to buy new AGP systems for a while now.

It is an interesting choice as but shows the value of this legacy market. The card is scheduled for April and this means that AGP upgrade market will get a DirectX 10 after all.

Early Vista adopters have to be thrilled about it as it will give them a chance to keep their bellowed Nforce 2 motherboards and Athlon XP CPUs or simply good old Netburst Pentium 4 marchitecture.

The G84 is set to replace Geforce 7600 GS cards and these cards sell for around ?100, which is not bad deal for an AGP card.

The AGP version is possible due to the fact that G84 chips are pin-to-pin compatible with Geforce 6600 and 7600, so there were no modifications required in order that AGP market gets its DirectX 10 card.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37790

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: aussieburger
any news on the 8600 cards coming next month then ? Will they work on 8x or 4x pci-e ?

AGP DX10

If they don?t work with 4x PCI-e don?t worry, a Geforce 8600xx AGP card will be available soon!

AGP is still alive and kicking. LOL

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37790

 

[bigsnyder]

Anyone running Buffalo Firestix PC2-6400 2x1GB in their board? Just installed a pair today.
Tried running at 667Mhz but a lot errors from Memtest after a few minutes. Set to 533Mhz,
ran fine for two complete passes. All other memory settings at Auto/Default except flexibility
is disabled. FSB is running at standard 267Mhz. Any ideas on settings or is this motherboard
just a pill with DDR2?

C Snyder

 

[tenax]

i'm running the settings in my earlier post (they were in relation to ddr regular memory but i thought i would try them with ddr2. 2- 1 gig sticks corsair xms2 667) they are running fine with fsb at 280 and memory at 350 (700). i set timings to stock 4/4/12..hwinfo is picking up the timings as 4/4/5/12. i'm assuming that's correct and automatically being adjusted by the bios in spite of my settings. i can run the corsair at 3/3/3/15 if i slow down the memory to ddr2 533 but i find it "snappier" opening programs and such..not sure if it's the 2 gigs of ram or the ddr2..can't see it being the 2 gigs of ram given i'm not using anymore than 500 megs with most tasks. i was surprised frankly as i didn't think the corsair would play nice on this board.

 

[pengo]

Raikku, thanks for posting about the dividers.. I was wondering where you would set the divider. Didn't realize the memory type pretty much is what sets the divider (tho makes sense).

So I was having trouble trying to get to 2ghz with my E6300, regardless on timings, memory voltage etc. So I decided to try setting the memory to DD2-533 after reading your post.

So far so good, my Sandra memory bandwidth bench shows a definite increase in memory throughput and efficiency. Even tho its running at a slower speed (but better timings). I played BF2 for about 20-30mins and no lockup or graphical glitches to be found.

Tho we will see if it stays good for over 24hrs, as I had o/c previously (without knowing about the dividers etc) and it played BF2 alright only for it to blue screen overnight while it was sitting idle (LOL!).


Also I found CPU-Z when I had everything set to auto and ram to DDR2-667 in the bios it couldn't pickup the FSB ration or memory speed just the ram timings... With the ram now set to DDR2-533 (timings set to auto) its able to pick it up..

 

[tenax]

hi guys..need some help here. the theory espoused in last few posts inspired me to play more with overclocking and i ended up in attempting to do so having to reset cmos..so, given i'm still not getting the theory, can anyone post some suggested settings for using ddr2 667 akin to what i have here below (except for ddr2, not ddr 1) just copy and paste and change where see the need to, ok?

also, another issue i've had since resetting the cmos is i get some stupid linux message in yellow on the bootup? it is booting fine, and goes by too fast for me to see exactly what it's talking about, but i never got it before ( i am using an sata drive-jumpered for 150mb/sec and it's working fine). by the way, my current settings in bios are pretty much default aside from agp and memory voltage. i am running corsair ddr2 667 and it shows to be running at 266/266 fsb and memory at timings of 4-4-4-12 (spd timings for this memory)

Advanced:

Overclock Mode - CPU,PCIE Async.
CPUFr. - 325
PCIE Fr. - 119
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. - 400
Flexib.- Disabled
Cas Latency - 3
Interleave - 4-Way
Precharge - 3
Tras - 8
trcd - 4
trfc - 15
trrd - 3
trtp - 2
twtr - 2
twr - 4
Bus Select.- Dual
Command Rate - 2T

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

DRAM Voltage - High
AGP Voltage - High

Primary Gra.Adapt. - PCIe
AGP - Auto
AGP Fast Write - Disabled
AGP Aperture Size - 256MB
AGP Staggered delay - auto
AGP GADSTB - auto

V-Link - normal
PCI delay Transaction - enabled
IDE Drive Strenght - normal
PCIE Downstream Pipeline - disabled
Onboard LAN - enabled
Onboard Sound - disabled

ACPI - default

IDE - default

PCIpnp - default

Floppy - enabled

Super IO - all disabled but Floppy Controller enabled

USB Conf. - default

H/W Monitor:
CPU Quiet - Enabled
Target CPU - 50

 

[HX]

Well, 300Mhz was not limit for me :> I think I couldn't manage to go furthrer than 32x FSB.
AGP and other stuff seems to work correctly, bet I experience some freezes during very bih read/write on my hard drives so it might be a problem of IDE Controller.

---

Well, It seems ASrock has done very big mistake by makin' PCI-E on AGP bus thus disabling full speed on PCI-Express slot. Is there any mod or such a thiung to fix it up?

Oh, why does latest bios ( P2.50 ) not showing me anymore Intel SpeedStep and Virtualization Technology option??? I don't want to install driver to enable this feauture!

 

[cataclyzm]

 

[tenax]

Well, time to say "so long" on this thread for me. i've decided that while this board has been good to me and will definitely be saved for a backup, i'm moving on to this baby..the new "hot kid on the block" when it comes to a solid budget board:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2914&p=4

ordered express from ncix.com who have them on sale this week and will put her together hopefully by midweek.

after thinking it through, i've basically upgraded to everything i need for a one ide slot, pci-e only mobo. ddr2 ram, pci-e card, sata drive so there's nothing holding me back from giving up the "hybrid" experience. i have a new quiet and very cool silverstone case as well that will help me get back into overclocking land so, that's where i'm going. have fun! the asrock at the price has been a great board for me to buy time on the "conversion" process