ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 - Socket 939 with PCI-E and real AGP and Socket AM2 upgrade path

[phillyman36]

Hey techiejoe i will except for the raid one im only going to have one sata drive with no raid. I ran pcmark 04 and pcmark 05 for my current p4 northwood 3.2 mhz so i can do a comparison when i build

 

[designit]

Great. Hopefully w/ betta2 BIOS no need for volt-mods.
Newegg brought down price to $68 where it was originally.
is this board TGI or similar? Can 2PCIe+1AGP work simultaneously?

 

[Lord Banshee]

There is not 2 PCI-E slots. 1 PCI-E and 1 AGP.. The Uli Chip can do that but AsRock did not implement But either case yes they can work side by side, not for increase proformance on one display though. More like 100% proformance on each monitor if you had 1 monitor hooked to each card.

And don't count on being able to change the voltage with bios updates. It is a hardware thing (i believe).

 

[designit]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
There is not 2 PCI-E slots. 1 PCI-E and 1 AGP.. The Uli Chip can do that but AsRock did not implement But either case yes they can work side by side, not for increase proformance on one display though. More like 100% proformance on each monitor if you had 1 monitor hooked to each card.

And don't count on being able to change the voltage with bios updates. It is a hardware thing (i believe).

Oh ok tnx. I guess the voltage mods are easy to do on this mobo.
Hopefully the next batch of mobo's have solved all of it, and sure like to see TGI and other manufac hitting the market. I have noticed that Nvedia prices decreased since ULi1695 became available- good news for those nvedia enthusiasts.

 

[rickyman]

is this a good motherboard to buy or not?

 

[Lord Banshee]

Depends what you want it for?

 

[rickyman]

i have msi neo2 plat. w/ 9800 pro , patriot xblk

if i buy it then i just want it for the pcix slot only and some oced.

 

[Lord Banshee]

PCI-E is good

O'Clocking is limited to 1.45(venice)v so if you think you CPU will not overclock well with that and you don't want to do a volt mod the motherboard isn't the best choice..

i am getting an extra 700Mhz on 1.45v if that helps

 

[vukers]

Just a little heads up:

Yesterday, I put together my new computer (check sig below) and came upon this problem:

The Black plastic piece that the ASRock comes with is held down by 4 white plastic screws. There is no metal retention bracket on the bottom of the motherboard.

The XP90 does not come with a metal retention bracket as well. Therefore, there's no way to actually install this heatsink onto the motherboard with the included supplies.

You can ask your local computer store if they have any extra metal retention brackets since it is standard on K8 Motherboards. I purchased a spare bracket set for $10, and even though you can probably get it for $1-2, when you're in a rush to get it working... =]

-------------------------------------------------------
Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice) / XP90+Panaflo
ASRock 939Dual
1GB Corsair VS RAM 2x512
256MB Nvidia Geforce 6800Ultra AGP
FSP Bluestorm 500W PSU

 

[althes]

Just got mine will post the setup and benchies later

 

[rickyman]

if i dont want to overclock with the cpu and i want the pci-x slot , is this a good board to buy

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: rickyman
if i dont want to overclock with the cpu and i want the pci-x slot , is this a good board to buy

Yes, in my opinion. The voltage options normally available to you aren't the best, but will still allow for some decent overclocking if you have a good chip. And you'll have the flexibility of being able to run either an AGP video card or a PCI-E one (or both at the same time, for multi-monitor).

 

[imported_Soldier]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

It's my understanding that any Socket 939 motherboard will basically have the same results with 4 (double-sided) DIMMs...that being, they'll run at DDR400 (instead of DDR333 which would happen with older CPU steppings), but at 2T instead of 1T, which will decrease performance, but not noticeably. As Peter said, remember that the memory controller is actually a part of the CPU itself and not the motherboard, so as long as you get a Venice (or Manchester or Toledo) A64, you'll be able to run them at DDR400/2T.

2T is devestating to the performance of the A64 regardless of chip....better by far to use only two dimms and keep 1T.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Soldier

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

It's my understanding that any Socket 939 motherboard will basically have the same results with 4 (double-sided) DIMMs...that being, they'll run at DDR400 (instead of DDR333 which would happen with older CPU steppings), but at 2T instead of 1T, which will decrease performance, but not noticeably. As Peter said, remember that the memory controller is actually a part of the CPU itself and not the motherboard, so as long as you get a Venice (or Manchester or Toledo) A64, you'll be able to run them at DDR400/2T.

2T is devestating to the performance of the A64 regardless of chip....better by far to use only two dimms and keep 1T.

I must have read something incorrect then, sorry. I didn't realize 2T was that bad for performance, but I can't test it myself.

 

[Fam Money]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Soldier

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

It's my understanding that any Socket 939 motherboard will basically have the same results with 4 (double-sided) DIMMs...that being, they'll run at DDR400 (instead of DDR333 which would happen with older CPU steppings), but at 2T instead of 1T, which will decrease performance, but not noticeably. As Peter said, remember that the memory controller is actually a part of the CPU itself and not the motherboard, so as long as you get a Venice (or Manchester or Toledo) A64, you'll be able to run them at DDR400/2T.

2T is devestating to the performance of the A64 regardless of chip....better by far to use only two dimms and keep 1T.

I must have read something incorrect then, sorry. I didn't realize 2T was that bad for performance, but I can't test it myself.

Only in benchmarks do you take a major hit. So unless you run SANDRA all the time and play 3DMark, it's not huge.

 

[thedonutman]

Hello all,


Ive currently got a 6600GT agp and im planning on building a new system probably with a 3200 venice. I want to overclock the venice a little bit. Do you think this board is worth getting? i mean personally since i have a reasonably high end card.

 

[Spineshank]

The board is easily worth getting.

 

[afrost]

2T means nothing to 99% of people who use computers.....it's not devastating......and it's the same story on most A64 motherboards since the memory controller is on the chip.

 

[route66]

Originally posted by: rickyman
if i dont want to overclock with the cpu and i want the pci-x slot , is this a good board to buy

If you already have PCI-E and want a cheap mobo, I would get an MSI NEO4-F instead. It will overclock better (better voltages, for one).

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: route66

Originally posted by: rickyman
if i dont want to overclock with the cpu and i want the pci-x slot , is this a good board to buy

If you already have PCI-E and want a cheap mobo, I would get an MSI NEO4-F instead. It will overclock better (better voltages, for one).

I agree somewhat. If you have no need to use an AGP slot/card (either now or in the future), there are better boards with PCI-E, that will have better overclocking options. This board (in my opinion) is mainly good for those who still have a high-end AGP card and don't want to get rid of it yet, but still want the option to upgrade in the future (like me).

 

[Neptune3000]

Originally posted by: rickyman
is this a good motherboard to buy or not?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Neptune3000

Originally posted by: rickyman
is this a good motherboard to buy or not?

I'd say that it looks like it, yes. Especially so if you have a good AGP video card that you still want to use, perhaps less so if you don't.

 

[designit]

Originally posted by: Neptune3000

Originally posted by: rickyman
is this a good motherboard to buy or not?

Yes it is. $68 and you can use AGP+PCIe together, and overclock too.
there is limitation on cpu and ram voltage but w/ simple modding you can up it.
Just needs little learing and links are provided here how to.
If you dont need AGP and willing to pay $100-120, Epox and DFI are good mobo's for overclockers enthusiasts. Jetway is another good mobo- see the reviews by anandtech

 

[rickyman]

i have ati 9800 pro/xt right now.

do you think i have a good video card? is it a good idea to buy this board with this video card or not?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: rickyman
i have ati 9800 pro/xt right now.

do you think i have a good video card? is it a good idea to buy this board with this video card or not?

Yeah, that's still a good video card. I think this board would be good for you, since you could upgrade to an A64 without having to immediately upgrade your video card.