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

[Canterwood]

Originally posted by: 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... =]

If you want a quick and dirty remedy to this, you could use an old socket 478 P4 bracket. (Which I had lying around)
It fits perfectly and you can attach the XP90 to it without problem.

I'd still go with the metal plate though, given the option.

 

[phillyman36]

Ok i hooked everything up. Everyonce in a while there is a little lag when say putting a cd in and switching from programs but the majority of things are noticably faster. here are benchs (free)
My old specs were Asus 865pe mobo, 3.2 northwood, 1 gig of ram, Bfg 6800 agp
new rig Asrocks 939 mobo, x2-3800, and same 1 gig of ram, Bfg 6800 agp

Pcmark05 (p4 rig) 3731 Pcmark05 new (X2-3800 rig) 4246

3D Mark05(P4) 3572 3D Mark05(X2) 3351

Im still a newbie of sorts but some things i dont like
Floppy Drive is connection is under pci slot at bottom
Ide connection near bottom i like them closer to middle right of board like my Asus865pe
Im not an expert but BIOS seems limited (no probe etc)

Default setting bring my 2 sticks of ram to 333 instead of 400 so i adjusted that. 1 question is under agp the fastwrite is disabled should i enable that?
I haven tried to overclock yet because i could find the exact setting in the bios that someone said to adjust. when i reboot and go into bios my temp says around 41c

All in all its ok for what i need it to do and it saved me from buying a new pci express card. Im dont have the knowledge most of you all have so its hard to give my opinion on how it would compare to other boards

 

[imported_Soldier]

Originally posted by: Fam Money

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

Originally posted by: 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.

According to Anand's own testing 2T loses around 4% against 1T in gaming, not benchmarks. Since many people here are overclockers and try to squeeze every drop of performance from their machine I think 4% is significant.

 

[Fam Money]

So you're telling me if you got 96FPS instead of 100FPS in game that would devastating? To each his own I guess but it would not make the slightest difference to me.

 

[inane]

I've been OC'n Intel and AMD (SocketA) for over a decade, this is my first attempt at A64 and I'm not having much luck. I've only just started diggin into this but I'm having a hard time finding the 'LDT/FSB' setting in this BIOS as refered to by a nice guide I found on [ H ]. This is obviously something I never had to deal with on the more recent Intel chips I've OC'd.

LDT/FSB Frequency Ratio: another term for the HT link multiplier. the final HT link speed = FSB (HTT) * this number. It has virtually no effect on performance, so do not worry about lowering it to get a higher overclock. As a general rule of thumb, you don't want the final HT link speed going over 1000mhz

So far I do like this ARock board, I'm usually an Abit guy but being able to use my 6800 for a while longer before I get a 7800 next year, and then not having to replace everything will be nice.

 

[afrost]

Originally posted by: Soldier

According to Anand's own testing 2T loses around 4% against 1T in gaming, not benchmarks. Since many people here are overclockers and try to squeeze every drop of performance from their machine I think 4% is significant.

Obviously this is a budget board not an "overclocker" board.....that means people buying probably don't have the best video card that is currently made. If you are worried about games then the best bang for your buck is getting a better video card....not a 1T ram and mobo combination.

The whole point of this board is that it provides an incremental upgrade path for people who can't fork over a ton of money at once.

This 2T performance is also on par with at least 80% of the other S939 motherboards out there anyway so I don't know why you are posting it as a negative. The memory controller is on the cpu so you should whine to AMD.

 

[Spineshank]

Originally posted by: afrost

Originally posted by: Soldier

According to Anand's own testing 2T loses around 4% against 1T in gaming, not benchmarks. Since many people here are overclockers and try to squeeze every drop of performance from their machine I think 4% is significant.

Obviously this is a budget board not an "overclocker" board.....that means people buying probably don't have the best video card that is currently made. If you are worried about games then the best bang for your buck is getting a better video card....not a 1T ram and mobo combination.

The whole point of this board is that it provides an incremental upgrade path for people who can't fork over a ton of money at once.

This 2T performance is also on par with at least 80% of the other S939 motherboards out there anyway so I don't know why you are posting it as a negative. The memory controller is on the cpu so you should whine to AMD.

I have a X800XL, OCZ Gold, etc. yet i own this board. The board offers great preformance at a cheap price. Why pay X amount of dollars more for a board that offers the same preformance but has a better name. Right now i have a 400mhz overclock which i feel is very acceptable on a board this cheap. I havent even hit my limit yet.

 

[Killrose]

The only thing this board lacks is a good full features overclockers bios. I don't think you'll seeone unless another competitor comes out with a better board though.

 

[bruinwar]

All set to order this motherboard & a X2 3800+.... but I am unsure what RAM to buy.

I was convinced to buy Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 500 from another forum. But after reading this thread I am unsure. I want good stable RAM, 2 sticks, 1GB each. If it costs an extra 50-60 bucks, no big deal. I am already blowing a wad on this upgrade.

Yes, I would like to overclock the CPU as much as possible. Any suggestions?

 

[Spineshank]

Originally posted by: bruinwar

All set to order this motherboard & a X2 3800+.... but I am unsure what RAM to buy.

I was convinced to buy Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 500 from another forum. But after reading this thread I am unsure. I want good stable RAM, 2 sticks, 1GB each. If it costs an extra 50-60 bucks, no big deal. I am already blowing a wad on this upgrade.

Yes, I would like to overclock the CPU as much as possible. Any suggestions?

I have OCZ Gold running at 240 @ 2.5-3-3-8 timings which is only at 2.8v. Only downside to this board is the amount of volts you can hit the cpu and ram with. Though i could always get an ocz booster as well. And i can go higher obvisouly

 

[bruinwar]

Never messed with voltages before. In my history of overclocking I pretty much stuck with sure things, 300 celeron @450, 533@800, & my latest a 2500+@3200. I would prefer to just get what I can out of the CPU (& RAM), without applying more voltage, & be happy. I am too much of a noob & I am bound to fry something.


Should I get the PC 4000 RAM or settle for PC 3200?

 

[rickyman]

if i play extensive games like far cry, quake 4 or fear, do i need dual sli video card or single card for it.

 

[inane]

A single 7800 is gonna run very well on virtually any game out there... SLI is just icing on the cake for those that want insane frames or every bit of AA/AF setting they can get.

So does anyone have a reply to my question?

EDIT'D

I found the 'HT' as its refered to the CPU-NB link on this board.... maybe was mentioned somewhere in the thread but I just missed that... hehe oh well

 

[Double Echo]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
- First you need to update bios 1.2 or higher

CPU Menu
- Set Mem Spd to 166 (333)
- Set CPU Overclock to PCI Async
- Rise HTT to 220 (for 2200) 240 (for 2400)
- Set voltage to highest you can go (1.45v i think for that CPU it might be 1.4)
- Set Multiplier to 10x
- Turn off Speed Specturm (i think?, i always do)

Chipset Menu
- Set NB->HT or something like that to 800

Run two instances Prime95 for a couple of hours and report back.

Can you please give us your BIOS settings? I have almost the same setup as you, as far as mobo and CPU, and I can't seem to get past 2.1GHz. My next step is going to be a Fortron PSU, but I wanted to see what yours were first.

Basically I've been setting AGP/PCI to Asynch and setting PCI to something like 110, and the Northbridge/Southbridge to 1000MHz. I can't get the multiplier past 9x (I'm still on 1.20 BIOS). Can you give me some suggestions on how to get to 2.5 as you did, and your BIOS settings?

Thanks!

 

[Jagercola]

OCW Beta Bios 2 is out... Check out the OCW forum for it.

Not sure if it has solved any of the previous issues.

 

[imported_Soldier]

Originally posted by: Fam Money
So you're telling me if you got 96FPS instead of 100FPS in game that would devastating? To each his own I guess but it would not make the slightest difference to me.

Bully for you mate. Maybe you should be at Dell.com if performance doesnt matter to you, hanging around a forum dedicated to maximizing performance seems kinda silly with that attitude.

Originally posted by: afrost

Obviously this is a budget board not an "overclocker" board.....that means people buying probably don't have the best video card that is currently made. If you are worried about games then the best bang for your buck is getting a better video card....not a 1T ram and mobo combination.

The whole point of this board is that it provides an incremental upgrade path for people who can't fork over a ton of money at once.

This 2T performance is also on par with at least 80% of the other S939 motherboards out there anyway so I don't know why you are posting it as a negative. The memory controller is on the cpu so you should whine to AMD.

Oh yeah, nForce4 boards are a dime a dozen that will do 300 on the memory.:roll: Im posting it as a negative because it is one. Also I didnt "whine" about anything, I was helping correct a mistaken belief by another member. 2T and performance motherboard dont belong in the same sentence. You obviously have zero idea what your talking about....maybe the thread linked below will help your understanding of the importance of timings vs memory speed for A64.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1475190&enterthread=y

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Jagercola
OCW Beta Bios 2 is out... Check out the OCW forum for it.

Not sure if it has solved any of the previous issues.

Thanks, I'll add it to the OP.

 

[Fam Money]

Originally posted by: Soldier

Originally posted by: Fam Money
So you're telling me if you got 96FPS instead of 100FPS in game that would devastating? To each his own I guess but it would not make the slightest difference to me.

Bully for you mate. Maybe you should be at Dell.com if performance doesnt matter to you, hanging around a forum dedicated to maximizing performance seems kinda silly with that attitude.

Don't know what bully is slang for but I assume it's a diss......

I have no problem with folks wanting to maximize performance. If 4FPS makes that much difference to a person I would hope that they would not buy a "budget" board like this. Would they just not save up for that shiney ASUS, Abit, MSI, or DFI?

I just don't like to see people mislead. Is 4FPS really "devestating" to you? I'm sure it wouldn't be to MOST people. How many folks here are hardcore OCers that sqeeze every last drop of performance out of their components? My bet is they are the minority in these forums. Most folks are probably mild to moderate OCers like me who look up to the hardcore for inspiration.

BTW, there is no malice in post.

 

[PzYk0]

Originally posted by: QV

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
! Looks like a good option then.
Has anyone used ASRock boards? Are they Rock solid (no pun intended )? Or are they some unknown brand, sort of like the biostar crap?

I used to have an ASRock K7S8X board in my machine, which had an SiS 746FX chipset.
One day, the board's USB just died. Every single USB port just stopped working after a reboot. I quickly got a new board (Asus A7V8X-X) and threw my old ASRock in the trash.

Since then, I've stayed away from ASRock boards and SiS chipsets. I don't know which one was responsible for that board sucking, so I'm avoiding both.

I too have had a couple of bad experiences with ASRock using two identical model boards G400PRO (very early ASRock mind you) but while doing a budget system upgrade for a customer, I used a newer ASRock board (P4/via chipset) it was rock solid.

I think your bad luck may have come hand in hand with SiS. I have had asus and gigabyte boards using sis chipsets which constantly fail/crash. *avoids*

As always I say, look at the reviews before buying..

 

[LeonarD26]

Is everyone still happy with this board? I'm thinking of getting this and pair it with a Venice to update my Athlon XP Mobile.

Thanks!

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: LeonarD26
Is everyone still happy with this board? I'm thinking of getting this and pair it with a Venice to update my Athlon XP Mobile.

Thanks!

From what I hear, it seems like most who have the board are happy with it, especially with the price factored in. My upgrade's been delayed a bit probably (just bought a new toy and don't want to spend too much money at once ), but hopefully those who already have the board will chime in with their thoughts if they have anything more to add.

 

[Double Echo]

I'd say I'm happy with my board. I won't be forced to buy a PCI-E card right away (and from what I've seen, there's not much difference yet) and I was able to obtain a 600MHz overclock to 2.4 with only about 10F increase in temperature at load, ON STOCK COOLING! If I had done this with my old Athlon XP 2500+, we'd be looking at about 20-30F increase even with the Volcano 12 heatsink/fan I had at 5500RPM.

This board was worth every cent and more.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Double Echo
If I had done this with my old Athlon XP 2500+, we'd be looking at about 20-30F increase even with the Volcano 12 heatsink/fan I had at 5500RPM.

lol, I know exactly what you mean. Right now I have an AXP 1700+ at 2400MHz...80mm CPU fan at 4800RPM on an SK-7, and idle temps are about 54°C.

Glad to hear you like the board.

 

[designit]

Originally posted by: Double Echo
I'd say I'm happy with my board. I won't be forced to buy a PCI-E card right away (and from what I've seen, there's not much difference yet) and I was able to obtain a 600MHz overclock to 2.4 with only about 10F increase in temperature at load, ON STOCK COOLING! If I had done this with my old Athlon XP 2500+, we'd be looking at about 20-30F increase even with the Volcano 12 heatsink/fan I had at 5500RPM.

This board was worth every cent and more.

But why do you have HTT @ 3x200=600? why not 1000?
And, couldnt you do 300x9=2.7ghz for A64 3000?

 

[designit]

Originally posted by: Soldier[/i]

Oh yeah, nForce4 boards are a dime a dozen that will do 300 on the memory.:roll: Im posting it as a negative because it is one. Also I didnt "whine" about anything, I was helping correct a mistaken belief by another member. 2T and performance motherboard dont belong in the same sentence. You obviously have zero idea what your talking about....maybe the thread linked below will help your understanding of the importance of timings vs memory speed for A64.

Nooo buddy not all nf4's are good overclockers. the best one's out there are Epox and DFI, for about $125 and more. This mobo has beaten DFI on gaming. surely you can read charts?
2T is also a problem for NF4's, not ULi alone. and it is not the mobo or chipset but cpu related. Those looking for 2gig of rams can use 2x1g and run @ 1T. So what's the fuss?
ULi and ATI Crossfire are 2 biggest pain in the A for Nvdia and better believe it.
It is time for Nvidia and their worshippers get of the high horse, pc buyers are not going to be suckered in for overpriced nf4 boards or products anymore.
Time has changed table turned.