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

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: meelk
Hi, new to these forums, altho I'm not new to computers in general by any stretch of the imagination. I've just ordered this board, along with an X2 3800 which should arrive next week. I look forward to giving my own impressions of both in the hopes it can help others. My current system is a barton 2500, gig of corsair value 2.5, 9800pro/128. The ram and the video card will make the transition to this new board. I hope everything works out well for the people getting this motherboard, I'll report my own findings sometime late next week.

We're always looking for more opinions of the board; hopefully your build goes well.

(And welcome to the forums :beer:[/i])

 

[SuperFubario]

Hey all:

So i cant sleep cuz i know i get this mobo come this tuesday along with a 3800 X2 and a 7800GT and a nice new 200gig sata drive. Im upgrading from a 2500 and a TI4400 so i think im in for a treat.


For movies and whatnot ill be hookin it up to this 50" badboy...Sammy

 

[sluthy]

Wow. That size and up I'd just be looking to go projection. And the audio...anyway...
After giving up reading 10 pages into an 18-page thread (my eyes...), I'm pretty sold on this board. Were there any major drawbacks to this board, other than it being constantly out of stock ?

 

[bigsnyder]

@LostWanderer

Yes, the GTO2 deal seems like a great buy. If you can live without 3.0 shaders, then this
is certainly the biggest bang for the buck. Go for it!

As far as a PSU. Get you a new one. Its hard to beat the antec units. I have read nothing
but positive reviews regarding them, at least their reviews some more consistent than
that of other brands. A great "budget" brand that always seem to work well is the Fortron
family of products (SPI, Fortron, Powerman). They are not as fancy as other brands, but
they usually get the job done where it counts most.

Ram: Corsair Value Ram is my pick, but I am sure other name brand memory within the
same price is probably just as good. My set of CVR has not been much for overclocking, but
it works reliable at the rated specs.

C Snyder

 

[LostWanderer]

Originally posted by: sluthy
Wow. That size and up I'd just be looking to go projection. And the audio...anyway...
After giving up reading 10 pages into an 18-page thread (my eyes...), I'm pretty sold on this board. Were there any major drawbacks to this board, other than it being constantly out of stock ?

Only thing I've heard so far is that the overclocking potential isn't that great without doing a voltage mod. Sounds like they're working on new bios versions that should help that though. Other than that, everyone seems to like it here on the forum and at review sites like AnandTech and Tom's Hardware. Supposed to be a good "bang for the buck" mobo.

Mine should be here this week...

 

[SuperFubario]

Sluthy whats wrong with a Denon/Paradigm/sony audio setup. And projection would be retarded concidering my livingroom has a 8'x8' window that washes out anything a projection would throw at a screen. Dont diss a mans setup....i wouldnt go over to your house and kik over your tv.

 

[stormont]

I finally got around to installing my new drive a HITACHI 160GB HDT722516DLA380 SATA2 drive and the results were much better:

Minimum Transfer Rate: 31.1 MB/sec
Maximum Transfer Rate: 62.0 MB/sec
Average Transfer Rate: 49.6 MB/sec

Access Time: 13.1 ms
Burst Rate: 128.9 MB/sec
CPU Usage: 2.2%

So the Average transfer rat eis a little slower than the RAID setup on this board, but all of the other speeds are much faster and the CPU Usage is much lower. Think I'll be sticking with this for a while.

Only problem I have is that now whenever I boot the PC, it gets stuck on the intial starting Windows screen. The blue bar keeps moving, but the PC never gets past it. If I press reset, the PC then boots fine. I've got BIOS version 1.20. Anyone else having a similar issue?

I've got the following setup:

3800+ X2 (at stock settings/speeds/voltage)
Leadtek 6800GT
NEC-3520A burner
Audigy 2
4 x 256MB Kingston PC3500 DIMMs
HITACHI 160GB HDT722516DLA380

 

[sluthy]

Originally posted by: SuperFubario
Sluthy whats wrong with a Denon/Paradigm/sony audio setup. And projection would be retarded concidering my livingroom has a 8'x8' window that washes out anything a projection would throw at a screen. Dont diss a mans setup....i wouldnt go over to your house and kik over your tv.

I wasn't dissing it, I like it. Was saying how I could never afford it. And the audio...is bloody impressive. Sorry if it came out negative, I was feigning being gobsmacked.

 

[SuperFubario]

Originally posted by: sluthy

Originally posted by: SuperFubario
Sluthy whats wrong with a Denon/Paradigm/sony audio setup. And projection would be retarded concidering my livingroom has a 8'x8' window that washes out anything a projection would throw at a screen. Dont diss a mans setup....i wouldnt go over to your house and kik over your tv.

I wasn't dissing it, I like it. Was saying how I could never afford it. And the audio...is bloody impressive. Sorry if it came out negative, I was feigning being gobsmacked.

Its cool. Sorry if i sounded harsh....i worked hard to get the things i have....yes im a materialistic bastard and i enjoy every minute of it (on the other hand the better half does not). Anyway this waiting till tuesday sucks....its like christmas on hold or something...come to me 939dual come to me....

 

[Ejhocky313]

Hey all!

I just got this board after extensive reading on here, thinking about matching it with an athlon 3800+ X2, as far as the motherboard setup, has anyone used a(n) Thermaltake Big Typhoon cooler on this bad boy? everything fit? if not, what cooler did you use, Thanks!

 

[designit]

I am in. Will post my overclocking results for those interested.

 

[SNiPeRX]

I have had my asrocks mobo from sept 28 till now and I love it. I am using OCWB beta2 and is perfectly stable at 2.4ghz at 1.45v. I have a 3200 E6. I could even set my cheap k-byte to 1t.

My problem is if I should do the volt mod or not. I have watercooling and my idle temp is at 26C. So i have alot of headroom. I just dont know if I should do the mod or wait until a bios is released that will support higher vcore. What do you guys think.

 

[Spineshank]

Originally posted by: SNiPeRX
I have had my asrocks mobo from sept 28 till now and I love it. I am using OCWB beta2 and is perfectly stable at 2.4ghz at 1.45v. I have a 3200 E6. I could even set my cheap k-byte to 1t.

My problem is if I should do the volt mod or not. I have watercooling and my idle temp is at 26C. So i have alot of headroom. I just dont know if I should do the mod or wait until a bios is released that will support higher vcore. What do you guys think.

Depends on how good at soldering you are. Im not good, i always manage to overheat things. (maybe its just the crappy iron?). I have mine at 2.4 but i have a E3.

 

[im2good4u]

I just love this board, i got an increase of about 600 points in 3Dmark2005 from my previous P4P800-dlx, no problems whatsoever. using OCWB1. i'd even vote this mobo for motherboard of the year! great bang for the buck mobo with high end AGP users like me who just can't afford to dish out our high end AGP cards.

 

[designit]

Originally posted by: SNiPeRX
I have had my asrocks mobo from sept 28 till now and I love it. I am using OCWB beta2 and is perfectly stable at 2.4ghz at 1.45v. I have a 3200 E6. I could even set my cheap k-byte to 1t.

My problem is if I should do the volt mod or not. I have watercooling and my idle temp is at 26C. So i have alot of headroom. I just dont know if I should do the mod or wait until a bios is released that will support higher vcore. What do you guys think.

I read that the vcore issue is mobo related,not bios. I would think the new batches will change some circuits and new bios to resolve it. But it wouldnt hurt waiting if you are uncomfortable w/ volt modifications. Also if decided to do it anyway, OWC recommends BETTA1 for overclocking. But if you'v got 2.4 ghz out of betta2 and stable, waiting for new developments is not a bad idea.

 

[Sickpuppy42]

I've been enjoying this thread for some time now. I decided to buy this motherboard and the install went very smooth, without a single problem. This is my first AMD 64 motherboard and i'm still a little new to overclocking. My problem is that I tried pushing my +3200 Venice to hard. I set the bios to Async and 230. When it tries to boot now I get 2 short beeps and a long beep, plus my keyboard will not work.
I tried clearing the cmos but nothing changes. I'm guessing the ps2 port blew, atm I don't have a usb keyboard to try out. I'll pick one up after work today and see what happens anyone have any ideas ? Please let me know if I need to post anymore info.

 

[Sickpuppy42]

ops, just ignore my post I forgot to put the cmos jumper back to its right location. Duh.

 

[x2plasma]

I too have been enjoying this thread. I have this board and a X2 3800+ Toledo that I have at 2400Mhz and 1.4 volts. I have pushed it beyond and have always been able to reset the bios and it works just fine again, though I am using a USB keyboard. It's a pain to get at the reset jumper with an AGP card in there

I do have a question for anyone with this board. When I look at Everest or CPU-Z 1.3, it shows my memory at 160Mhz when I have it set at 200 in the bios (version 1.2). Frontside set to 240 at multiplier x10 and Async with spread spectrum off and DRAM voltage set to high. I have good quality OCZ platinum rev 2 RAM that I have had overclock really well in another system past DDR 500 speeds. Just wondering why the board is underclocking this memory?

 

[LennyZ]

Another happy Asrock user here.

My 4400+ overclocks to 2.57 at 1.4volts!
I could probably get more out of it with the Vcore mod but i'm happy
with the blazingly fast performance!

 

[meelk]

well, I finally got this board in and really like it. 1.2 bios, etc. So it immediately recognized my X2 3800. I havent had one conflict or problem at all. I dont bother with overclocking, but I will say having used a dual core system just today, I cant believe what I've been missing

The irritations:
youll need nice long ide cables to reach your drives from the ide connectors.
the manual is so so at best.
I had to manually set my ram, as it wasnt properly recognized for some reason. (2x512 2.5cas corsair value)

Otherwise: a great buy, and I wouldnt hesitate to get another if I were to need it.

 

[Ejhocky313]

Follow up to an earlier post I made about this board... go it going last night with my Athlon 3800+ x2...no promblems at all with setup computer fired right up(first time i have ver got it going on the first attempt) I did however run into a snag while trying to get windows installed I got an IRQ_Not_Less_or_equal_than, BSOD, but I went to the bios and changed some cpu and memory setings and all was well. I didnt get a chance to do much as far as getting progs installed because I had to get SP2, and all other drivers, and I just simply ran out of time last night, but tonight its just me and the new computer :-D

I used a Thermaltake Big Typhoon and Arctic Silver 5, and everything fit wonderfully (Although I did have to contact thermaltake to order a metal backplate for the mobo) but other than that all was well.

Pros: Stable, quick board...Cheap price, upgradeability is HUGE!!

Cons: IDE and Floppy connectors are in awkward positions on the board, only Chassis Fan 3-Pin connector towards the bottom

 

[ryox03]

I have had this bored since the day it came out but I still havn't bought an A64 chip yet cause I am so undecided. I am running on a good setup right now with a 3.2E presscot that screams and runs cool(dont know what everyone elses problem is) I just dont know what A64 CPU to buy that will have a significant performance jump to what I am running now. Last time I used AMD was when I bought a k6II in order to replace my Cyrix Note that I am going to pick up the X1800XT when it comes out so I don't want a CPU that will hold me back at all

 

[Westmassguy]

x2plasma
Disable "Flexibility Option" in BIOS.
This item is found next to the other memory timing.
If it's set to enable or auto, the board defaults to 5/6 divider (166 MHz).

 

[meelk]

Originally posted by: ryox03
I have had this bored since the day it came out but I still havn't bought an A64 chip yet cause I am so undecided. I am running on a good setup right now with a 3.2E presscot that screams and runs cool(dont know what everyone elses problem is) I just dont know what A64 CPU to buy that will have a significant performance jump to what I am running now. Last time I used AMD was when I bought a k6II in order to replace my Cyrix Note that I am going to pick up the X1800XT when it comes out so I don't want a CPU that will hold me back at all

If you dont want a cpu holding you back in gaming, why do you have a pentium 4? Quite honestly, even REALLY good P4s are crushed by low end amd 64s in gaming. If you want to maintain that snappy feeling the P4 has with HT, get an AMD X2. Best of both worlds.

 

[x2plasma]

Originally posted by: Westmassguy
x2plasma
Disable "Flexibility Option" in BIOS.
This item is found next to the other memory timing.
If it's set to enable or auto, the board defaults to 5/6 divider (166 MHz).

sweet, thanks. I'll try this in a little bit.

update: currently at 2-2-2-5, 200Mhz (going for low latency) while still at 2.4Ghz