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

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: BlindBartimaeus
So I have a question. Would the Asrock boot up with the new opterons so I could then flash to the beta bios?

I actually haven't seen a confirmation on that (in this thread anyway), but I'd be surprised if it didn't. It would probably just not display the CPU name correctly, if I had to guess. In any case I hope that's how it is since I have an Opteron 170 coming and the ASRock board will be a few days behind it.

 

[designit]

Originally posted by: BlindBartimaeus
So I have a question. Would the Asrock boot up with the new opterons so I could then flash to the beta bios?

Yes it does. There were those w/ opteron before 1.4 bios @ OCW. as matter of fact the thread below was posted on Sept 25th, bios 1.4 came out on Nov 3rd. so definitely yes.
if planning to do the vcore mod, do the one by OCW VID3 pin. This way you wont have reboot/reset problem, because 1.35=1.55, and is within the cpu spec.
If don?t understand, will explain further. Try BIOS P1.20, before flashing any others. I believe it is a better bios w/ VID3 mod. Betta3 by OCW seems to work good for some and not for others. There is a lot of confusion about overclocking w/ which bios. I think most has to do w/ noobs, power supply, Rams, and too much to ask. With Opteron and expertise you should do fine. Maybe =or> 2.7ghz on opteron 165
http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/30/5025.html

 

[Wag]

Originally posted by: niggles
Not that I've heard, but I haven't checked. If you write Asrock and ask them they are usually pretty good at responding promptly. Let us know what you find out.

I fired off an email to them, but if it was there, it should be included as part of the O/S and not a downloadable, but it's hard to know.

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, this board is getting kind of a bad rap, one that I don't feel it really deserves. Its a budget board, at a budget price, from a budget manufactorer. And people keep expecting it to be a rival to a dfi in options. Yeah I know, it says it has "overclocking" options on the box...but it also costs like $65. One of the main problems is a lot of people were waiting for this kind of board before jumping to A64, myself included. Then you have a ton of people that are unfamilar with the platform in general trying to get high performance results out of a quirky board that just came out. I'm not saying the board doesn't have problems, or that they shouldn't be resolved...I'm just saying its a cheapo transitionary board and I think people are expecting a bit much from it. I saw a lot of people saying they were going to just get an nforce4 since this wasn't working...if they already had pci-e cards, I'm not sure why they chose this board anyway. The only reasons I picked this one up were because it was the only pci-e and agp solution on the market (that works without performance loss) and I already had an AGP card I didn't want to part with any time soon.

The odd thing though is that we still haven't seen or heard about any other manufactorers coming out with boards based on this chipset. There is obviously a demand for a board with a ton of out of the box overclocking options, more voltage, and more robust support, but no one is meeting it. The only companies I heard rumors about making it were jetway and some other budget maker IIRC. And I haven't heard anything about progress by them either.

 

[Arkham]

Originally posted by: Wag
I just purchased one of these boards along with a Opteron 170.

Is there AGP support for XP64? I'll be using it with my X800XTPE.

Let us know how the Opteron/gfx card/mobo get along. I also have an X800XTPE and am planning on getting the ASROCK and an Opteron 148.

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: designit

Originally posted by: BlindBartimaeus
So I have a question. Would the Asrock boot up with the new opterons so I could then flash to the beta bios?

Yes it does. There were those w/ opteron before 1.4 bios @ OCW. as matter of fact the thread below was posted on Sept 25th, bios 1.4 came out on Nov 3rd. so definitely yes.
if planning to do the vcore mod, do the one by OCW VID3 pin. This way you wont have reboot/reset problem, because 1.35=1.55, and is within the cpu spec.
If don?t understand, will explain further. Try BIOS P1.20, before flashing any others. I believe it is a better bios w/ VID3 mod. Betta3 by OCW seems to work good for some and not for others. There is a lot of confusion about overclocking w/ which bios. I think most has to do w/ noobs, power supply, Rams, and too much to ask. With Opteron and expertise you should do fine. Maybe =or> 2.7ghz on opteron 165
http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/30/5025.html

I wish I were as optimistic as you.. I'm a little leary of doing a voltmod since I've never done one. Which BIOS do you recommend using right off the bat? Assuming I'm just going for 1.4V overclock?

 

[afrost]

Originally posted by: Arkham

Originally posted by: Wag
I just purchased one of these boards along with a Opteron 170.

Is there AGP support for XP64? I'll be using it with my X800XTPE.

Let us know how the Opteron/gfx card/mobo get along. I also have an X800XTPE and am planning on getting the ASROCK and an Opteron 148.

1.2 bios correctly recognized my Opteron 146

 

[PingSpike]

I would think the opteron would boot up just fine even if it wasn't "supported". In the past, unsupported cpus on motherboards usually just showed up as "unknown cpu at X mhz" and otherwise worked fine.

 

[designit]

Originally posted by: OvErHeAtInG
I wish I were as optimistic as you.. I'm a little leary of doing a voltmod since I've never done one. Which BIOS do you recommend using right off the bat? Assuming I'm just going for 1.4V overclock?

Asrock BIOs P 1.20 is your best bet. OCWB1 is also good if you do vcore mod. It soupose to overclock better. But opteron does good w/ P 1.20 as was posted by a member @ OCW Forum.

 

[Alkali]

Originally posted by: Wag
I just purchased one of these boards along with a Opteron 170.

Is there AGP support for XP64? I'll be using it with my X800XTPE.

Right good question that....

I have an X800XTPE AGP card, and I did have issues getting the x64 AGP 3.0 driver (included with Windows x64) to work properly. It caused an issue where AGP modes of any speed couldnt be selected, and SMARTGART wasnt working out of PCI mode. I spent quite a while fixing the issues I had, and now I have a very stable fast system.

If you come across any AGP problem with this mobo, dont hesitate to send me a pm, and I can tell how all the things I did, and what fixes work.

As far as I can tell the AGP 3.0 driver that x64 installs isnt working quite right, but if you manage to get AGP 8x right away and its stable then thats great

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: designit

Originally posted by: OvErHeAtInG
I wish I were as optimistic as you.. I'm a little leary of doing a voltmod since I've never done one. Which BIOS do you recommend using right off the bat? Assuming I'm just going for 1.4V overclock?

Asrock BIOs P 1.20 is your best bet. OCWB1 is also good if you do vcore mod. It soupose to overclock better. But opteron does good w/ P 1.20 as was posted by a member @ OCW Forum.

Thanks.

Edit: babbling

 

[Arkham]

Originally posted by: afrost

Originally posted by: Arkham

Originally posted by: Wag
I just purchased one of these boards along with a Opteron 170.

Is there AGP support for XP64? I'll be using it with my X800XTPE.

Let us know how the Opteron/gfx card/mobo get along. I also have an X800XTPE and am planning on getting the ASROCK and an Opteron 148.

1.2 bios correctly recognized my Opteron 146

Thanks, that's promising.

While I'm not planning on mad overclocking, I might want to tinker with whichever CPU I get. Do any of you pros have an opinion on whether I would be better off with a 3700+ or an Opteron 148, taking into account the very basic overclocking I'll be doing with the Asrock? Would the benefit of the Opteron 148 vs. 3700+be negated by the Asrock's limited overclocking options?

Since the 148 is about the same price as the 3700+, I'm tempted to go with the Opteron.

Thanks guys.

 

[Jacksn]

I'd get that Opeteron if I was you....
They say it has a much higher tolerance for overclocking, especially at default voltages.
Let us know how it worked out for you.

JC

 

[Arkham]

Originally posted by: Jacksn
I'd get that Opeteron if I was you....
They say it has a much higher tolerance for overclocking, especially at default voltages.
Let us know how it worked out for you.

Thanks, JC. I will keep in touch. This thread has been very helpful to me.

Though, I just read today in another forum that the Asrock only has one case fan header. Is this true? The Lian-Li 6077B that I'm getting has a rear and top fan -- will the extra fan be useless?

 

[BlackPear1]

Just plug the fans into your PSU or a fan controller. I never plug anything other than CPU (and chipset fans on boards w/active chipset cooling) into the board anyway.

 

[designit]

I read @ OCW forum that there is an un-used fan circuit on the mobo right below north bridge that is for 3rd fan. You have to find a fan socket ( taken off from an old mobo) and solder it to the location. Just require little soldering experience and you have to clear the holes from existing solder fill and insert the fan pins in and solder from the back side.
It also has a clip for the fan socket to clip in. The poster said he did it and works frine, w/ fan sensor for variable speed. I checked my mobo, and sure enough, it is there. But havnt done it myself. I am using the PS for my extera fans.

 

[Budarow]

Originally posted by: Arkham

Originally posted by: Wag
I just purchased one of these boards along with a Opteron 170.

Is there AGP support for XP64? I'll be using it with my X800XTPE.

Let us know how the Opteron/gfx card/mobo get along. I also have an X800XTPE and am planning on getting the ASROCK and an Opteron 148.

Same here.

 

[Wag]

Originally posted by: Budarow

Originally posted by: Arkham

Originally posted by: Wag
I just purchased one of these boards along with a Opteron 170.

Is there AGP support for XP64? I'll be using it with my X800XTPE.

Let us know how the Opteron/gfx card/mobo get along. I also have an X800XTPE and am planning on getting the ASROCK and an Opteron 148.

Same here.

Should come on Tues, so we'll see what the deal is. I started another post- as you can see I'm not even sure if ATI's XP64 drivers will work for the AGP card. I might be stuck with plain XP.

I don't plan to OC right away (at least not a big one). I won't be doing the volt mod, probably at all.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Wag
I just purchased one of these boards along with a Opteron 170.

Is there AGP support for XP64? I'll be using it with my X800XTPE.

SMARTGART shows AGP as Off, but my 9800 Pro has been working perfectly.

 

[Nesta]

For those asking above:


Venice +3200 cooled by a Zalman 7000B AlCu
mem timings are 2.5-3-3-6 1T

Guess ill try the OCWbios 3 and mess with the Ram timings.

 

[VoteQuimby]

has anyone tried this board with a Opteron 146? what the the overclocking capabilities?

 

[rentonj7]

This is for any of the users that have installed one of the Zalman coolers (7000 especially,) not to be too dense, but how did you do this? I had been using this cooler on several socketA CPUs, and just upgraded to this board and an A64cpu. The problem I ran into was that the screws that were supplied with my CNPs7000B-Alcu are too small in diameter to hold in the MB's retention clip. I notice on Zalman's site, that their instructions seem to indicate some kind of cylinders are to be used if installing on a MB with a HSF retention mechanism. Did the installation consist of more than simply mounting onto this clip? I'm pretty confused here... I contacted Zalman a couple of weeks ago, but they decided not to reply.

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: rentonj7
This is for any of the users that have installed one of the Zalman coolers (7000 especially,) not to be too dense, but how did you do this? I had been using this cooler on several socketA CPUs, and just upgraded to this board and an A64cpu. The problem I ran into was that the screws that were supplied with my CNPs7000B-Alcu are too small in diameter to hold in the MB's retention clip. I notice on Zalman's site, that their instructions seem to indicate some kind of cylinders are to be used if installing on a MB with a HSF retention mechanism. Did the installation consist of more than simply mounting onto this clip? I'm pretty confused here... I contacted Zalman a couple of weeks ago, but they decided not to reply.

Look in your closet.

I looked in mine and found this. I hope you kept the spare stuff that came with your Zalman. Note the two bronze-colored things (which the instructions refer to as nipples), you'll need to screw those in, and you're good to go. That shim in the photo, I believe, is only for S462 (AXP).

We should maybe start a thread on this. I don't know about your B, but when my CNPS7000A came out S939 had just come out and therefore this cooler only advertised support for S754 A64's, but (from what I see on Zalman's site) any S754 cooler should work on S939...

Edit, OK, that thing I called a "shim," is actually the backplate for A64's. The things you have to figure out when you're a late adopter...

 

[rentonj7]

Thanks for the advice Overheating. I had gotten it into my head that I was somehow going to mount it on the Lotes HSF retention clip. I saw on Zalman's instructions for the 9500 cooler, that they have some hardware for accomplishing this (I only saw this for the 9500 though...) Anyway, I went about removing the retention clip, and using the hardware that your picture displayed, was able to mount the 7000. If anyone happens to read this, and is curious as I was as to how to remove the clip:
1) From the back of the mother board, you can see the four protruding plastic clasps from the retention clip. Push in on the white center piece of each clasps. You can then remove them from the front.
2) Gently squeeze the remaining black clasps on the backside, and you should be able to push them through the holes in the motherboard.
3) The retention clip should now come away easily.

I apologize for not including pictures, as I did this hastily and did not think of documenting it I just used a small jewlers flat head screwdriver to push the white clip through, and then some tweezers to squeeze the black part of the clip.

 

[Jacksn]

HELP PLEASE!!

I made the jump yesterday to the ASRock 939Dual SATA2 w/ a Retail/box Opteron 148 CPU (CABYE stepping) from Monarch computers (there local for me). God forbid I should get it to power-up on the 1st time, right? Well... exactly!

I have a OCZ Powerstream 520 ps, 2- 512mb sticks of OCZ PC3500 DDR memory installed, Opteron 148 CPU, Segate SATA HD, Plextor DVD burner, and a eVGA 6800GT (AGP).
When I power up the system I get nothing but a blank screen. There are no error beeps or anything! The CPU and chassis fans spin, so the board and case are getting power, but no POST action or beep codes.

I have tried re-seating the memory, switched out video to a normal PCI Matrox card, disconnected HD & DVD drives. (note: I know for a fact that the 6800GT and the memory are in working order)
I still keep getting the same problem though, no matter what. Does anyone have any ideas whats going on??? Also, my power supply has the combo power connect for 24-pin, but the board only req. the 20-pin portion- so this is what is plugged in.
But I noticed a 4-pin connector off to the right of the 20-pin connector on the ASRock board that reads: "ATX12V1". What is that for, and do I need to have it connected.

Any and all info regarding solving this issue and how you may have your rig setup would be GREATLY appreciated. THANKS!

Jacksn