ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: ronach
Mr Vain,
Did you use the ASRflash program to flash your bios or did you use AFUDOS with switches, like /o /p /c ect. If you used the ASRflash, do you know if it contains the switches built in to the program rather than typed in after the program..like..ASRflash 4cdvsta1.60 /o /p /c ?

I use the Windows Flash tool AFUWIN not DOS.
Just download the Windows bios version from Asrock.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: bigbillyt99
I am new to this forum. I am interested in purchasing one of these motherboards. My only concern is the lack of sufficient SATA ports. I would like to pair a SATA controller but I fear compatibility issues.

Has anyone had any experience with specific SATA controllers, good or bad?

Alternately, has anyone seen any other threads anywhere discussing this?

Quote Mallet

I think promise makes a pci SATA2 controller, but I would think that it would bottleneck on the pci bus, so you would probly get the same performance just running SATA150 that the mobo supports.

Try a PCI-E x1 adapter and let us know if it works

This huge thread below has info on your question.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...STARTPAGE=65&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

The 775Dual-VSTA boards is the same, the chipset on the 4CoreDual-VSTA certified for 1066FSB being the only difference that I know of.

 

[ronach]

Thanks for the reply Mr Vain, I have those files on-hand but never did the WinFlash thing..always went the Dos route. Maybe Winflash has matured enough to give it a try now. I read some where there was a bios setting that affected the operation of the floppy disk running or not, have you run across that setting by chance ? I will install my mobo in a day or so, if you have any other suggestions for me and others that will more or less insure a successful install, they would be appreciated since we are running the same cpu.

 

[Torpedo]

In the first place thanks for your answers, Mr Vain

If it works on the 775Dual-VSTA it works on the 4CoreDual-VSTA.
Look thru this tread below.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...STARTPAGE=69&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

Therefore, reading this

I have a 8800 GTS 640MB in my good ol' 775Dual-VSTA (sig below), and wanted to let you know that if you end up going with a 8800 in your motherboard you will be restricted to Vista (unless 3d acceleration isn't a concern, then XP will run just fine ;-) ).

Whenever I attempt to install 8800 drivers under XP (including the ones they put out a couple days ago), my box goes into an eternal reboot loop until I drop into safe mode and remove them. Vista, however, except for the fact that the 4x PCI-E slot is capping the 8800's speed (which will be fixed in a couple weeks, once semester is out!), runs perfectly fine. Stalker at max settings is quite a nice experience (and smooth to boot).

and this

I took a chance the other day and picked up an 8800 gts 320 the other day to try out on this board. Took me a while to find the right driver in Vista that wouldn't end with me getting bsod. I really wanted to run some games with my new card but having to reinstall all of them in vista is a pain. I decided i'd give Winxp a go with this board, so i decided id download as many 8800 compatible drivers i could and hopefully one of them would go.

I started with the newest ones(158.19) and they actually worked!. I've only been using them for a few hours so i dunno if there are any bugs yet. I got a 7231 in 3dmark06 with my 4300@ 2ghz. I just hope future versions of Forceware drivers let me continue to use the 8800 on this board in Winxp.

I must deduce that the 8800GTS work under Windows Vista and under Windows XP, right?

Another question...

If I don't take this motherboard for the problems with 8800GTS, and for the PCI-E slot, on wich other AsRock motherboard I could be oriented? (to mantain my DDR500 kit)

What do you think of this?

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDX90-VSTA&s=775

Thank you

Best regards,
Alex Torpedo

 

[Azimuth40]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: ronach
No it didn't kill it, they are after another portion of the mobo market that's all. If they had come out with some vast improvements in quality, that required a new bios..then it would have been a killer mobo for the Dualie. Well..again I ask..is this board worth buying for interim service that will be looking for stability, a lil O/c and hopefully longivity..what say you owners ?

I can not be found on their webpage anymore that usually means DISCONTINUED.

http://www.asrock.com/index.asp

Many get this mobo to overclock between @290 - 300FSB with an E4400 you?re looking at around 3000 MHz, stock voltage should get you close.

2 Years warranty on mobo should indicate that it?s reliable, my older model
775Dual-VSTA is nearly a year old and it has been very reliable.

Snap it up before they go for ever.

Their index must be screwed up or recently fixed because it is currently under the shipping products list. Only new products show on the main page, while all available products are under the products tab at the top.
Here is the Link as of the date of this message

The page says nothing about being discontinued and a cursory view of newegg and a couple of others show them in stock and for sale.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: ronach
Thanks for the reply Mr Vain, I have those files on-hand but never did the WinFlash thing..always went the Dos route. Maybe Winflash has matured enough to give it a try now. I read some where there was a bios setting that affected the operation of the floppy disk running or not, have you run across that setting by chance ? I will install my mobo in a day or so, if you have any other suggestions for me and others that will more or less insure a successful install, they would be appreciated since we are running the same cpu.

I have not heard of any bios bugs or setting that kills the floppy except for the floppy disable setting.

Run all things in their default for awhile first and only use winflash at times when the board is running stable, you would probably loose your bios altogether if the pc crashed while you were halfway thru your bios update.

I had a no problem install hope your's is the same.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Torpedo
In the first place thanks for your answers, Mr Vain

If it works on the 775Dual-VSTA it works on the 4CoreDual-VSTA.
Look thru this tread below.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...STARTPAGE=69&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

Therefore, reading this

I have a 8800 GTS 640MB in my good ol' 775Dual-VSTA (sig below), and wanted to let you know that if you end up going with a 8800 in your motherboard you will be restricted to Vista (unless 3d acceleration isn't a concern, then XP will run just fine ;-) ).

Whenever I attempt to install 8800 drivers under XP (including the ones they put out a couple days ago), my box goes into an eternal reboot loop until I drop into safe mode and remove them. Vista, however, except for the fact that the 4x PCI-E slot is capping the 8800's speed (which will be fixed in a couple weeks, once semester is out!), runs perfectly fine. Stalker at max settings is quite a nice experience (and smooth to boot).

and this

I took a chance the other day and picked up an 8800 gts 320 the other day to try out on this board. Took me a while to find the right driver in Vista that wouldn't end with me getting bsod. I really wanted to run some games with my new card but having to reinstall all of them in vista is a pain. I decided i'd give Winxp a go with this board, so i decided id download as many 8800 compatible drivers i could and hopefully one of them would go.

I started with the newest ones(158.19) and they actually worked!. I've only been using them for a few hours so i dunno if there are any bugs yet. I got a 7231 in 3dmark06 with my 4300@ 2ghz. I just hope future versions of Forceware drivers let me continue to use the 8800 on this board in Winxp.

I must deduce that the 8800GTS work under Windows Vista and under Windows XP, right?

Yes it appears that the 8800 works on both XP & VISTA

Another question...

If I don't take this motherboard for the problems with 8800GTS, and for the PCI-E slot, on wich other AsRock motherboard I could be oriented? (to mantain my DDR500 kit)


775Twins-HDTV R2.0 is a MTX board with DDR or DDR2 Ram full 16X PCI-e up to 360 FSB available with modded bios , the only shortcoming is it's Single Channel Memory only.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=775Twins-HDTV%20R2.0&s=n


What do you think of this?

4CoreDX90-VSTA is a single channel memory board with no DDR2 Ram support.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDX90-VSTA&s=775

Thank you

Best regards,
Alex Torpedo

 

[Mr Vain]

Azimuth40

Their index must be screwed up or recently fixed because it is currently under the shipping products list. Only new products show on the main page, while all available products are under the products tab at the top.
Here is the Link as of the date of this message

The page says nothing about being discontinued and a cursory view of newegg and a couple of others show them in stock and for sale.

It seams that once a product leaves the new product page that it?s been discontinued.

This is just speculation; it?s based on past similar behaviours from Asrock.

I hope that they are still making them, but it does not matter as long as you got yours that is all it counts.

 

[KeithTalent]

I was looking at buying this board and found it here for $76 CAD: ASRock 4COREDUAL-VSTA to pair with a 6600. I am not very interested in overclocking, I just want a cheap (<$100 CAD), solid motherboard that will not give me any headaches.

Do you guys think this board fits the bill?

Thanks in advance.

KT

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I was looking at buying this board and found it here for $76 CAD: ASRock 4COREDUAL-VSTA to pair with a 6600. I am not very interested in overclocking, I just want a cheap (<$100 CAD), solid motherboard that will not give me any headaches.

Do you guys think this board fits the bill?


Thanks in advance.

KT

If you keep things in their default and don?t tinker, it should work fine.

 

[inbow78]

So I have been working on OC'ing my computer. What I don't understand is this....When I raise my fsb, my mem freq goes down. I have even changed the timings in the bios. When I push my cpu upto 4ghz, my mem freq goes down to anywhere from 118mhz-177mhz depending on what my timings are set at. Anyone have any insight into this?

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
I was looking at buying this board and found it here for $76 CAD: ASRock 4COREDUAL-VSTA to pair with a 6600. I am not very interested in overclocking, I just want a cheap (<$100 CAD), solid motherboard that will not give me any headaches.

Do you guys think this board fits the bill?


Thanks in advance.

KT

If you keep things in their default and don?t tinker, it should work fine.

Cool, thanks very much. I think I may just get this one then. Heck, it couldn't possibly be worse than my current crappy mobo.

KT

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: inbow78
So I have been working on OC'ing my computer. What I don't understand is this....When I raise my fsb, my mem freq goes down. I have even changed the timings in the bios. When I push my cpu upto 4ghz, my mem freq goes down to anywhere from 118mhz-177mhz depending on what my timings are set at. Anyone have any insight into this?

First, make sure memory flexibility is OFF in your bios. That tends to just drop the memory frequency no matter what you have it set to, which you could just do yourself. Seems like a silly bios setting to me.

Your memory timings have nothing to do with memory frequency. If you alter the timings, it will have no effect on the frequency. Start with conservative timings to take that out of the overclocking equation. Later when you find the max stable overclock, you can start tightening the timings and testing for stability.

Second, make yourself a chart. Start at default FSB and memory frequency, boot into Windows, and use the latest version of CPU-Z to record your FSB and memory frequency. Keep rebooting and increasing the FSB by one. At some point, the memory will hit the ceiling of its FSB:Mem ratio and drop to a lower ratio. At this point, your memory will then be in an UNDERclocked state (what you might be experiencing).

For example, I have an E4300 cpu and DDR400 ram. The cpu FSB is 200, as is the memory frequency. So at an FSB of 200 and memory set to DDR400, my FSB:Mem ratio is 1:1. So at an FSB of 200, my cpu FSB is 200 and my memory speed is 200. At 201, they are both 201. Finally when I get to 232, that is the highest they will operate at a 1:1 ratio. My memory will not run at 232 Mhz (too high an overclock for it) but if you happen to have DDR500, then this would work (if the ram was set to DDR400 in the bios). When I set my FSB to 233, suddenly the FSB:Mem ratio drops to 4:3 and my memory frequency drops to 175Mhz. Why 175? 4:3 = 1.33. FSB=233. 233 / 1.33 = 175. This is to keep the memory frequency in a safe range.

The results of your chart will depend on both your cpu's default FSB as well as your memory frequency. For example, a cpu with an FSB of 266 paired with DDR2 533 ram will run at 1:1 ratio (266:266) at default speeds. A cpu with an FSB of 200 paired with DDR2 533 ram will run at 3:4 ratio (200:266) at default speeds.

Does this help at all?

 

[ronach]

My Core2 Dual is installed & up and running at the 266 CPU setting and ram settings all on auto. I had the usual new install problems, some mobo plugs on backwards, and I forgot to install some drivers which caused lockups. Will try a modest O/C in a week or so. Nice improvement in my Stalker gameplay..much smoother.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: timzak

Originally posted by: inbow78
So I have been working on OC'ing my computer. What I don't understand is this....When I raise my fsb, my mem freq goes down. I have even changed the timings in the bios. When I push my cpu upto 4ghz, my mem freq goes down to anywhere from 118mhz-177mhz depending on what my timings are set at. Anyone have any insight into this?

First, make sure memory flexibility is OFF in your bios. That tends to just drop the memory frequency no matter what you have it set to, which you could just do yourself. Seems like a silly bios setting to me.

Your memory timings have nothing to do with memory frequency. If you alter the timings, it will have no effect on the frequency. Start with conservative timings to take that out of the overclocking equation. Later when you find the max stable overclock, you can start tightening the timings and testing for stability.

Second, make yourself a chart. Start at default FSB and memory frequency, boot into Windows, and use the latest version of CPU-Z to record your FSB and memory frequency. Keep rebooting and increasing the FSB by one. At some point, the memory will hit the ceiling of its FSB:Mem ratio and drop to a lower ratio. At this point, your memory will then be in an UNDERclocked state (what you might be experiencing).

For example, I have an E4300 cpu and DDR400 ram. The cpu FSB is 200, as is the memory frequency. So at an FSB of 200 and memory set to DDR400, my FSB:Mem ratio is 1:1. So at an FSB of 200, my cpu FSB is 200 and my memory speed is 200. At 201, they are both 201. Finally when I get to 232, that is the highest they will operate at a 1:1 ratio. My memory will not run at 232 Mhz (too high an overclock for it) but if you happen to have DDR500, then this would work (if the ram was set to DDR400 in the bios). When I set my FSB to 233, suddenly the FSB:Mem ratio drops to 4:3 and my memory frequency drops to 175Mhz. Why 175? 4:3 = 1.33. FSB=233. 233 / 1.33 = 175. This is to keep the memory frequency in a safe range.

The results of your chart will depend on both your cpu's default FSB as well as your memory frequency. For example, a cpu with an FSB of 266 paired with DDR2 533 ram will run at 1:1 ratio (266:266) at default speeds. A cpu with an FSB of 200 paired with DDR2 533 ram will run at 3:4 ratio (200:266) at default speeds.

Does this help at all?

That?s exceptional advice.
Great to see your helpful informative posts here Timzak.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: ronach
My Core2 Dual is installed & up and running at the 266 CPU setting and ram settings all on auto. I had the usual new install problems, some mobo plugs on backwards, and I forgot to install some drivers which caused lockups. Will try a modest O/C in a week or so. Nice improvement in my Stalker gameplay..much smoother.

It?s good to hear that things are going in the right direction.

 

[inbow78]

So what effect does changing the timings have then? I know this is a serious noob question....but I am a NOOB.

 

[inbow78]

Is hybrid booster a passive control on this board?

 

[ronach]

Inbow78,
Check this site out for some good info, it is a lil cryptic in places but worth a go.
http://www.techarp.com/show.aspx?fileID=18

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: inbow78
So what effect does changing the timings have then? I know this is a serious noob question....but I am a NOOB.

Looser timings introduce more latencies, thus slowing performance down. But more latencies are also easier to run stable at higher frequencies. Basically, the higher the frequency you run a given module, the looser the timings are needed to maintain stability. If a DDR400 module is rated by the manufacturer at 2.0-2-2-5 (these are various timings), it might be able to run those timings up to 210Mhz (an overclock of 10Mhz). Then it becomes unstable, so you have to loosen the timings to, say, 2.5-2-2-6, to get it stable again. Those timings might be stable up to 220Mhz. At some point, the memory won't overclock anymore no matter how loose the timings. Another point to consider is that when you overclock memory, you are gaining performance with increased frequency, but loosing performance with slower timings. At some point you reach a point of diminishing returns, where you actually have better performance at a lower frequency. Sometimes you reach the memory's frequency limit before you reach the point of diminishing returns. A final point to consider is that different motherboards react differently to the same memory. You might be able to overclock the same memory much higher on one motherboard than another; or you might be able to achieve tighter timings on one board than another. This is why no one can give you a definitive answer on "how high can I overclock my memory?" You have to test it yourself to find your memory's limitations on your motherboard.

Good luck.

 

[inbow78]

Finally!!!! I think i have figured it out. I got home from work, took some time to read your posts Timzak. Which I have to say have clarified so many things. I backed off my fsb until I got a 1:1 ratio. CPU is running at 3.9 ghz and my RAM is screaming along at 464mhz. I haven't tested for stability yet......but man, 464mhz on pc3200. Between Timzak and Mr.Vains posts...you two have been stellar. Many kudo's to both of you!!!!!

 

[ronach]

timzak,
What are the benefits in useing the 1.6 bios over the supplied 1.5. Maybe xtra settings, more user friendly ect ?

 

[timzak]

inbow78: you're very welcome.

ronach: I'm actually running the 1.7 bios right now (my sig is out of date). Something about Intel microcode updates that help with stability in certain situations (see the 775Dual-VSTA thread). I really haven't noticed any difference between any of the last few bios updates, to be honest with you.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Originally posted by: ronach
... I think this mobo is a prime candidate for a bios mod wizard to make this board a lil more user friendly..we will see.

You would not perchance be such a wizard, or know one working on bios mods? Have a magic linky anywhere?

 

[Mr Vain]

Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA recent new review.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/hardware...1026-asrock-4coredual-vsta-review.html