Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Disastorm

some ppl on another forum told me if you set the fsb to 333 it should make it run at regular speed I think. I ordered the exact same stuff as you because I didn't notice the difference also, although I havn't gotten them yet in the mail. Let me know if that works.

The problem here is that these motherboards rarely make it past the 300FSB without volt mods etc.

[Mr Vain]

Guys I have come across this posting from Maffer in another thread that may be applicable and achieve the same results with this motherboard.

Quote maffer
Woohoo guys! I think I got it working now. There was this option called PCIE Downstream Pipeline in BIOS. You know what - disabling that mofo (was AUTO by default) made every corruption problem vanish under XP! Everything runs flawlessly under XP now. Not a hitch anymore. Have to try Vista later now I'm gonna go play some S.T.A.L.K.E.R which by the way runs at maximum details very smooth. Damn I'm one happy camper now

Thank you for all the help!

UPDATE: Vista works perfectly too. Experience rating calculation does not crash anymore either.

[Mr Vain]

Some perhaps useful user reviews from Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813157115

Board Man
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year 9/13/2007 11:20:44 AM


Pros: Very very flexible board with the dual memory options and the LARGE selection of CPU's it will handle. I teamed mine up with an Intel 940 Duo Core and it runs like a bear . I up graded my memory to the max and have never had a problem with it !!

Cons: Instruction manual was a little "weak" at times and you would need some basic knowledge to get the most out of this board. Two more memory slots would really make this board a great deal for the price !!!


madmax
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week 9/8/2007 7:37:01 PM


Pros: I had to buy this from a different vendor as Newegg didn't have it. Runs an e6600 at 310 FSB with no probs. I am using my old DDR RAM and a Radeon 9600 AGP. Good interm upgrade board.

Cons: For 59 bucks, how can you find fault if it works as advertised



MikeJ
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month 9/5/2007 3:11:57 PM
Great MB!

Pros: I was able to use a left over AGP video card, DDR400 memory, and Celeron Processor and this board never even hicupped! Good investment because of the long term upgradeability - I can get DDR2, Duo Core CPU, and PCIX Video when the time comes! Started up immediately - has run non-stop for 3 weeks.

Cons: Not really a con - just a caveat - there is no onboard video with this MB - You must use a card.

Other Thoughts: I'm getting another one to upgrade the house server!


DaveNH
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month 9/5/2007 10:08:11 AM
Bought 2 so far

Pros: I bought two of these boards so far. One ended up as my main machine, the other is used for the wide-screen TV. My main machine runs with a RAID1 of 2x250gb SATAII drives, a 2.18 core 2 duo (1066FSB), 2GB of 800 memory and my AGP 7800 video card. The second machine is an 800fsb 2.0 core 2 duo with some "old" P4 memory I had extra. Its not as fast, but way faster than the P4 machine its replacing. So for about 60 for the MB and 120 for a 2.0 core 2 duo (800fsb); its an easy and FAST upgrade for cheap money.
Cons: "they say" that the PCIe is only 4x. I can't confirm or deny as none of my machines use it. I wish it had a firewire header; but I knew it didn't when I bought it. Thats what the extra PCI slots are for.

Other Thoughts: I use a Soundblaster Audigy 2. I don't think I use the on-board sound on any of the 8 PCs I run at home; they all use Soundblaster cards.



shimoty
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year 8/3/2007 11:45:26 AM
nice board

Pros: this is a nice board for the price because you have a wide range of cpu's to choose from and it makes it easy for an upgrade and AGP or PCI Express x16 so you have a lot of options for video cards as well. SATA 3gb/s working nicely for my 320 gig hard drive good board for people with a budget but want performance

Cons: sound driver would not work so i had to uninstall it and then reinstall it then it worked not a big problem though

[tman7]

I'm a little leery of flashing a modded bios without knowing anything about it, does anyone know what this does, any new features like the ability to adjust Vcore?

4CoreDual-SATA2_1.50_Boot_pc-treiber.net

[fritzfield1234]

This mobo is now $61.99 at Newegg. If the price increase is a supply/demand thingy, then the board must be getting more attention and popularity.

[imported_2fast]

Originally posted by: tman7
I'm a little leery of flashing a modded bios without knowing anything about it, does anyone know what this does, any new features like the ability to adjust Vcore?

4CoreDual-SATA2_1.50_Boot_pc-treiber.net

I have flasher with 1.50a and it runs ok. Version 1.50a add speedstep in bios and other options.

[tman7]

What is speedstep and can you be specific about the new options?

I really wish it were possible for someone to mod a bios for this board that would allow Vcore adjustment. Ive got an E4500 that max's out at 2.5 GHZ and still runs at a very low temp (23 deg C according to Rightmark Cpu utility). So I know this cpu is capable of a lot more if only I could increase voltage.

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: tman7
What is speedstep and can you be specific about the new options?

I really wish it were possible for someone to mod a bios for this board that would allow Vcore adjustment. Ive got an E4500 that max's out at 2.5 GHZ and still runs at a very low temp (23 deg C according to Rightmark Cpu utility). So I know this cpu is capable of a lot more if only I could increase voltage.

You should be able to do more that 2.5Ghz with stock voltage IMO.
There must be other issues with your set up that only let you get 227FSB besides CPU voltage.

I would explore other options first like bios tweaking etc before upping the voltage.

One of the only ways?s to obtain higher CPU voltage for this Motherboard.

CPU Voltage Mod Guide.
http://sg.vr-zone.com/?i=3904

Thread
http://forums.vr-zone.com/show...highlight=pin+volt+mod

One of the best ASROCK dual series Motherboard volt mod threads on the net IMO.
http://forums.vr-zone.com/show...3127&highlight=Mr+Vain

[nisryus]

Hmm, Since this is my first time buying a MB, i have a question to ask..

I just got my SATA2 from Newegg, but comparing to all of the MB packages i saw at store, the box is not sealed. the MB is in a static bag but no tape also. So does the box that holds teh MB and access is not suppsoed to be sealed or tied?

[tman7]

My Asrock wasent sealed or tapped in any way but still looks new. I wouldnt sweat it, unless ists not working right.

@ Mr Vain: I can get it to boot up at 2.8 but if I run a program that puts a big load on the cpu my comp will crash. Anything higer than 2.5 seems unstable.

[nisryus]

Ah thanks tman7. Now need to gte a grift so wife wouldn't get so upset when i rbign the MB home...

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: tman7
My Asrock wasent sealed or tapped in any way but still looks new. I wouldnt sweat it, unless ists not working right.

@ Mr Vain: I can get it to boot up at 2.8 but if I run a program that puts a big load on the cpu my comp will crash. Anything higer than 2.5 seems unstable.

I suppose it won?t hurt to give it more juice to eliminate that as the cause of your crashes.
According to this article 1.3 volts should get you near the 3Ghz mark, if I'm not mistaken it is the mobos stock voltage.

http://xtreview.com/addcomment...2180-overclocking.html

3.0 GHz - > 1.3 v;
3.2 GHz - > 1.42 v;
3.6 GHz - > 1.55 v;
3.7 GHz - > 1.67 v.

Edit Sorry your cpu is an E4500 not an E2180.

E4500

The frequency 3.3 GHz was possible with default Vcore 1.352 v.

http://xtreview.com/addcomment...ping-overclocking.html

My point is that the boards stock voltage with E4500 cpu should get you into the 3Ghz+ territory, if not then you should look at other parts of your build for the crashes IMO.

[tman7]

Ive messed around a bit with the bios and have managed to get it to 2.75 11x250. By running the memory 1:1 ; (Using DDR2 667) Enabled flexibility. and turned vram and vagp to high, seems stable. and according to rightmark its running at 22 deg C at idle, can that be right?

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: tman7
Ive messed around a bit with the bios and have managed to get it to 2.75 11x250. By running the memory 1:1 ; (Using DDR2 667) Enabled flexibility. and turned vram and vagp to high, seems stable. and according to rightmark its running at 22 deg C at idle, can that be right?

Temps seem a bit low but these chips run into the 70's with no problems specially the MO stepping of the E4500 and E2180.
These motherboards on average can get up to 300FSB so you should still be able to get more out of the motherboard with some more tweaking.
I have put in some information on tweaking in this thread and in the other threads that I mentioned before. Basically whatever works with 775Dual-VSTA, 4CoreDual-VSTA motherboard should be applicable to this Motherboard.

[tj99]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

I suppose it won?t hurt to give it more juice to eliminate that as the cause of your crashes.
According to this article 1.3 volts should get you near the 3Ghz mark, if I'm not mistaken it is the mobos stock voltage.

http://xtreview.com/addcomment...2180-overclocking.html

3.0 GHz - > 1.3 v;
3.2 GHz - > 1.42 v;
3.6 GHz - > 1.55 v;
3.7 GHz - > 1.67 v.

Edit Sorry your cpu is an E4500 not an E2180.

E4500

The frequency 3.3 GHz was possible with default Vcore 1.352 v.

http://xtreview.com/addcomment...ping-overclocking.html

My point is that the boards stock voltage with E4500 cpu should get you into the 3Ghz+ territory, if not then you should look at other parts of your build for the crashes IMO.

Not sure where they get default volts at 1.352 mine runs at 1.28 as stamped on the cpu heat spreader. Is this why we cant clock as high.

I have an e4500 M0 stepping. Currently running at 2914mhz @1.28v
Geil ddr2 ram @ 265fsb (530 ddr) 3.3.3.8 2T 1:1 ratio set at 533 in bios.


I can run at fsb 266 but only if i run my ram at 4.4.4.10 2T , any attempt to run at 270 or above gives blue screens or refuses to post. More interesting is the fact that at 270 or above, the pc will only see 1gb of ram instead of 2gb.

I have tried ram at 667 - too slow and still wont go over 268fsb.
I have tried running 5.5.5.15 - same result.

anything at 266fsb or over needs cas 4 or it fails.

It looks like 2914mhz is my limit at stock volts, but not sure why. Any ideas on it being my cpu volts or my ram ( running high volt setting )

Never have been able to run at 1T rate as it crashes. Never have been able to run with flex turned off. I thought Geil ram rated at pc6400 (800mhz ) 4.4.4.12 would be good to go on this board.

I just cant work out where my limit is coming from - any ideas.

[tman7]

An E4500 should be able to reach 3.0 but not at the 1.28 volts that is stock. Its only marginally stable at 2.75 at this vcore, occasionally I get crashes lockups or blue screens. Unfortunatly this is just not a good board for big overclocking. Surely it must be possible to mod the bios for higher volts but I guess no ones been able to do it yet.

[nisryus]

Just got the MB installed and everything seems to be ok excpet now XP won't go into Stand by. My old Asus P4P800 had same issue when i used older ATI drivers so I tried 6 versions of ATI drivers, each time used driver cleaner and then went into registry to make sure no old ATI driver file is left behind.. but no luck..

CPU is 4400 (no overclock)
ATI 9600 XT (no need molex power because no power connector on the video card)
1G of Crucial DDR400
one Seagate HDD (ATA100)
one NEC DVD rom
one firewire PCI card that is not connect to anything
Corsair v450 PSU

tried upgraded with latest VIA. also i can't find anymore latest BIO from ASRock for this board. I went into BIOS but don't know what might affect it so didn't change anything there.

the monitor goes sleep and hard rive would spin down, but PSU and CPU fan would keep running.

anyone has any idea?

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: nisryus
Just got the MB installed and everything seems to be ok excpet now XP won't go into Stand by. My old Asus P4P800 had same issue when i used older ATI drivers so I tried 6 versions of ATI drivers, each time used driver cleaner and then went into registry to make sure no old ATI driver file is left behind.. but no luck..

CPU is 4400 (no overclock)
ATI 9600 XT (no need molex power because no power connector on the video card)
1G of Crucial DDR400
one Seagate HDD (ATA100)
one NEC DVD rom
one firewire PCI card that is not connect to anything
Corsair v450 PSU

tried upgraded with latest VIA. also i can't find anymore latest BIO from ASRock for this board. I went into BIOS but don't know what might affect it so didn't change anything there.

the monitor goes sleep and hard rive would spin down, but PSU and CPU fan would keep running.

anyone has any idea?

This bios should have what you need.

http://www.pc-treiber.net/file....php?fileid=1461&lim=0

[nisryus]

Ah i thought 1.50 only add ATi adn otehr sound card support so i didn't upgrade it and keepat 1.10. I will try it out when i get home later. Thank Mr Vain.

[tman7]

Well I tried the voltage mod to the cpu , 1.51 and was able to get it to boot up at 3.1 but its still unstable. Even at 2.75 its unstable. Its only consistantly stable at 2.53. I tried adjusting various things in the bios but no stability, just freeze ups and blue screens. So either I got a crappy cpu or this board aint woth $hit for overclocking.

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: tman7
Well I tried the voltage mod to the cpu , 1.51 and was able to get it to boot up at 3.1 but its still unstable. Even at 2.75 its unstable. Its only consistantly stable at 2.53. I tried adjusting various things in the bios but no stability, just freeze ups and blue screens. So either I got a crappy cpu or this board aint woth $hit for overclocking.

Can you please post you system hardware specifications?

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: nisryus
Ah i thought 1.50 only add ATi adn otehr sound card support so i didn't upgrade it and keepat 1.10. I will try it out when i get home later. Thank Mr Vain.

This is a Modded bios with speed step full fan control and usually full suspend to ram capabilities.

[tman7]

Ive tried every combination of bios settings I can think of.

ASROCK 4CORE DUAL SATA2
E4500
ATI Radeon X800
2X 1 GIG - OCZ DDR2 PC2-5400 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel
EMU 1212M Sound Card
Marvell Wireless card

[fritzfield1234]

The new 1.6 Bios is posted on the Asrock site.

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: tman7
Ive tried every combination of bios settings I can think of.

ASROCK 4CORE DUAL SATA2
E4500
ATI Radeon X800
2X 1 GIG - OCZ DDR2 PC2-5400 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel
EMU 1212M Sound Card
Marvell Wireless card

Try This and let us know how you went.

CPU:

Overclock Mode - CPU, Async.
CPU Freq - (start at 266)
PCI Freq. 33.33

Spread Spectrum - Disable.
Boot Failure - Enabled.
CPU Thermal Thr - Enabled.

Chipset:

Dram Freq - 266
Flexib ? Enabled
Set RAM as per manufactures specs
Command Rate - 2T

Dram Volts - High
AGP Volts - High (must be high for "any" overclocking since is "northbridge" volts)

Pri Gra Adapt - AGP
AGP Fastwrite - Enabled
AGP Aperture - 128

V-Link - fast
PCI delay Trans - Enabled
IDE Drive strength - Highest
PCIE Downstream - Auto