Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 + ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA + ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[Sparkion]

I was given a 775Dual-VSTA, 2x2GB DDR2-800, with an E2180 2.0Ghz Pentium dual-core installed, and a video card.

...

Does anyone know what's going on here? Why can't I run it with two 2GB sticks? Has anyone else managed to do that?

Yes, your ram slots are faulty, and not 'read properly' by your chipset. (in essence that s what happens).

Did you try, cleanign the entire board and the slots with contact spray?

Also update your bios by the one from pctreiber! Then try again and see what happens!

 

[doubleOseven]

Attention: VirtualLarry

If you haven't already, clear the CMOS, otherwise it may not detect the memory properly.
Also, as the previous poster mentioned, make sure to get the latest pctreiber bios installed on your computer.
Here: http://www.pctreiber.net/asrock-bios-downloads?did=103

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Bios 3.19a

Datiert auf den 29.04.2009
775Dual-VSTA BIOS L3.19 REV:a

Changelog:
- Add support for HD 4890
- Add support for E-0/R-0 Wolfdale CPU (Pentium DualCore E6300/E7600 supported!)
- Support 4 GB DDR2 (~ 3,3 GB useable)
- Enhanced Speedfancontrol for PWM-Fans
- Support Enahnced Halt State, SpeedStep and Thermal Throttling
- Instant Boot Support

 

[Deleauvive]

Here we go again,
Since 5-5-5-15 is supposed to fit 333+ clocked DDR2 memory, I was thinking about a safe way to tighten my memory timings.
Wading through various posts about overclockers using this mobo or the VSTA one, I believe I managed to attain my optimal settings (with the exact same above mentioned hardware). What some guy did was set Pipeline DRQCTL to Auto (not disabled) to help with his 1T Command Rate. I thought I could do the same to ensure a safe switching to CAS 3 (as a reminder, I use two Transcend 1GB DDR2 PC2-5400 CL5 rated modules). As for the rest, the tools of the trade are familiar, basically :

• Applying the full SPD "profile" for any given speed (thus not leaving any timing set to auto)
• Reducing tRAS by 1T (optional)
• As I just mentioned, adjusting Pipeline DRQCTL : from Enabled to Auto
• Loosening CLKBUF skew's some more : 300 / 450 instead of 150 / 300 (cf. screenshot)
• DRAM Voltage changed from Normal to High (I know, I said I wouldn't do that!)

Let's grab the @266 values :
4-4-4-12 16-34-2-4-2-2
which, following the BIOS chipset screen ordering from top to bottom, and including the custom values, translates in :
3-4-4-11-34-2-2-2-4
I am sticking to this idea of mixing a lower CAS with values from the higher nominal SPD profile values.
e.q. 4-5-5-15, or in this case 3-4-4-12


Intel Burn Test doesn't seem to cause the system to complain.
No problem whatsoever after 2 hours of stress-testing!
I had to reduce the FSB freq. though : From 300 to 295.
CPU Ratio maintained at 9.5 (298 is reachable with x9).


Pictures of the corresponding BIOS settings

- CPU :




- Chipset :




- Advanced Memory :




- Advanced Host :



As you see, I made a few adjustments to the CLKBUF skew's.
150 ps more for the IN values, 300 ps less for the OUT ones.
I am simply experimenting here, I have no clue whether these will be optimal settings generally speaking, or just happen to work with my setup.


CPU-Z screens

- CPU at its highest (with a 9.5 ratio)




- CPU at its lowest (with a 6 ratio)




- Memory




Let's see if these new timings affect benchmarks in a significant manner :

Aquamark
Avg FPS: 62.69
Avg Triangles Per Second: 18872956
Aquamark Score Render: 12356
Aquamark Score Simulation: 6364
Aquamark Score: 62694

3Dmark 2001SE
20423 marks

3Dmark '05
4845 marks

Better scores overall, but nothing spectacular.
Also, Windows Experience Index CPU & RAM values have increased by 0.2 and 0.4 respectively (not that it matters much).
Windows explorer feels a bit snappier.



A few side notes :

• Don't rely solely on computational benchmarks to test stability, do some real life testing (such as hours long divx encoding)
• Latest cpuz version won't display the real-time multiplier change (may be for a more accurate rating), thus displaying the highest value constantly. This can be confusing, so I suggest using v1.61.3 until the problem is fixed (if the author considers this to be a bug)
• If you don't want to spend a full night testing your overclocking, use Intel Burn Test. It is supposed to output any error faster than Prime95 (I am not saying it is better, simply presumably faster, based on this thread). My suggestion for a test pattern would be 1 hour of OCCT as an appetizer, then 3 hours of IBT.

Sorry if these explanations sound a bit overboard. I couldn't come up with these results without doing some more searching, and I wanted to share most of the underlying reasoning with you.

 

[Mr Vain]

Here we go again,
Since 5-5-5-15 is supposed to fit 333+ clocked DDR2 memory, I was thinking about a safe way to tighten my memory timings.
Wading through various posts about overclockers using this mobo or the VSTA one, I believe I managed to attain my optimal settings (with the exact same above mentioned hardware). What some guy did was set Pipeline DRQCTL to Auto (not disabled) to help with his 1T Command Rate. I thought I could do the same to ensure a safe switching to CAS 3 (as a reminder, I use two Transcend 1GB DDR2 PC2-5400 CL5 rated modules). As for the rest, the tools of the trade are familiar, basically :

• Applying the full SPD "profile" for any given speed (thus not leaving any timing set to auto)
• Reducing tRAS by 1T (optional)
• As I just mentioned, adjusting Pipeline DRQCTL : from Enabled to Auto
• Loosening CLKBUF skew's some more : 300 / 450 instead of 150 / 300 (cf. screenshot)
• DRAM Voltage changed from Normal to High (I know, I said I wouldn't do that!)

Let's grab the @266 values :
4-4-4-12 16-34-2-4-2-2
which, following the BIOS chipset screen ordering from top to bottom, and including the custom values, translates in :
3-4-4-11-34-2-2-2-4
I am sticking to this idea of mixing a lower CAS with values from the higher nominal SPD profile values.
e.q. 4-5-5-15, or in this case 3-4-4-12


Intel Burn Test doesn't seem to cause the system to complain.
No problem whatsoever after 2 hours of stress-testing!
I had to reduce the FSB freq. though : From 300 to 295.
CPU Ratio maintained at 9.5 (298 is reachable with x9).


Pictures of the corresponding BIOS settings

- CPU :




- Chipset :




- Advanced Memory :




- Advanced Host :



As you see, I made a few adjustments to the CLKBUF skew's.
150 ps more for the IN values, 300 ps less for the OUT ones.
I am simply experimenting here, I have no clue whether these will be optimal settings generally speaking, or just happen to work with my setup.


CPU-Z screens

- CPU at its highest (with a 9.5 ratio)




- CPU at its lowest (with a 6 ratio)




- Memory




Let's see if these new timings affect benchmarks in a significant manner :

Aquamark
Avg FPS: 62.69
Avg Triangles Per Second: 18872956
Aquamark Score Render: 12356
Aquamark Score Simulation: 6364
Aquamark Score: 62694

3Dmark 2001SE
20423 marks

3Dmark '05
4845 marks

Better scores overall, but nothing spectacular.
Also, Windows Experience Index CPU & RAM values have increased by 0.2 and 0.4 respectively (not that it matters much).
Windows explorer feels a bit snappier.



A few side notes :

• Don't rely solely on computational benchmarks to test stability, do some real life testing (such as hours long divx encoding)
• Latest cpuz version won't display the real-time multiplier change (may be for a more accurate rating), thus displaying the highest value constantly. This can be confusing, so I suggest using v1.61.3 until the problem is fixed (if the author considers this to be a bug)
• If you don't want to spend a full night testing your overclocking, use Intel Burn Test. It is supposed to output any error faster than Prime95 (I am not saying it is better, simply presumably faster, based on this thread). My suggestion for a test pattern would be 1 hour of OCCT as an appetizer, then 3 hours of IBT.

Sorry if these explanations sound a bit overboard. I couldn't come up with these results without doing some more searching, and I wanted to share most of the underlying reasoning with you.

Nice work Deleauvive!

 

[Deleauvive]

Thanks Mr Vain, and others for reading me!
After doing some more testing, I noticed Pipeline DRQCTL doesn't seem to have any negative impact on stability.
Also, I further tweaked CLKBUF skew's, reducing BUFIN_B by 150 ps.

Aquamark
Avg FPS: 63.34
Avg Triangles Per Second: 19068798
Aquamark Score Render: 12581
Aquamark Score Simulation: 6379
Aquamark Score: 63344

3Dmark 2001SE
20801 marks

3Dmark '05
4849 marks

295-298 (+11-12 %) seems to be the sweet spot, in terms of what the FSB can take without special modifications or cooling.

 

[Sparkion]

Now guys,

I tried to bake the motherboard... It didn't work. I know I should ve tried it with teh heat gun and not in the oven because of the capacitors.
But i just baked a delicious cake, so the oven was still warm. I tried to cover the capacitors with aluminium foil, but to no avail. They almost all popped.

But...

I want this unique board, I don't know why but I like to have a gaming rig with the fastest AGP card available, core2duo possibilities adn DDR2!!

There s no board I think that has these capabilities. And I loved this board, just for old times sake and still being able to use it nowadays and even game on it!!

So I'll keep coming back to this forum to help others.
And if ANYBODY wants to give away his obsolete Asrock 4COREDUAL .... board....
..... Keep me in the back of your head ok? I'd like to take it of your hands!

And MR. Vain.. Nice to see you back!!
And Hlafordlaes... thnx also so far man!

Peace on to you!!
God bless you all

_______________________________
I took a speed reading course and read ‘War and Peace’ in twenty minutes. It involves Russia. —Woody Allen

 

[doubleOseven]

Sparkion; you can sometimes find them on ebay...

 

[doubleOseven]

Thanks Mr Vain, and others for reading me!
....

You're getting some great scores for your rig! Well done Deleauvive!
I'm impressed by how much you were able to crank up the FSB!

 

[nightspydk]

Anybody got this up and running with 4 gig+ram settings please timings etc and DDR2?

 

[doubleOseven]

Anybody got this up and running with 4 gig+ram settings please timings etc and DDR2?

Yes I do... I'm using a 4CoreDual-Sata2 with an Intel e7600 CPU with 4 gigs of DDR2 -- Kingston HyperX PC2-6400 C4. Timings at 280MHz FSB are 3-3-3-8 1T (overclocked). Rock stable. I'm using a custom bios from the pctreiber website (2.20a). Works well. The VIA PT880 chipset on these boards however does not handle 4 gigs of memory completely -- limits it to ~3.25 gigs of working Ram, as there is no memory remapping feature in the bios.

 

[Deleauvive]

I'm impressed by how much you were able to crank up the FSB!

You should ask yourself whether you fancy tight timings (which are impressing, admittedly) or a higher FSB.
Probably, with the same timings but 2T Command Rate (and playing with the CLKBUF) you could raise yours 10-12 MHz higher.
I myself experienced a BSOD (just once), so I decided to lower a bit the multiplier (x9).
Also, 0 (zero) seems to be wrong with any of the CLKBUF skew's (adjusted to 300/150/450/300).

Will keep you posted guys, in case these changes aren't enough to ensure long term stability with the FSB set at this frequency.

As for gaming, well with a fanless 2006 GPU, constrained by the 4x PCI-E, and sluggish 3D mark '05-'06 rendering, I don't think I will hold my breath.

 

[nightspydk]

Cheers 007. Are you sure it's just not hardware reserved memory. Anyhows me go get new bios etc..

 

[doubleOseven]

You should ask yourself whether you fancy tight timings (which are impressing, admittedly) or a higher FSB.
Probably, with the same timings but 2T Command Rate (and playing with the CLKBUF) you could raise yours 10-12 MHz higher.

I've been playing around with the BIOS settings. I've gone from 280 to 288FSB, 1:1 ratio with my 4 gigs Kingston HyperX PC2-6400 C4 memory running at 3-3-3-8 1T, using "normal" DDR2 volts. This gives my e7600 CPU an operating frequency of 3.312 GHz. All stock volts, nothing modified, other than I'm running the AGP volts in the bios at "high" (gives more power to the Northbridge, regardless of the fact that I use a pcie ATI 4850 vid card). Memtest86+ succeeds with 11+ passes. Intel Burn test 1 hour, no problem. Stable. CPU temp peaks at around 60C.

I get these memory scores using AIDA64 Extreme Edition version 2.80....
Memory Read: 8054 MB/s
Memory Write: 5984 MB/s
Memory Copy: 5529 MB/s
Latency: 61.7 ns
CPU Queen: 14034

Not bad for a 5+ year old motherboard.

Higher than 290 FSB, I need to loosen the memory timings from 1T to 2T, and then my memory scores go much worse, so for me, keeping them at what I've got is optimal.

 

[doubleOseven]

Cheers 007. Are you sure it's just not hardware reserved memory. Anyhows me go get new bios etc..

Perhaps a bit of both? Hardware reserved and no memory remap feature in the bios? Hmmm.... All I know is that even if you use a 64bit OS, it won't show up the full 4gigs.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

I've been playing around with the BIOS settings. I've gone from 280 to 288FSB, 1:1 ratio with my 4 gigs Kingston HyperX PC2-6400 C4 memory running at 3-3-3-8 1T, using "normal" DDR2 volts. This gives my e7600 CPU an operating frequency of 3.312 GHz. All stock volts, nothing modified, other than I'm running the AGP volts in the bios at "high" (gives more power to the Northbridge, regardless of the fact that I use a pcie ATI 4850 vid card). Memtest86+ succeeds with 11+ passes. Intel Burn test 1 hour, no problem. Stable. CPU temp peaks at around 60C.

I get these memory scores using AIDA64 Extreme Edition version 2.80....
Memory Read: 8054 MB/s
Memory Write: 5984 MB/s
Memory Copy: 5529 MB/s
Latency: 61.7 ns
CPU Queen: 14034

Not bad for a 5+ year old motherboard.

Higher than 290 FSB, I need to loosen the memory timings from 1T to 2T, and then my memory scores go much worse, so for me, keeping them at what I've got is optimal.

Nice going, doubleOseven and Deleauvive. I might just get back to some tweaking again. Maaybe I'll get a couple of those HyperX sticks; I'm envious of the timings, especially 1T, which my Micron mem won't do.

 

[Deleauvive]

@doubleOseven
1 hour of Intel Burn Test isn't enough IMHO, go for 2 or 3 instead.
Also, these stress-tests aren't that definitive when it comes to stability.
There are a few situations where an overclocked system would fail at 45°C and remain stable at 60°C.
Launch Aquamark with max settings, your favorite Xvid encoder for a few hours...

As for timings, I was able to reach 3-3-3-9 / 2T with a lower FSB. 1T is out of reach, no matter what I do.
This said, due to framerate drops in 3D Mark with the fsb set @ 280, I prefer to keep it that way.
I went cheap with that pair of DDR2 modules, because at first I thought the mobo couldn't hold a lower than 5 CAS.
Anyway...

Speaking of benchmarks, you could give a try to Lightsmark 2008.
It's a very simple (free) multiplatform benchmark featuring realtime global illumination and penumbra shadows.
With the resolution set at 1280x960, I reach a measly 53.7 fps ha ha!
A small trick : Clicking on the picture unlocks an option to switch the music on or off.

 

[doubleOseven]

@doubleOseven
1 hour of Intel Burn Test isn't enough IMHO, go for 2 or 3 instead.

My computer just passed Prime95 (multicore, OCCT version) for 24 hours. Seems good. I'll run IBT a few hours when I go to bed tonight, see how it fares. ****update, IBT passed 3 hrs.

I just ran the Lightsmark2008 program. Averages I get at full screen:
1280x960 = 333.6 FPS
1280x1024 = 323.2 FPS.
1920x1080 = 256.6 FPS.

That's using my ATI 4850, 32 bit color and anti-aliasing @ "application settings" in my ATI Catalyst Control Center. (make sure 'wait for vertical refresh' is turned off in your video driver, else it will max out to the refresh rate of your monitor). Thanks for the tip to mute the music.. (not my style of music!).

One thing I noticed, in your bios settings, you sync the PCIE Clock with CPU (at a 295 FSB). Any reason why? I also sync PCIE with the CPU, in my case at 288 FSB. I find that if I lock it to 100MHz, my computer will freeze (VPUerror). If I don't lock it up to 100, it works fine. I can't figure that one out. So, I guess I am overclocking the PCIE to around 107 MHz... Not ideal, but.... it's a budget board after all.

I do lock the agp/pci clock to 66/33, just like you do, and that works fine for me, thankfully....

 

[Deleauvive]

I for one, get the following scores using AIDA64 Extreme Edition, version 2.85

@ 288 FSB
Memory Read : 7652 MB/s
Memory Write : 6001 MB/s
Memory Copy : 5562 MB/s
Latency : 68.6 ns
CPU Queen : 11173

@ 288 FSB with 3-3-3-9, 2T timings

Memory Read : 7788 MB/s
Memory Write : 6034 MB/s
Memory Copy : 5685 MB/s
Latency : 66.7 ns

Compared to yours (please, check your results again with v2.85), I get better memory write and copy values (1 GB banks VS 2GB's, I think), but lower Read and much lower Latency scores. As a side note (and as expected), the CLKBUF's have a small negative impact on latency.

Maybe I'll get a couple of those HyperX sticks

Tempting, I agree! These sticks sure shine when operated under 500 MHz (beyond that point, I would recommend the G.Skill's). Also, make sure the shop or reseller will be willing to offer you a refund in case your system refuses to take 1T CR. My guess is that Asrock don't build their boards as consistently as the bigger manufacturers do, hence results may vary with similar components.

For example, I can imagine many 4Core users don't have to alter CLKBUF's from Advanced Memory to obtain a stable mild overclocking. As for me, I need to have these cranked up somehow (starting @150-300 ps)... Having in mind my value DDR2 sticks are pretty standard (exact same SPD values as Corsair's).

Let's talk briefly about Memory voltage as set to High.
Quoting controsensi.it, Vddr voltage measured at VT3 point, without Mod, is 1.86v with "DRAM Voltage" set to Low; 1.96v with "Auto" and "Normal"; 2.06v with High. Usually, EPP (Enhanced Performance Profiles) benefit from 2.1v (on average), which I believe most sticks can easily take. At worst, yours wouldn't need the extra juice. Note that the guys at tt-hwardware.com did run them successfully @390 MHz with 2.1v, with the same 3-3-3-8 ultra tight timings.



('et plus' means 'and more')

One thing I noticed, in your bios settings, you sync the PCIE Clock with CPU (at a 295 FSB). Any reason why? In my case, I also sync PCIE with the CPU @ in my case a FSB of 288. I find that if I lock it to 100MHz, my computer will freeze (vpu error).

I am running my system at... 304 FSB right now (guess what, playing with the CLKBUF's again, currently set @300/300/450/450 ps)!
@ 304 FSB
Memory Read : 8070 MB/s
Memory Write : 6335 MB/s
Memory Copy : 5908 MB/s
Latency : 65 ns

I'd take the AIDA64 results with a pinch of salt though : "Memory Latency benchmark test uses only the basic x86 instructions and utilizes only one processor core and one thread". Apparently, AIDA64 team are working on a new version of this benchmark.

Well, the answer to your question resides within it : If I don't do the PCIE / CPU sync thing, the overclocking causes the desktop to fail loading itself properly (garbled display). I stumbled upon this setting while reading some posts here and there, don't have an explanation to backup that choice of ours (other than it may have something to do with Asrock's implementation of the PCI-E, taking into account the hybrid nature of this range of mobos). I think the VSTA boards corresponding setting can be incremented by 1 Hz.

What puzzles me further is the lack of a few secondary timings readings via CPUZ or AIDA64.
As you may notice, AIDA64 chipset screen doesn't show tWTP, tPTP,tRD.
Oddly enough, these "misc" values are hidden from us.

Other than the presumably optimal BIOS settings, a rather tiny GPU, and PWM enhanced cooling, there could be a reason why I am getting 300+ FSB when others cannot :
My main HDD is neither an IDE one, nor a SATA one. (it's a Seagate SCSI Ultra 160 one and as such, it bears its own controller).

Inversely, this could be the reason why Asrock engineers provided us with the intriguing IDE Drive Strengh "feature". SCSI drives have mostly disappeared from the market, but latest SSD drives may offer a similar level of decorrelation. Which brings me to my advice towards Hlafordlaes, if I may : First, get that brand new SSD drive you evocked earlier on, then the performance memory sticks.

I just ran the Lightsmark2008 program.

Another GPU intensive benchmark comes to mind : Unigine's Heaven benchmark, featuring hardware tessellation.
It is DirectX 11 based, so needless to see, I cannot run it on this machine.
Also, it's not free but the free version will do the job.

I am glad I passed the 300 FSB limit, but GPU upgrade is still the priority.


Thanks to nightspydk for bringing back the subject of timings.

 

[doubleOseven]

Deleauvive, thanks for your detailed post. You sure are getting very impressive memory scores, despite being on 2T. I guess it's back to the drawing board for me! ;-)

I am now running AIDA65 Extreme Edition, latest version, 2.85.241 beta.

I roughly get the same scores that I did before, however, my Memory Copy is now up, at 5,816 MB/s. Go figure. I haven't changed a thing. I do have some background apps running, so it could be that.

One reason why your board is overclocking so well, i.e. 300+ FSB, is that perhaps you actually have a PT880 Ultra chipset, while I gather AsRock put in PT880 Pro chips on other batches of these boards and o/c them. The Ultra's obviously do better in the FSB department.

I'm too lazy to take my board out of the case, remove the northbridge heatsink, and physically inspect what chipset it has.

For now, I'll just enjoy my setup the way it is. I think my hair may turn grey if I try too hard to get those extra few MB/s on memory scores! lol

 

[tcsenter]

Cheers 007. Are you sure it's just not hardware reserved memory. Anyhows me go get new bios etc..

That's what it is, since the PT880 cannot support remapping above the 4GB boundary. So depending on your configuration (graphics card, any add-in cards, and such) you can install 4GB but only 3.0GB ~ 3.25GB will be useable.

Funny this thread is still going. Almost makes me want to find a used 4CoreDual-SATA2 on Ebay.

 

[Sparkion]

Good news guys!

Remember my mobo was dead and I couldn't revive it?

Well.....I'm back in business!!! :biggrin:

I'm getting a free 4coredual-sata from a guy and a 4core-vsta for €7,50. For my htpc i think.

Thnx for doing the work on the memory timings guys, I'm gonna try that.

Halfordlaes, Delauvive, Mr Vain and -shaken-not stirred- Double O Seven:

Thnx for your help so far.
Gonna go on with your directions and findings, trying to tune the crap out of those things and....so we go on building the ultimate AGP-rig!

I do think though, some cooling should be added to the VRM's on those boards.

Need to get some good memory. Anybody knows btw some good cheap cooling adhesive?

And about the allocating only 3,3 GB of RAM to the system...
Are you guys sure, that also goes for a 64 bit version-system? Normally asrock mentions this on it's sites but also states that this limitation occurs with 32-bit Os only.

__________________________________________________________
The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. - James A. Garfield

 

[doubleOseven]

That's what it is, since the PT880 cannot support remapping above the 4GB boundary. So depending on your configuration (graphics card, any add-in cards, and such) you can install 4GB but only 3.0GB ~ 3.25GB will be useable.

Does this mean that although your computer only shows ~3.25GB as useable (in system properties, 32 bit OS), the rest of the memory (between 3.25 to 4GB), is actually being used to address hardware, but you just can't 'see it' being used as it's hidden to the user? In other words, it's not going to waste?

Thanks!

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Why keep such vintage hardware?

 

[Sparkion]

Why keep such vintage hardware?

Read the forum and the threads before this one... and you will know why!

Why do people go play football on saturday when they can stay in bed? :sneaky: Same reason!


(BTW: people who show their system's specs in their signature on a forum are considered showoffs :biggrin:

)


______________________________________________________________
We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.
—Robert Wilensky

 

[Sparkion]

Does this mean that although your computer only shows ~3.25GB as useable (in system properties, 32 bit OS), the rest of the memory (between 3.25 to 4GB), is actually being used to address hardware, but you just can't 'see it' being used as it's hidden to the user? In other words, it's not going to waste?

Thanks!

I have a suspicion that it is going to waste, oo7!

Hope I'm wrong