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

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Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
@Deanodarlo,

Welcome to our quirky little corner. You can look through the VSTA thread Mr. Vain cites in the first post; in there are some listings of BIOS settings you can follow. No two boards are the same. Mine can go fairly "high" on the FSB side (310 with 1066MHZ CPUs) without hard mods, but eg. unlike others I cannot use a fast VLink setting. With the right settings and a mild overclock, the VSTA is a nice 24/7 companion.
 

henkusdonor

Junior Member
Sep 17, 2009
2
0
0
Hi,

I've been doing some research on the 775 Dual VSTA and the E7600 CPU.

I want to upgrade my current rig:

Asus A8V Deluxe
AMD Opteron 175 @ 2.7 ghz
2 x 1GB pc3200 RAM
Radeon HD3850 AGP
OCZ Modstream 450 watt

Because I want to keep my HD3850 (and RAM) i've gotten hold of an Asrock 775Dual VSTA for a very nice price.

Now this afternoon I'm going to pick up a E7600 (also for a nice price ;) )

I'm not sure which Bios is running on the montherboard now and know that the E7600 will only work from the 3.15a version and later (as well as 2 x 2 GB DDR2, which I want to upgrade to later)

The question I have is do I need another (cheap) S775 CPU to flash my bios to the correct version of can I just plug in the E7600 and boot from CD with the bios update?

Thanks

(and excuse my english as for I'm Dutch)
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
@henkusdonor,

Yes, you need to use one of the CPUs on this list in order to update the BIOS before installing the E7600 (nice choice for Win7!).

Tot zins,
H.
 

henkusdonor

Junior Member
Sep 17, 2009
2
0
0
Thanx Hlafordlaes!

I just wasn't sure....because on this other (dutch) forum one guy was talking about an unsupported processor on a certain Bios version and he mailed the ASRock support and they told them he could boot from CD with the unsupported processor and just update the bios.....

But maybe that's only possible with official supported bios versions....
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
Originally posted by: henkusdonor
Thanx Hlafordlaes!

I just wasn't sure....because on this other (dutch) forum one guy was talking about an unsupported processor on a certain Bios version and he mailed the ASRock support and they told them he could boot from CD with the unsupported processor and just update the bios.....

But maybe that's only possible with official supported bios versions....

That could be true, but you would need to check with Asrock yourself for the specifics. More guaranteed method is to just borrow an old CPU or get a PC shop to do the flash using a CPU they have on hand.
 

Ileader36

Member
Aug 2, 2004
113
0
0
Normally most motherboards just give a "Unknown Processor" at boot screen when You have an older bios version, rather than no boot.
That may not be the case with these mobo's however.

I updated mine to the latest 3.17a last night, just used Hiren's boot cd, went into Dos and ran the files fron the USB mem stick.
asrflash 4cds2_2.17a and loaded no probs at all.
Don't try the ntfs dos options as they do not work, just the standard dos and it should work ok.
If You don't know what I'm talking about, get hold of Hiren's boot cd, awesome Utility.

BTW, the HD3850 AGP, Powercolor version, also His and Club3d versions are about the most powerful video
cards that You can use on these mobo's, as the pci-e x4 slot strangles anything higher power down to around
what the AGP cards can do.
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
Originally posted by: Ileader36
BTW, the HD3850 AGP, Powercolor version, also His and Club3d versions are about the most powerful video
cards that You can use on these mobo's, as the pci-e x4 slot strangles anything higher power down to around
what the AGP cards can do.

I can confirm that, as my 8800 GTS performs only slightly better than my beloved, highly overclocked Palit 7600GT AGP. Sure, it doubles synthetic benchmarks, but the real advantage so far has mostly been the greater onboard memory for games with large textures (eg Oblivion with Qarl's texture pack addons). If I had to go back and buy again, I would spring for the HD3850. (Of course, that is contrary to the board's philosophy of allowing one to invest in components for the future before investing in a new mobo, but I love my VSTA and am in no hurry to switch.)

 

Deanodarlo

Senior member
Dec 14, 2000
680
0
76
Well, I'm not sure if an old CPU is required or not for the bios update, but before going into the core2 dual core realm I thought I'd give this motherboard a test drive as it's my secondary system.

I've picked up a Pentium 4 620 2.8Ghz 2MB CPU pretty much for free, so lets see how far I can overclock it on the 4coredual-VSTA. :D

It has an 800Mhz FSB so lets see how far I can raise the bar.

Once I'm board of that CPU, I'll update the bios and grab one of the 45nm dual cores.

Anyone got any stories of P4 overclocks? This board is turning out to be a nice hobby build.
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
@Deanodarlo,

You should be fine with that CPU. The P4 can OC quite a lot, but not the VSTA (or any PT880 boards) without a hard mod. With a 1066MHz CPU most people get between 280 and 300 FSB, a bit lower for an 800MHz model, circa 270~280. I run my 800MHz E4500 currently (ignore the sig) at a simple 266FSB, at which point the BIOS resets PCIe and PCI frequencies back down to normal, which is good.

You might opt for a simpler volt mod on the CPU. I did that (my 1st time), and had the E4500 up to 310, but the lousy job I did meant there was some liquid silver melting or whatnot and the mod slowly degraded until I could not boot, had to clean the CPU and clear the CMOS. My bad, but others have been more successful. There's a variety of pencil and similar mods also on the forums at VR-Zone, if you do not want to go the route of the full, "proper" mod with variable resistors.

If you have the bucks, the new E7600 has a high multiplier (so higher FSB --> "more" higher CPU speed), and offers Win7 XP Mode compatibility (also if ON provides protection against rootkits, many of which do not attempt to install if VT is ON).
 

Deanodarlo

Senior member
Dec 14, 2000
680
0
76
Thanks for the extra info.

Won't this chip overclock without a hard mod? It's the lowest multiplier for the prescott series, which speeds go up to 3.8Ghz with the same standard voltage.

I thought I could get this 2.8Ghz chip up to 3.5 on a 250FSB.

You mention the PCI/PCI-e speeds. Doesn't this board lock them in place?

This is a test CPU anyway - after I'm finish I'll be popping in a 45nm core2 as already mentioned or I may wait and slap in my Q6600 if I upgrade my main computer in the future. Strange how the board has to cut its FSB to 256 for a quad, when its advertising name is for quad cores!
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
Originally posted by: Deanodarlo

You mention the PCI/PCI-e speeds. Doesn't this board lock them in place?

You have the option of synch or non-synch of PCI etc speeds with FSB. What I was pointing out is that the "synch on" option will drop the PCIe back to 100 and PCI to 33.33 when the FSB is set to 266 on an 800MHz CPU. This is nice since the DDR2 on these boards performs best at a 1:1 ratio, and is most compatible with the board when the mem is set to run at 266 and not 333. So, 266 gets you a decent OC and a good mem ratio.

I think you have a very good chance of getting that P4 to run at 266 FSB without any hard mods.


This is a test CPU anyway - after I'm finish I'll be popping in a 45nm core2 as already mentioned or I may wait and slap in my Q6600 if I upgrade my main computer in the future. Strange how the board has to cut its FSB to 256 for a quad, when it's advertising name is for quad cores!

Yes, a niggling issue, but you can just OC a tad to get back the lost speed, IIRC. I'd stick with dual core unless you are doing some (a lot of) video editing or the like, otherwise most real use scenarios make the dual core a better cost-performance option on the PT880 boards. Lots of folks have happily used the Q6600 on these boards, however, so if you have one lying around, why not?
 

Deanodarlo

Senior member
Dec 14, 2000
680
0
76
Brilliant advice Hlafordlaes, really appreciate your quick help in this thread.

The quirks of this motherboard just make it all the more interesting if you ask me.

I think I will be sticking to dual core - I can't see me upgrading my overclocked Q6600 in a long time as it's still good enough for many years to come in Windows 7, but it's nice to have the option with this board.
 

Flamandier

Junior Member
Sep 18, 2009
1
0
0
Hi,

I own a 4COREDUAL-VSTA , Bios 1.60. I need to upgrade my graphic card with a low budget, and for different reasons , my preffered choice will go to a card based on ATI HD 4650 chipset.

After reading many post on this forum and elsewhere I have still some doubts, whether this card will work or not.
I've send a question to ASROCK support about compatibility.

here was my question :
Hi, I want to upgrade my video Card. I saw on ASrock website a VGA comptibility list for my motherboard. However, Video card I want to buy does not belong to the list . Is this list up to date ? I want to Buy a Graphic card based on ATI HD 4650 ,with 512 Mb DDR2 ,like for example ASUS EAH4650/DI/512MD2 V2/A , or Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4650 1 Go Hyper Memory 512 Mo GDDR2 VRAM Are these cards compatible ? Should I upgrade Bios or something ?

They answered :

Hello, 4CoreDual-VSTA has a PCI Express Graphics Slot. It is not a standard PCI-e x16 slot, and it can only run at PCI-e x4 mode. This will limit the performance of fast graphics card somewhat. Officially HD4650 cards are not supported. But if you make the following BIOS setting, then it will probably work fine. BIOS > Advanced > Chipset Configuration > PCIE Downstream Pipeline > Disabled Please make sure that your power supply can also support the graphics card.

I have now many questions :
- What should I check on my power supply ? .It's a LC power 420 w.

- I saw on this site many references to non-official bios , and some of them claim to support 4XXX cards. Does it mean that with my actual Bios ( 1.60) , I have no chance to make this card work ? I am not a specialist in Bios upgrades...little bit scary let's say

- Finally, was someone in the world able to run a 4650 card on this mobo ?

thnks for answers !



 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
Originally posted by: Flamandier
BIOS > Advanced > Chipset Configuration > PCIE Downstream Pipeline > Disabled Please make sure that your power supply can also support the graphics card.
Yes, always use this BIOS setting they recommended, all the time. You can change it now.

What should I check on my power supply ? .It's a LC power 420 w.
That should be fine for a HD4650

I saw on this site many references to non-official bios , and some of them claim to support 4XXX cards. Does it mean that with my actual Bios ( 1.60) , I have no chance to make this card work ? I am not a specialist in Bios upgrades...little bit scary let's say
Yes, you really should upgrade to this BIOS. There is a guide in German here. Use an internet translation service (Google, Babelfish) to follow the guide. I do not have time to write one now with all the details. I will say that I flash my BIOS under WindowsXP using Winflash, erase ALL blocks to avoid checksum errors, and then clear the CMOS (see mobo manual for this). While I do this I have all programs closed, anti-virus and anti-spyware OFF, internet connection OFF, and all household appliances that could trip an electrical short OFF (washing machine, dryer, dishwasher).

Finally, was someone in the world able to run a 4650 card on this mobo?
Yes, there are users of this card.

Edited to fix quotes
 

vixensjlin

Junior Member
Mar 30, 2008
21
0
0
Voltage reading on W83697HF of Astrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 motherboard Rev 1, BIOS 2.20a

I am suspecting my PSU is dying but I don't know what's correct 3.3v reading.

The reading of HWmonitor 1.14 shows 3.3V is about 3.0v and Vaux is about 3.3v but the reading of Everest 5.02 shows 3.3V is about 3.3v, which one is correct?

There are no AUX in the spec of W83697HF, and Vin (page 22/26) is about 2.98v. Could it be the wrong labeling of HWmonitor?

http://yfrog.com/6qw83697hfj
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
@vixensjlin,

I would trust the results of Everest much more than HWmonitor. Even then, the PT880 boards & sensors are not very well supported by most of these utilities. You can also check your voltage readings in the BIOS, even those these, too, can be slightly off. Unless there is some other symptom of a bad PSU, and the only concern is software utility readings, I'd relax.

Note that before you conclude any other symptoms are a sign of a bad PSU, reset any mobo or vid card overclocking settings back to default, and run your RAM at its rated timings. An overclocked quad core together with an overclocked higher end vid card can bring a PSU to its knees under load. Once all is set to normal, try using Prime95 or OCCT to run a stress test.

BTW, ever since my mobo and PSU were installed new, I have never had what might be considered normal voltage readings (my 3.3 is always at 3.23 in Everest 5.02, for example). I just forgetaboutit.
 

MKD

Member
Dec 24, 2006
33
0
0
Well I've done my CPU UPGRADE my 3yr old Intel Core2 Duo E6300 (1.8GHz) to a new (cost GBP 57 delivered from eBuyer within 2 days) Pentium Dual Core E6300 (2.8GHz) and here's how I got on to help others:

775DUAL-VSTA already had latest 3.19a BIOS - ie that explicitly says it supports the PDC E6300 2.8GHz (which it DID prove to do at the expected 10.5 x 266 !).

Unclipping the old CPU was easy - ie screwdriver twist the 4 clips 90degrees to left and lifted it off (as reminded in new CPU booklet!). Thermal paste was quite well spread out. Some dust lurking on the motherboard around the CPU. lifting out old CPU easy. Fitting in new CPU really easy (though still puzzled why they don't make 100.00% obvious for the less informed about "the" corner! Clipping on the new fan (far lower depth than old Intel CPU fan) = the usual not 100% sure that all 4 legs had clipped on - so took 3 or 4 goes before was confident that properly seated. Really is a silly design!

While had system case open (and hoovered some of the dust out), I took the opportunity to replace the original 3yr old CMOS CR2032 battery (old one was Newsun brand) - easy to unclip and press in a fresh one!

PC started up first time without any worrying beeps BUT it took me 3 attempts to get into the BIOS before I remembered about my MS Natural keyboard needing the "F" key pressed at startup so the F2 is an F2 press and not an 'undo' press. Had me rather worried for a bit!!!!

Did a load optimal defaults on last BIOS page.
Then corrected date/time.
Saw the CPU correctly ID'd and speed'd.
Set IDE SATA to non-RAID and set H/W Monitor fan Quiet Fan to Enabled at default 50 and then rebooted.
On second boot set SATA to SMART enabled and updated the boot order to get SATA drive at the top.
On third boot (system had been on for 10mins+ by now) I went into H/W Monitor to ensure CPU temperature was still reasonable - ie check heatsink/fan was working! Was 41C degrees and fan settled from c2500 down to c850 as I watched. (Subsequentially checked the BIOS temp display a few times over next 1.5hrs and still in 41/43/43C range = good to see.)

On start up of Windows Vista Home Premium - where I use the Media Center application with a DVB-T card - I got loads of errors that appeared related to the Media Center. Did a bit of Googling and found this posting and followed it and suppressed the problems for me!
http://www.vistax64.com/networ...ed-working-closed.html
ie chucking away the DRM stuff that was worrying about my CPU having changed.
This is a problem I had NOT been expecting but in hindsight should have expected.

About half an hour in I had a BSOD with something about an IRQ but it vanished before I could write it down and so far not recurred in next 1.5hrs - though has me worried a bit - though after my 4GB RAM upgrade I had one BSOD after but then nothing over last 6 months.

I updated my Vista Windows Experience and CPU (my lowest rating) from 5.0 went up to 5.6! Windows still shows as Activated = good.
PS: Just noticed my MEMORY score went up from 5.1 to 5.3 too!

I looked at the Device Drivers display and no alert icons there. I did notice the Via Serial ATA Controller 0591 entry and as my Via AllInOne updates haven't worked for a long time I did try an Update Driver which proceeded to find/install one and then asked for reboot and THEN Windows wouldn't start up and I had to do a Last Known Good reversion! The Via driver shows as 03/04/2008 6.0.6000.252 - if anyone knows if/how to update properly let me know!

That's all I can think of to relate at the moment. Will have a go at an Everest benchmark later (I did one pre upgrade, but can't spot which menu option I did yet).

One question I have is about the RAM. I have 2 x 2GB sticks running at default 1:1 266 at 4/4/4/12-2T as per SPD. The SPD for 333 shows 5/5/5/15. Did we ever reach any conclusion about whether running at default 1:1 266 or 333 was optimal ?

Otherwise if anyone has any related questions/hints/tips/observations do chip in please.

Keeping my fingers crossed for some reliable computing over the next month before I put in a new 1TB drive and install a fresh Windows 7 on it instead of all the residue of 3 years of XP-Home upgraded to Vista HP when it hiccuped :)

MKD
 

Deanodarlo

Senior member
Dec 14, 2000
680
0
76
Nice post MKD. Just the kind of info that's useful to me. I had to read your first line twice due to Intel's stupid naming scheme - ie swapped a E6300 for an E6300! Of course one is core2 1.8Ghz and the other Pentium Dual core 2.8Ghz. Stupid naming really - thanks Intel.

I have all the components to setup my secondary system (4coredual-VSTA, Antec earthwatts 380w, x800XT PE, Audigy2 ZS, 2GB ddr2) but just waiting for the right time to put it all together. I've got a P4 2.8Ghz 620 to use for testing and flashing the board to the third party bios, then I'm going to grab a newer 45nm chip like you have.

Looks like it works so far. Keep us informed of your experiences.

Out of interest, you say you have 4GB of ram. How much can the board actually use with that third party bios? Is it 3GB?
 

vixensjlin

Junior Member
Mar 30, 2008
21
0
0
Hi Hlafordlaes:

Thanks a lot for your suggestion, I don't overclock anything on this old motherboard -- E1200+4GBram, not even voltage settings in the bios, every setting is left default/auto. (I do plan to upgrade to E7600 though).

In my BIOS that's what I read: Vcore:1.322v, 3.3 is 3.29~3.30v, 5.0 is about 5.121v, and 12V is 12.193v~12.258v, looks right I guess. Hopefully my PSU can still survive until my next major upgrade!
 

MKD

Member
Dec 24, 2006
33
0
0
Originally posted by: Deanodarlo.... Out of interest, you say you have 4GB of ram. How much can the board actually use with that third party bios? Is it 3GB?...

Re the extra memory - that was what originally motivated me to try the tweaked BIOS - see this older thread page:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
I have a couple of longer postings half way down that page re my RAM 4GB experiences and what reported what. (Can't see a way in this forum to link to a specific msg.)

Then it was a bonus to understand from here that the tweaked BIOS was going to support later CPUs than the ones on the ASRock website!

(Have tweaked my text in this afternoon's posting to make the first sentence re the 2 E6300 CPUs clearer/more-accurate - thanks for your input there! And system has behaved all afternoon despite heavy usage - does SEEM snappier, but that might just be psychology saying "it WAS worth GBP57"!)

PS: Delighted to report that left PC running all night and was still working this morning and checking the BIOS temperature after a reboot (ie after it had run for over 20hrs) gave an early 40's temperature = success :)

MKD
 

MKD

Member
Dec 24, 2006
33
0
0
Shucks - I did speak too soon re my PDC E6300 on 775DUAL-VSTA upgrade (see above).

Just had my second in 1.5 days BSOD. Managed to note down
"IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL"

Searching suggests
1) might be CPU overheat
2) memory addressing issue
3) device driver

Any ideas anyone ?

I'm just running the Everest Stability Test to monitor stuff. At the moment CPU has gone from 41 up to nearly 60 degrees but fan hasn't changed from 865 ?!?!

20 mins of use after the BSOD I did restart and get into the BIOS and CPU 44C. Have updated the quiet fan to target 45 to see if that makes any difference.

MKD
 

Ileader36

Member
Aug 2, 2004
113
0
0
Originally posted by: MKD
Shucks - I did speak too soon re my PDC E6300 on 775DUAL-VSTA upgrade (see above).

Just had my second in 1.5 days BSOD. Managed to note down
"IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL"

Searching suggests
1) might be CPU overheat
2) memory addressing issue
3) device driver

Any ideas anyone ?

I'm just running the Everest Stability Test to monitor stuff. At the moment CPU has gone from 41 up to nearly 60 degrees but fan hasn't changed from 865 ?!?!

20 mins of use after the BSOD I did restart and get into the BIOS and CPU 44C. Have updated the quiet fan to target 45 to see if that makes any difference.

MKD

The Quiet fan setting is for the cpu temperature, not the individual core temps. I suggest
You set it at 40C as I have, works great at that setting, mostly only speeds the fan up during games.
Try running Memtest from Hiren's boot cd, that will accurately whether or not Your Ram is an issue.
As a comparison, my Everest cpu temp is 31C at idle, and the cores 37/38, the core temps go up faster under load.
Running OCCT the cpu temp is 39 and cores go up to 55/56, cool night here atm.

Could also be Video card related, You didn't mention what You are running?
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
Originally posted by: MKD
Shucks - I did speak too soon re my PDC E6300 on 775DUAL-VSTA upgrade (see above).

Just had my second in 1.5 days BSOD. Managed to note down
"IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL"

Searching suggests
1) might be CPU overheat
2) memory addressing issue
3) device driver

Any ideas anyone ?

I'm just running the Everest Stability Test to monitor stuff. At the moment CPU has gone from 41 up to nearly 60 degrees but fan hasn't changed from 865 ?!?!

20 mins of use after the BSOD I did restart and get into the BIOS and CPU 44C. Have updated the quiet fan to target 45 to see if that makes any difference.

MKD

Been offline for a few days. I think the culprit is your set of VIA drivers. I never get them from Windows update, and avoid versions that Chris over on VIA Arena doesn't suggest. He's a good forum mod, so when on an unresolved VIA issue, he's a good one to check. Currently he's not recommending anyone upgrade past 5.17A

To save you time on this one:
1- uninstall video then sound then chipset drivers
2- use driver sweeper to clean out both NVidia and Realtek drivers in safe mode
3- install VIA Hyperion (not 4-in-1) version 5.17A (if you cannot find them, guru3d.com has a slew of old and new versions for download)
4- install the VIA drivers in normal mode and see if it reports all installed OK
5. reboot and install video
6. reboot and install sound

Don't think it's a heat issue, but keep your eye on it just the same. I believe the thermal rating is somewhere around 74C (check on Intel if you want to be sure).

BTW, if in Vista or Win7, make sure you never set the sound to the alternate PCI channel (02); leave it always on 80. XP can handle either.
 

Racket

Junior Member
Sep 25, 2009
2
0
0
Hello all, first itme poster, long time reader.

I'm still using the 3.15a bios. My CPU has been an e7200 2.53 GHz stock. It worked with the factory 3.10 bios. I got it for a song, so I can't complain. Until I upgraded the RAM, I used to be able to get the fsb from the stock 266 to around 294 without a hitch.

I went from 2 gigs of RAM to 4 with the new bios when I picked up 2 Ocz 6400 DDR2-800 for $15 after rebates. the timings are 5-4-4-18 although I don't think I'm getting near the 2.1 V it wants. SiSoft Sandra says it is at 5-6-6-18. It runs without problems if I don't OC, otherwise it will hang or blue screen every once in a great while.

I then switched from a Radeon x1950Pro AGp card to a NVidia 8600 GTS PCIe from a friend that upgraded so that I can move to DX-10 in Windows 7.

The first problem I am having is that the e7200 doesn't support VT so I wouldn't be able to run the XP Mode on my beta version of Windows 7 yet. I'm shopping for a decent 1066 MHz Dual Core that does, but first I need to ask: Is anyone one else using VT (XP Mode) in Windows 7 right now? From what I understand, not only do you need a CPU that is capable, but there may need to be a setting in the BIOS to enable it. My 3.15a version doesn't appear to have the option. Is it available in any of the BIOS versions?

Otherwise, Windows 7 Rocks. And so does the ASRock Dual VSTA 775