Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2

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cpmee

Senior member
Dec 3, 2007
303
0
0
I'm just wondering if I need to install the Hyperion VIA Hd/Ethernet/Audio/USB etc drivers, or just the Chipset ones? Note that I will be using XP Pro 32bit. Thanks!

All those mentioned above ARE in the Hyperion package. To keep it short, you need to download and install exactly the latest version of the drivers that are on the CD. The audio is is HD Realtek, not VIA.
 

AndroidVageta

Banned
Mar 22, 2008
2,421
0
0
Hi all, new to the forums here! I have to say that I joined solely to tell you of my experiences with this board and they are good.

I purchased this board about a week ago along with a Intel E2200 and 2GB of G.Skill RAM DDR2 800mhz from (where else) Newegg.com.

Once I got the board I was immediately impressed as well as let down by the layout of the board. Positives are that theres alot of space around the CPU socket and the AGP slot is the highest I/O slot on the board, which leaves one for more space to use PCI cards. The battery and BIOS clear jumper are located more towards the bottom which makes it easier on those fond of over clocking. All Japanese solid capacitors and RoHS compliant is a definite plus in my book too!

The main negatives about the board are pretty light but can be the deciding factor in whether or not to purchase depending on the user and their needs. First and foremost is that ONLY 2GB of RAM is supported...doesn't matter if its DDR1 or DDR2. This is a major drawback if you ask me looking at how cheap DDR2 RAM is nowadays. Using larger graphics cards like my X1950Pro leave the PCI-e slot useless...and its a shame that theres no other PCI-e slot available (perhaps a limitation of only a 4x slot?). The main power cord (20-pin) rests to the left side of the board...besides the North bridge, which is not really a problem but I would prefer it to the right of the board so as not having to wrap it around the cooler and other tid-bits on the board. More USB ports (4 total) would've been nice as well...especially considering that a lot of mouse and keyboards these days require USB 2.0 (like my Logitech MX Revolution mouse). Printer and Com ports...lets see a show of hands from the people that still use these...no one? Thought so. Only one standard 3-pin fan plug. Only 2 SATA2 slots is kind of a low number too when you think about having a couple of hard drives and optical disk drives that use SATA. Besides that theres nothing else thats physically bad about the board.

The performance of the board under AGP (no PCI-e card to evaluate performance) fairs much better in my opinion. I had no problem over clocking my Intel E2200 2ghz dual core 800mhz FSB to a decent 2.8ghz with a 1016 FSB rock solid with no voltage changes, adjusting the bus speed was all that was needed. My under speed DDR2 800 is sitting at 254mhz at 3-3-3-8 1T timings and loving it. Going any higher than this resulted in my system becoming unstabled and randomly crashing. Using my ATi X1950Pro 512MB AGP at 8x speeds I've encountered no problems playing games or watching high definition video. BIOS however is lacking. There are decent CPU and RAM options for light over clocks, but more voltage settings (although not really needed in this case) would've been a welcomed addition.

Overall I would say that if you have a decent AGP card and are looking to upgrade their slower CPU and RAM to a dual core or even quad core CPU and DDR2 RAM this is definitely the way to go...I did and couldn't be happier with the results. For those looking to jump full dive into the newer technologies of dual cores, DDR2, PCI-e and extreme over clocking will want to look elsewhere.
 

SlimJimE17

Junior Member
Mar 22, 2008
3
0
0
Originally posted by: Superleeds27
Has anyone experienced Issues with this board or drivers, which make XP or Vista to freeze du to the Network Card in their PC?

Only just started since i oput my new Gfx Card , and sata HDD, so dunno if the drivers dont like one of them.

But network card would crash randomly, XP or vista would freeze, could only restart by holding power sswwitch.

Have removed it and using USB for now, and its fine, although my signal strength is crap!

Anyone else had this problem or no a solution to fix it?

P.S Ive got a netgear WPN311 PCI card

Hi Superleeds,

Did you ever fix this problem?

I've been using this board for a while and I've just installed a SATA HDD (used IDE before) and the system keeps crashing when every the wireless card is used and with activity on the HDD, ie downloading a file from the net.

I've got the latest released drivers for both the VIA chipset and Netgear (Atheros AR5004), I also have the latest motherboard BIOS (1.90).

If I use a Linksys B wireless card the system works without any problems.

I have also tried another Atheros card and get the same problem.

I have tried using different Netgear (1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 2.0) and Atheros drivers (around 6 different). I have tried Bios 1.80 and 1.90, I have tried the origianl VIA drivers and 5.15A.

I've tried moving the card to another PCI slot.

I'm using WinXP SP2 with all the latest patches.

Thanks for any help.

Slim
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Just for anybody who may be interested in using a 8800GT with a 4coredual-sata2 mobo:-

I fitted a Palit 8800gt Sonic, which I normally use in a P5N-E based computer, into my Asrock 4coredual-sata2 setup and as expected found it would not boot!

Aware that EVGA had produced upgrade bioses which allow their 8800gt's to run ok in any PCI-E generation mobo, I flashed my Palit 8800gt with a upgrade EVGA bios (8800gt SC version 62.92.24.00.02, using my P5N-E setup for flashing), and tried again with 4coredual-sata2 ---> booted fine this time. And everything still ok using windows default VGA driver ---> however got complete graphics corruption and lockup during installation of ANY Nvidia driver.

Following a internet rumour that graphics corruption after flashing with a supposed "Gen1" bios could be because the Memory clock is too high, I reduced bios memory default from 950 to 600 and tried again ---> this time nvidia driver installed ok. Tested with overclocking tool and found memory artifacts/corruption started at around 660Mhz, so no wonder severe corruption and lockup happened at my card's 950 default!

Since running with 600Mhz memory clock was not acceptable, investigated further and found problem was happening simply because Bios Timingset1 values were being used when flashed with original Palit 8800gt Bios and Timingset2 values were being used when flashed with EVGA bios ---> problem therefore easily resolved by changing all EVGA bios Timingset2 values to be same as Palit Timingset1 values!!

Did a couple of 3Dmark tests to see what the implications of running a 8800gt as opposed to my normal 7800gs might be?

First off, since the 4coredual-sata2 doesn't like overclocking above 300 with a PCI-E vga card fitted, for testing I decided to just use a E6700 at default 2.66GHz and got following results:-

3dMark05 = 14793
3dMark06 = 9222

Not bad, considering the 8800gt is running in a 4x PCI-E slot and my 7800gs 8x AGP card @ 545/1600, and E6700 @ 3.2GHz, would typically only score 3dMark05 of 8660, and 3dMark06 of 4750.

:)
 

cpmee

Senior member
Dec 3, 2007
303
0
0
3dMark05 = 14793
3dMark06 = 9222

Not bad, considering the 8800gt is running in a 4x PCI-E slot and a 4coredual-sata2 with my 7800gs 8x AGP card, and E6700 @ 3.2GHz, would typically score 3dMark05 of 8660, and 3dMark06 of 4750.


Thats very good, I would say less than a 10% performance hit because of the 4X pcie slot.
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: cpmee
3dMark05 = 14793
3dMark06 = 9222

Not bad, considering the 8800gt is running in a 4x PCI-E slot and a 4coredual-sata2 with my 7800gs 8x AGP card @ 545/1600, and E6700 @ 3.2GHz, could typically only score 3dMark05 of 8660, and 3dMark06 of 4750.


Thats very good, I would say less than a 10% performance hit because of the 4X pcie slot.

Yes, not that bad for a 4x pcie 4coredual mobo? I had always believed that the hit from using a 4coredual 4x pcie slot wouldn't be particularly bad, but because of Nvidia mess of not being able to run their Gen2 design 8800gt in a asrock 4x Gen1 slot, I couldn't test that theory untill I found a suitable "All Gen" bios ?

So now that 8800gt bios issues are becoming a thing of the past, it could be said that, when the price is right, a 8800gt is a very acceptable upgrade for a 4coredual mobo !

:)

 

Tantalum

Junior Member
Dec 11, 2007
23
0
0
Does anyone have issue with the CPU fan not speeding up when the processor loads up? I set the desired temperature in the bios to 45. The fan slows as the computer boots, but when running any heavy load, the cpu temperature climbs up past the setpoint and the fan doesn't speed up.

BIOS is 1.90a

 

CKTurbo128

Platinum Member
May 8, 2002
2,702
1
81
Kind of off on a separate note, but has anyone here tried using a GeForce 9600 GT in the 4CoreDual-SATA2? My brother has this motherboard and wants to upgrade, but seeing that the 8800 GTs were problematic on these boards, I was wondering if the same held true for the 9600 GT.
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: Tantalum
Does anyone have issue with the CPU fan not speeding up when the processor loads up? I set the desired temperature in the bios to 45. The fan slows as the computer boots, but when running any heavy load, the cpu temperature climbs up past the setpoint and the fan doesn't speed up.

BIOS is 1.90a

Also using bios 1.90a and CPU fan speed being controlled using bios temp settings appears to work.

Very slow to respond and not very accurate against bios's set temp, eg, with bios temp at 35C, my cpu's fan reduces to around 1000rpm with CPU temp of 32-33C (cpu temp in Everest); and then, when cpu loaded by orthos, the cpu fan slowly increases up to max of 2600rpm in temp range 38-40C.

:)
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: CKTurbo128
Kind of off on a separate note, but has anyone here tried using a GeForce 9600 GT in the 4CoreDual-SATA2? My brother has this motherboard and wants to upgrade, but seeing that the 8800 GTs were problematic on these boards, I was wondering if the same held true for the 9600 GT.

Buy a EVGA 8800gt and you will have no problems running it in a 4coredual mobo !

;)
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,234
701
126
Originally posted by: jimmor
Originally posted by: CKTurbo128
Kind of off on a separate note, but has anyone here tried using a GeForce 9600 GT in the 4CoreDual-SATA2? My brother has this motherboard and wants to upgrade, but seeing that the 8800 GTs were problematic on these boards, I was wondering if the same held true for the 9600 GT.

Buy a EVGA 8800gt and you will have no problems running it in a 4coredual mobo !

;)

Many 8800GT cards are updating to the newer NVidia BIOS that take care of this issue. I just receive a new MSI BIOS version 62.92.23.xx.xx that cured my 775DUAL-VSTA issues (same as the 4Core board). ;)
 

Tantalum

Junior Member
Dec 11, 2007
23
0
0
Originally posted by: jimmor
Originally posted by: Tantalum
Does anyone have issue with the CPU fan not speeding up when the processor loads up? I set the desired temperature in the bios to 45. The fan slows as the computer boots, but when running any heavy load, the cpu temperature climbs up past the setpoint and the fan doesn't speed up.

BIOS is 1.90a

Also using bios 1.90a and CPU fan speed being controlled using bios temp settings appears to work.

Very slow to respond and not very accurate against bios's set temp, eg, with bios temp at 35C, my cpu's fan reduces to around 1000rpm with CPU temp of 32-33C (cpu temp in Everest); and then, when cpu loaded by orthos, the cpu fan slowly increases up to max of 2600rpm in temp range 38-40C.

:)

Ok, it DOES work, albeit after maxing out at 63C for a minute and a half, fully loaded on Orthos. I wouldn't want to count on this in an emergency!
 

SlimJimE17

Junior Member
Mar 22, 2008
3
0
0
Originally posted by: SlimJimE17
Originally posted by: Superleeds27
Has anyone experienced Issues with this board or drivers, which make XP or Vista to freeze du to the Network Card in their PC?

Only just started since i oput my new Gfx Card , and sata HDD, so dunno if the drivers dont like one of them.

But network card would crash randomly, XP or vista would freeze, could only restart by holding power sswwitch.

Have removed it and using USB for now, and its fine, although my signal strength is crap!

Anyone else had this problem or no a solution to fix it?

P.S Ive got a netgear WPN311 PCI card

Hi Superleeds,

Did you ever fix this problem?

I've been using this board for a while and I've just installed a SATA HDD (used IDE before) and the system keeps crashing when every the wireless card is used and with activity on the HDD, ie downloading a file from the net.

I've got the latest released drivers for both the VIA chipset and Netgear (Atheros AR5004), I also have the latest motherboard BIOS (1.90).

If I use a Linksys B wireless card the system works without any problems.

I have also tried another Atheros card and get the same problem.

I have tried using different Netgear (1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 2.0) and Atheros drivers (around 6 different). I have tried Bios 1.80 and 1.90, I have tried the origianl VIA drivers and 5.15A.

I've tried moving the card to another PCI slot.

I'm using WinXP SP2 with all the latest patches.

Thanks for any help.

Slim

Hi All,

Just read all of Superleeds27 posts, funny thing is we also used the same X1950Pro video card. Also Superleeds27 stated that he never fixed the problem and just replaced the board.

Anybody else got any ideas?

 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: Tantalum
Originally posted by: jimmor
Originally posted by: Tantalum
Does anyone have issue with the CPU fan not speeding up when the processor loads up? I set the desired temperature in the bios to 45. The fan slows as the computer boots, but when running any heavy load, the cpu temperature climbs up past the setpoint and the fan doesn't speed up.

BIOS is 1.90a

Also using bios 1.90a and CPU fan speed being controlled using bios temp settings appears to work.

Very slow to respond and not very accurate against bios's set temp, eg, with bios temp at 35C, my cpu's fan reduces to around 1000rpm with CPU temp of 32-33C (cpu temp in Everest); and then, when cpu loaded by orthos, the cpu fan slowly increases up to max of 2600rpm in temp range 38-40C.

:)

Ok, it DOES work, albeit after maxing out at 63C for a minute and a half, fully loaded on Orthos. .....I wouldn't want to count on this in an emergency!


Neither would I, which is why I generally don't use that particular mobo function !

I prefer to use a good efficient heatsink coupled with a 120mm high flow lower noise fan?

:)


 
Feb 23, 2008
36
0
0
Ok I finally got around to trying my 4gb ram set in the 4c0re, inside bios it was detected at 4gb, during bios boot it displays 3072mb.
I don't know what?s going on but the bios boot load was very slow, and win would not boot. It was just stuck at the black screen directly after bios, with the keyboard dash flashing. EDIT: This was due to my boot config going wrong, still doesn't explain the other problems. I tried setting ram to high and even 667 but still no go. Even if it did boot up its likely I think win would only see 3072mb.:frown:
Also when I set it to 667 it made my cpu speed lower.

Jimmor, excellent scores with the GT :p. Do you think the gtx would work ok with the 4c0re? with like 10% loss?

EDIT: Also did you do a run of aquamark3?

When I got my system stable with my 2gb ram, I also tried upping the fsb. I tried up to 320, win would boot but restart during testing (no errors). I then did more testing got it down to 303 passed for 17h testing but then I saw a restart. This is not enough vcore right?
 

Sl4yer

Member
Feb 5, 2008
28
0
0
Got a new HDD at the weekend, and was disappointed (although not entirely suprised I supposed) that this mobo doesn't offer true SATA2 support! I guess I'd taken it as read given it's name and all... Anyway, apparently NCQ doesn't make a great deal of difference.

What REALLY annoyed me is the lack of correct instructions for getting a drive to run in SATA2 mode! The manual states that you should install without using the F6 option unless you want to use RAID, which is incorrect. Also, the BIOS should be set to RAID to enable the 'SATA2' controller, even if you only use one drive.

After a couple of XP installs, I've got it sorted. And to be fair, I found the same with the Gigabyte P35C-DS3R a few weeks ago! On that occasion, we opted to leave it as was.
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: wineo

Jimmor, excellent scores with the GT :p. Do you think the gtx would work ok with the 4c0re? with like 10% loss?

EDIT: Also did you do a run of aquamark3?

When I got my system stable with my 2gb ram, I also tried upping the fsb. I tried up to 320, win would boot but restart during testing (no errors). I then did more testing got it down to 303 passed for 17h testing but then I saw a restart. This is not enough vcore right?

Can't think of any reason against using a 8800gtx with a 4coredual-sata2 mobo! However, no way of really knowing how big the performance hit will scale when using a "gtx" or even "ultra" untill someone trys either, or both?

Personally, for this mobo, I would choose to go for the 8800gt, or 8800gts, and overclock them hell out of it ---> makes more economical sense !

And Unlikely to achieve stable 320 fsb without setting Vagp of around 2V --> then need to heatsink Vagp mosfet and add fan to n/b heatsink.

Also, I think a restart after 17h of testing could have happened for a "million" different reasons, including even a windows "glitch". Try more Vcore if you must, but personally, for now, I would leave your restart after 17hours of stress testing as being down to a random unknown fault/failure ---> windows/hardware/software ---> who knows ?

The following are my scores using C2D E6700 @ 2.66GHz, Geil PC2-6400 @ 266MHz/3-3-3-9-1T, Palit 8800gt Sonic, with a 4coredual-sata2. Completely removed 7800gs agp drivers and did clean re-install of 169.06, which is the driver supplied with 8800gt. And just for interest, 3dMark01se and Aquamark are more systemwide orientated, so we would expect a 8800gt to be stressed more and have a larger performance impact during 3dMark03, 3dMark05 and 3dMark06 testing.

The results below should however only be taken as typical, and not best achievable, since my testing was carried out as a simple one time only "continious run of tests" in the order shown,

3dMark05 = 14789
3dMark06 = 9265
3dMark03 = 33091
3dMark01se = 43156
Aquamark03 = 138550


Using newer 174 series drivers and clocking E6700 @ 3GHz-plus and/or overclocking the hell out of the 8800gt would undoubtably have achieved MUCH higher scores, but that would defeat the point of trying to show what is achievable from the kind of midish performance setup that most ordinary people, not into serious overclocking, are more likely to have or aim for ?

:)

EDIT:-

With everything exact same except now using my agp 7800gs @ 545/1600, the following was achieved,

3dMark05 = 8547
3dMark06 = 4612
3dMark03 = 19780
3dMark01se = 38410
Aquamark03 = 118120.

As expected, being that 3dMark01se and Aquamark03 are more systemwide orientated, the performance margin increase when using a 8800gt was greater for the 3dMark03, 3dMark05 and 3dMark06 tests.

Mind you, maybe a more important point to note from my testing is that if using a 8800gt in the 4x PCI-E slot of a 4coredual mobo is likely to have a 10-15% hit on performance, then just maybe a 4coredual setup would be a much better platform for using a ATI 3850/3870 AGP card since presumably there would be no, or much less, performance loss ----> in other words, regardless of the fact that a 8800gt will perform better than ATI's 3850 and 3870 in 16x PCI-E setups, a 3850/3870 could become king in a 4coredual setup when used in the AGP slot ---> just a thought??

:)
 

Hlafordlaes

Senior member
May 21, 2006
271
2
81
Originally posted by: jimmor
Mind you, maybe a more important point to note from my testing is that if using a 8800gt in the 4x PCI-E slot of a 4coredual mobo is likely to have a 10-15% hit on performance, then just maybe a 4coredual setup would be a much better platform for using a ATI 3850/3870 AGP card since presumably there would be no, or much less, performance loss ----> in other words, regardless of the fact that a 8800gt will perform better than ATI's 3850 and 3870 in 16x PCI-E setups, a 3850/3870 could become king in a 4coredual setup when used in the AGP slot ---> just a thought??

I am haunted myself by the 3870 for my 4CoreDual-VSTA. I am tempted to max out performance (tweaker's itch) and get the best AGP card, but then again I bought the board to, um, transition to PCIe. Sigh. Feel like a kid looking in the candy store window.


 

fritzfield

Senior member
Mar 4, 2003
389
2
81
Originally posted by: Hlafordlaes

I am haunted myself by the 3870 for my 4CoreDual-VSTA. I am tempted to max out performance (tweaker's itch) and get the best AGP card, but then again I bought the board to, um, transition to PCIe. Sigh. Feel like a kid looking in the candy store window.

I think that if you are going to go for a high end card, you should invest in a PCIe2.0 card and look for a new mobo that will maximize it. As you said, this is a transition board
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: Hlafordlaes
Originally posted by: jimmor
Mind you, maybe a more important point to note from my testing is that if using a 8800gt in the 4x PCI-E slot of a 4coredual mobo is likely to have a 10-15% hit on performance, then just maybe a 4coredual setup would be a much better platform for using a ATI 3850/3870 AGP card since presumably there would be no, or much less, performance loss ----> in other words, regardless of the fact that a 8800gt will perform better than ATI's 3850 and 3870 in 16x PCI-E setups, a 3850/3870 could become king in a 4coredual setup when used in the AGP slot ---> just a thought??

I am haunted myself by the 3870 for my 4CoreDual-VSTA. I am tempted to max out performance (tweaker's itch) and get the best AGP card, but then again I bought the board to, um, transition to PCIe. Sigh. Feel like a kid looking in the candy store window.

If the price becomes right, then why not follow your itch!

Right now, even transitioning to a pci-e gen 2 setup is still more about bragging rights rather than being the real deal that was originally promised? Only tangible benefit appears to be for those who can afford to keep going down the neverending "Tri", "Quad", "Bi-Quad","Tri-Quad", etc, complex and expensive route of continually transitioning through newer mobos able to run multiple graphics cards just to eke out another 3FPS from current, and if very lucky some future, DX10 games?

So, from a sensible transitioning point of view, just maybe a 3870 agp card now could still be "future-proofed" enough to tide you over untill a "proper jump in performance" affordable single card pci-e solution becomes available, ie, maybe the nvidia 10800 or 12800, or ATI 6850/6870 series ---> we can but hope ?

Of course, as always, where you now go from here is completely down to you !

:)


 

steelskinz

Junior Member
Mar 25, 2008
9
0
0
Hi,
new to anandtech.
I have a 4core dual sata2 too.
I could only put 280FSB stable with PCI E card, with AGP (7600GT) i could put more like 285+ without mod.
I'll test to bring back 284 which was the max stable FSB without any modding.
Yesterday evening i changed the paste on the NB (i saw i have an ultra chipset) with artic silver, don't know if it will help a bit. Didn't try yet.

I have a E2180 and a 8800GT 2x1Go Gskill PC5400 and i scored just like Jimmor with my Zotac 9100/9200.

Do you think 300 will be possible without any physical mod ?
Do i have to put PCIE freq to 117 to make it works ? Will it be a problem with my sata hdd ?

Do you know what is the ECHO TPR option and PCI E downstream ?
Since the 1.90a bios i have a new option for PCIE just under the downstream but don't remember it (i'm at work). Does someone tried to change it and saw results ?

Thanks! :)
 

Budarow

Golden Member
Dec 16, 2001
1,917
0
0
Originally posted by: Hlafordlaes
Originally posted by: jimmor
Mind you, maybe a more important point to note from my testing is that if using a 8800gt in the 4x PCI-E slot of a 4coredual mobo is likely to have a 10-15% hit on performance, then just maybe a 4coredual setup would be a much better platform for using a ATI 3850/3870 AGP card since presumably there would be no, or much less, performance loss ----> in other words, regardless of the fact that a 8800gt will perform better than ATI's 3850 and 3870 in 16x PCI-E setups, a 3850/3870 could become king in a 4coredual setup when used in the AGP slot ---> just a thought??

I am haunted myself by the 3870 for my 4CoreDual-VSTA. I am tempted to max out performance (tweaker's itch) and get the best AGP card, but then again I bought the board to, um, transition to PCIe. Sigh. Feel like a kid looking in the candy store window.

Based on AT's review a couple months ago comparing the 3870 to the 8800GT, the 3870 provided less than ~87% (in many games a lot less and in 2 games ~102%) of the performance of a 8800GT. So in general, I'd say a 8800GT (@4x PCI-E) would do better in games than a 3870 (@8x AGP) due to the performance hit of only 10% to 15% for the PCI-
E at 4x.

3870: % of GeForce 8800 GT Performance 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 1920 x 1200 2560 x 1600
Bioshock 84.4% 82.4% 87.9% 93.9%
Unreal Tournament 3 87.8% 85.8% 89.6% 91.6%
ET: Quake Wars 80.5% 95.9% 96.8% 103%
Oblivion 66.7% 74.1% 74.4% 71.5%
Oblivion (4X AA) 70.5% 77.7% 80.2% 82.6%
Half Life 2: Episode 2 101% 95% 91% 86.7%

World in Conflict 81.5% 85.7% 84.9% 89.2%
Call of Duty 4 103% 98.3% 92.3% 82.1%
Crysis 72.4% 73.3% 75.5% -
Average 83.1% 85.3% 85.8% 87.6%

Sorry for the messed up table;)

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=6

However, it's nice that the 3870 can be installed "as is" in a 4CoreDual with no messing around with BIOS updates for the video card (e.g., most 8800GTs).
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: Budarow
Originally posted by: Hlafordlaes
Originally posted by: jimmor
Mind you, maybe a more important point to note from my testing is that if using a 8800gt in the 4x PCI-E slot of a 4coredual mobo is likely to have a 10-15% hit on performance, then just maybe a 4coredual setup would be a much better platform for using a ATI 3850/3870 AGP card since presumably there would be no, or much less, performance loss ----> in other words, regardless of the fact that a 8800gt will perform better than ATI's 3850 and 3870 in 16x PCI-E setups, a 3850/3870 could become king in a 4coredual setup when used in the AGP slot ---> just a thought??

I am haunted myself by the 3870 for my 4CoreDual-VSTA. I am tempted to max out performance (tweaker's itch) and get the best AGP card, but then again I bought the board to, um, transition to PCIe. Sigh. Feel like a kid looking in the candy store window.

Based on AT's review a couple months ago comparing the 3870 to the 8800GT, the 3870 provided less than ~87% (in many games a lot less and in 2 games ~102%) of the performance of a 8800GT. So in general, I'd say a 8800GT (@4x PCI-E) would do better in games than a 3870 (@8x AGP) due to the performance hit of only 10% to 15% for the PCI-
E at 4x.

3870: % of GeForce 8800 GT Performance 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 1920 x 1200 2560 x 1600
Bioshock 84.4% 82.4% 87.9% 93.9%
Unreal Tournament 3 87.8% 85.8% 89.6% 91.6%
ET: Quake Wars 80.5% 95.9% 96.8% 103%
Oblivion 66.7% 74.1% 74.4% 71.5%
Oblivion (4X AA) 70.5% 77.7% 80.2% 82.6%
Half Life 2: Episode 2 101% 95% 91% 86.7%

World in Conflict 81.5% 85.7% 84.9% 89.2%
Call of Duty 4 103% 98.3% 92.3% 82.1%
Crysis 72.4% 73.3% 75.5% -
Average 83.1% 85.3% 85.8% 87.6%

Sorry for the messed up table;)

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=6

However, it's nice that the 3870 can be installed "as is" in a 4CoreDual with no messing around with BIOS updates for the video card (e.g., most 8800GTs).

Ignoring specific games, resolutions, etc, your anandtech linked article basically indicates that the 3870's average performance is around 15% less than an 8800gt. This indication, coupled with the fact that a 4coredual mobo does, or can be made to, overclock much better using a agp card, could still mean that the 3870 agp version could be king with a 4coredual setup?

My experience with 4coredual is that fsb overclocking was limited to around 290-300 with pci-e card fitted (further verified with 8800gt), whereas 320 is no bother with any agp card so far ---> although can't verify this would remain true for 3870 agp card since I have never had access to one?

So, allowing that the overall performance differencies may not be large in either's favour, like in many situations, the better choice could, and probably should, just come down to whatever turns out to be the right price at the right time ?

:)
 

jimmor

Member
Dec 16, 2007
179
0
0
Originally posted by: steelskinz
Hi,
new to anandtech.
I have a 4core dual sata2 too.
I could only put 280FSB stable with PCI E card, with AGP (7600GT) i could put more like 285+ without mod.
I'll test to bring back 284 which was the max stable FSB without any modding.
Yesterday evening i changed the paste on the NB (i saw i have an ultra chipset) with artic silver, don't know if it will help a bit. Didn't try yet.

I have a E2180 and a 8800GT 2x1Go Gskill PC5400 and i scored just like Jimmor with my Zotac 9100/9200.


Do you think 300 will be possible without any physical mod ?
Do i have to put PCIE freq to 117 to make it works ? Will it be a problem with my sata hdd ?

Do you know what is the ECHO TPR option and PCI E downstream ?
Since the 1.90a bios i have a new option for PCIE just under the downstream but don't remember it (i'm at work). Does someone tried to change it and saw results ?

Thanks! :)

Welcome to anandtech !

Experience of this mobo has shown that 300 is not generally possible without modding something ---> usually a mod to increase Vagp volts, and, depending on which cpu is fitted, sometimes also a mod to increase Vcore?

When using a AGP vga card, it is better to overclock the PCI-E bus to somewhere in range 112-120MHz; actual value depends on just how much above 300 your setup can overclock ---> for example, when using a 7800gs AGP card, my current 320 overclock is definitely more stable when PCI-E bus is set at 119MHz. On the other hand, when using a PCI-E vga card, it is most important that the PCI-E bus be fixed at it's 100Mhz default !

And it has been determined from peoples experiences of in-games issues, that the bios's "pci-e downstream" option should be at "Disabled" if using a pci-e vga card.

:)
 

prsorfc

Junior Member
Mar 24, 2008
8
0
0
I too am new to the forums, and i have a 4coredual sata 2 mobo, but i can`t get it to OC more than about 220? Surely i should be able to get it up higher than that, btw i have a e2160 cpu, a MSI 7300le pcie card and 1 gb of budget ram, i am tempted to try the mod that everybody is talking about but i don`t know. Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated thanks....