ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 - Socket 939 with PCI-E and real AGP and Socket AM2 upgrade path

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Woody

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
I'll be getting one as soon as I can figure out which CPU to get with it.

I'm thinking a San Diego 3700, it's at a very nice price/performance point and offers some clockability. I'd like an X2 but without application support (apps that I use that is) there is little point to justify the expense. It's not like I need a dedicated core to run Xfire when I'm playing BF2. Next summer it will be cheap enough to drop a very fast X2 in there.

Yeah, I'm starting to think maybe an overclocked Venice might be good to start out with. IMO, If I was gonna spend >$300 on a San Diego, I might as well get the X2 3800+...but I'm not entirely sure that I need a dual-core either.

 

[Bullhonkie]

Wow looks awesome (other than the cold boot issue which I'm hoping is just an isolated incident of some sort). Looks like this may be part of my next budget upgrade. Picked up one of those AGP X800XT PE refurbs from ATi last month and my current CPU just can't quite stretch the card out.

Pick up one of these along with a 3000+ Venice for less than $200. Get great stock performance while retaining AGP with option for PCIe at a later date. The overclocking options/headroom along with the possibility of using an M2 CPU in the future are just icing on the cake. I'd probably have been willing to pay $100 for a board like this.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: videogames101
ok...... could someone explain more? will it work with 1 moniter? i'm not really a tech guy.

I'm not sure why you'd want to run two video cards if you're only using one monitor, unless you want an SLI-like configuration (which as mentioned, isn't going to work). Can you perhaps explain a little better exactly what it is that you're wanting to do?

I think there isn't anything technically preventing that from working. Hasn't SLI been tried with motherboards set to 4x-16x configuration instead of the normal 8x-8x for the PCIe slots? IIRC that was before Nvidia "locked" their drivers so that only "approved" combinations worked. Also, the ATI Crossfire technology allows for mismatching cards. I see no reason why mismatching slot types wouldn't work.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: videogames101
ok...... could someone explain more? will it work with 1 moniter? i'm not really a tech guy.

I'm not sure why you'd want to run two video cards if you're only using one monitor, unless you want an SLI-like configuration (which as mentioned, isn't going to work). Can you perhaps explain a little better exactly what it is that you're wanting to do?

I think there isn't anything technically preventing that from working. Hasn't SLI been tried with motherboards set to 4x-16x configuration instead of the normal 8x-8x for the PCIe slots? IIRC that was before Nvidia "locked" their drivers so that only "approved" combinations worked. Also, the ATI Crossfire technology allows for mismatching cards. I see no reason why mismatching slot types wouldn't work.

Yeah, I've read that SLi can work with non-"official" configurations, but I believe this person was wanting to use a 9800 Pro in this kind of configuration...and I'm 99% sure that isn't going to work, no matter what.

 

[poohbear]

hi, this mobo is looking very promising for those of us w/ high end agp cards. How is the support from ULi like? do they provide driver/bios upgrades frequently or is their support lackluster? also, are the PCI-E/AGP slots locked for overclocking? thanks in advance if anyone can answer said questions.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: poohbear
hi, this mobo is looking very promising for those of us w/ high end agp cards. How is the support from ULi like? do they provide driver/bios upgrades frequently or is their support lackluster? also, are the PCI-E/AGP slots locked for overclocking? thanks in advance if anyone can answer said questions.

I've never owned a ULi/ASRock board before, but their website seems promising. There's already been one new BIOS revision since the board was introduced overseas.

Also, I'm 99% sure that the AGP/PCI slots are locked at 66/33, and the PCI-E slots are locked at whatever you set them to in the BIOS.

 

[Kriz]

I want it because it's cheap, and offers some nice future update options with the future CPU slot.

if M2 is DDR2 only, wouldn't the only problem be swapping out RAM sticks, since the controller is integrated in the CPU? or are the DIMM slots limited to DDR? Would a BIOS update along with the M2 bridge fix that?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Kriz
I want it because it's cheap, and offers some nice future update options with the future CPU slot.

if M2 is DDR2 only, wouldn't the only problem be swapping out RAM sticks, since the controller is integrated in the CPU? or are the DIMM slots limited to DDR? Would a BIOS update along with the M2 bridge fix that?

DDR2 is electrically/physically a different connection than DDR. The upgrade riser card will have its own RAM slots (much as was the case for their previous 754/939 upgrade cards).

 

[Tates]

939Dual-SATA2 Bios 1.20

1. Showed "CPU over clock mode" in BIOS setup items.
2. Added "User Config Mode", "Read Preamble", "Asyc Latency" in BIOS setup

 

[dug777]

hawt

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Yeah, I've read that SLi can work with non-"official" configurations, but I believe this person was wanting to use a 9800 Pro in this kind of configuration...and I'm 99% sure that isn't going to work, no matter what.

Not for Nvidia SLI, but for ATI Crossfire? Did Crossfire need an "X000" series card to function, or just a card supported by the Catalyst drivers?

 

[nemesismk2]

I've had my Asrock 939 Dual Sata2 since wednesday and I am impressed with it's performance and stability, it's certainly much better than the nf3 motherboard it replaced.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Yeah, I've read that SLi can work with non-"official" configurations, but I believe this person was wanting to use a 9800 Pro in this kind of configuration...and I'm 99% sure that isn't going to work, no matter what.

Not for Nvidia SLI, but for ATI Crossfire? Did Crossfire need an "X000" series card to function, or just a card supported by the Catalyst drivers?

I'm pretty sure Crossfire is only for the X800 series and up (or at least, not anything from the 9000-series )

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: nemesismk2
I've had my Asrock 939 Dual Sata2 since wednesday and I am impressed with it's performance and stability, it's certainly much better than the nf3 motherboard it replaced.

Cool...what CPU are you running on it? Any more details/experiences would be appreciated (since it appears you're the only one in this thread to have the board already, so far).

 

[Fam Money]

For those that still want to purchase this board it's still in stock at eWiz.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-939DUAL

I ordered the board and a 3000 from them, too bad it won't be here till Tuesday. I should have sprung for the UPS 3 day.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Fam Money
For those that still want to purchase this board it's still in stock at eWiz.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-939DUAL

I ordered the board and a 3000 from them, too bad it won't be here till Tuesday. I should have sprung for the UPS 3 day.

:thumbsup: I have that link in the original post now.

 

[Fam Money]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Fam Money
For those that still want to purchase this board it's still in stock at eWiz.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-939DUAL

I ordered the board and a 3000 from them, too bad it won't be here till Tuesday. I should have sprung for the UPS 3 day.

:thumbsup: I have that link in the original post now.

Cool.

Well since you posted about Abit and Gigabyte coming out with boards you can add Jetway. It kinda looks like theirs will be out sooner rather than later.
http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/32/2.html

 

[designit]

How refreshing is it to know that the little guy(ULi) is beating Top DFI mobo w/ NF4 on gaming benchmarks (PCIe), and AGP is way up there.
and it is 1/2 the cost. Time to kiss NF4 good buy.

 

[Zap]

Well, there will still be a market for the NF4 and specifically for the DFI boards because the "extreme" users still want those super high voltages. From what I've read, the Asrock gives you a bit... a tiny bit...

 

[Peter]

So? Voltage tweaks aren't a function of the chipset at all - they're all in the mainboard design.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: Zap
Well, there will still be a market for the NF4 and specifically for the DFI boards because the "extreme" users still want those super high voltages. From what I've read, the Asrock gives you a bit... a tiny bit...

It all depends on what the Board maker wants to allow as tweaks in bios I guess. If some Co. wanted to make an Uber enthusiast board using the Uli chipset, then as far as the non-Sli market goes this chipset could cause a problem for the other chipset manufacturers.

I'm wondering who is going to step up to the plate. I'm guessing a Co. that is not also marketing thier own brand of Sli capable Video Cards, because nVidia would no doubt be putting a lot of pressure on them to NOT use this chipset.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Fam Money

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: Fam Money
For those that still want to purchase this board it's still in stock at eWiz.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-939DUAL

I ordered the board and a 3000 from them, too bad it won't be here till Tuesday. I should have sprung for the UPS 3 day.

:thumbsup: I have that link in the original post now.

Cool.

Well since you posted about Abit and Gigabyte coming out with boards you can add Jetway. It kinda looks like theirs will be out sooner rather than later.
http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/32/2.html

Originally posted by: Tates
939Dual-SATA2 Bios 1.20

1. Showed "CPU over clock mode" in BIOS setup items.
2. Added "User Config Mode", "Read Preamble", "Asyc Latency" in BIOS setup

Added both to the OP. Also, Tates, your link to BIOS 1.20 was incorrect, but I found that was because it's actually linked wrong (to 1.10) on their own website. A small change in the URL yielded the correct file.

 

[route66]

$68 seems to good to be true - so what's missing? Did they use quality capacitors? How is the on-board sound?

PS - out of stock again at Newegg. Hehe.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: route66
$68 seems to good to be true - so what's missing? Did they use quality capacitors? How is the on-board sound?

PS - out of stock again at Newegg. Hehe.

It's just a "value" board (and an outstanding value board at that, IMO), nothing necessarily missing except perhaps for extensive voltage/overclocking controls (although some are still there). I can't comment on the quality of the capacitors or anything, but since ASRock is apparently just the value division of ASUS, I don't think they'd use complete crap on their boards (plus the users I have seen so far who have the board already, are quite happy with it). Plus they're not really well known in the US (yet ), so it may be that they just don't have the name recognition to be able to charge $100+ like some of the more mainstream manufacturers. There are little things like no Firewire, no Gigabit Ethernet, but IMO they're fairly minor, especially for such an inexpensive board with as many features as this one does have.

I haven't used the onboard sound either (I don't have the board yet), but I'm assuming it's the usual for these days - workable, but not great. I'm planning on using a separate sound card (used/refurb Audigy2 most likely) when I do buy it. IMO most motherboard manufacturers aren't really paying much attention to audio these days, so I don't see that as a knock specifically against the ASRock.

Oh, and welcome to the forums.

Edit - just updated Newegg's stock info in the OP again. At least the third time I have seen it go out of stock since I started looking there yesterday. :Q

 

[hooflung]

I am a lucky owner of the most famous K8S8X and I haven't been happier with the quality of ASRock. I just picked up The Dual-Sata2 for a future planned upgrade ( swapping my k8s8x into my htpc ) when I can afford to pick up a X2 3800+. Probably will be my last PC purchase for a long time but I like having a home for my Geforce 6800 and the upgrade path to M2 AND pci-e.

Been waiting for this board for so long!