ASrock 939SLI-ESATA2 ULi M1697 SLI capable board

[Tates]

ocworkbench

This upcoming board from ASrock is based on much anticipated ULi M1697 chipset. It supports the Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64/64FX/64X2 processor, FSB 1000MHz (2.0GT/s) and comes with 1 x Future CPU Port (Supports CPU upgrade from AMD K8 939-Pin CPU to AM2 940-Pin CPU through AM2 CPU Board).

The board supports Dual Channel DDR400, 4 DIMMs slots and 4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s ports, support RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD and RAID 5, and "Hot Plug" functions. There are 2 ports of eSATAII 3.0Gb/s (shared with 2 SATAII ports), support "Hot Plug" function

Graphics wise, the board comes with 2 x PCI Express x 16 slots which can be configured to work in dual 8x for running SLI.

The board supports 5.1 Channel with High Definition Audio and has United Overclocking : During Overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses. The board is future proof and is Windows Vista Hardware Ready

Specs

Platform - ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
CPU - 939-Pin Socket Supporting AMD AthlonTM 64 / 64FX /
64X2 Processor
- Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
- FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s)
- Supports Untied-Overclocking Technology
- Supports Hyper-Transport Technology
Chipset - ULi M1697
Memory - Dual Channel DDR memory technology
- 4 x DDR DIMM slots
- Supports DDR400/333/266
- Max. capacity: 4GB
Hybrid Booster - CPU Frequency Stepless Control
- ASRock U-COP
- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
Expansion Slot - 1 x Future CPU Port (Supports CPU upgrade from AMD
K8 939-Pin CPU to AM2 940-Pin CPU through AM2 CPU Board)
- 3 x PCI slots
- 1 x PCI Express x 16 / x 8 slot
- 1 x PCI Express x 1 x 8 slot
- 1 x PCI Express x 1 slot
- Supports NVIDIA SLITM
Audio - Realtek ALC 660 5.1 channel CODEC with High Definition Audio
LAN - Realtek PHY RTL8201CL
- Speed: 10/100 Ethernet
- Supports Wake-On-LAN
Rear Panel I/O ASRock eSATAII I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
- 1 x COM Port
- 1 x Parallel Port (ECP/EPP Support)
- 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
- 2 x eSATAII Ports
- 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port
- Audio Jack: Line in / Line out / Microphone
Connector - 4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0,
RAID 1, RAID 0+1, JBOD, and RAID 5) and "Hot Plug" functions
- 2 x eSATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors (shared with 2 SATAII
ports), support "Hot Plug" function
- 2 x ATA133 IDE connectors (support 4 x IDE devices)
- 1 x Floppy connector
- 1 x IR header
- 1 x Game header
- CPU/Chassis FAN connectors
- 20 pin ATX power connector
- 4 pin 12V power connector
- SLI/XFire power connector
- CD in header
- Front panel audio connector
- 2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
BIOS Feature - 2Mb AMI BIOS
- AMI Legal BIOS
- Supports "Plug and Play"
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
Support CD - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software Hardware Monitor - CPU Temperature Sensing
- Motherboard Temperature Sensing
- CPU Overheat Shutdown to Protect CPU Life
- CPU Fan Tachometer
- Chassis Fan Tachometer
- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore
OS - Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/XP 64-bit compliant
Certifications - FCC, CE, WHQL

 

[SynthDude2001]

Cool...wonder if it'll actually work with SLI, being a non-Nvidia chipset (then again, Nvidia did just buy ULi not too long ago...).

If it's priced as low as the 939Dual-SATA2, it could be a great value SLI board. I have a feeling though, that the majority of ASRock's recent sales (specifically the 939Dual-SATA2, again) were from people like me who needed that bridge between AGP and PCI-E. They make a solid chipset, but I'm not sure how it'll do in the market against NF4 SLI stuff (unless of course, it's really cheap).

 

[lsman]

Those are now on sale at Hong Kong

HK$475 around US$60

939SLI-eSATA2

what is interesting that it had 2 SATA on the back plate. for external SATA?
and the support of SLI.... don't know.

Text

 

[lsman]

NV just "talk" to AsRock and Asrock took off the SLI support on their site.... and the driver.

Any new mobo CD will not have those (ie. if mobo makes it to US)

so... anyone plan to buy this one... google cache.... now.

"sli enabled driver ver 1006e"

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: lsman
NV just "talk" to AsRock and Asrock took off the SLI support on their site.... and the driver.

Any new mobo CD will not have those (ie. if mobo makes it to US)

so... anyone plan to buy this one... google cache.... now.

"sli enabled driver ver 1006e"

I can't say I'm surprised...I guess Nvidia does want to limit SLI to their own chipsets only, even though they now own ULi (and doing that limiting through artificial means, since I assume SLI worked on the board since there was a driver for it).

I don't think I'll be buying the board myself (my 939Dual-SATA2 is working quite well for me and will continue to do so for a long time), but in the interest of keeping the driver available to anyone who in the future might want it, I downloaded it and can mirror it at request...

 

[lsman]

I still amazed how ppl report their AsRock die 1 month after the 1 yr warranty exp. (reading forum in Asia)
I ran 2 ECS mobo at home and no problem. I never try AsRock. If my Asus fail, I may try this mobo later.

 

[Remedy]

Where is everyone? Did no one purchase the motherboard yet? It's been on the market long enough.

 

[imported_BS]

Well I just did, Its in the mail to be deliverd friday. Hoping it works out well.

 

[Remedy]

BS, any feedback on your purchase yet?

 

[imported_BS]

Sorry for the delay but this is one nice board. Havent had any problems with it and with all the features you cant go wrong with this board.

 

[you2]

What components (video card/cpu/...) did you use BS ?

 

[imported_BS]

I bought an X1800XT to go along with it, Should have waited though about 2 1/2 weeks and got the 512MB version for less then I paid for the 256MB version, You cant beat that card for the price now, I reused my 2GB DDR 400 memory and also reused my S939 A64 3400+, Kind of a bastard processor as it was the first S939 processor with an 800HT instead of the 1000HT. This processor was only sold OEM, But the price couldnt be beat 1 1/2 years ago for $114 after rebate. Been running nice and stable since putting it togeather. Also the Ram is 4 sticks of the exactly the same patriot memory and having no problem running it at speeds of DDR 400 unlike my ASUS A8V deluxe refused to run this memory higher than DDR 333 with 4 sticks.

 

[you2]

Any problems at all with the board or devices? (need to decide in the next couple of days on a mother board)

 

[imported_BS]

None as of yet, Have had it togeather for over 2 weeks now. Came right up the first time I powered it on. I also like the idea of full speed SATA drives outside the case with the SATA drive connnectors out the back. On a side note I am not using the sound, I have a creative X-fi card.

 

[you2]

ok thanks - yea - i'll probably go with an sb 2 sb - not sure x-fi is worht the extra $50 (though compusa has a good deal on it right now)

 

[Remedy]

Hardware zone review

edit: They do the absolute worst reviews I've ever seen published.

 

[Oyeve]

I have and use this board. I think its a great board with tons of features for the price. I wish they put the PCIEx4 somewhere else as it is now useless cuz I use 2 7800 GT cards. I also hate that Nvidia disabled SLI for this ULI chipset. I am stuck using forceware 82.28(or something like that) Latest drivers will not allow SLI even with the SLI Enable on the CD. Bastards.

 

[Remedy]

New BIOS build released today.

BIOS update

 

[Data2k5]

have this board in my box - works stable, no issues from the first pwr on.

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

thinking about getting either the 939SLI-Esata2 or the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D in a month or so once AMD drops their price on dual core processors

 

[jwalker46]

What is the point of this post? The announcement linked was five months ago, and the mobo has been on the market for several months (there are thread on it at the ocworkbench.com forum, for example).

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

anyone running this mobo? Looking for forums that might provide additional insight about this motherboard.

THanks

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: FreedomGUNDAM
anyone running this mobo? Looking for forums that might provide additional insight about this motherboard.

THanks

I am using it. Great mobo. Google is your friend. Many hits regarding this board.

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

Was trying to find a forum that had alot of users of the Asrock, similar to the thread on anandtech forums concerning the DFI Ultra-D, Asus A8N-E, MSI KN8GM2-FID

 

[funguy34]

http://www.pc-treiber.net/forum7.html its a very good forum in german with a lot of asrockusers.