ASUS A8R-MVP stable @325MHz HTT

[Mezzanine]

Originally posted by: apvm
To the guy who enquire about the onboard network card problem.


This is a driver problem, if you're using XP, use the driver that came with the disk, don't use windows update to update to the new driver from MS, that one causes problem, there is a newer one from Marvell website but I haven't try that one.

This should fix your problem.

Thanks for that, it solved my problems with dropouts.

 

[ChiPCGuy]

Well, I am considering this mobo. I am currently running a ABit KN8 Ultra, and while I am not having any issues and do not intend to overclock, I want to try something different.

How does this board run with an X2 processor at total stock? Is the vCore issue an issue with overclocking or will I experience flakiness with a stock configuration and the latest BIOS?

Anyone?

I intend to use a 4600+ X2, 2 Gig PC3200 (OCZ 1Gig X 2 stick at 2-3-2-7 1T)
and Samsung SpinPoint SP2504C, Bluegears HDA Digital X-Mystique sound card, NEC3550A DVD burner, XFX 7800GT OC. Using a OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU.

 

[imported_apvm]

Originally posted by: CdnJoe
Hi I am new to the forum...

I would like to know what kind of ram and what timings I should look for.

I just ordered the A8R-MVP and an Opty 165...
Couldn't afford a great card right now so got a sappire 512MB x1300 for now..(Hey it was cheap)
200GB Segate SATA

I plan to overclock slightly

What kind of DDR should I get?
I would like something fairly cheap say $100=1GB or so..
I heard that tight memory timings are important with AMD 64 chips..

Recommedations would be great!

Hi, you got the same setup as mine, same cpu and video card....I just upgraded my memory to 2GB, Generic Hynix chipset 2x1GB, I use pretty much auto in bios except the 1/T/2T part, I setted mine at 1T and so far so good, don't overclock since I am not a gamer. If you don't like generic stuff, try the Kingston value 1GB since it uses the Hynix chipset as my generic, you shouldn't have problem with it and it should be well within your budget.

 

[imported_apvm]

Originally posted by: ChiPCGuy
Well, I am considering this mobo. I am currently running a ABit KN8 Ultra, and while I am not having any issues and do not intend to overclock, I want to try something different.

How does this board run with an X2 processor at total stock? Is the vCore issue an issue with overclocking or will I experience flakiness with a stock configuration and the latest BIOS?

Anyone?

I intend to use a 4600+ X2, 2 Gig PC3200 (OCZ 1Gig X 2 stick at 2-3-2-7 1T)
and Samsung SpinPoint SP2504C, Bluegears HDA Digital X-Mystique sound card, NEC3550A DVD burner, XFX 7800GT OC. Using a OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU.

1st of all, my cpu is an Opty 165 which is dual core and I am running at total stock with generic Hynix chipset 2x1GB memory, I have no problem at all with latest Bios and mind you my computer is almost on 7/24 for over a month now, OS is Windows XP 64.

The Vcore issue is mostly an issue with overclocking, since the Vcore can't be set to very high, this board is not for the extreme overclockers but it shouldn't be a problem if you are planning on total stock or mild to medium overclocking.

Have tested my 165, it is stable at 270mhz but I found this board is very picky on what memory you use if you are overclocking. At total stock, stay with the memory recommended in the manual if you prefer 1T.

 

[n7]

ChiPCGuy, while i'm sure you'd be happy with this mobo, why in the world are you considering switching?

I could understand if you're having no luck with OCing, but if you don't OC, i just see no reason to switch mobos just for fun, lol.

 

[EvertonB]

What does the RD480 HT PLL Control option in the BIOS do? I've just bought a 2nd card and I'm wondering whether I should change this.

Thanks in advance

 

[rbV5]

In case you guys missed Wesley's update on AT's A8R-MVP review

UPDATE: After further testing on shipping retail boards, we have concluded that a 2T Command Rate is needed for Clock frequencies above 260-265. We did not realize that the board we initially tested was actually reset to 2T in our benchmark tests at 325. However, the Asus A8R-MVP at 2T is often as fast as other board at 1T since the memory timings on this board are very agressive. The good news is that 320+ was in reach at 2T using good TCCD memory on all of the shipping retail boards we tested, and the performance at 2T was very competetive with other boards at the same speed at 1T Command Rate.

That makes alot more sense now. Thanks for the update Wesley. No sense trying to force 1T > 265, its going to reset to 2T and now it looks like user feedback = AT's updated review. I'm still liking my board as it purrs right along nice and stable and fast as well. A8R32-mvp looks to be right around the corner now as well.

 

[Stoneburner]

That's when using a 1:1 ratio right? As long as the memory is below 260 or so... then 1t will work?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

I just got my A8R-MVP today to go with an Opteron 165. I didn't have time to mess around too much with it, so I shot the HTT straight to 275 MHz with a memory divisor. It's currently priming away at 2475 core/247.5 Mem (2T command rate but I'll mess around with that later), core voltage is stable at 1.4V. Looks like a nice board to me

 

[Stoneburner]

apparently not.

 

[Order 66]

Is it possable to fit a Thermaltake Blue Orb 2 on this motherboard? It seems the northbridge heatsink could block it.

 

[imported_csimon]

This is probably foolish I know so try it only at your own risk or don't try it at all.
The pinmod http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?http:/...p/s939pinmod/amd_socket939_pinmod.html

 

[Mezzanine]

I admit i'm starting to lose faith in this board, there hasn't been a bios release for quite some time. Although that being said i'm very happy with the stability of mine with a mild OC but it's hardly the overclockers dream that i assumed it must be from reading reviews.

 

[n7]

Seriously, WTF is wrong with the ethernet on this mobo? :|

I thought that switching back to the driver off the CD had fixed it, but ohhh no. I am sick & tired of having connectability drop at least once or sometimes more times in a day.
It happens when i'm downloading files, or sometimes when i'm streaming music across my network, or sometimes when just signing into MSN Messenger :|

Incredibly annoying, since every time, the only way to get it functional again is to reboot.

I guess i am going to have to buy a separate ethernet card, since i really don't want to RMA only to likely get another mobo with the same issue...

 

[CCityInstaller]

Originally posted by: n7
Seriously, WTF is wrong with the ethernet on this mobo? :|

I thought that switching back to the driver off the CD had fixed it, but ohhh no. I am sick & tired of having connectability drop at least once or sometimes more times in a day.
It happens when i'm downloading files, or sometimes when i'm streaming music across my network, or sometimes when just signing into MSN Messenger :|

Incredibly annoying, since every time, the only way to get it functional again is to reboot.

I guess i am going to have to buy a separate ethernet card, since i really don't want to RMA only to likely get another mobo with the same issue...

I had the exact same problem with my Abit AV8..I tried the drivers that were included with with the MB along with the most most recent published on the 'net, and nothing would fix the problem. I ended up using the free 100Mbps NIC that came with my comcast install kit, and the problem was fixed.

 

[n7]

Yay for more issues.

I quite liked this mobo initially, but that's changing...

Now i'm getting crashing in UT2k4 even when only OCed to 2.4 GHz.

I ran @ 2.6 GHz on my previous Neo2 even though that wasn't SP2004/SuperPI stable, since for everything i did, it was stable, & never crashed during games, etc.

Now i'm SP2004/SuperPI stable @ 2.4 GHz, but i'm crashing in UT2k4 :|

I'm starting to think it could be a vcore issue, since mine fluctuates majorly, like from 1.31 - 1.41V. when @ 1.35V, & 1.39-1.47V when @ 1.4V

Bah @ this mobo...

 

[Stoneburner]

HOw about we all demand asus let us trade up for a a8r32 since they are clearly no longer concerned with this board?

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Stoneburner
HOw about we all demand asus let us trade up for a a8r32 since they are clearly no longer concerned with this board?

I wish...

 

[Night Blade]

Just picked up this board yesterday, returning it today, it's really a PITA with the last straw being the GB Lan not working (dies after 1 min of BT), they really need to release a new revision.

Back to my old trusty Abit AX8 :disgust:

 

[n7]

Ah so at least it's not just me having the ethernet issues.

I bought a cheap D-Link ethernet card a few days ago, & what do you know.

It installed automatically, no drivers needed, & i haven't had a single problem with it.

It's sad that i believed Asus had improved when i bought this mobo.

Even the new A8R32-MVP is giving people issues too.

The thing that really angers me that i'm running my CPU @ 2.2 GHz, since it's unreliable in games if i push it much faster, which is just f*cking stupid.

I miss my Neo2 that ran games stably @ 2.55 GHz even when that wasn't P95/SuperPI stable, etc.

Frankly, i'm just pissed.

All three Asus mobos i've owned have been worse than even my ECS mobos, & my MSI.

 

[Night Blade]

Well I decided to stick it out with this A8R-MVP for a few more days, another install of XP seems to have helped, lingering problem now is the GB Lan is not running at GB speeds :|, even the configuration of the card only shows 10MBps ~ 100MBps, no 1000MBps, this is with the newest Marvell drivers.

Anyone else test this Marvell for GB speeds? Or do you have the choice of 1000MBps in config?

 

[imported_apvm]

Originally posted by: n7
Ah so at least it's not just me having the ethernet issues.

I bought a cheap D-Link ethernet card a few days ago, & what do you know.

It installed automatically, no drivers needed, & i haven't had a single problem with it.

It's sad that i believed Asus had improved when i bought this mobo.

Even the new A8R32-MVP is giving people issues too.

The thing that really angers me that i'm running my CPU @ 2.2 GHz, since it's unreliable in games if i push it much faster, which is just f*cking stupid.

I miss my Neo2 that ran games stably @ 2.55 GHz even when that wasn't P95/SuperPI stable, etc.

Frankly, i'm just pissed.

All three Asus mobos i've owned have been worse than even my ECS mobos, & my MSI.

After reading the onboard lan problem, I did some testing and found following: (BT using Bitcomet 0.62 and newsgroup using Newsbin 5

1) The driver that came with the Motherboard cd work well for a while but it is not stable if downloading large file for a long time.

2) The driver from MS updates is rubbish

3) The latest driver from Marvell website (8.49.2.3) is so far the most stable, I've been testing downloading with both Bitcomet and Newsbin at the same time each downloading a file larger than 4GB.

My conclusion is not the motherboard but the onboard lan (Marvell) which is the source of the problem, I read on other motherboard forum using the same onboard lan is having similiar problem.

Possible causes....brand of router and firmware version, driver version etc.

I think 8.49.2.3 driver is by far the most stable if you download a lot, I've been testing it for 3 days continously and it is not giving me any problem downloading large files.

Finally, I think this is a very stable motherboard, I don't overclock and I have it almost on 7/24 for over 2 months now and it is not giving me any problem.

 

[Night Blade]

Using the newst Marvell driver myself & not having any issues with uTorrent & large transfers over my GB network, I even got my old 3000+ Winnie to 2.3GHz, it's a dud I know but 2.3GHz is good enough for me.

 

[Ryan Norton]

How's everybody still feeling about their A8R-MVPs? Man, I came back to this thread by accident... what a monster it has become. Anyway, I'm more than a little disappointed that ASUS hasn't given us a BIOS update in awhile. If they had a Step-Up program like EVGA I'd have swapped and paid the diff. for an A8R32-MVP in a heartbeat.

I decided to go to 2GB RAM with this board, so we'll see what happens when my OCZ DDR400 enhanced latency 2x1GB pair arrives today. Ever since that first night where I started this thread I really haven't bothered OC'ing the board-- still, the passive cooling on a relatively cheap board is nice. I'm planning to run the CPU up to about 2.6 GHz and keep the mem down around DDR400 at 2-3-2-5 1T with a divider because Oblivion is just CHUGGING at 1600x1200.

That said, now that I'm playing Oblivion in shite resolution to make it run smoothly I'm wishing I had an Nforce4 SLI board, just to have that option available... I'd have to get rid of my 7800GTX ,get an X1900, and then another! That's my fault though, not the board's =^)

 

[n7]

LOL...

I've been debating over which new mobo to get for the last few days; going crazy.

I like to OC, & running @ 2.2 GHz is like wearing diapers, & not growing out of them

I think i'm gonna be switching to either the A8N32-SLI, A8R32-MVP, or MSI K8N Diamond Plus...i'm pretty much going insane trying to decide on which one...