PO'ed about upgrade to Asrock 939 M1695 chip

[Lord Banshee]

1) First off, not Asrock fault but i can't even get into my system because of windows activation... what the hell. I am clue less, do i have to call MS and tell them to give me a new CD-KEY??? Those bitches!!! why can't you do it over the internet.

2) Umm no overclocking options in reality unless you have a hand picked chip!!! The Cpu Voltage does not exceed over 1.45v for my chip (3000+ venice), what the crap!!

3) can not install nvidia drivers, Windows restarts in the middle of installing the drivers!!! i hope this is a windows issue that will be resolved with a reformat due to hardware change, But i did uninstall all my NF3 driver before installing new mobo, damn windows should be smart enough to figure out what the hell is going on.

4) only 2 fan connecters. 1CPU and 1 Case. Blah!

So at the moment i guess this is the worst 60 dollars i ever spent, untill i get something working. Jesus!


Oh sorry for my rudeness and such but i am kinda pissed! I have never been so disappointed in a purchase / installation as this one.

Anyway thanks for listening,
Chris

 

[Pabster]

Used to get similiar rants about ECS boards back in the day.

You buy a $60 board and expect the same features as a $150 one. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Well i find it funny that it had overclocking options but not able to increase Vcore more than .5 over stock is just stupied.

And you tell me a 150 dollar motherboard that has full 8X AGP and 16X PCI-E?

I think the biggest thing that is getting me is the windows problems!!!

 

[evilharp]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
1) First off, not Asrock fault but i can't even get into my system because of windows activation... what the hell. I am clue less, do i have to call MS and tell them to give me a new CD-KEY??? Those bitches!!! why can't you do it over the internet.

2) Umm no overclocking options in reality unless you have a hand picked chip!!! The Cpu Voltage does not exceed over 1.45v for my chip (3000+ venice), what the crap!!

3) can not install nvidia drivers, Windows restarts in the middle of installing the drivers!!! i hope this is a windows issue that will be resolved with a reformat due to hardware change, But i did uninstall all my NF3 driver before installing new mobo, damn windows should be smart enough to figure out what the hell is going on.

4) only 2 fan connecters. 1CPU and 1 Case. Blah!

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with the board, I've heard nothing but positive reviews so far.

As for your problems:

1) Blame MS, not ASROCK. Activation is a pain and it does nothing to prevent piracy (if anything it makes it worse. Everyone wants a VLK version to avoid the activation hassel).

2) The CPU voltage seems weird. I've heard that the max is 1.55. 1.45 seems low. What bios are you using? V1.2 was suppossed to fix a number of problems in the inital release.

3) Did you do a fresh XP install, or did you try the hard drive switch? XP reacts well to most every upgrade except for mainboard swaps. I've never heard of a truly successful motherboard upgrade that didn't involve a fresh install of XP. Remember that XP was designed to prevent "ghost" piracy (i.e. harddrive images distributed on CD) by "attaching" itself to the motherboard it was installed on.

4) 2 fan connectors is pretty common in the "value" segment. Just think, if you spent $90 more you could get another fan header

But seriously, remember the board is what it is. A first revision value board that offers the basics -plus- AGP and PCI-E -plus- the possibility of an M2 upgrade. If you wanted a mad overclocker, you should have picked up a DFI.

 

[MDE]

Give it a little time, I'm sure someone will hack it and you'll find a third-party BIOS that allows much wider control over voltage, memory timings, etc. Also, over the XP Activation thing, just call them and say you swapped motherboards, they'll reactivate it for you.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Call MS up got the activation taken care of. Just a paint but at least i didn't have to wait on hold for very long (2-3 min tops)

I have bios versoin 1.21 (beta)

From what i read (now) is that Max Voltage i is found on the CPU and that were it takes it's value from. So if you have a newcastle core(anandtech review) you would get a max of 1.55V, a venice core(1.45V). So i am assuming if they had 939 low-watt version cpus it would be even less. I hope some will crack this crazy thing.

So far i am able to overclock to 2400 9x 267 with ram at 166 @218...

So far i am able to get 100 more Mhz out of this CPu then my Newcastle.. I want Voltage options lol.

Oh and the error with the AGP... Well it seems i am not the only one. I hope a fresh install will fix the problem. So right now i am running no ULI AGP Driver, MS one ... ouch.


Oh Super Pi 1M = 36.188s, that is 4 Sec faster than my Newcastle. Not to shabby.

I'll keep you guys updated

 

[Furen]

Isnt there a VID pin mod for socket 939 cpus?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

1. Download "Glockgen NF4" and "CPU-Z" and see how they report the voltage. There seems to be two ways to report voltage, Clockgen shows my max as 1.45 but my max in bios is 1.55 and CPU-Z fluctuates between 1.58-1.60

2. A fresh install and an update to the most current bios will most certainly fix your driver problems

3. Remember to lower your HTT multi to 3x if you haven't already

 

[Lord Banshee]

This board has two HT link speeds SB and NB so i guess i need to change both.. right now i am running at 4X(800Mhz it is called on this board)

I was able to boot at 2700 300x9.. but windows froze. I need Vcore lol!!!

CPUZ reports an extra .3-.5 Vcore 1.488-1.504 so maybe my PSU over volts alittle.. not sure.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

You need to drop the HTT multi to 3x(600mhz)

At 300x9 your HT was 300x4=1200! way too high! no wonder it froze. even 267x4=1068 is too high and can cause instability. Always keep the HT at 1000 or less (there is no performance hit for running less than 1000)


Try 289x9=2601mhz

 

[Aenslead]

Lets get this straight:

YOU NEED TO DO A FRESH INSTALL AFTER CHANGING MOTHERBOARD.

There. Be as kind as to tell us your fascinating experiences when that SO-VERY-IMPORTANT step is taken.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
Lets get this straight:

YOU NEED TO DO A FRESH INSTALL AFTER CHANGING MOTHERBOARD.

There. Be as kind as to tell us your fascinating experiences when that SO-VERY-IMPORTANT step is taken.

I agree. You just installed a brand new board that uses a brand new chipset. You MUST FORMAT/REINSTALL WINDOWS, then install your chipset drivers. Your problems will go away after this.

The only thing left is your disappointment in the voltage options. Give it a little time, and there may yet be a BIOS or some future trick that will allow higher values. As it is, A64s can get pretty high enough as it is on stock, and with an extra .05v, you'll still get a decent ammount of overclocking room. An extra .1v is going to yield you very little additional clock speed, maybe 100-150mhz. You aren't missing much.

Drop your LDT multiplier further, and I bet you'll have 2.6-2.7 stable with 1.45v

 

[Lefneer311]

Check the options further, there are some options to increase the voltage beyond the 1.45v mark, but it is based on a percentage above what you have it set at already. However, that 1.45v mark is going to still get a venice up rather high... That's like .05v above stock right? Stock voltages get a venice up to around 2.3GHz so approx 3650+. For $70 or whatever you payed for it, you got one hell of a board. As for the whole "pay $60 for a board and expect $150 options?"... really the only thing this board doesnt deliver are friggin accessories and CLEARLY labeled bios options. Regardless.. for the money, you have a great product. No contest about it.

As far as the windows-activation issue. You can EITHER call microsoft and explain the situation to M$ India (the techs are in india, they dont give a F*** why you need another activation, they'll just do it), and get it resolved that way... or you can do a completely fresh install of windows. One peice of advice I can offer is to look for the program online, called WPA_KILL. I use it all the friggin time.... don't have to worry about this kinda crap. Removes microsofts file from the system completely. Then as far as windows updates, there is a crack code string. Go to google.com and type in boing boing microsoft. The first link has the string. Copy it into a text file to save for future uses, and then just paste it into the browser when doing updates, hit enter and skip past the authentication BS.

Overclocking the board is just as the others have recommended. You need to drop the HTT multiplier based on how high you take the bus speed. Make sure you keep it @ 1000 or less. Most peeps end up running it at 300x3(900=1800MHz FD HTT), whenever they're overclocking 3000+ to the max on air that is. Also, take your memory down to DDR 266 in order to keep the timings tight. If you get the HTT all the way up to 260 or so.... you wont lose a whole lot off of your memory. DDR266 w/ HTT 310 = real speeds of DDR399, so DDR399 @ 2-2-2-7. Look up the formula on this kinda crap, it all makes sense once you read into it a bit.

Later,


Lefneer311

Edit: If you cant seem to get the HTT above 260 or so, see if you can run the memory @ DDR333 w/ 2-2-2-7. Just for shiggles

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Pabster
You buy a $60 board and expect the same features as a $150 one. Ain't gonna happen.

Nah, he bought a $60 board expecting same features as his other $60 board (see his sig).

 

[Lord Banshee]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: Pabster
You buy a $60 board and expect the same features as a $150 one. Ain't gonna happen.

Nah, he bought a $60 board expecting same features as his other $60 board (see his sig).

werd!! lol

Anyway it seems even a reinstall of XP still AGP Driver and Nvidia Forceware do not like each other... Oh brother doesn't this suck!!!

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

send it back, get a new one, install it correctly, be happy. whats the problem.

 

[Lord Banshee]

I don't think it is a hardware problem. I think it must be a driver problem.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

in 90% its a user problem
U tried to install windows on an empty hdd? Cuz mixing up different chipsets confuses Windows.


btw what bios is it? the 1.20 enables more oc options.

* Memclock Clock: Auto / 133 / 166 / 200
* Bank Interleaving: Auto / Disabled
* Burst Lenght: 2 / 4 / 8 Beats
* CAS latency (TCL): 2,0 / 2,5 / 3,0
* RAS to CAS (Trcd): Auto / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
* Min RAS active time (Tras): Auto / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15
* Row prechrage time (Trp): Auto / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
* MA Timing: 1T / 2T
* Read Preamble: 2,0 bis 9,5 ns
* Asyc Latency: 4,0 bis 11,0 ns

* Overclock Mode: Auto / Synchron / Asynchron
* CPU Frequency: 140 bis 300 MHz
* PCIE Frequency: 70 bis 150 MHz
* Processor Multiplier: 4x bis 25x
* Processor Voltage: 0,800 bis 1,450 Volt
* CPU - NB Link Speed: 200 / 400 / 600 / 800 / 1000 MHz
* CPU - NB Link Width: 8 / 16 Bit
* NB - SB Link Speed: 200 / 400 / 600 / 800 / 1000 MHz
* NB - SB Link Width: 8 / 16 Bit
* DRAM Voltage: Auto / High / Normal

 

[Lord Banshee]

Yes reformated 2 times..

I got it to work 30 minutes ago with 66.93 drivers... 77.77 78.01 77.76 do not work.

I have version 1.21 3 days newer than 1.20.

I don't think it is a user problem because it isn't that hard.

1) reformat
2) Install Windows
3) Install Uli drivers
4) Reformat
5) Install Geforce Drivers

 

[Lord Banshee]

DAMNIT!!!!

Ok the 66.93 drivers installed but i just tried to run 3dmark03, and was gettin 1-10fps!!!

Now this is pissing me OFF!@!@@@!!!

 

[Zap]

Tom's Hardware review on this board

Tom's results showed that the Nvidia PCIe video card (only one they used) gave better performance on the Nvidia chipset motherboard.

Does this mean the ULi chipset drivers are "not as good?" We don't know for sure.

Does this mean Nvidia "optimized" the drivers so that their video and chipset work together "better" than apart? We don't know for sure, but companies have been known to do that whether intentionally or unintentionally. One of the lawsuits against Microsoft was because other Microsoft software were taking advantage of Windows commands that Microsoft never told non-Microsoft developers.

I can also remember something similar happening back with the original Nforce/Nforce2 chipsets and video cards. People with ATI cards were reporting difficulties using them on Nforce chipset boards. Indeed I personally experienced an issue where a Radeon 9600Pro (original built-by ATI back when those were $200) wouldn't give a picture when used in one of my Nforce2 boards, but the board worked fine with my GF4 Ti4200 and the video card worked fine in VIA chipset boards.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried asking about this in the motherboard forum? And, if you can get some more data on this board's performance with Nvidia cards, could you report it here or there? Anandtech really should update their review of the board with more information if it really does have problems with Nvidia cards/drivers.

 

[Lord Banshee]

I have continued my research and ranting to here

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...did=1637097&STARTPAGE=10&enterthread=y

 

[inane]

EDIT'D

nm I found the 'HT' setting (CPU-NB link) but i think my real problem was i had set RAM speed to DDR400 which wasnt dictacing speed, rather the mulitplier thus i was OC'n the hell out of my memory.... im doing much better now

=)