Socket 939 AGP motherboards?

[aelfwyne]

I've got an ASUS A8V currently, and am not looking to switch to AM2 or pciE... however for a couple of reasons I'm considering a new motherboard. I'd like to get a microatx board if possible, but if not, then I'll settle for larger.

Since I have an x800GTO (flashed to 16 pipes), and don't really want to spend the big bucks on a new video card, I'm limited to AGP systems. I'm not willing to compromise on that issue, since a new video card is not in the budget.

So far, what I've found are:
ASRock 939Dual-SATA2/939Dual-VSTA (what's the difference?)
EPoX EP-9HDAI / EP-9NDA3I (only sata 1.5, plus lacking extra audio ports)
Asus A8V-MX (Micro... but only sata 1.5 and bad reviews)

So far, the Dual-VSTA looks to be the board with the best options/reputation... I'm completely unfamiliar with the ULI bios however, and would feel much more comfortable with the nforce3 epox board... However, the epox board lacks sata 3.0, as well as the extra audio jacks.

So, my main holdup with the Dual-VSTA is about the AGP Xpress port. A friend of mine has an intel board that has that port, and his AGP card refused to work in it. How would I know if my Sapphire x800GTO would work in the port? And, also quite important, how much of a performance hit would it take not being in a "real" AGP port? I'm happy with the x800, but obviously it isn't the fastest card on the block, and a performance hit wouldn't be very nice. I've read that the AGP port on these is really just two PCI ports "bonded" together, and as such are missing some of speed/ability of a real AGP port. How big of an issue is that?

 

[Bill Kunert]

There is a long thread in this forum on the 939 Dual SATA2. Goes back at least 2 years. The AGP port is a real AGP port. I had the motherboard and had good luck with it. Upgraded from and AGP card to a PCIe card on it and still no problems. Had a A64 3500+ running at 2.4 GHZ. The only problem with the bios is that memory voltage is limited to about 2.7volts and cpu voltage amxes at 1.45 volts but can be voltmodded to reach about 1.55. Overall a good board and reasonably priced. The dual Vsta is certifed for Vista but I had Vista RC1 and RC2 loaded on my SATA2 and it ran fine.
Bill

 

[aelfwyne]

Hmm... they must have changed with that board, I do remember some earlier ASRock boards that weren't real AGP ports, like the one my friend has..... If it is real AGP then it might well be a contender. That's the main worry I had with that board.

I'm partly nervous that my Asus A8V isn't going to handle the 170 well. Even minor overclocks make it very, very unstable. I have to run at conservative settings even, with increased voltages, just to run my 3500+ at stock speeds! I've read others that say the Asus A8V overclocks well, but that hasn't been my experience. Plus I have a broken memory clip that keeps me from using the second set of memory slots.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: aelfwyne
Hmm... they must have changed with that board, I do remember some earlier ASRock boards that weren't real AGP ports, like the one my friend has..... If it is real AGP then it might well be a contender. That's the main worry I had with that board.

I'm partly nervous that my Asus A8V isn't going to handle the 170 well. Even minor overclocks make it very, very unstable. I have to run at conservative settings even, with increased voltages, just to run my 3500+ at stock speeds! I've read others that say the Asus A8V overclocks well, but that hasn't been my experience. Plus I have a broken memory clip that keeps me from using the second set of memory slots.

I've had the 939Dual-SATA2 for over a year now (though I just sold my CPU and I'm not using it at the moment, hopefully I will be again soon).

The AGP port is indeed a "real" one as the above poster says; I ran an AGP 6800GT in it for 6+ months then upgraded to a PCI-E X1900XT with no issues at all, flawless performance.

It's even pretty good for overclocking too (more recent BIOS versions fix a long-standing HTT speed limitation), other than the voltage limitations. I believe 2.8V is the max for RAM, and 1.45V is the max voltage selectable for single-core CPU's, seems to be 1.40V for dual-cores. I also did the above-mentioned voltmod on my board (allows up to 1.55V) and I had no stability issues running an overclocked CPU. Edit: If you were referring to the Opteron 170 in your post, that's the exact CPU I ran in my board for a year (and just sold because I needed the money🙁). No issues at all.

Basically IMO it's the best Socket 939 AGP board you're ever going to find (I don't know what, if anything, they really changed for the 'VSTA' revision). It's not perfect, but it's a great value and does a lot of things well. It would also allow you to upgrade to a PCI-Express video card later on without having to swap out the motherboard again....

Let me know if you have any more questions about the board, I'm the one who started and maintained the 1600+ post thread that Bill was referring to (though it hasn't been very active in the past month or two).