Unofficial Asrock P45/P43 board thread

[PUN]

just ordered from newegg to go with Q6600
it supports crossfire/sli, wifi, dual lan, firewire, OC tuner, DDR2/DDR3, etc
review from proclocker seems to be up and par with Gigabyte x48

what do u guys think?

ASRock P45R2000-WIFI review

07/21/08
New Bios is available
1.30

Set FSB jumper1 = (1-2)-3
FSB jumper2 = 1-2-(3-4)
FSB jumper3 = 1-2-(3-4)
for 1600FSB

 

[aussieburger]

Could you please post a link to the proclocker review? Can't seem to find it

EDIT: thanks for adding the link

 

[toadeater]

Once again ASRock releases a board with completely inadequate cooling.

 

[PUN]

I prefer the passive heatsink on the chips...if I need to o/c 450-500fsb, then you could always attach a fan.

 

[toadeater]

Originally posted by: PUN
I prefer the passive heatsink on the chips...if I need to o/c 450-500fsb, then you could always attach a fan.

Well, just for comparison look at the cooling on some boards in the same price range:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131295
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813130184
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813138123

$140 is no longer a budget board, but it's still got budget cooling. I hope it at least overclocks well. Let us know how it does.

 

[PUN]

all those board you've listed does not come with 1/2 the feature of the asrock
wifi, firewire, SPIDF/optical out, crossfire/card, dual lan, etc

they are still passive cooling with little fancier looking hs.

 

[toadeater]

Originally posted by: PUN
all those board you've listed does not come with 1/2 the feature of the asrock
wifi, firewire, SPIDF/optical out, crossfire/card, dual lan, etc

they are still passive cooling with little fancier looking hs.

I listed some boards to show you the cooling they have in that price range. Most midrange P45 boards come with Crossfire, the $150 Asus P5Q Pro and Gigabyte EP45-DS3R have all the features of the ASRock except for the $12 quality wifi card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...13131299&Tpk=p5q%2bpro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...13128344&Tpk=ep45-ds3r

I'd still like to hear how well the ASRock overclocks without adding a fan to the Northbridge. I know the boards I listed can do 500 FSB with a dual-core without active cooling on the NB.

 

[PUN]

Gigabyte has most of the features of the ASRock but not Asus P5Q

Both don't support DDR3 as well which is a huge downside.

I have DDR2 800 so not sure if I can take it upto 500fsb. My 6600 is also locked at 9x
is it possible to change without the hard mod?

 

[aussieburger]

no it's not possible to change the muliplier. So currently you've got the board O/C'd to 377 FSB? So what is the limiting factor to get to 400 FSB to match your RAM 1:1? I've forgotten what the max for a Q6600 is but 3.4ghz seems pretty good so maybe that is it on air!

EDIT: Going by the Bios screenshots in the review you posted there is no way to set the cpu:ram fsb ratio and you have to set your RAM frequency so it is determined 'automatically' by the asrock bios?

 

[PUN]

I think my ram can go upto 400fsb since it's DDR2 800 (?)
I have not tried any higher because I didn't feel comfortable raising the volts.
what is a safe volts without damaging the cpu?

 

[aussieburger]

Originally posted by: PUN
I think my ram can go upto 400fsb since it's DDR2 800 (?)
I have not tried any higher because I didn't feel comfortable raising the volts.
what is a safe volts without damaging the cpu?

Depends who you ask - it is documented you 'can' go up to 1.5v (but then of course you really have to watch the heat generated!!) but for me I wouldn't go above 1.4v for 14/7 usage.

So you are CPU limited then since you need to raise the voltage to continue. That is good news for higher multi and better stepping CPU owners then ... I plan on getting a E8400 soon and will try it out with a similar ASRock board (P43Twins1600).

It would be nice to know what fsb:ram frequency (and therefore your actual resulting memory frequency) that the bios is setting at.

 

[PUN]

Originally posted by: aussieburger

Originally posted by: PUN
I think my ram can go upto 400fsb since it's DDR2 800 (?)
I have not tried any higher because I didn't feel comfortable raising the volts.
what is a safe volts without damaging the cpu?

Depends who you ask - it is documented you 'can' go up to 1.5v (but then of course you really have to watch the heat generated!!) but for me I wouldn't go above 1.4v for 14/7 usage.

So you are CPU limited then since you need to raise the voltage to continue. That is good news for higher multi and better stepping CPU owners then ... I plan on getting a E8400 soon and will try it out with a similar ASRock board (P43Twins1600).

It would be nice to know what fsb:ram frequency (and therefore your actual resulting memory frequency) that the bios is setting at.

When I goto DRAM settings
it has DDR2 567mhz
DDR2 800
DDR2 1066
etc

So I had set the FSB at 377 and set the DRAM at DDR2 800
I was thinking about raising it to 1066 but since mine is rated at 800, I had left it at that.

 

[PUN]

Originally posted by: aussieburger
no it's not possible to change the muliplier. So currently you've got the board O/C'd to 377 FSB? So what is the limiting factor to get to 400 FSB to match your RAM 1:1? I've forgotten what the max for a Q6600 is but 3.4ghz seems pretty good so maybe that is it on air!

EDIT: Going by the Bios screenshots in the review you posted there is no way to set the cpu:ram fsb ratio and you have to set your RAM frequency so it is determined 'automatically' by the asrock bios?

There is an option for AUTO and Manual
Manual you can select 800, 1066, etc
This option is nice since I can o/c CPU without o/c the ram.
this option is also available for PCI-E as well

Under the MB spec, it shows that O/C mode supports FSB2000
so I guess 500fsb is fine with the board

This board comes with pretty much everything needed to o/c, including ASRock O/C utility under windows.

EDIT: it also comes with IOT (standard for P45 chipset)

 

[aussieburger]

If possible it would be interesting if you could please check the following:

get cpuz if you don't already have: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
and in the Memory tab check:
- Frequency
&
- FSBRAM
(the top 2 in the Timings frame)

This will show your actual memory frequency and the fsb:ram ratio. I had an older ASRock board that would randomly pick a strange ratio resulting in an unexpected actual memory frequency even though I had set it at DDR2 800mhz in the bios.

Cheers!

 

[PUN]

Just downloaded.
Nice program

It shows 1:1

 

[PUN]

Anyone else with this board?
All reviews on the web are nothing but positive.
Dual GigLAN, Premium AC Audio 7.1 , eSATA, WIFI, CF, etc

 

[aussieburger]

Hi Pun,

So the ASRock board I won P43Twins1600 has arrived and I've set it all up From what I see from your link above the Bios' on these boards are the same. Could you post what settings you used for the first advanced page (CPU Configuration)? I'm having trouble getting it past 300 FSB and I'm not familar with all these bios options coming from a P965 board

Cheers!

EDIT: Overclocking issue fixed (see my next post) It was the FSB jumper.

 

[PUN]

Yes, their bios are the same. I just upgraded the bios last night to 1.30 but don't do it.
It locks the DRAM value.

CPU setting is something like

Manual
380FSB
Ratio (fixed) x9
Spread spectrum enabled
Intel Speedstep Disabled

Your board supports upto 500FSB from what I've read.

I kept all the voltage setting under default (DRAM, NB, SB, etc) except the CPU vcore.



EDIT: if else fails, try updating the bios. Supposedly better CPU and Memory compatibility

I have Q6600 and Corsair XMS DDR2 800

 

[toadeater]

Originally posted by: PUN
Spread spectrum enabled

That may reduce stability. Better to disable it.

 

[PUN]

toadeater,
thanks, i wasn't sure what it was so left it under default.

 

[aussieburger]

Ok so I found out the overclocking problem I was having with this board. There is a FSB jumper that should be set to the maximum (1600 FSB) and then there is really no limit to this board! Overclocked straight to 420 FSB no worries ... didn't need to tweak anything. And I feel it could easily go much higher but my RAM max is only around 430 (so 860mhz) when overclocked, so I can't go any higher at the moment until I get better RAM and/or a high multi cpu. Highly recommend this board for anyone wanting a big overclock, lots of features for not much money!

Originally posted by: PUN
Yes, their bios are the same. I just upgraded the bios last night to 1.30 but don't do it.
It locks the DRAM value.

To late I had already upgraded to the latest and noticed the same but actually it is doing the opposite! - while it is greyed out 'locked' in the Bios this is just because with this high jumper setting you actually cannot lock the RAM frequency meaning the FSB is always 1:1 which is great for overclocking! You can check this your self in cpuz and see the actual memory frequency and ratio (1:1).

 

[PUN]

I had forgot about the 1066/1333/1600FSB jumper. I had set mine to 1600 as well.
The reason why I had problem with DRMA being locked with 1.30 bios is because I had originally wanted higher DRAM setting.

Nice you are getting a good result!

 

[dustman52]

Just thought I would mention my recent success in overclocking with the ASrock P45r2000. I was able to get a e7200 to 3.2 ghz with minimal effort. The biggest obstacle was what many on this thread struggled with figuring out. Changing the jumpers to the 1600. Once I did that things worked out fine. I did have to up my CPU voltage in order to obtain that speed. From my research the performance jumps to 3.2 ghz, and then kind of levels off after that.

I'm surprise more people haven't taken a chance with this motherboard. This is my first system I've build, and I couldn't be happier. I've had to do my fair sure of trouble shooting. This board has been very durable. It also gives above average performance. Once DDR3 ram drops in price I'll be upgrading as well.

 

[mynameisphunk]

Checking in with a newly built system and my results so far.

The setup:
Asrock P43Twins1600 motherboard
Intel Pentium E2180 - 10x200 stock
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro heatsink & fan
4GB (2x2) A-Data DDR2 800
Antec Three Hundred case
PNY 8800GT 512MB
Seagate 7200.11 320GB HD
WD Green Power 750GB HD
NEC DVD-RW
Antec Earthwatts 80+ 500w PSU

This is the third E2180 system I've built this week, and my personal computer (the other two were for friends). The first was with a cheap XFX mATX board that was $20 after rebate in a bundle with the E2180 - that system is using the onboard Geforce 7150 graphics. The next system was on a Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L mATX board, using the same PNY 8800GT I'm using in mine. Both of those are using stock heatsink (I am not).

(I was in a time crunch on playing with these two systems, as their respective owners were there for the build and Windows install/tweaking, and were leaving with the computers)

Build 1 - Ironically....the crap XFX motherboard is the only one of the 3 that would do 300x10 on stock voltage stably. That system has the cheapest motherboard w/ a very basic and not particularly intuitive BIOS, and the crappiest power supply (a 400w Rosewill that came in a $20 case), but is rock solid at 300x10 with the stock heatsink, and hits a max of 56C under load. I was not trying to push the limits on that system, as the user is not particularly savvy at tweaking - just wanted a good budget system.

Build 2 - LOVE the BIOS on the Gigabyte board - seriously pretty amazing. Would not boot at 300x10 at stock voltage. Had to raise the voltage a bit to get it to boot into Windows @ 300x10, but the Gigabyte board's voltage options were pretty limited IIRC and the "auto" feature upped the voltage by too much - temps climbed precipitously in Prime95 at 3ghz. I backed it down to 300x9 (2.7ghz) at stock voltage - runs a little warmer than the first system (59C load) due to case differences, but still a great running machine for the $$.

Build 3 (mine, w/ the Asrock board) - Extremely full featured BIOS, but simple enough to find the settings that matter for a basic user and leave most things @ auto. Amazing board for paltry sum of $69.99 I paid at Newegg. The Freezer 7 Pro + Antec Three Hundred case (140mm and 120mm exhaust fans directly next to the heatsink) keep things very cool - about 25C idle 50C load while overclocked at 1.4375 volts, with the heatsink fan @ 3 of 10 (800-900 RPM) and both exhaust fans on low. Nearly silent to my ears. I played around with multipliers 8-10, FSB's from 200-425. The processor I have does not seem to be stable above 3.2ghz, regardless of the voltage I give it (within reason, I haven't gone above 1.5V). I've tried 8x400+, 9x380+, 10x330+...all of them will boot into Windows at 3.4ghz+, but are not prime95 stable - and 400x9 = 3.6ghz would post (1.475V), but not boot (even when increased to 1.5V). It seems the sweet spot is 400x8 for me, keeping my RAM 1:1 @ DDR2 800 speeds. All of my voltages are on "Auto" except for CPU, which I have to keep at 1.4375 to maintain stability during stress testing.

I have no real experience with more expensive boards, but I can truly say that this board is a hell of a buy. $70 processor + $70 motherboard - definitely can't complain. SuperPi 1M is 18.891s @ 400x8.

 

[mynameisphunk]

I lied. Not Prime95 stable at 400x8 @ 1.4375V. Currently trying 9x356 (RAM at 856, bumped the RAM voltage to 1.9V). Bumped the heatsink fan speed a bit (now at 6 of 9, still pretty quiet), and will up the voltage a bit if I can't get either one of these completely stable at this voltage.