ASRock 775Dual-VSTA for Conroe (Core2) with both AGP/PCI-E and DDR1/DDR2 support

artaxerxes · 29 Aug 2007 at 18:00

3 different USB keyboards? I keep a PS/2 one handy for this, but the 4CORE has good support for USBs so I am not sure that is your problem.

Try finishing the install in another PC, then remove the IDE drivers, and boot it up the ASROCK.

artaxerxes · 29 Aug 2007 at 18:02

SiSoftware Sandra

I wouldn't rush to upgrade to the new BIOS...

2.0 BIOS

Benchmark Results
Cache/Memory Bandwidth : 14255 MB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.
Speed Factor : 60.40
Results Interpretation : Lower index values are better.

1.8 BIOS

Benchmark Results
Cache/Memory Bandwidth : 15257 MB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.
Speed Factor : 51.20
Results Interpretation : Lower index values are better.

jojothemonkey69 · 30 Aug 2007 at 13:54

artaxerxes said:
3 different USB keyboards? I keep a PS/2 one handy for this, but the 4CORE has good support for USBs so I am not sure that is your problem.

Try finishing the install in another PC, then remove the IDE drivers, and boot it up the ASROCK.

This is proving difficult as my pc uses SATA and this harddrive doesn't.
Don't want to buy another HDD as it may still not work.

Is there a jumper to enable the usb ports as have tried both front and back as well as the PS/2 one???

Any advice is appreciated.
Joe

ron3003 · 30 Aug 2007 at 16:41

Enter bios by pressing F2 as the machine posts, move across to advanced then down to usb and enable legacy support, move back up then across to exit and save the settings. See if that fixes it.

jojothemonkey69 · 30 Aug 2007 at 18:09

ron3003 said:
Enter bios by pressing F2 as the machine posts, move across to advanced then down to usb and enable legacy support, move back up then across to exit and save the settings. See if that fixes it.

My keyboard is not responding at all. this has been tested with two usb keyboards in many different usb ports (front and back) and a ps/2 keyboard. It's not responding at all. No lights or anything

ron3003 · 30 Aug 2007 at 19:39

Try resetting the cmos and then just with a ps2 keyboard, one that you know works on a different pc..

artaxerxes · 30 Aug 2007 at 20:17

jojothemonkey69 said:
The computer goes through the various loading screen then it comes up with the options :
Press enter to install windows
Press R to repair a partition
Press F3 or something to cancel etc etc

This is where the problem lies - The keyboard doesn't work.

Re-reading I understand the keyboard doesn't respond at all!

Reset CMOS as suggested, and then try again. If that fails then build the board outside the case on the mobo box. If that fails then RMA the board.

jojothemonkey69 · 30 Aug 2007 at 23:21

artaxerxes said:
Re-reading I understand the keyboard doesn't respond at all!

Reset CMOS as suggested, and then try again. If that fails then build the board outside the case on the mobo box. If that fails then RMA the board.

The CMOS reset didn't work. I'm going to get a mate to have a look at it tomorrow. Hope I can still RMA the board was bought in late July over a month ago. Thanks for your input

ron3003 · 31 Aug 2007 at 00:25

I'd pull everything you've wired up to the board off and start again. Make sure you know what you're doing especially if you're wiring up any front usb ports. Getting this wrong can cause what you're experiencing including the ps2 ports not working.

jazzy639 · 31 Aug 2007 at 00:39

Hello!!!!

I have just bought the Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA and the E4500.

I will be using my two 512MB sticks of Kingston Value DDR-400 RAM, nVIDIA 7600GT 256MB AGP card and SATA P120 Samsung 200GB HDD.

Will I be able to hit 3GHz, as thats only a FSB of 273MHz?

Will everything be compatible? Also got an Audigy Player sound card and Belkin 11Mbps Wi-Fi.

Thanks in advance!

Gothic Draconia · 31 Aug 2007 at 08:46

warning

jazzy639 said:
Hello!!!!

I have just bought the Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA and the E4500.

I will be using my two 512MB sticks of Kingston Value DDR-400 RAM, nVIDIA 7600GT 256MB AGP card and SATA P120 Samsung 200GB HDD.

Will I be able to hit 3GHz, as thats only a FSB of 273MHz?

Will everything be compatible? Also got an Audigy Player sound card and Belkin 11Mbps Wi-Fi.

Thanks in advance!

Please see my thread regarding the 4core motherboard, Nvidia AGP cards and 2D graphics corruption in Vista. It is a common issue when running Vista if you use any drivers except the generic Nvidia driver included in Vista.

Master Skooter · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:09

I'm currently using my old Corsair PC3200 (2x1Gig) in this board.

It's my son's birthday soon & i was going to buy him 2Gig of PC3200, but now thinking about giving him mine & upgrading mine to something faster.

Any recommendations?

Cheers
Scott

artaxerxes · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:22

Master Skooter said:
I'm currently using my old Corsair PC3200 (2x1Gig) in this board.

It's my son's birthday soon & i was going to buy him 2Gig of PC3200, but now thinking about giving him mine & upgrading mine to something faster.

Any recommendations?

Cheers
Scott

The board doesn't support 2gig modules and there is no advantage for DDR II in this board, if it is running at the same speeds and latencies as DDR.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2810&p=2

This is the predecessor boad to our 4 Core (basically identical).

I can see no compelling upgrade memory path from where you are. Unless you want flashing leds and inbuilt fans!

Ultra low latency DDRII would be nice but not worth it for the return.

Munky1080 · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:34

jazzy639 said:
Hello!!!!

I have just bought the Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA and the E4500.

I will be using my two 512MB sticks of Kingston Value DDR-400 RAM, nVIDIA 7600GT 256MB AGP card and SATA P120 Samsung 200GB HDD.

Will I be able to hit 3GHz, as thats only a FSB of 273MHz?

Will everything be compatible? Also got an Audigy Player sound card and Belkin 11Mbps Wi-Fi.

Thanks in advance!

I guarantee it. Most people seem to get FSB cutoffs at 285-290. Mine goes up to 305 before not POSTING. 273 should be easy

artaxerxes · 31 Aug 2007 at 14:09

I hit 300fsb with AGP gfx, and only 270 fsb or so with the PCI-E gfx. 35% or 50% overclock on a board this cheap is still very pleasing!

Master Skooter · 31 Aug 2007 at 14:44

artaxerxes said:
The board doesn't support 2gig modules and there is no advantage for DDR II in this board, if it is running at the same speeds and latencies as DDR.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2810&p=2

This is the predecessor boad to our 4 Core (basically identical).

I can see no compelling upgrade memory path from where you are. Unless you want flashing leds and inbuilt fans!

Ultra low latency DDRII would be nice but not worth it for the return.

I'll stick with what i have & source him similar. Looking on the MM, it seemed as though DDRII RAM wasn't any more expensive than DDR, so thought i'd might be able to benefit from it. Ah well, thanks for replying

artaxerxes · 31 Aug 2007 at 15:18

I got this board for DDR support and AGP. I now have the DDR II (as it was so cheap) and PCI-E, so I could swap the board out...

If you aim to do the same, you could incrementally upgrade, memory, graphics and then board. I'll probably get one of the DDR II / III boards.

These 4Core mobos always sell swiftly on the MM too, for about £30. So it is an easy path.

jazzy639 · 31 Aug 2007 at 15:40

So just to check:

I know that using a PCI-E gfx card will overclock less than an AGP, does using SATA(2) matter?

Master Skooter · 31 Aug 2007 at 15:43

artaxerxes said:
I got this board for DDR support and AGP. I now have the DDR II (as it was so cheap) and PCI-E, so I could swap the board out...

If you aim to do the same, you could incrementally upgrade, memory, graphics and then board. I'll probably get one of the DDR II / III boards.

These 4Core mobos always sell swiftly on the MM too, for about £30. So it is an easy path.

Actually thats probably my best option. I bought the board with a 4400, planning to upgrade my AGP card & RAM at a later date. I actually ended up buying a card at the same time, so if i buy DDRII now i'd only have the board to upgrade.

Seeing as though the RAM seems cheap on MM i might as well go for it. What RAM should i got for? (Soz for the noob question).

artaxerxes · 31 Aug 2007 at 16:45

Master Skooter said:
Seeing as though the RAM seems cheap on MM i might as well go for it. What RAM should i got for? (Soz for the noob question).

Given the 300 FSB top out for this board anything else is overkill. However if you are thinking about swapping the board, and then later the chip... plan for that.

I am using bog standard Kingston Valueram 1Gb 667MHz DDR 2 None Ecc Cl5. I would recommend the GEIL if buying new, costwise and reliability, or whatever turns up cheap on the MM! I don't recall any issues with any RAM as long as the voltage is set high.

jazzy639 said:
So just to check:

I know that using a PCI-E gfx card will overclock less than an AGP, does using SATA(2) matter?

PCI-E versus AGP

AGP seems to allow higher clocks. Why? No real clue, just experience. Anecdotally the PCI-E sync also matters if you are using SATA drives, apparently you will see corruption at 110 PCI-E. I am a little unclear of the link between SATA and the PCI-E , but have read about it several times.

When I was AGP i had the PCI-E async, and at 100, as I am running SATA HDD and opticals. So that doesn't seem to be the obstacle. Actual PCI-E cards are.