Hi guys,
I've just purchased a ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA,
is there anyone who knows how to volt-mod this mobo? It should be similar to the 775Dual-VSTA.
I'm interested in all v-mods possible: Vcore, Vagp, Vnorthbridge, Vdimm for DDR1 and Vdimm for DDR2...

I hope someone can help
thanx

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[Mallet]

From what I have read it is basically the same board with some minor updates to support quad core.

Have you looked at this thread... 775dual-vsta VDDR mod

*for the Vdimm mod, if the ic in the ddr mod picture is the RT9202, the mod should be the same, attach 20k ohm VR to ground.

*for the Vagp and Vnb(i think this is Vmch too, not sure though) Check the resistors indicated in the photo. For Vagp resistor, one side should read about 1.9k ohms relative to ground, and the other side should be ground. For the Vnb they are about 1k ohms and 0 ohms.

For the cpu, the easiest way is to use shaminos pin mods.

[Nosfer@tu]

Cant you do the pin mod for the Vcpu mod?

[yantronic]

Originally Posted by Nosfer@tu

Cant you do the pin mod for the Vcpu mod?

Yes, it is pretty much universal.

Hi at all,

I have ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA , and i read this tread.

V-AGP e V-NB

I have found both Vagp and Vnb.

The voltage measure points for them are:
Vagp --> the upper leg of the mosfet between the pci-e slot and the agp slot. I had to take out my agp card and power up the system to check this voltage with the multimeter

Vnb --> the upper leg of either mosfet between the northbridge heatsink and the 20pin molex connector.

There are the grabber, the points are right?

V-NB:


Voltage NB:



Why is to 1,77V?


V-AGP , setting High o Normal in bios there isn't differences of voltage



Voltage AGP??(2,10V!!!)




What do you think?

[Mallet]

hmmmm... see my reply to your post in the other thread. The points you connected the grabbers to should be correct. Test the multimeter on something else maybe.

[Alannn]

hi McTurbo, may I know did u buy the mobo from SLS? if yes which shop and how much?

thks

[jimmor]

Since a 4CoreDual-VSTA and a E4300 conroe are a very cheapish way to achieve an excellent system performance upgrade, I decided to determine which of the much talked about mobo mods were actually necessary to achieve overclocks of 300 and beyond?

At first switchon, a straight out of the box Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA would not boot with E4300, 2x512Mb Geil DDR, XFX7800GS and Creative SB Live sound card. Since the added hardware was known to work ok on a Conroe865pe, the problem was obviously new mobo related. And subsequently found to be CMOS "supplied stored data" problem. Once CMOS was cleared, by shorting out link on pcb, system booted ok.

From initially wanting to just determine closest to FSB of 300MHz (Core at 2.7GHz) with no mobo mods, actually found 300MHz to be easily achievable with only following minimal changes to mobo bios default options:-

CPU SETTINGS TAB:

Mode = CPU,PCIE,Async
CPU frequency = 300
PCIE frequency = 100
PCI frequency = 33.33
Spread Spectrum = Auto
Boot Failure Guard = Enabled
Max CPUID = Disabled
CPU Throttling = Enabled
No-Execute Memory =Disabled
Speed-Step = Disabled


CHIPSET SETTINGS TAB:

Flexible Option = Enabled
DRAM Command Rate = 1T
DRAM Volts = High
AGP Volts = High
Primary Graphics = AGP
AGP Mode 8x
Fastwrites = Enabled
Aperture = 128Mb
V-Link Speed = Fast
IDE Drive Strength = Highest
Onboard LAN = Disabled
Onboard HD Audio = Disabled


However, depending on quality of DDR, it may be necessary to set DRAM Command Rate to 2T and V-Link Speed to Normal??


In Windows, CPUZ shows CPU at 2.7GHz, with DDR running 3:4 fsb ratio with DDR at 225MHz @ 2.5,3,3,5,1T. And further testing with Everest, Hot CPU tester, 3Dmark01 and 3Dmark05 indicated overall system performance very similar to achievable with Asrock Conroe865pe mobo ---> so very acceptable.

Unfortunately whilst trying to determine max achievable FSB above 300MHz, found even when/if computer would boot, windows would not boot at anything over 300MHz ----> Not even 1MHz. Occasionally could see DDR recognition errors during bootup display. So could simply be Via chipset 300+ Mem/CPU ratio selection/switching which is just causing DDR instability; who knows?

Mind you, so far NO MODS have been required to achieve 300MHz/2.7GHz !!

However, since people using E6xxx series Conroes can achieve 300 plus overclocks, my next step will probably involve a 1066Mhz BSEL mod to the E4300 in order that the Via chipset think it is a E6600, and thus hopefully not crap out at 300+ MHz ---> so watch this space?

Of course it would also be interesting if other users of 4300's and this mobo could post their findings against the above, including if BSEL mod to CPU is all that is required to achieve 300 plus overclocks?



EDIT,

CPU 1066 BSEL mod worked ok, so now mobo boots at 266MHz/2.4GHz. But no change with max FSB overclock. So stuck with 300/2.7GHz in order to determine which bios options would achieve most efficient use of my good quality Geil UltraX 550 DDR.

After much bios tweaking and testing it appears that important bios parameters are generally out of a users control. For example, at around 300MHz and regardless of DRAM bios setting of AUTO, 400, 266 or 133, my Geil DDR got locked into one setting; usually, but not always, 266. Happened regardless of using normal DDR500 or UltraX DDR550 sticks, and in spite of also playing around with latencies. Using my variations of DDR types/parameters and chipset "flexible" settings, observed using CPUZ seamingly unrelated and inconsistant FSB ratios of anywhere between 2:1, 4:3 or 8:6. Which sometimes meant a worst case of sometimes booting CPU at 2.7GHz and DDR at 150MHz --> definitely not very efficient use of memory? And other than the fact that everything could be reset by clearing the CMOS and you could start again, the final selection of FSB ratio appeared invariably out of user control; unless we just accept that the ability to intermix DRAM speed selections and every Latency change untill the FSB Ratio we want appears as being user control ? ===> weird ===> and obviously not DDR friendly. Hopefully people with DDR2 have better luck with their memory stability, and setting fsb ratios that hold ?

Specific to using UltraX DDR550 was that bios's chipset "Flexible" option had to be at ENABLED, otherwise instability and lockups would periodically bite you. Which then sometimes required a full CMOS clearing to reset the problem. Using higher SPD latency Geil DDR 500 created no such issues regardless of "flexible" setting, which probably just means that the 4CoreDual-VSTA design favours slower memory. So, without going into all my testing, and unlike experience with Asrock 775i65G and Conroe865pe mobos, it appears the 4CoreDual-VSTA bios and/or mobo is "deliberately designed" to automatically override a users DRAM bios settings; even what to me appear sensible choices ---> is this a genuine asrock attempt at ensuring more stable mobo setups in spite of the user; or just a another case of POORLY designed Mobo and/or Bios software which will be resolved through future mobo/bios updates ??


Moving on to proving that minimal modding will allow any 4coreDual-VSTA/E4300 combo to be overclocked above 300 ?

Since a 4CoreDual-VSTA is essentially same design as 775Dual-VSTA, and because I believe increasing Vagp is the most important way of improving max FSB overclock, I carried out the known simple 775Dual-VSTA Vagp "pencil" mod with the following results:-

Default Bios Vagp "high" setting = 1.61v = 300Mhz = 2.7GHz

Vagp pencilled to 1.82v = 315MHz = 2.835GHz
Vagp pencilled to 1.87v = 317Mhz = 2.853GHz

Since the principle of gaining "reasonable" 300 plus overclocks with minimal modding was adequately proven, I stopped pencilling at 1.87v because believed necessary harder pencilling was likely to break the resister ---> and then where would I be?

From simple extrapolation of above results it appears that my particular mobo would require Vagp somewhere around 2+ volts to achieve 320+ (2.88GHz+) levels. Of course whether 2 volts or above is an acceptable, or safe longterm, chipset AGP level is currently unknown --> so should probably only be done by people with money to spare?

One very strange, but definitely not desirable, side effect I have noticed when overclocking above 300MHz was that although all "system" orientated tests indicated better "performance" against FSB increases, other testing like for example 3dmark05 actually produced decreasing scores against FSB increases. An 8.5K score at 2.7GHz could for example become 8.25K at 2.85GHz.

Would be extremely interesting to know if this apparent ever decreasing VGA performance issue for speeds above 2.7GHz happens in other peoples 7800GS AGP setups ??

So as a bottom line, would I recommend this relatively easy to overclock a E4300 to 2.8+GHz Mobo ---> NO, unless you are simply looking for a cheap interim DDR2 and/or PCI-E solution. For people with AGP and DDR requirements, and despite its max o/c of only 2.7GHz, I would recommend the Conroe865pe because it is more stable and via bios options that actually work, properly caters for different types/speeds of DDR !

The Conroe865pe is also the best upgrade solution for people who currently have 875 chipset mobo's since there should be no requirement to reinstall windows ---> whch will not be the case if you choose to go for a 4CoreDual-VSTA !

I am using the 4Core Dual with 2x1GB Kingston Hyperx PC3200 and with FSB at 300 the RAM is running rock solid at stock voltage at 225 (2-3-3-8 1T) with a ratio of 4:3.

If your ratio is going all over the places every time you reboot you either have a bad board or bad ram. That's simply not normal.

Max

[jimmor]

Originally Posted by Max775

I am using the 4Core Dual with 2x1GB Kingston Hyperx PC3200 and with FSB at 300 the RAM is running rock solid at stock voltage at 225 (2-3-3-8 1T) with a ratio of 4:3.

If your ratio is going all over the places every time you reboot you either have a bad board or bad ram. That's simply not normal.

Max

It's not all over the place every time I reboot, it only happens sometimes when rebooting!

Also since found my 4300 (with 1066 BSEL mod)/mobo combo appears to work better with v1.40 bios.

So yes of course my problems could have been caused by a faulty mobo, especially since I also had to clear the CMOS so many times to get things working; mind you the need to clear CMOS more than should be necessary has happened with 2 4CoreDual-VSTA mobo's so far. Also could be DDR issues, maybe just mobo's default Vdimm selections may not be most compat for my particular Geil DDR.

And although In time I will probably find the right bios and volts combinations for proper stability, my previous posting was actually supposed to be about overclocking a 4CoreDual-VSTA above 300MHz; where as posted, with minimal modding I easily achieved 317MHz/2.853GHz. So my comments on DDR/mobo stablity issues were more about letting off a bit of steam over what to me appeared the most unfriendly mobo I have ever owned.

However not much bothered with current 4CoreDual-VSTA issues, since it's used in a second less important computer. I use a Conroe865pe as my main conroe mobo ---> much better stability and more usable with current AGP/DDR/EIDE requirements ---> runs great at 2.7GHz/300MHz at 5:4; and even allows running 1:1 at 280Mhz/2.52GHz.

Hi,

Sorry to trouble u all but i have a problem with the onboard lan.

My configuration is: Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA 775 Motherboard, Intel D 915, 2x512 DDR 400, ATI Radeon 9550 256 mb 128 bit AGP, PCI tv-tunner ASUS MyCinema P7131 DUAL, 200gb SEAGATE SATA 150.
I am running Windows XP and I am able to install the 10/100 onboard LAN (VIA Rhine II), but the local area connection alway prompts "network cable is unplgged". I have tried the enable/disable bios setup command several times but no luck. I have tried several bios setups and the default settings also but still no luck. I am absolutely sure the cable is working for when i plugg it in another PC it's working. I have tried setting IP's and DNS's but won't work (obviously since I get "network cable is unplgged" wouldn't expect it to work this way ). I have used my waranty and exchanged the motherboard for another one (same model). Still the same problem. PLEASE HELP !!!!!

[jeuda]

Just try another lan cable.

Which resistors i pencil for Vmod DDR (I),to
give my MEM more voltage.
Thanks

[jimmor]

Originally Posted by luka

Which resistors i pencil for Vmod DDR (I),to
give my MEM more voltage.
Thanks

Same as shown for 775Dual-VSTA mobo at linked post below,

775dual-vsta VDDR mod

Hi All!

I have a quick question for Jimmor or anyone else that would care to give me their opinion

I have a couple of decent AGP cards & 3 pairs of 2 X 512mb sticks of DDR - Crucial Ballistix, Corsair XMS & Kingston Hyper X to experiment with

I'd like to grab an E4300 or E4400 & one of the Asrock boards for my next build, since the Conroe 865PE boards aren't available here in the States which board would be my best option for a stable 300FSB to start with?

775 Dual-VSTA

4 Core Dual-VSTA

775i65G

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated

TIA - Regards, Szandor