Info on Asrock mobos & its support 4 AGP8X & PCI-E x16

[andysmith45]

I am planning on getting ASRock 775Dual-915GL or ASRock 775Dual-915GV mobo. Which one is better? Also how does these Asrock mobos compare with other motherboards from MSI & Gigabyte with the same chipset and within the same price range in terms of speed and stability?

I also would like to know about the quality of the LAN card provided with these Asrock mobos.

I have heard that the Asrock AGI slot is basically AGP 4X running on PCI bus. Is this true for the above motherboards? If yes, will my AGP8X card run at 4X or 8X? Is the onboard PCI x16 slot actually a PCI-E x4 slot working at 2 Gbps or is it the real one working at 8 Gbps?

 

[Sourabh]

there are too many non-standard components in these Asrock boards that they should be used just as a upgrade option when you dont have much of an option to upgrade in your existing config. its not that these boards have bad built, but they target a different segment. So in my personal opinion, stick with Intel, Asus, MSI, gigabyte counter parts.

Moreover availability is always as issue with asrock. LAN on both those boards are Realtek 10/100 ethernet lan, so if you want it better, you would have to search for boards which offer gigabit lan.

abt the agi 8x, and agi pci express you have got it right.

 

[andysmith45]

Sourabh, could u plz elaborate on the many non-standard components in these Asrock mobos?

I am more inclined towards the 775Dual-915GL mobo. Which one would u suggest; 775Dual-915GV or 775Dual-915GL?


As far as I know, Asrock 775Dual-915GL mobo have the following drawbacks:

1. No DDR2 533 support
2. No genuine PCIe x16 support. Ditto for AGP 8X.


I have a few more questions regarding this mobo:

1. Does it have 4 or 8 USB 2.0 ports?

2. Will it be a bottleneck for writing a DVD at 16X?

3. What does support for advanced Intel EM64T CPU means?

4. Will there be a big drop in framerate (>15%) when using an 8X AGP card on Asrock's AGI slot as compared to a native AGP 8X slot?

5. Does it support RAID (SATA)?

6. What about stability? Can it cause my comp to crash more often?

7. I need the LAN card only for connecting my ADSL modem. Will Realtek 10/100 ethernet LAN cause a bottleneck in speed?

The main reason why I want to buy this mobo is because I have a FX5700 (128MB, 8X) AGP card and I am in no position to junk this and buy a better one. At the same time, I want a mobo which will allow me to easily upgrade my graphics card in say 1-2 years time without aving to change the mobo too.

Thx.

 

[yash]

well i`m glad u cleared that out i was going in for asrok too because i had already bought an agp card but my mobo dosent support any other smps and the current one is not sufficient

 

[KHUBBU]

Asrock mobos are cr*p, dont ever go for them.
Capacitors leak, u r never sure which gfx card will bw suppported & which wont be, cramped layout, RAM slots at awkward position u hav to take gfx card out first, god knows what bandwith they provide to the gfx card 4x , i guess? and one more thing, gets too hot MBM and Sisoft report high temp dont know whether it is software prob or mobo prob

I'm using Asrock mobo, got it with my Zenith PC - the biggest tech mistake I made.

 

[andysmith45]

Thx for the replies. I am starting to have 2nd thoughts about asrock mobo.

Khubbu, what is the model no. of ur asrock mobo & what r the system and cpu temperatures that u r getting with Asrock mobo? Do u have to use any special cooling solutions or software to keep the temp. under control?

 

[Sourabh]

Can you specify your budget for the system and what you intend it for. Firstly like i said before, availability of these motherboards is a doubt. And one should opt for these mobos when you are considering a budget upgrade in your existing rig. Anyways like i said specify your budget and what you are gonna use it for.

 

[zuala77]

well....i am using asrock motherboard p41865gv chipset with intel p4 3 ghz...it has 8 usb port.. it has 3 pci slots and is amazing writing dvd 16 x..i am using nec dvd rw 3540a..and ther is 10/100 realtek ethernet lan card with on board sound card and graphics card........ it is amazingly atable and i am using 2 gb of ddr ....it has an fsb of 800......so go for it..........i gurantee u... .

 

[andysmith45]

I want to buy a 915G based motherboard keeping in mind future upgrades. The main reason I am looking at Asrock 775Dual-915GL is because it supports both AGP 8X and PCI-e x16. I have a Geforce FX 5700 (8X, 128 MB) and I don't think I will be able to afford a better graphics card at the moment. Otherwise, I would have gone for a MSI, Gigabyte or intel 915G motherboard.

My budget was 15K which I have now stretched to 17K. I hope to get around 11K for my old components, so the total costs of components should not be more than 27-28K.

I plan to upgrade to the following:

1. P-4 3Ghz (800 FSB)
2. 915G/GL motherboard (775 slot)
3. 512 MB Kingston RAM (256x2) (DDR 400)
4. Seagate 160/200 GB SATA HDD
5. 400W Mercury SMPS
6. 800VA APC UPS
7. BenQ DW-1640 DVD Writer

Hope u can offer me some better suggestions. I have been tearing my hair out over the choice of motherboard. My dealer says asrock is the best selling motherboard in my city and that it is very good and reviews in 3 websites also gave it good reviews but user comments have not been positive about it.

I intend to use my comp for games, movies conversion/encoding apart from the usual multimedia/internet stuffs. Thx.

 

[Sourabh]

Well if your dealer is so much particular about Asrock, ask him if he can get ASRock 939DUAL-SATA2. And if you get it buy it without seeing. Google for the features of the motherboard, it costs about 4-4.5k or so. Couple it with the s939 3000+ and you can for sure run a marathon with it for sometime with havin enough room to upgrade later. You wont even need to sell your existing graphic card. Just an option.

 

[spikygv]

hey ! i have 775dual915GL mobo.
it works fine.iam no tech who knows abt build quality.
yes it does support the 10/100 and agp8x and pcie16x.
but not raid.
check whether it supports ur graphics card.
only a few are supported.

personally i am feeling i should have gone for amd.

make decision carefully buddy.

i am having a problem since i updated the bios.
nFS UG2 and pop warrior within give unplayable fps on onboard gma900.
what should i do ?

 

[KHUBBU]

@ zuala I'm also using P4i65GV, n getting all these problems. Howz old ur mobo?
Have u checked for mobo and Cpu temp, I get 70+ for Cpu and mobo temp also is miuch higher. Check for the capacitors, if any1 of them has a bulge at the top.

@andy
I dont use any cooling system except that i keep the case open, dont know whether the sensors give incorrect temp, coz my CPu wud hav got fried after 1 yr use, but my mobo has a leaked capacitor near the AGI 8x slot and few others have got a bulge at the top- afaik not a good sign.

One more thing as sagar has suggested from his experience, go for amd.
Otherwise check which gfx card is supported by this mobo and whther this is available at ur place. In the AGI list There are lot of old chipset like 5200 in the list but obviously u wont opt for that, the latest is 6800, no mention of 7 series, and dont ever think they r gonna update the list.
In the PCI e list they have mentioned both 6600 and 6800, but what about GT, Ultra - only one option : u get a 10k+ card and test whther it runs or not, if it doesnt then what?
link:
*www.asrock.com/support/AGI_EXpress/775Dual_915GL_AGI_Support_List.htm
*www.asrock.com/support/AGI_EXpress/775Dual_915GL_AGE_Support_List.htm

Next thing to be considered is they hav modified the chipset architecture to include AGI and PCI e slot by using PCI bus and PCI e x4 bus respectively, bandwith maybe a problem and thats what i'm experiencing with my 6600 GT card, its not performing upto the standard.

U ll be using the comp for gaming n all so dont think that onboard video will be enough, u ll be missing half the experience with onboard graphics.

I ll try and find out a better config within ur budget.

 

[andysmith45]

The Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 mobo's specs looks very appealing. I am sure that my dealer has it. But I am not sure about Athlon processor. I am currently using Athlon XP 2000+. Its a good processor but it heats up a lot especially in summer. Apart from the processor fan, I have an additional 2 fans. Despite this, I have to use CoolerXP cooling software even for basic tasks. Many times while playing games, I have to stop cause the cpu temperature rises above 60 deg. C. Nobody in my city has any special cooling solution for Athlon processors.

My dealer says that there is still a heating problem even with the latest AMD processors. This is mainly why I decide to opt for an intel processor.

Which is the best AMD processor for under 7500/- and how good is it at multitasking as compared with intel processors with HT. OS will be Win XP SP2.

 

[andysmith45]

Khubbu, I am currently using Athlon XP 2000+ and it overheats a lot. My dealer says that newer AMD processors faces the same problem. Also, how good are AMD processors with regard to multitasking. If possible, I would like to surf the net while encoding a movie.

 

[Sourabh]

dude, there is no such problem with AMD 64. Just go and get the asrock 939dual-sata2 along wiht a s939 amd 64 3000+ if that board is available. Since this board supports SATA 2, you can change your hdd accordingly.

If you are stll unsure, check what all have to say.

*www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20050916/index.html
*anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2531
*www.pcstats.com/artvnl.cfm?articleID=1860
*www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=823
*www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/voltmods/130
*www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASRock/939Dual-SATA2
*www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=5406

All of them are reviews of the board

 

[spikygv]

thats right.
new amd's dont have heat probls.
they're just far better.dont buy intel and regret it like me.

 

[andysmith45]

Sagar, could u please tell me the problems that u had with intel processors. Which one do u have?

Well, one of my doubts regarding Athlon64 3000+ processor is cleared. It seems that it generates the same if not less heat than P4 processors.

What about multi-tasking? With HT technology, does P4-3Ghz (800 FSB) perform better in this regard than Athlon processors and is Athlon64 3000+ a 64-bit processor? What about P4 3Ghz (LGA-HT -64 bit)? How does it compare with Athlon 3000+?

 

[Sourabh]

Dude why not google for such simple queries. Its bugging to see who is ram and sita questions after hearing the ramayana, I mean whats the point asking is amd 64 a 64bit processor. You can google for such things.

You seem to be very particular about intel, so what can i say go with the intel. Both are in the same price range.

 

[andysmith45]

Because of my bad experience with Athlon XP 2000+ regarding overheating, I was going for P-4 but after hearing everybody's opinions, I think I will go for Athlon 64 3000+. My only concern left is with running several applications at the same time; IE6 windows, Firefox, Y! messenger, edonkey, azureus, winamp, windows explorer, acdsee/divx/wmp10 etc.

I talked to my dealer today and he says everybody in my city (guwahati) goes for P4 and that amd processors overheat but on further enquiries admitted that he has never sold Athlon64 processors and so he doesn't know whether they overheat or not. Since it is cheaper than P4 3Ghz(800 FSB), I may sell my GeForce FX 5700 AGP card and buy a GeForce 6600 PCIe video card instead.

If I keep my existing video card, I will definitely go for ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 mobo. But if I buy the Geforce 6600 PCIe graphics card, then which mobo under 5K would u suggest? I would appreciate if u could give 2-3 suggestions.

 

[andysmith45]

Because of my bad experience with Athlon XP 2000+ regarding overheating, I was going for P-4 but after hearing everybody's opinions, I think I will go for Athlon 64 3000+. My only concern left is with running several applications at the same time; IE6 windows, Firefox, Y! messenger, edonkey, azureus, winamp, windows explorer, acdsee/divx/wmp10 etc.

I talked to my dealer today and he says everybody in my city (guwahati) goes for P4 and that amd processors overheat but on further enquiries admitted that he has never sold Athlon64 processors and so he doesn't know whether they overheat or not. Since it is cheaper than P4 3Ghz(800 FSB), I may sell my GeForce FX 5700 AGP card and buy a GeForce 6600 PCIe video card instead.

If I keep my existing video card, I will definitely go for ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 mobo. But if I buy the Geforce 6600 PCIe graphics card, then which mobo under 5K would u suggest? I would appreciate if u could give 2-3 suggestions.