ASRock 939Dual-SATA2: First Retail ULi PCIe/AGP
by Wesley Fink on September 7, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Memory Stress Testing
Our memory stress test measures the ability of the ASRock 939Dual to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (400MHz DDR), at the lowest memory timings that OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 modules will support. All DIMMs used for stress testing were 512MB double-sided (or double-bank) memory. To make sure that memory performed properly in Dual-Channel mode, memory was only tested using either one dual-channel (2 DIMMs) or 2 dual-channels (4 DIMMs).We had established in our initial reviews of the ULi chipset that the best memory performance was achieved at a tRAS setting of 10T with this chipset. Therefore, all testing used the best performing 2-2-2-10 settings.
| Stable DDR400 Timings - One Dual-Channel (2/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 1T |
Using two DIMMs in Dual-Channel 128-bit mode, the memory performed in all benchmarks at the fastest 2-2-2-10 timings at default voltage.
| Stable DDR400 Timings – 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 2T |
Tests with all four DIMM slots populated on the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 required a 2T Command Rate with 4 DIMMs in two dual channels. This is the pattern seen on every other top-performing Socket 939 board. This performance is completely competitive with the best that we have seen on nForce4 motherboards for Socket 939. It needs to be pointed out, however, that cold boot problems increased significantly when running 4 DIMMs. The cold boot issue may be as simple as a revised BIOS to support Samsung TCCD better on this board. Whatever the solution, solving the cold boot issue is a must for ASRock.
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touchmyichi - Friday, September 9, 2005 - link
think i'll have any luck w/ an XP-120?frodin - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link
Wesley: Did you try checking/ replacing the BIOS backup battery? I have started experiencing coldboot/BIOS issues myself (and actually only when my flat is really cold(!)), and I am running everything @ stock with 2x 512mb Crucial Ballistix ram. Everest reads the battery voltage as 0.3v /this could of course be wrong), I'll try and replace the battery with another one that I know works in another board. I am running the 1.10 (stock) BIOS.Just a thought.
mindless1 - Monday, September 12, 2005 - link
Everest's report is unquestionably wrong, you'd lose all your bios settings long before the battery dropped so far as 0.3Vceefka - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link
Now if ULi can include SATA II, NCQ and Gb LAN and someone makes a board with that chipset including 1394b (on a TI controller), I'd buy it.JustAnAverageGuy - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
Would have liked to see some Battlefield 2 benchmarks, but I agree with the poster above saying that having 5 or 6 boards with the same chipset (and same results) is a bit redundant.- JaAG
Nighteye2 - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
Considering the cold boot issues increase with 4 DIMMs, could they be specific to the RAM? Could the board be more compatible with other brands of RAM?Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
The RAM used for testing is always specifed on our test setup page, and I also mentioned it several times in the article. It is our standard test memory, OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, based on Samsung TCCD memory chips. Samsung TCCD is also available from many other Enthusiast memory companies like Corsair, Mushkin, G. Skill, Patriot, Geil, and many others.Nighteye2 - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
I know and read that. It's just that I've had an experience with RAM incompatibility myself. The RAM worked fine on other boards, without errors, yet gave several errors on the board I was using. Switching the RAM to another brand made the board work perfectly.It's been a while ago, so that's why I can't mention specifics, but not all boards are fully compatible with all sticks of RAM. Does ASRock recommend using RAM from several vendors, and if so, is the OCZ RAM on that list?
OvErHeAtInG - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link
That's what I thought, it probably just doesn't like TCCD.WeaselBlade - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
Anyone have any idea whether it will be possible to run an agp/pcie crossfire setup, using a PCIE master card and AGP slave?