ASRock 939Dual-SATA2: First Retail ULi PCIe/AGP
by Wesley Fink on September 7, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4GHz) Socket 939 |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 |
| Hard Drive(s): | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM SATA (8MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce 6.66 |
| Video Cards: | NVIDIA 6800 Ultra (PCIe) NVIDIA 6800 Ultra (AGP) |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce 77.77 |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 Direct X 9.0c |
| Motherboards: | ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 (ULi M1695/1567) Sapphire A9RX480 (ATI) Jetway 939GT4-SLI-G (nForce4) ULi AP9567A (M1695/M1567) Abit An8 Fatal1ty Biostar NF4UL-A9 Chaintech VNF4-Ultra DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D ECS KN1 Extreme Epox 9NPA+ Ultra Winfast NF4UK8AA (Foxconn) Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI MSI K8N Neo4/SLI Platinum |
Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at the best timings for the chipset in all benchmarks. This means 2-2-2 base timings with the optimal tRAS for the tested chipset - 7 for nForce4/ATI Rx480, and 10 for ULi.
The NVIDIA 6800 Ultra was used for testing both PCIe and AGP performance on the ASRock board, the ULi Reference board, and the Biostar. The 6800 Ultra video cards were tested at the same video timings and differed only in interface - AGP or PCIe. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1280x1024x32 unless otherwise noted.
Results for the ULi chipset boards are in orange for AGP and red for PCIe.
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MADDIE - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
I purchased this board about two weeks ago, and have been happy ever since. I have not had any of the boot problems that anandtech had. When I get home I can check my BIOS version (that is, if anyone is interested)Pete84 - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
The new southbridge that ULi is going to release is supposedly a pin for pin replacement for the 1567, and as it'll have SATA-II and more advanced raid functions etc, IF I get a crossover board that'll be the one.Furen - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
I was under the impression that the new southbridge would be PCI-e only, though...Calin - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
I'd say the AGP/PCIe is in the northbridge, not in the southbridge.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
The PCIe is in the Northbridge on ULi chipsets, but the AGP is a M1567 Southbridge feature. If you combine a different Southbridge with the M1695 Northbridge you will not have AGP. You may want to take a closer look at the ULi chipset diagrams we published at http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2471&am...">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2471&am...Fam Money - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
This is the best review of a product I've wanted to purchse, you tested everything I needed you to. The only downside is it came out 22 hours after I bought the mobo.;)I feel a lot better now about getting this board and buying another gig of Patriot XBLs for it.
Thanks for the review.
Furen - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
I've read that this motherboard only allows 1.55v on 130nm chips, 1.45v on single-core 90nm and 1.35v on dual-core. This is probably to protect the CPU's VRMs but it should be pointed out.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
We did check that an X2 operated on the ASRock, but we did not check to see if the voltage adjustments shifted. I tried a 4800+ x2 again, which has a default voltage of 1.35V, and the voltage adjustments now top out at 1.40v. It appears the slding voltage adjustments set themselves to .05v more than the voltage specification. A wider range at the top would definitely be better fro many users.I will add this information to the review.
Sunrise089 - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
If they can fix their boot issues, this board is perfect for people like me who have a decent office computer (P4 2.0, 756 megs) and who would like to do a little gaming now, and more down the road. This board would allow me to take advantage of any great AGP deal that came along and add it to my current system, play some previous generation games, and then later keep my GPU and upgrade to a much desired A64 system when I have more time/money. Thanks ASRockMarlin1975 - Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - link
Like I said. I have a asrock that has video problems and ram issues. I have talked to others with the same problem yet Asrock has done nothign and does not respond to anybody. So I would not buy it until you hear soemthing else or you will be like myself and other Asrock owners hopeing and waiting. Mind you the boards are cheap, but the basic stuff should still work