New ASRock Motherboard

This board is freaking awesome. Worst part is, it is just 1 thing from being perfect.

Voltage.

I have an X2 3800+ and I am stuck at......1.4v. It just isn't enough juice to wake this thing up. I am not removing my cooling to do the voltage mod, especially because I don't know how high I would have to go! Do it over and over until I get a stable voltage? I don't want to set too high if I can get where I want with lower. ARRG!

Oh well, maybe ASRock will come to their senses and let us change it.

Tomorrow, I shall order this board.

Mid-October, I will order the CPU. I can't wait!!

I am hoping a good dfi comes out with this chipset. Hows your x2 on this board. I will be wanting to get a uli with a x2 if they will oc decent.

Yeah it looks like mine is broken. I am getting a high pitched whine from the board, and my X2 goes NOWHERE. Unstable at any speed. I have RMA'd and getting a new one. Just a bad one, sadly.

karl pell said:

ochungry has a thread (but no gear yet) here

Click to expand...

Hello everyone,
I saw my name here and am glad to join you ASrock/ULi enthusiasts. As mentioned in my other post, I finally purchased this mobo on Friday(9/30/05) and very anxious to get here and start tweaking it. I will report here the results of my volt mod's and tweaking. In short, I am hoping to reach 2.7Ghz and higher on my A64 3000 (Venice) with my Patriot XBLK 2x512 DDR400.
I am hoping that the new BIOS will have over 300 fsb. These rams are TCCD chips and great overclockers. I have seen in many threads in different Forums that can do 325mhz(DDR650) with TCCD. I hope I am lucky and can achieve that speed, but would be very happy to reach 300 or even 290 MHz fsb. If I don’t, then I should be able to use divider(s) and get 300 MHz out of CPU fsb. I am planning for the first time to do a little soldering since it is very easy w/ this mobo. Have beginner’s experience w/ soldering but that shouldn’t stop me or anyone from giving it a try. After all we sought overclocking and tweaking forums to learn more and follow footsteps. I aim to find the easiest and safest way.I will post my method w/ screenshots for those interested.
I don’t know if anyone has seen this thread in anandtech forum, it is a good read w/ a lot of links and info on this mobo.
Wish everyone best of luck tweaking this great motherboard.

The volt mods on the Rebels Haven look easy enough that one could get 3.3v for vdimm and 1.75 for vcore with very little effort. I'm looking forward to good things outta this board.

I ordered mine on the 30th, but Newegg hasn't shipped it out yet. Most likely, they will ship it tomorrow and I will get it Thursday. I will still have to wait till next paycheck to get the CPU for it though. So, mid-Oct for that--which is kind of fortuitous because that will give me a chance to watch everyone else's results with this board and overclocking.

On a side note, my A7N8X is being shipped back from ASUS. I wonder what they did with it? I wonder if they brought it back to life or are sending me a replacement?

axess68 said:

On a side note, my A7N8X is being shipped back from ASUS. I wonder what they did with it? I wonder if they brought it back to life or are sending me a replacement?

Click to expand...

FYI- I have shipped boards back to Asus twice and each time they sent me a new board. Good luck with the ASRock!

THE JEW (RaVeN) said:

The volt mods on the Rebels Haven look easy enough that one could get 3.3v for vdimm and 1.75 for vcore with very little effort. I'm looking forward to good things outta this board.

Click to expand...

great. would you post the link. thanks.
also for those interested this Betta1 BIOS was made specially for overclocking, thanks to Balrog for directing me to it.
This BIos version has higher than 300 cpu fsb, whcih means w/ good set of rams and voltmods, one can oc A64 3000 venice higher than 2.7ghz.
some have reached 2.8, but did not provide cpuz for proof and Super PI for stability.

karl pell said:

Welcome aboard, oc ... we're looking forward to good works with your gear.

Click to expand...

Thank you for welcoming me.
I see the pages on this thread and the one on anandtech getting longer as days go by. This is great, seeing more people become interested in this mobo,
increasing the knowledge and know how overclocking it.
I have seen mixed results that can only relate to 2 factors:
1)the board and the chipset are fairly new, requiring more trials and errors to fully master its overclocking potentials.
2) Considering the fact that most users of AGP are unfamiliar w/ S939 boards and overclocking A64, the results for some may not be as good as the others. With more enthusiasts onboard, this mobo and ULi1695 will only get better as time goes by. Hopefully I wont be the first hitting 3ghz with my A64 3000 LOL

Note, I don't have the board (thus, I haven't tried these out yet)

http://www.rhcf.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=30;t=000029;p=0

vcore to adjustable up to 1.7v
vdimm set all the time to 3.3v

THE JEW (RaVeN) said:

Note, I don't have the board (thus, I haven't tried these out yet)

http://www.rhcf.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=30;t=000029;p=0

vcore to adjustable up to 1.7v
vdimm set all the time to 3.3v

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link.
The vcore part is good, but requires a resistor and some skill in soldering.
the vdimm modification to 3.3v does not explain if the voltage can be adjusted in BIOS (2.6=3, 2.7=3.3 etc). So I don’t know if using lower volt rams can work or not.
The OCWforum has both (vcore, vdimm) mods very simple and no skill required. But vcore not higher than 1.55v and vdimm=3v, but both can be changed in BIOS.
Both websites are good examples of how easy this board can be modified.
And with little experience A64 3000 can reach 2.7 ghz.
If anyone buying A64 X2 3800, I suggest reading the links above and by "Raven" to see how well your X2 overclocks w/ this mobo.

Edit: I take that back. The Rebel's Haven vdimm mod seems a lot easier than OCWforum's since you have more room and not on small tight spot.
But I still dont know if the vdimm can be adusted with theirs.

ochungry said:

If anyone buying A64 X2 3800, I suggest reading the links above and by "Raven" to see how well your X2 overclocks w/ this mobo.

Click to expand...

I haven't found anything by Raven, can you point me in the right direction? I have been having problems with my X2 OC and would like some insight. THANKS!

sounds like i might be getting 2 of these boards for me and a friend,, subscribed to thread.... looks intrresting.

RebelsHaven,
Thank you so much cheking this thread.And many thanks for your extensive voltmods instructions and testing this mobo. Helps a lot of ULi enthusiasts.
I recommend Your forum to anyone interested in overclocking and reviews.
Please keep us informed. Thanks

brywalker said:

I haven't found anything by Raven, can you point me in the right direction? I have been having problems with my X2 OC and would like some insight. THANKS!

Click to expand...

If you check the thread that is tweaking this board and posts the results, you will see someone (page 9 or 10) has his/her X2 3800 @ 2.7 GHz. Also, on anandtech forum(motherboard section), you'll see some X2 3800 w/ good results. Cant remember what page (>18 pages), but it's there.
I have read threads on XtremeSystem, and most members have it overclocked @ around 2.6ghz w/ nf4 chip. This board does better @ around 2.7ghz.
And if you have problem w/ your X2 3800, I suggest using BETTA1 BIOS by OCWforum, and at least mod the vcore, it's very easy.
Posts your sig and state the problem area. would help to pinpoint the problems.
Good luck
edit: Rebel's results is where to look.
Westmassguy Sig : A64 X2 3800 @ 2700 mhz.
NjKid32 has his X2 3800 oced to 3300mhz, insane cooling and removed cpu cover(not a good idea). also uses patriot xblk (TCCD) rams.
with good set of rams you could overclock your X2 3800 to 2.6-2.7 on the average, without extensive cooling.

I am not so concerned about cooling as much as I am voltage. Since I have to volt mod, I have to kind of just pick one out of my arse. I am getting NOWHERE at 1.4, I am thinking I have to just make the jump to 1.5, in which I would have to take off my waterblock. If I go 1.55, I can just do the trace - however, I don't want to overvolt. PITA.

brywalker said:

I am not so concerned about cooling as much as I am voltage. Since I have to volt mod, I have to kind of just pick one out of my arse. I am getting NOWHERE at 1.4, I am thinking I have to just make the jump to 1.5, in which I would have to take off my waterblock. If I go 1.55, I can just do the trace - however, I don't want to overvolt. PITA.

Click to expand...

Have you burned in rams and cpu yet? It will help w/ oc and also reduces your voltage need. I have seen a member doing 2.6 on X2 3800 without any voltmod. would be a good idea to read the stickies on how to overclock.
not that you are unfamiliar, but most cases it helps reviewing some tricks

I read everything, I have oc the memory - no problem - HTT - no problem - cpu - goes nowhere. Not even stable 2.3 @ 1.4v. I can do 2.5 in windows at 1.4v but not even remotely stable - on that note, at 1.35 it won't even boot at 2.5 so I am guessing voltage!

unreal said:

sounds like i might be getting 2 of these boards for me and a friend,, subscribed to thread.... looks intrresting.

Click to expand...

welcome aboard. This thread can use a few more experienced OCers.