What are the standard clocks? With the X1950Pro AGP released I'm very tempted into getting that one for my current mobo if I can sell my 7800GS to a friend o' mine. I can upgrade to your mobo and processor later on while keeping the mid/highrange X1950.

If I'd want to go the PCI-e way I will need to invest more in a mobo and probably RAM as well, which I think is not worth it. It would make the upgrade about €150.- more expensive, for gaming purposes only, and I pledged myself to get a 360 instead if I'd want to game again

Stock speed on my processor is 1.86 Ghz, so for now, it's only overclocked by 240 Mhz.

So slightly more than 10%, nothing spectacular, but it's pretty nice since it comes for free

Yeah, the motherboard holds me back, as pretty much anything higher prevents the system from even being able to POST. Good thing it's just a stepping stone board, I'd hate to be limited like this permanently.

Yeah, the motherboard holds me back, as pretty much anything higher prevents the system from even being able to POST. Good thing it's just a stepping stone board, I'd hate to be limited like this permanently.

I heard they're looking into getting past that lockout, which would be great if they can manage to do that.

Well, I personally think it's just due to the crappy motherboard to be honest. I'm having all kinds of issues with it, and it's making me itch more for the permanent replacement.

Well, I personally think it's just due to the crappy motherboard to be honest. I'm having all kinds of issues with it, and it's making me itch more for the permanent replacement.

What kind of problems are you having? I haven't had any problems with it after re-installing Windows XP (and disabling No-Excute Memory Protection in the bios). However I haven't overclocked it yet, and I don't really have the money to replace it any time soon so I don't plan on trying that for a while. It looks like you managed to raise your CPU frequency from 266 to 300. I took a screenshot of the arithmetic/multi-media performance respectively(64-bit version, naturally).

Even at stock, I get random lockups watching videos on youtbue or running PCSX2. I've tried numerous different settings in BIOS, and have had no luck. What are you currently running for RAM and graphics card? Also, could you list your BIOS settings? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, as I'm nearly at my wit's end with this mobo.

I am using value Elixer ram at 200 MHz (4:3, had to set it in the bios) which I bought in the end of 2003 with my P4 (screenshot from CPU-Z included). Changing the command rate to 1T caused it to reset upon booting XP so I had to leave it at 2T. I didn't bother re-adding my sound card (SB Live!) since I have read about many lockups that it can cause and I suspect that my previous system suffered from many of these. I left the bios settings at the defaults (of version 2.20) except for changing the ram to 200 MHz and disabling the No-Execute Memory Protection (XP 32-bit SP2 would just restart the computer on boot with this enabled). My video card is currently an AGP Leadtek 6800 non-ultra 128 MB card. However, I just ordered a Radeon X1900gt to replace it.

I noticed that the motherboard that I got or the PSU (Thermaltake 480W) seems to provide more volts by default than I have seen most conroes use. I am not really sure why this is but it doesn't seem to be causing any issues.

It is possible that you got a lemon for a board, some of the reviewers on Newegg had similar problems to those that you are describing. I don't know if you are using a Creative sound card, if you are- try running it without it and see if it still locks up.

That's odd that your cpu voltage is higher than normal. Mine is actually a bit undervolted.

I tried setting my BIOS that way before and it made no difference. As for sound card, I don't have any installed (using the onboard audio controller). I think I've just got a dud here. The primary IDE controller on this board has been dead since the day I got it, and I've had to order a controller card (yet to arrive) in order to use both hard drives + DVD burner. If there's one thing I've decided on, I will never buy ASRock again or anything with a VIA chipset in it. I've had too many problems to make me ever consider it again.

Someone on Newegg in one of the reviews mentioned that they had a dead IDE controller. I think the secondary controller on my board might be a bit finicky since it didn't want to recognize both of my optical drives right away and it needed some coaxing (I had to manually set it for one of the drives). It is currently working with both of my IDE hard drives, two optical drives, and a SATA hard drive.

I haven't noticed any voltage options for the CPU, maybe the higher default voltage would enable me to overclock a bit more- I'm not sure.

I never tried an ASRock board before this one, but it seems to get the job done (provided the board works correctly). I am thankful that the hard lockups that I had in games with my last setup have not shown up again. I hope that you can get your problems squared away and get your computer working without crashing/lockups in a timely manner.

Ouch, sorry to hear about those problems, I think I should reconsider my upgrade path. Time to check tweakers.net for some dutch reviews on the same mobo. It is known for having problems, that's for certain. I just really don't feel like ditching my Kingston Hyper X and my soon to be X1950Pro.

Well, I had to post the news (mainly to piss off emwearz a little more ), but I scored a BFG overclocked 7900GT tonight for a very good price ($137.50). And so the upgrade begins....

Well, I had to post the news (mainly to piss off emwearz a little more ), but I scored a BFG overclocked 7900GT tonight for a very good price ($137.50). And so the upgrade begins....

Its working

OK, so I'm not getting the 7900GT it seems. Instead, I'm getting this..... Should have it within 2-3 weeks.

This post was last modified: 02-17-2007 07:09 PM by General Plot.