ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2: Sneak Peek
by Gary Key and Jarred Walton on June 29, 2007 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Memory Performance
Our VIA based ASRock 4CoreSual-SATA2 motherboard provides two DDR2 and three DDR memory ratios. The majority of end-users will select the memory ratio that matches their memory speed. We are testing the two DDR2 ratios at the fastest stable timings we can achieve and still pass our benchmark test suite. With these set ratios, CPU speed remains the same at 2.4GHz in our test platform with memory speed being varied by selecting the different ratios.
There are some downsides to this approach. With the memory controller in the chipset, instead of part of the processor as in AMD Athlon 64 systems, there is a small performance penalty for speeds other than a 1:1 ratio (DDR2-533 in this case) on the VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra chipset. However, the penalty is in reality very small, though for benchmarking purposes we will run our tests at DDR2-533.
Due to time constraints and performance reasons we did not test the DDR settings but will follow up in our next article with these results. At this time, we have not been able to get DDR memory to perform as well as DDR2 on this board so our suggestion is to utilize DDR2 memory if possible.
The memory performance result at DDR2-533 (1:1 ratio) leads the DDR2-667 results. This particular setting delivered the best raw performance although actual differences in applications and games are minimal at best. These results are typical for most VIA chipsets running the Intel platform. In our original article last year we noticed differences in the Sandra scores with DDR2-533 being up to 32% faster than DDR2-667.
This has changed dramatically with ASRock tuning the PT880 BIOS to the point where there is about a 3% difference between the two memory speeds. At this time, the ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA board holds a very slight advantage in DDR2 memory performance but we expect this to change once the 4CoreDual-SATA2 BIOS has been tuned. Overall, Sandra unbuffered performance is up to 41% lower than the competing chipsets we have listed. How this translates into actual differences in our application benchmarks is something we will find out next.
Our VIA based ASRock 4CoreSual-SATA2 motherboard provides two DDR2 and three DDR memory ratios. The majority of end-users will select the memory ratio that matches their memory speed. We are testing the two DDR2 ratios at the fastest stable timings we can achieve and still pass our benchmark test suite. With these set ratios, CPU speed remains the same at 2.4GHz in our test platform with memory speed being varied by selecting the different ratios.
There are some downsides to this approach. With the memory controller in the chipset, instead of part of the processor as in AMD Athlon 64 systems, there is a small performance penalty for speeds other than a 1:1 ratio (DDR2-533 in this case) on the VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra chipset. However, the penalty is in reality very small, though for benchmarking purposes we will run our tests at DDR2-533.
Due to time constraints and performance reasons we did not test the DDR settings but will follow up in our next article with these results. At this time, we have not been able to get DDR memory to perform as well as DDR2 on this board so our suggestion is to utilize DDR2 memory if possible.
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| Click to enlarge |
The memory performance result at DDR2-533 (1:1 ratio) leads the DDR2-667 results. This particular setting delivered the best raw performance although actual differences in applications and games are minimal at best. These results are typical for most VIA chipsets running the Intel platform. In our original article last year we noticed differences in the Sandra scores with DDR2-533 being up to 32% faster than DDR2-667.
This has changed dramatically with ASRock tuning the PT880 BIOS to the point where there is about a 3% difference between the two memory speeds. At this time, the ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA board holds a very slight advantage in DDR2 memory performance but we expect this to change once the 4CoreDual-SATA2 BIOS has been tuned. Overall, Sandra unbuffered performance is up to 41% lower than the competing chipsets we have listed. How this translates into actual differences in our application benchmarks is something we will find out next.
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kings121 - Sunday, November 30, 2008 - link
hello can anyone tell me why the above mention grafic card cant work with the above mention motherboard?? or if it can....can someone tell me how to install the grafics card.........thankswaintin for a speedy reply
moobaaa - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link
hello anyone home still waitin to see the updated article thxs maybeppppp - Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - link
Hey guys,where is the updated review with the latest bios and Intel q6600 fsb you promised me some months ago?
kmmatney - Sunday, July 1, 2007 - link
I recently upgraded one of my systems to an As-Rock board with an E4400. Overclocking wasn't too bad - it could easily run the E4400 at 2.8 Ghz. However the boartd had weird quirks. It would not read my SATA HDD, which was the biggest issue. It also has trouble cold-booting, and the computer must be booted twice to start. Also, there are random trouble with a few old games (such as Red Alert 2) which will often crash, but run fine on my other systems. It's OK for a spare computer, but I wouldn't use it for my main rig. Also, the automatic speed control for the cpu fan has never worked right on my motherboard.ssiu - Friday, July 6, 2007 - link
Is your board 4CoreDual-VSTA, or other ASRock boards? (I am planning to get the E4400 and 4CoreDual-VSTA and overclock too.) Does it have the same problems at stock speed and/or 266FSB (that's the first thing I'd want to check, to see if the problem is related to overclocking)?vailr - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
Re: "System Platform Drivers Intel - 8.1.1.1010".Shouldn't that be: VIA chipset drivers, instead of Intel?
Might also mention whether Win98SE can be installed and run, when testing with DDR/AGP? For those gamers dual-booting into the older Windows version. Can Win98SE utilize all 4 cores of a Quad-core CPU? Or even both cores of a dual-core CPU?
mongo lloyd - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
Win9x has absolutely NO support for any kind of multiprocessor solution, neither dual/quad core, nor SMP.vailr - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
Also, WinRar is currently at version 3.70:http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm">http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm
SunAngel - Friday, June 29, 2007 - link
ASRock has to joking. What tech person in their right mind is going to buy something half in the past and half in the future? The two SATA ports alone is enough to realize this thing will be outdated very quickly and you'll be buying another motherboard. I've seen some illogical products in my time. This may not be the worse concept of a motherboard for those not wanting to upgrade all their components, but there has definitely been some off-the-wall, fill-in-marketing-gap products out there (first thing comes to mind is the Intel Pentium D 805). Kudos to ASRock for taking advantage is cheapskates. Remember, it costs more in the long run doing the wrong thing (not upgrading) than doing the right thing (upgrading and moving forward with technology).ssiu - Friday, July 6, 2007 - link
This may not be the worse concept of a motherboard for those not wanting to upgrade all their componentsExactly; this board is good for those who want to carry over their DDR memory and AGP adapter from their old system. And it (at least its predecessor) can overclock a E2140/E2160/E4300/E4400 about 50%. If one has no need to reuse the memory and AGP adapter then I agree there are better choices (e.g. ASRock 1333FSB motherboards if one still wants to go cheap).