ABOUT BENCH FORUMS PODCAST LOGIN REGISTER
PC Components
Smartphones & tablets
Systems
ENTERPRISE & IT
GUIDES

Asus A8R-MVP: Mainstream Rocket

 by Wesley Fink on November 23, 2005 1:15 AM EST
74 Comments | Add A Comment
74 Comments
Basic Features: Asus A8R-MVP

 Asus A8R-MVP
CPU Interface Socket 939 Athlon 64
Chipset ATI RD480 Northbridge - ULi M1575 Southbridge
Bus Speeds 200 to 400MHz in 1MHz Increments
Memory Speeds DDR200, 266, 333, 400
(433, 466, 500 with Rev. E AMD)
PCIe Speeds 100 to 150MHz in 1MHz Increments
PCI/AGP Fixed at 33/66
Core Voltage Auto, 0.8V to 1.45V in 0.025V increments
PLUS 0.2V with vCore Over-voltage
(Maximum vCore 1.65V)
CPU Clock Multiplier 4X-25.5X in 0.5X increments
DRAM Voltage Auto, 2.65V to 3.2V in .05V to .1V increments
HyperTransport Frequency 1000MHz (1GHz)
HyperTransport Multiplier Auto, 1X to 5X
PCI Express Voltage 1.2V, 1.3V, 1.4V, 1.5V
Southbridge Overvoltage Enabled (+0.1v)
PEG Link Mode Auto, Disabled, Normal, Fast, Faster
PEG Bugger Length Auto, Short, Long, Longer, Longest
AI Overclocking Manual, Auto*, Standard*, Overclock Profile
*Set CPU Frequency and Other Parameters Automatically
Overclock Profile Options 3%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%
Memory Slots Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots
Dual-Channel Configuration
Regular Unbuffered or ECC Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots 2 PCIe x16
1 PCIe x1
3 PCI Slots
1 Asus MVP Switch Card in Secondary (Black) PCIe Slot
Onboard SATA/RAID 4 SATA2 Drives by ULi M1575
(RAID 0, 1, 1+0, 5, JBOD)
Onboard IDE/IDE RAID Two Standard ATA133/100/66 (4 drives)
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by ULi M1575
2 1394 Firewire by TI 1394
Onboard LAN 1 Gigabit Ethernet
PCI Ethernet by Marvel Yukon 88E8001
Onboard Audio Azalia HD Audio by ADI AD1986A Soundmax codec
BIOS Revision AMI 0037 (11/17/05) Beta

While the BIOS adjustments are not as extensive as the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe or the DFI RDX200, most of the adjustments needed for overclocking control are definitely here.

This includes memory voltage to 3.2V – much wider than most boards and the equal of the Asus A8N32-SLI. Memory voltage does not extend to 4.0V as it does on the DFI, but the only memory requiring these high voltages is OCZ VX and Mushkin Redline, both of which have been discontinued.

After our initial testing showed the A8R-MVP to be an excellent overclocker, we suggested to Asus that they support the higher memory ratios of the Revision E and above AMD Memory Controller and include additional adjustments for memory. Asus added the ratios and a few more memory controls, which will be available on-line as the board begins shipping this week.

The arrangement of options in AMI BIOS has not always been the most intuitive. You will find memory adjustments under “Advanced”, “CPU Configuration”, “Memory Configuration”, and “Memory Timing Configuration”. The logic of this menu nesting is obscure, but once you drill down to memory timing adjustments, you will find a fairly complete range of options. In most cases, you will need to change from “Auto” to “Manual” to bring up the adjustments.

Asus A8R-MVP: Board Layout Overclocking & Memory Stress Testing: Asus A8R-MVP
PRINT THIS ARTICLE
Comments Locked

74 Comments

View All Comments

  • EnlightenedOne - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    Hey Wesley, Great Review!

    I was wondering a few things with this motherboard and the setup.
    First, do you think the clawhammer 4000+ would overclock better than the Diego?
    What voltage are you feeding your ram to reach such a high frequency?
    Do you suggest using the 246 x 12 or the 325 x 9 set up for games?
    Finally, what voltage are you feeding the PCIe slot? Also, why haven't you upped the voltage to your cpu core to maintain stability and go beyond 2 days? :)

  • Zebo - Thursday, November 24, 2005 - link

    Great having spread out memory slots. I found many A64 boards stack the dual channel sticks so close they are actually touching between sticks fi you have heat spreaders on there and they can't cool.

    Price!! I sure miss top of the line boards in the $100 range (Abit NF7-S Abit IS7 etc)granted this new era has high power requirements and thus a beffier boards but no excuse for these $200+ mobos floating around for enthusiants. nV and Intel must be charging crazy high prices for thier newer chipsets.. Thanks ATI.

    Legacy support - My printer won't work with full features on USB alone... needs Parallel cable for full control which my DFI does'nt have.

    - overclocking potential as Mr. Fink illustrated.

    - full features including Fast disk benches and great on-board audio (FWIW).

    - Passive cooled mobo design - How many of you hate those whinny 40mm/60mm fans that come on mobos? When they work that is.

    Asus really needs to adopt Black though for thier entire lineup unless it goes in an OEM build.. I mean that yellow traces and green board is so 1990's.:(

  • Live - Thursday, November 24, 2005 - link

    s.
    quote:
    - Passive cooled mobo design - How many of you hate those whinny 40mm/60mm fans that come on mobos? When they work that is.


    I couldn’t agree more. Those small fans are highly unreliable and very noisy. And with today’s heat pipe tech there is no reason to not go passive even on the high end boards. ASUS seems to be leading the pack on this. To bad they cant/won’t go all out in their bios. DFI in particular have them beat in bios all the time.

  • Sxotty - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link

    quote:
    There is always the possibility that this one is unique. But based on the Asus expectations being set very low for this board, and the genuine surprise that Asus expressed when we reported our results, I would venture to say that what we found is not a fluke.


    That is really not a very thoughtful way to look at it.

    If ASUS was "surprised" by your results that would argue they are atypical not typical. It is not as though they never tested the motherboard to see if it worked. If you ever find an engineer surprised by your results than you should assume that they do not represent what the acerage was expected to be. Perhaps it is a wonderful overclocker, but that is evidence that it is not. Perhaps the engineer that was so "promising" really did an excellent job and the other people you spoke with just did not happen to know the test results.

  • Wesley Fink - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link

    I can only report what I actually find, and we can both "suppose" all day long. Time will prove whether these overclocking results are typical or atypical.

    As i said in a comment above: "Asus does extensive overclocking tests on their top-line boards aimed at that market. They generally know how they will perform in overclocking. They do more modest tests on mainstream boards. It is my opinion it never occured to Asus that the A8R-MVP might be a monster overclocker until I reported my results back to them."

    I have worked closely with the Asus Engineering team in Taiwan on several Enthusiast board projects, and since my initial results were shared with them after the second BIOS they have not given me any reason to expect that they are not typical for this board. As I said in the Final Words: "We would feel much more comfortable in our praise of the A8R-MVP if we had an opportunity to prove similar overclocking on another five boards pulled at random from retail shelves."

  • Zebo - Thursday, November 24, 2005 - link

    ATI “Certified Motherboard?"?

  • afrost - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link

    I can't wait to get my hands on this board.....I have been waiting for a solid passively cooled board like this for a long time.

    The HD audio is a very nice bonus.

  • Wesley Fink - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link

    We did additional tests on the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe Dual x16 this morning, running at our standard 1280x1024 with AA and AF turned off, with 81.87 drivers. We have added A8N32-SLI benchmarks to F.E.A.R., SC-CT, Quake 4, Doom 3, Far Cry, and Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory.

    The added benchmarks do not really change any of our conclusions. As you can see, the Asus A8R-MVP is very competetive with the top-line A8N32-SLI Deluxe.

  • nvidia4ever - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link

    Thanks for the updates. It really does look like there is another performance choice now for AMD systems. I still would find it interesting to see how a x1800xt performs on ATIs own chipset.

  • Duplex - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - link

    The only thing me and my friends missed is overclockingresults
    for the memory with tight timings like 1T 2-2-2-5 or 2-2-2-7.
    The 1T overclocking performance for Asus and Abit has yet been very poor,
    with tigh timings even worse. Abit has added higher vdimm options but it
    hasn´t helped much. Has this changed with this Asus-Ati-mb or is dfi nf4
    still my only option for pc-builds? 230/240/250/260 (/270) MHz???
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.
BENCH
TOPICS
FOLLOW
ABOUT

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now