ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI: Core 2 Duo goes mATX
by Gary Key on September 1, 2006 5:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Quick Thoughts
The ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI is a very affordable budget board for the Intel market that provides a very good feature set for around US $75. The performance of the board in the majority of the synthetic and game benchmarks was very good if not class leading at times. This is quite a feat for ASRock as our 945P board did not perform as well in previous testing. The stability of the board was excellent in all areas of testing and general usage with the proper memory settings. However, we were frustrated during overclocking with the limited memory voltage options as well as the lack of CPU core voltage settings. With that said, let's move on to our initial performance opinions regarding this board.
In the video area, the inclusion of a PCI-E X16 capable slot provides for a myriad of upgrade possibilities if you chose this route. The X16 slot will operate in X1 mode if the onboard graphics capability is used. The board also features Intel's prior generation GMA950 graphics core. This core actually provides a very clear and color saturated signal to your monitor although it will not be mistaken for an upper end ATI card. The display performance is very good for 2D applications all the way up to its 2048x1536 resolution capability. You can probably play the occasional 3D based game from several years back without issue but most 3D games released in the last three years will have trouble with this video solution. ASRock also includes a DVI output card that is installed in the X16 PCIE slot and provides dual monitor capability, and this worked perfectly in our testing. We also tried it with our Acer 24" LCD monitor without issue as the primary display out device.
In the performance area, the ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI generated very consistent and competitive benchmark scores in the gaming, general application, and synthetic tests. The stability of the board was excellent during testing provided we did not push our memory too far. Although we were able to match the other motherboard settings at DDR2-667, we always had the feeling that the memory was on the verge of not being stable unless we increased the CAS rate to 4. We were able to pass all of our tests at 3-4-3-10 at DDR2-667 but a small bump in the front side bus to 271 would render those settings inoperable. The limited memory voltage selection and lack of vCore settings is a setback for this board as we otherwise feel it has the potential to reach its maximum FSB of 350.
Overall, the board offers a very affordable platform for a small case enclosure and would be an excellent alternative for a HTPC system. In fact, we will be comparing several mATX boards in the near future in just this environment that will include power consumption, thermals, and video out capability. By upgrading the video capability to a lower range card like the NVIDIA 7600GS we found this motherboard to be just as competitive at stock speeds as boards costing over $100 more in gaming and audio/visual work. The board will never be the first choice for the computer enthusiast due to limited overclocking and memory settings along with its pedestrian heritage. However, it would make an excellent second system with the right components for a LAN gaming machine or even a primary gaming machine for those on a limited budget looking to use an E6300 Core 2 Duo.
While not as versatile or inexpensive as the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA in allowing you to upgrade from an older system, we still found ourselves gravitating to the stability, compatibility, and performance of the Intel 945G chipset due to the excellent PCI Express graphics performance. We would not hesitate to recommend this motherboard as the platform for a budget HTPC system or even a small form factor gaming system with the right components. In the end, ASRock once again offers excellent value for the money, enough so that your savings can be used for getting what you really want.
The ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI is a very affordable budget board for the Intel market that provides a very good feature set for around US $75. The performance of the board in the majority of the synthetic and game benchmarks was very good if not class leading at times. This is quite a feat for ASRock as our 945P board did not perform as well in previous testing. The stability of the board was excellent in all areas of testing and general usage with the proper memory settings. However, we were frustrated during overclocking with the limited memory voltage options as well as the lack of CPU core voltage settings. With that said, let's move on to our initial performance opinions regarding this board.
In the video area, the inclusion of a PCI-E X16 capable slot provides for a myriad of upgrade possibilities if you chose this route. The X16 slot will operate in X1 mode if the onboard graphics capability is used. The board also features Intel's prior generation GMA950 graphics core. This core actually provides a very clear and color saturated signal to your monitor although it will not be mistaken for an upper end ATI card. The display performance is very good for 2D applications all the way up to its 2048x1536 resolution capability. You can probably play the occasional 3D based game from several years back without issue but most 3D games released in the last three years will have trouble with this video solution. ASRock also includes a DVI output card that is installed in the X16 PCIE slot and provides dual monitor capability, and this worked perfectly in our testing. We also tried it with our Acer 24" LCD monitor without issue as the primary display out device.
In the performance area, the ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI generated very consistent and competitive benchmark scores in the gaming, general application, and synthetic tests. The stability of the board was excellent during testing provided we did not push our memory too far. Although we were able to match the other motherboard settings at DDR2-667, we always had the feeling that the memory was on the verge of not being stable unless we increased the CAS rate to 4. We were able to pass all of our tests at 3-4-3-10 at DDR2-667 but a small bump in the front side bus to 271 would render those settings inoperable. The limited memory voltage selection and lack of vCore settings is a setback for this board as we otherwise feel it has the potential to reach its maximum FSB of 350.
Overall, the board offers a very affordable platform for a small case enclosure and would be an excellent alternative for a HTPC system. In fact, we will be comparing several mATX boards in the near future in just this environment that will include power consumption, thermals, and video out capability. By upgrading the video capability to a lower range card like the NVIDIA 7600GS we found this motherboard to be just as competitive at stock speeds as boards costing over $100 more in gaming and audio/visual work. The board will never be the first choice for the computer enthusiast due to limited overclocking and memory settings along with its pedestrian heritage. However, it would make an excellent second system with the right components for a LAN gaming machine or even a primary gaming machine for those on a limited budget looking to use an E6300 Core 2 Duo.
While not as versatile or inexpensive as the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA in allowing you to upgrade from an older system, we still found ourselves gravitating to the stability, compatibility, and performance of the Intel 945G chipset due to the excellent PCI Express graphics performance. We would not hesitate to recommend this motherboard as the platform for a budget HTPC system or even a small form factor gaming system with the right components. In the end, ASRock once again offers excellent value for the money, enough so that your savings can be used for getting what you really want.
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JarredWalton - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
The SATA issues at least are chipset/BIOS/motherboard dependent. As this uses an Intel 945G chipset, it should work fine with SATA. NVIDIA chipsets should also work fine, but I don't know what exactly ASRock did with the AM2NF4G-SATA2. Normally, for XP installs you want to set the SATA ports to IDE mode, and once XP is installed with all the drivers you can switch to AHCI mode instead... not that there's much performance difference anyway.In terms of stability, have you run without the OC? I really don't trust $50-$60 boards for overclocking. Some will do it, but it's still a bit of an iffy propositions for long-term use. I'd much rather spend $100 on a board I know will OC reliably.
yyrkoon - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
Yeah, I ran everything per spec. for 3 weeks, and wasnt until recently that I decided to OC it. My thinking is that, if this board isnt going to be stable for more than 3 days, I dont care much for it anyhow. Also, I had planned on replacing it with a ABIT AN9 32x when I bought it. Now Im starting to think maybe I'll replace it with a ABIT AB9 Pro, and a E6x00 CPU.Anyhow, the HTT is slightly above 1000MHZ, the memory is running ar 832MHZ, and CPU is reported by the BIOS as running at 2.76GHZ (although CPU-Z says a bit lower), and its running as stable, load, or idle as before. CPU temperatures havent exceeded 122F much, if at all. I have run nvmonitor stability tests, and sandra burn-in test on this system without a hitch, and if you think about it, 16% really isnt a huge OC . . .
JarredWalton - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
I'm guessing you have a 4200+ chip, right? 11X multiplier with a 250 MHz bus?Deoending on CPU, RAM, etc. you're possibly hitting other limits. Just for kicks, try dropping the RAM from DDR2-800 to a lower speed, like set it for DDR2-533 instead of DDR2-667. That should put the RAM at DDR2-611 vs. DDR2-786 (with a 250 MHz HTT speed).
I would also adjust the memory timings for more conservative values. I'm guessing that with limited memory voltages, you might have problems running any DDR2 memory at 800 MHz. It's a thought anyway. :)
yyrkoon - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
Also, according to Sandra, my memory bandwidth is slightly above 7000MB/s int, and float. IS this decent ?yyrkoon - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
Oh, sorry here:Asrock AM2NF4G-SATA2
AMD 64 3800+ (single core)
2x1 GB Cosair XMS 6400 DDR2
eVGA 7600GT KO (stock), Antec SL 450 450W PSU.
Since on this board there is no divider settings (or atleast none that I know of), basicly, all I've adjusted is memory (533,667,800), HTT link speed, CPU FSB, and multiplier. First I started off at 12x multiplier, and achieved a 230 FSB, anything above, wenbt unstable either in windows, or wouldnt boot. Here, I noticed the memory was quite capable of 880MHZ DDR, but I've had it as high as 902MHZ DDR stable(5-5-5-18). This memory will also run 4-4-4-12 stock volts at stock settings(even though SPD says otherwise). OK, then I dropped the multiplier, and increased FSB in increments of 10's until it failed to boot, then I dropped HTT link speed(800/1600), and memory to 533 standard. After this I increased FSB speed by 10's again, until falure, and eventually arrived at 250MHZ. Dropping the multiplier to 10x would not post with minimum FSB speed I wanted, so I called it quits.
So in summer basicly, right now, my HTT link is 800/1600, multiplier 11x, and memory is set to DDR2 667 (in the BIOS). nvmonitor reports CPU is running at 2.7x, memory is running at 832, and HT bounces around from high 900's to low 1000's. CPU-Z says the memory speed is 392.xx, CPU is 2.7x, and HT is 1000.
As far as I know, I've done about all I can, and still maintain a decent clock/ ratio settings. However, I havent OC's since I owned a P55 233mmx CPU (yes, MANY years ago) so I may be missing something. If so, Im all ears :)
yyrkoon - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
err summer = summary ? :/JarredWalton - Saturday, September 2, 2006 - link
Your CPU multiplier should only affect things if you set it lower than stock. The Athlon 64 3800+ has a 12X multiplier by default. I generally don't think there's much point in using lower multipliers, as the difference in memory bandwidth has very little impact on Athlon 64 processors. At the stock 12X multiplier, you get nicer memory ratios at DDR2-800 and DDR2-533 settings. Remember that memory speed is actually based off of a divider of the CPU speed. So:12 x 200 = 2400 MHz
DDR2-800 = CPU/6 = 400 MHz (DDR2-800)
DDR2-667 = CPU/8 = 300 MHz (DDR2-600)
DDR2-533 = CPU/9 = 267 MHz (DDR2-533)
Overclocked:
12 x 233 = 2796 MHz
DDR2-800 = CPU/6 = 466 MHz (DDR2-932)
DDR2-667 = CPU/8 = 350 MHz (DDR2-799)
DDR2-533 = CPU/9 = 311 MHz (DDR2-621)
Change the multiplier to 11X and you get the following:
11 x 200 = 2200 MHz
DDR2-800 = CPU/6 = 367 MHz (DDR2-733)
DDR2-667 = CPU/7 = 314 MHz (DDR2-629)
DDR2-533 = CPU/9 = 244 MHz (DDR2-489)
Notice how certain memory ratios and up with odd final results. That's what you're getting right now most likely. Let's say you go with a 250 MHz bus as an overclock. This is what you get:
Overclocked:
11 x 250 = 2750 MHz
DDR2-800 = CPU/6 = 458 MHz (DDR2-917)
DDR2-667 = CPU/7 = 393 MHz (DDR2-786)
DDR2-533 = CPU/9 = 306 MHz (DDR2-611)
yyrkoon - Saturday, September 2, 2006 - link
Jarred, heres a link to a post I made on the forums, if you care to comment further, to see a couple of OC test cases I've done so farhttp://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...amp;thre...
yyrkoon - Saturday, September 2, 2006 - link
Perhaps I should benchmark both, although all sanda CPU tests already indicate that my system performs a slight bit slower than a Fx-57 system.The reason why I dropped the multiplier, was in hopes of gaining a higher CPU Frequency, which proved true. My thinking was that if voltage is limiting my increases, perhaps lower the multiplier will relax the CPU some. Since memory bandwidth to a point is rather moot, memory bandwidth isnt a big deal IMO either, how I may do some serious benchmarking comparrison for the hell of it, and may even post them somewhere. I can tell you however that Oblivion does perform better with the OC (was the first thing I checked).
Dfere - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
Anyone give me a general ballpark on what this integrated video should perform as? 6200 TC ?? 7300?Thanks