ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI: Core 2 Duo goes mATX
by Gary Key on September 1, 2006 5:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
FSB Overclocking Results
This board is a decent overclocker for a budget board although we could not help but think the board would easily overclock better with additional memory and processor voltage options. At these settings the system was able to complete our benchmark test suites three consecutive times along with dual Prime95 and SuperPI 32M without issue.
We set our memory to a 4:3 (DDR2-400) ratio and were able to even post at 318FSB but could not get the system stable past 307FSB. Due to the reduced memory speed the performance of the system was decreased across all benchmarks so we left the memory at 1:1 where we achieved our best performance. Our board would boot up to a 305FSB with the 1:1 memory ratio but was not stable at those settings.
When we changed our memory to the 4:5 ratio (DDR2-667) our FSB capability dropped to 291FSB and we had to change our memory timings to 4-4-3-12 for stability. Our benchmark results ended up being slightly better or even with the 1:1 ratio results but with less stability over the course of testing. We tried different memory modules from our value memory roundup with the same results. Unlike the ASRock VIA PT880 board our memory was not as overclockable or stable with the lower timings, although performance at DDR2-667 is better with the Intel chipset.
Memory Stress Testing
Memory Tests
Our memory stress tests looks at the ability of the ASRock COnRoe945G-DVI to operate at the officially supported memory frequencies of 533MHz DDR2 at the best performing memory timings the Transcend DDR2-533 JetRam will support. Our DDR2 memory is from Transcend and was utilized in some extensive HTPC testing for our upcoming Intel DHCAT article. The memory features average 5-5-5-12 latencies at DDR2-667 but was able to perform at much lower latencies in our testing with increased voltages at DDR2-533 and DDR2-667 while costing around $70 for a 1GB kit.
The ASRock board was very stable with two DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-3-3-9 at 2.1v. We were able to hold 3-4-3-10 at 1.95V at DDR2-667 but could not overclock the board at this memory speed without increasing to 4-4-3-12. We will now fill all four available memory slots as that results in more strenuous requirements on the memory subsystem than testing two DDR2 modules on a motherboard.
The ASRock was completely stable with four DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel operation at the settings of 4-3-3-10 at 1.95V. We tried several combinations of memory settings and memory modules at lower timings but the board was not stable enough to complete our test suite. Overall, our recommendation would be to utilize DDR2-533 memory that offers low latency memory timings at reduced voltages on this board.
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Processor: | Core 2 Duo - E6300 1.86MHz |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.300v |
| Memory Settings: | 3-4-3-10 at 667MHz |
| Memory Voltage: | 1.95V |
| SPP Voltage: | Default |
| FSB Voltage: | Default |
| Cooling: | Scythe Infinity |
| Power Supply: | OCZ GameXStream 700w |
| E6300 OverClock | 300fsb x 7 (2100MHz) +13% |
This board is a decent overclocker for a budget board although we could not help but think the board would easily overclock better with additional memory and processor voltage options. At these settings the system was able to complete our benchmark test suites three consecutive times along with dual Prime95 and SuperPI 32M without issue.
We set our memory to a 4:3 (DDR2-400) ratio and were able to even post at 318FSB but could not get the system stable past 307FSB. Due to the reduced memory speed the performance of the system was decreased across all benchmarks so we left the memory at 1:1 where we achieved our best performance. Our board would boot up to a 305FSB with the 1:1 memory ratio but was not stable at those settings.
When we changed our memory to the 4:5 ratio (DDR2-667) our FSB capability dropped to 291FSB and we had to change our memory timings to 4-4-3-12 for stability. Our benchmark results ended up being slightly better or even with the 1:1 ratio results but with less stability over the course of testing. We tried different memory modules from our value memory roundup with the same results. Unlike the ASRock VIA PT880 board our memory was not as overclockable or stable with the lower timings, although performance at DDR2-667 is better with the Intel chipset.
Memory Stress Testing
Memory Tests
Our memory stress tests looks at the ability of the ASRock COnRoe945G-DVI to operate at the officially supported memory frequencies of 533MHz DDR2 at the best performing memory timings the Transcend DDR2-533 JetRam will support. Our DDR2 memory is from Transcend and was utilized in some extensive HTPC testing for our upcoming Intel DHCAT article. The memory features average 5-5-5-12 latencies at DDR2-667 but was able to perform at much lower latencies in our testing with increased voltages at DDR2-533 and DDR2-667 while costing around $70 for a 1GB kit.
| ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI Stable DDR2-533 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 slots populated - 1 Dual-Channel Bank) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 266MHz (1066FSB) |
| Timing Mode: | 533MHz - Default |
| CAS Latency: | 3 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3 |
| RAS Precharge: | 3 |
| RAS Cycle Time: | 9 |
| Voltage: | 1.95V |
The ASRock board was very stable with two DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-3-3-9 at 2.1v. We were able to hold 3-4-3-10 at 1.95V at DDR2-667 but could not overclock the board at this memory speed without increasing to 4-4-3-12. We will now fill all four available memory slots as that results in more strenuous requirements on the memory subsystem than testing two DDR2 modules on a motherboard.
| ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI Stable DDR2-533 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 slots populated - 2 Dual-Channel Banks) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 266MHz (1066FSB) |
| Timing Mode: | 533MHz - Default |
| CAS Latency: | 4 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3 |
| RAS Precharge: | 3 |
| RAS Cycle Time: | 10 |
| Voltage: | 1.95V |
The ASRock was completely stable with four DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel operation at the settings of 4-3-3-10 at 1.95V. We tried several combinations of memory settings and memory modules at lower timings but the board was not stable enough to complete our test suite. Overall, our recommendation would be to utilize DDR2-533 memory that offers low latency memory timings at reduced voltages on this board.
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passport - Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - link
With this board in order to overclock higher than 299 you either have to do the CPU,PCIE Sync which will allow you to go up to about 130-320 before you knacker your SATA drives or you can set it to CPU,PCIE Async; set PCIE to 117 (no effect on system) and then you are able to go up to 350 (runs a 6400 @ 2.8 gHZ). Don't forget that at these speeds you are also overclocking your memory so open up the timings before you try it.RomanMtz - Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - link
Hello... I plan on using this budget board as a transition board until the Lanparty series for Conroe is released or more OCing board options arise. My only concern is that, while I will probably use it stock with a E6600, I want to make sure my Geforce 7950GX2 fits in it. I read the Epox 945 MATX review on Hard and they mentioned that that card did not physically fit in that board. Any comments about this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!deathwalker - Tuesday, September 5, 2006 - link
Are the overclocking shortcommings of this board (cpu core vlt/memory vlt)correctable thru possible future bios updates?JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 5, 2006 - link
Possibly, but I wouldn't count on ASRock making the changes. Most of their boards have the same BIOS limitations and have for a while now. :|deathwalker - Tuesday, September 5, 2006 - link
I sure home ASUS gets there P5B-VM to the market place soon. I want to get my hand on a good MicroAtx Core 2 Duo board so I can upgrade my Ultra Fly SFF system.roman2 - Tuesday, September 5, 2006 - link
I have bought a pretty similar board recently - Asus P5LD2-VM SE. It is a stripped-down board, but for a real bargain. I also have Core2 E6400 (8x, 2.13GHz, step.B2) and 2x1GB Corsair XMS2 675MHz-CL4.I've been trying to overclock this configuration and was able to reach 297 MHz FSB stable (2.37GHz CPU, 742MHz 4-4-4-12 memory, both stock voltage). The board has quite good CPU/memory voltage setting capabilities, but I wasn't able to post after 299 MHz. Any suggestions?
What is the best memory timing for these Corsair modules at such a high frequency?
What is the maximum safe voltage for CPU and what for the memory? (I didn't try to push the voltage much higher to not destroy the thing).
I have the board for a month now, for a month overclocked and must say it was worth it. But if I could achieve even higher overclock, it would be really nice :-)
PotatoMAN - Sunday, September 3, 2006 - link
Thanks again AT. I always enjoy reading your articles and they usually have most of what I am looking for. Like others before my post, I too want to see power consumption. I am looking for a solution to put in my car as I will be fabricating a carputer in the coming months. Seeing as how I expect the Core Duo to last, and I don't want to upgrade my carputer for years to come, this probably will be the solution pending the power consumption of the mainboard coupled with the CPU. It would be nice to get some comparison along with the Centrino line processors, as well =)kmmatney - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
Although the DVI riser card is a great idea (and gives the the possibility of dual monitors) it seems like the sensible thing to do would be to have a DVI connector as the standard on-board connector. You can always use a DVI-to-VGA adapter if necessary, and those must be cheaper than the riser card. Anybody with enough cash to go dual-screen can buy another cheap card, or better yet, a card with dual DVI output.agent2099 - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
I know most of us interested in mATX boards are especially interested if a board includes two particular things:Component video output (for onboard video)
SPDIF audio output
Future roundups should include whether or not a board has these features.
yyrkoon - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
Well, owning an Asrock motherboard I feel compelled to speak up on the subject. While my motherboard is an Asrock AM2NF4G-SATA2, I have a feeling the feature set (minus the DVI card) is probably pretty much the same. After one months times of owning this board, I would have to say that it is a well thought out board in most respects.However, that being said, there is a few things of concern relating to this board as well.1) As stated in this article, The Asrock AM2NF4G-SATA also has limited memory, and vcore adjustments, which is probably to be expected in a budget motherboard. I was however able to eek out a 16% OC by dropping the multiplier to 11x, and raising the HT to 250MHZ. Raising it any higher caused system instabilities. Dropping the multiplier further resulted in a lower OC, which I felt wasnt worth the time playing around with.
2) Setting up a SATA as the boot disk on these motherboards seems to be borderline un-exceptable. First, you must go into the BIOS, and change the SATA operation mode to [RAID], enter into the RAID BIOS utility, identify, and set the drive as a 'spanning' (JBOD) array, and THEN either have a driver slipstreamed copy of XP, or have a floppy attached. To make matters worse, these steps are not in the manual, and after talking to technical support on the phone (email technical support is shyte, until you get an actual email address from a rep), it took me several hours of trial and error, to figure out the proceedure. Another thing to note, is that these steps must be followed if you expect to run XP setup with a SATA attached period, whether its the boot disk, or not, otherwise you'll have to disconnect the drive, and re-attach it afterwords.
3) Stability seems to be an issue on this system, although, this could be attributed to software, I'm still trying to iron out the details (yes, after a month). Its hard tracing the problem since the system seems to randomly reboot, once every 2-3 days, and its a hard reboot, with no BSoD. I suppose this problem COULD be related to another peice of hardware, I'll have to figure that out.
Anyhow, I would like to know if the problems (except for #1) I've experienced with my motherboard, hold true for this motherboard as well. I would like to add, that for the price, this motherboard is probably well worth it, once you get used to the odd behavior, and realize that this motherboard wont OC very well (should be known to begin with anyhow), it could prove to be a decent motherboard. I'll just have to keep testing the stability issues of my own, and on a clean XP Pro install, so far (in about 18 hours) no random reboots.