Anyone using the Asrock 775 Dual VSTA and SATA?

[13thmonkey]

I'm running a 7900GTo on that board and getting good enough 3dMark results to make me think it is not too limited...

3dmark 06 = 5200 ish not overclocked.
3dmark 05 = >10,000 not overclocked.

 

[chrone]

mine works well.

only can't get running windows vista rc1 with this specification:
intel c2d e6600
asrock 775dual-vsta
sapphire x1900xt
corsair vs1gb400c3 (2x)
western digital caviar se 120gb

i think there's a problem with the vga card driver for windows vista rc1.

oh yeah, the early days i was using this mobo was that my vga card (x1600pro agp) sometimes had this cold/warm boot problem with my samsung 793mb 17" crt monitor. i had to unplug the power cable which was attached to the monitor and replugged it again, the system was running in background though. after i switch to lcd monitor (borrow from my work place), it doesn't have troubleshooting at all with many vga card both agp and pcie i have tried so far (radeon x1600pro agp, geforce mmx-440 agp, geforce 6600 pcie, radeon x1900xt pcie).

just make sure you have adequate power supply unit as my motherboard died on me when i switched from e6300 to e6600 (i didn't know what's wrong back then, but the x1600pro agp card kept telling me to plug the cable power into my card, though i already plugged it in) and got the replacement from my local store. afterward i bought a decent psu from thermaltake.

so good luck to you! you cannot expect much for this motherboard, but for the price, hell yeah it's a lot cheaper than major brand motherboards.

 

[asimons999]

hmm.. i have my big doughts about this board.. i think the core 2 duo is a bit out of reach for me..

I think my plan will be this

amd 3700+
new mobo with pci-ex
and a 7600gs or...

7900gs (those things have great bang for your buck 8O ) except it will take me longer to get.. and i will miss all the lans in the school holidays.. before year 12 next year

keep my ram, hdd, burner, case, psu etc..

hmm. i think she will do fine.. ill be able to play bf2 and cod 2 well.. plus all the old games will have HUGE frame rates.. except cod is limited.. but oh well

 

[chrone]

well it's all depend on your money though. hehe i you can, you can go with amd x2 am2 socket. the motherboard with major brand is a lot cheaper then if you go with core 2 duo system.

have you tried to look for x2 3600+ it's more less $120, and the motherboard (msi, biostar, asus, asrock, gigabyte) will vary around $60 to $109 here in indonesia.

as for the vga card, if you could, you can go with 7600gt, in my humble opinion, that card is the sweetpot for price and performance, but it's quiet expensive here as it's priced for around $220 (evga 7600gt ko 128bit 256mb ddr3).

btw what is your current specification? if you start from amd 64 microarchitecture, i guess there won't be much boost in performance as the amd 64 architecture is already fast at stock.

here is my list for microarchitecture's performance quick comparison: c2d > amd 64 fx/amd 64 x2 > amd 64/sempron/pentium d > pentium 4 > celeron.

 

[asimons999]

I have:

Celeron 2.4 ( i mean celery )
Fx5500 Agp
Msi cheap mobo with only 2 ddr1 slots

as you can see.. a upgrade to 7600gs and amd 3700.. is a decent upgrade for me..

 

[chrone]

oh i see. well that will make a difference in several applications a lot (such as gaming, rendering, opening mozilla firefox, and so on)

but there won't be any real difference with general usage.

so the amd 64 3700+ should do a great upgrade for your buck

btw are you using this for gaming purpose only? as i see the thing holds you back is your vga card (as if it;s for gaming), but of course the upgrade path for agp to pcie should make you change your mobo and perhaps your cpu too . just like me last month.

 

[chrone]

on quick calculation, i assume your budget is around $300, for that, you could easily upgrade to c2d e6300, using asrock 775dual-vga, and keep the rest of your hardware for awhile. --> this is a nice upgrade path for future (vista & dx10).

the processor itself could boost you for more less 5 frame per second using the same hardware except for the cpu and mobo.

and then wait for new vista and dx10 card, and sell the agp and buy new pcie card

if you want to make use this mobo, you have to make sure it can be replaced by a new one or another brand motherboard from your local store. that is for a safe bet on this asrock.

if you cannot have the replacement warranty just in case something happens in the future, then go for the amd scenario you've been planning about this long

good luck!

 

[asimons999]

Hmm.. that direction is a tad hasty..

because its not me paying for all of it.. im paying for the card.. and mum is paying for the board and cpu..

and core 2 duo.. stretches the limit a bit..

but hey if i dont get around to getting the amd and board till chistmas anyway..

well ill probably have some money... and might get a core 2 duo anyway..

but either way.. it will take longer going the core 2duo way..

and ill miss out on the lans in the holidays..

a core 2 duo with my agp card.. in a gruddy agp and pci-ex slots that dont have much bandwidth..

well i rekon a 7900gs with a amd3700 would kill it..

and i can get one locally for about 300 bucks.. (here thats pretty good)

in think its 7900 gs.. at least then it would be a decent pci ex slot and still upgradable if i do fall into the temptation later on..

but after this.. this machine probably wont be upgraded..

 

[chrone]

oh i see it clearly now.

the amd's plan plus 7600gs or 7900s will absolutely kill your current's rig performance. hehe

so goodluck!

 

[asimons999]

yeah this rig has pretty much come to the end of the line.. of being able to upgrade it..

Low fsb support for p4 cpus..

2 ram slots

an agp slot..


But it had its day.. and when it comes down to it.. you have just as much fun with your mates playing cod and Ut 99 and that with lots of softdrink.. as you do bf2.. and fear and the new ones..

It went from have 256 meg of ram to 512.. then 512 to 1 gig..

it also went from g2mx400 to a g4mx440 (because it came with the wrong card at first)

then to a fx5500 256meg.. (at least then it could open bf2 LOL!)

and it went from crappy stock case.. to a nicer USI black case.. with 2nd cpu fan.. a case fan.. and 400w psu..

and now its at the end of the road.. ahh the memories.. ... wait, its a celeron.. i mean ARGH THE MEMORIES :x

lol..

 

[chrone]

hehe. i know how you feel.

celeron ain't that bad, the only thing which is bad is the changing platform (socket type, slot type, you name it). i once used celeron d320 (2,4ghz socket 478 prescott), and i couldn't even tell the difference compared to a pentium 4 2.4ghz prescott socket 478.

 

[zjohnr]

I have:
Celeron 2.4 ( i mean celery )
Fx5500 Agp
Msi cheap mobo with only 2 ddr1 slots
as you can see.. a upgrade to 7600gs and amd 3700.. is a decent upgrade for me..

Just curious ... how fast is the RAM you're going to use with the AMD 3700?

-john, the ambivalent dinosaur

 

[asimons999]

i beleive it is pc3200 400mhz..

so its not too slow.. plus i got it cheaper that it is now to buy.. so cant complain i guess..