ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket M2 Upgradable Motherboard Review @ PCstats.com

Iria · Oct 7, 2005, 09:04 PM

"The ASRock 939Dual-SATA 2 motherboard we're testing here is a socket 939 AMD Athlon64 solution which incorporates a special slot for a daughter card that will in the near future support the upcoming Socket M2 AMD Athlon64 processor and its allotment of DDR-2 memory. Both the Socket M2 AMD processor and the necessary ASRock daughter card are not currently available, but the CPU is expected in Q2 of 2006 so the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 is certainly forward-looking. ASRock takes the worry out of things with its new 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard. The motherboard boasts the ULi M1695 Northbridge (1 GHz 16/16 HTT connection to the CPU) and ULi M1567 Southbridge which support any current Socket 939 AMD Athlon64/FX/X2 processor."
_____________
Review: PCStats

kelticknight · Oct 7, 2005, 10:20 PM

have this mobo on another system and find it good
have agp card in it and will change to pci-e next year
good all round performer,

farkas · Oct 7, 2005, 11:37 PM

My next board, since I want to hold on to my X800 til 2nd gen R5XX cards come out. Dirt cheap, should be good for me for a year give or take a few months. I already have plans for that board as my 2nd system.

Tipstaff · Oct 8, 2005, 02:41 AM

It should also be noted that unlike the Intel based "Dual" AsRock boards there is no video card limitation on this board. Almost all the Intel based boards (865/915) from AsRock were limited to what video card you could use, not to mention limit the speed of the PCIE slot to 8x. This board has no limitation (according to them) other than an AGP voltage restriction. They warn that you don't use an AGP card that requires 3.3v or you will seriously damage the board. So, no matter what, don't use an old, old AGP card as a filler.. or for testing.

Edit:
One last thing due to someone asking me this recently: since this board supports dual channel memory make sure you use the proper slots. The colored slots (2 blue/2 black) work as pairs, so slots 1/2, and 3/4 are paired sets. As with almost all boards the ram timings and size should be identical. However, unlike almost all other chipsets this board is really... testy when it comes to mixing different ram with different timings.

kelticknight · Oct 8, 2005, 03:17 AM

have this mobo for 4 weeks now and everything went smooth with installation and running
using a x800xt pe 256 ram in agp and runs great
maybe budget board,but runs as good as heavy weights

brywalker · Oct 8, 2005, 04:17 AM

Obviously this isn't nearly as feature rich as my IC7-MAX3, however it MORE than makes up for it with performance.

IITravel · Oct 8, 2005, 04:29 AM

I would hold off on purchasing this board until the daughter card is out and available. ASRock is known to advertise features and then not supporting them later.
See more info. on the K7Upgrade board that advertised 939 support on the box, but was never brought out.

Tipstaff · Oct 8, 2005, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kelticknight

have this mobo for 4 weeks now and everything went smooth with installation and running
using a x800xt pe 256 ram in agp and runs great
maybe budget board,but runs as good as heavy weights

Agreed. I use Asrock boards for the majority of my budget systems (primarily the 865 or 915 Dual ones). They are surprisingly solid boards. I've got one of these 939Dual boards at the store, and I'll get a chance to fart around with it next week.

Matth · Oct 8, 2005, 03:01 PM

Interesting... even accepting that actual upgrade compatibility is subject to the gizmo actually arriving, it's still a dual PCI-E/AGP solution.

The AGP card most be an AGP 2.0 or better (1.5v / 4x capable) and not an old 3.3v, though that still opens a path all the way back to an old Geforce 2 or 2MX - even the old TNT2, though nothing older in the Nvidia lineup.

I would have mentioned the very useful "AGPCHART" that used to be easily found at ATI, but the miserable perishers have buried it god knows where!
I hate the ATI site, as it seems to be designed to force you through their menus, even if you knew exactly where you wanted to go.

Iria · Oct 8, 2005, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matth

Interesting... even accepting that actual upgrade compatibility is subject to the gizmo actually arriving, it's still a dual PCI-E/AGP solution.

The AGP card most be an AGP 2.0 or better (1.5v / 4x capable) and not an old 3.3v, though that still opens a path all the way back to an old Geforce 2 or 2MX - even the old TNT2, though nothing older in the Nvidia lineup.

I would have mentioned the very useful "AGPCHART" that used to be easily found at ATI, but the miserable perishers have buried it god knows where!
I hate the ATI site, as it seems to be designed to force you through their menus, even if you knew exactly where you wanted to go.

This what you were looking for?

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...estionID=18872

Matth · Oct 9, 2005, 04:38 PM

Guess what?

Quote:

Your session has expired and the action has not been completed.If you entered data in the previous screen and would like to save them, follow these steps.
1) Click this button.
2) Select your unsaved text, press the Ctrl+c to copy it.
3) Refresh your browser and begin your process again.
<LI>4) Press Ctrl+v to paste your data in the appropriate text box.

If you just want to restart your session and discard any possible unsaved data from the previous screen, click below.

I'll resort to the archive ...
http://web.archive.org/web/200410140.../agpchart.html

Rage 128 Pro (not 128) and all Radeon's are capable of 4x and 1.5v operation

Oct 7, 2005, 09:04 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket M2 Upgradable Motherboard Review @ PCstats.com "The ASRock 939Dual-SATA 2 motherboard we're testing here is a socket 939 AMD Athlon64 solution which incorporates a special slot for a daughter card that will in the near future support the upcoming Socket M2 AMD Athlon64 processor and its allotment of DDR-2 memory. Both the Socket M2 AMD processor and the necessary ASRock daughter card are not currently available, but the CPU is expected in Q2 of 2006 so the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 is certainly forward-looking. ASRock takes the worry out of things with its new 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard. The motherboard boasts the ULi M1695 Northbridge (1 GHz 16/16 HTT connection to the CPU) and ULi M1567 Southbridge which support any current Socket 939 AMD Athlon64/FX/X2 processor." _____________ Review: PCStats

Oct 7, 2005, 10:20 PM	#2
kelticknight DriverHeaven Knight Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: EIRE{great for black stuff ,bulmers cider and Munster rubgy Posts: 1,095 Rep Power: 0	have this mobo on another system and find it good have agp card in it and will change to pci-e next year good all round performer, __________________

Oct 7, 2005, 11:37 PM	#3
farkas IT Support Specialist Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre, Québec, Can Posts: 175 Rep Power: 0	My next board, since I want to hold on to my X800 til 2nd gen R5XX cards come out. Dirt cheap, should be good for me for a year give or take a few months. I already have plans for that board as my 2nd system. __________________ K8N DLX (s754) A64 3200+ Thermalright XP-120 Corsair CMX512C2 X 2 1GB total Asus X800XT PE with ATI Silencer 4 rev 1 120Gb Sea SATA + 120GB WD PATA + 80GB WD PATA

Oct 8, 2005, 02:41 AM	#4
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 191 System Specs	It should also be noted that unlike the Intel based "Dual" AsRock boards there is no video card limitation on this board. Almost all the Intel based boards (865/915) from AsRock were limited to what video card you could use, not to mention limit the speed of the PCIE slot to 8x. This board has no limitation (according to them) other than an AGP voltage restriction. They warn that you don't use an AGP card that requires 3.3v or you will seriously damage the board. So, no matter what, don't use an old, old AGP card as a filler.. or for testing. Edit: One last thing due to someone asking me this recently: since this board supports dual channel memory make sure you use the proper slots. The colored slots (2 blue/2 black) work as pairs, so slots 1/2, and 3/4 are paired sets. As with almost all boards the ram timings and size should be identical. However, unlike almost all other chipsets this board is really... testy when it comes to mixing different ram with different timings. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick. Last edited by Tipstaff; Oct 8, 2005 at 03:00 AM.

Oct 8, 2005, 03:17 AM	#5
kelticknight DriverHeaven Knight Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: EIRE{great for black stuff ,bulmers cider and Munster rubgy Posts: 1,095 Rep Power: 0	have this mobo for 4 weeks now and everything went smooth with installation and running using a x800xt pe 256 ram in agp and runs great maybe budget board,but runs as good as heavy weights __________________

Oct 8, 2005, 04:17 AM	#6
brywalker DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 87 Rep Power: 0	Obviously this isn't nearly as feature rich as my IC7-MAX3, however it MORE than makes up for it with performance.

Oct 8, 2005, 04:29 AM	#7
IITravel DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Amsterdam Posts: 32 Rep Power: 0	I would hold off on purchasing this board until the daughter card is out and available. ASRock is known to advertise features and then not supporting them later. See more info. on the K7Upgrade board that advertised 939 support on the box, but was never brought out.

Oct 8, 2005, 03:01 PM	#9
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	Interesting... even accepting that actual upgrade compatibility is subject to the gizmo actually arriving, it's still a dual PCI-E/AGP solution. The AGP card most be an AGP 2.0 or better (1.5v / 4x capable) and not an old 3.3v, though that still opens a path all the way back to an old Geforce 2 or 2MX - even the old TNT2, though nothing older in the Nvidia lineup. I would have mentioned the very useful "AGPCHART" that used to be easily found at ATI, but the miserable perishers have buried it god knows where! I hate the ATI site, as it seems to be designed to force you through their menus, even if you knew exactly where you wanted to go.