ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2

[W1zzard]

ASRock did it again. The 939SLI32-eSATA is the killer budget board of 2006. It comes with two PCI-Express x16 slots and supports NVIDIA's SLI. Other new features are Gigabit Ethernet and support for eSATA. Also the overclocking has been polished some, the dreaded 275 MHz limit is gone and there are more memory timings options available. With a CPU socket upgrade card this board can even run with AMD's upcoming AM2 CPUs.

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[Chargin]

I ran the same Audio test on my 939sliesata board, mine is the non x32 version and I got these results
<table align="center" width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:</strong></td>
<td>+3.13, -2.19</td><td>Poor</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Noise level, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>-82.4</td><td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Dynamic range, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>77.8</td><td>Average</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>THD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.086</td><td>Average</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD + Noise, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.212</td><td>Average</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Stereo crosstalk, dB:</strong></td>
<td>-83.5</td><td>Very good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD at 10 kHz, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.562</td><td>Poor</td></tr>
</table>
Your results to compare
<table width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1"><br />
<tr align="center"><br />
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:</strong></td>
<td>+1.52, -8.63</td>
<td>Very poor</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><br />
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Noise level, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>-62.2</td>
<td>Poor</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><br />
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Dynamic range, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>62.8</td>
<td>Poor</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><br />
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>THD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.144</td>
<td>Average</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><br />
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD, %:</strong></td>
<td>15.831</td>
<td>Very poor</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><br />
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Stereo crosstalk, dB:</strong></td>
<td>-71.3</td>
<td>Good</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><br />
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD at 10 kHz, %:</strong></td>
<td>1.218</td>
<td>Poor</td>
</tr>
</table>

A bit better but still not great, Im using the onboard sound with my Altec lansing speakers and its sounds pretty good really, good enough anyway...

 

[Roede Orm]

What about voltage fluctuation, VCore in particular?
- my Foxconn is stable - if 1,200 is selected, it is 1,200 VCore.
thx

 

[Chargin]

From what I saw the volts were all over the place.

 

[Roede Orm]

great, thx

 

[sobitthen]

MCE05 problems

Tried to load MediaCenter onto a single SATA and a Raid0 Array with similiar problem.

Both, after loading files and upon 1st reboot, had BSOD I/O error message [26?].
Brand new os disk, and tried multiple DVD drives to make sure not problem with copying data.
Tried both OC and non-OC, with Theater550 cards and without, with a generic PCI video card and a x700, many hours swapping parts and turning off devices in BIOS, I am a system builder and this is first issue loading this operating system onto any rig.

Loaded XP Pro without any problems onto this array and since the board has passive cooling, I tried a load of MCE05 to build a PVR, the board was faster than my Nforce4SLI with same Opteron 146 and Gigaram DDR500 ram.

I was wondering if anyone had sucess with a load of this OS and what storage method was used, PATA, SATA, Raid.

Thanks.

 

[sobitthen]

Also tried Redhat Fedora Core 5 and hangs on Grub with blinking cursor.
Was an attempt at dual booting with Windows XP, will try again.
Also tried Server 2003-64 and claims a file is missing for booting.

Looks to be a very OS specific motherboard.
Asrock states this board is only for W2K, WinXP, WinXP-64 and no others.
Since ULI was taken over by NVidia, I do not expect any chipset updates, I emailed their TW correspondent for updates, no reply to date.

 

[persnikitty]

Wonderful review, Wizzard! I have this board and really like it. There are some issues though between what you've shown and what I've experienced. I'm using bios 1.00 from Asrock's website.

Under 'Chipset Settings', no option for 'Turbo Mode'.
Under 'CPU Configuration', no options for 'Read Preamble' or 'Async Latency'.

So I'm curious which bios version you were running, since if it was the same 1.0 from Asrock's website, we should have the same bios options, yes? Or did Asrock, bless their hides, send you an optimized board for testing for a positive review and box sticker option, instead of the same retail package the rest of us purchased? 9x300 with 133 div was not possible without adjusting memory to 200 timings, though I haven't tried with Flexibility enabled, and was stable by using A64Tweaker. Using that option will essentially set 166 hidden timings for 133 speed.

I really liked your review, you were the only one to give reference to the clockgen, and I really like this board. SLI might be kaput since nVidia's newer drivers diable PowerExpress, since Asrock never got licensing for SLI, but it's still a good board, and easily overclockable, even for newbs like me. Using A64Tweaker to run my 200 settings, 9x311 with 133 div. Memory is my hurdle, and hope to rectify soon. System specs to the left.

 

[madjock]

gfx problems

can anyone shed some light ,

i have this mobo, and a point of view 6800gs, atfer building system,
i get no post screen, no bleeps,nothing,

using opteron 146, kingsmax turbo pc3500 ddr433 ram, 2x 512mb paired,
160gb sata, and 60gb ide,
antec version 2.0 psu,550watt sli .
stock cooler for now,

check asrock, cpu is comaptible, but no mention of the gfx card,
anyone else have any problems like this,

checked all jumpers, and cleared cmos, still nothing,

any help would be great,
thanks

 

[Cheezfuqer]

Same problem

I have been trying to install XP pro on a RAID 0 array for a couple days now and it just isn't happening. I am using the drivers that came on the CD and when I get to the point in XP setup where you install the drivers it says jahcix64.sys is corrupt. I've used about 5 different floppies and different CD drives to get the files and it still doesn't work. ASRock's forums are non-existant so...

ASRock 939SLI32
AMD 64 3200
xfx 7600 GT
2 x Seagate 160 GB SATA

Anyone?

 

[madjock]

well i managed ot sort my problem, turns out it was an earthign problem withmy case,added soem rubber grommits and everythign was fine,

as to yours m8, trying installing xp with any floppy drivers, as on the cd theres raid drivers,
as this mobo is designed for certain operating systems, you should not need floppy drivers, i did not need them for my 2 sata drive's, and after install xp and drivers form cd, i setup raid 0 from within bios , and all was great.

 

[bobyjo]

can anyone shed some light ,

i have this mobo, and a point of view 6800gs, atfer building system,
i get no post screen, no bleeps,nothing,

using opteron 146, kingsmax turbo pc3500 ddr433 ram, 2x 512mb paired,
160gb sata, and 60gb ide,
antec version 2.0 psu,550watt sli .
stock cooler for now,

check asrock, cpu is comaptible, but no mention of the gfx card,
anyone else have any problems like this,

checked all jumpers, and cleared cmos, still nothing,

any help would be great,
thanks

The first thing I would do is install a set of PC3200 Patriot XBLK sticks and recheck.
This just may be the solution for you.

 

[madjock]

got it sorted, turns out it was my case, was not earthign properly, so i sorted that ,a nd all is good,

great board for oc'ing too.

 

[angrysquirrel]

The volt mod that you mention.

With this work with the ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2 The one you point it to ASRock 939Dual-SATA2. Has the the vcore mod and or ram mod been tested by anyone? I need to mod the vcore because I can't overclock at all with this board. I'm upgrading from a soltek k8tpro-939. I could hit 2.45 stable with that board 245htt x10.

Also, is there some kind of trace I can use on the mod that is not permanent? I heard something about a pencil trace? What is that?

I cannot get this thing to work at any speed other than stock. tried all kinds of combos 4x htt 5x htt 220fsb x 10 (x9) x8. 250 x 10... I just don't think it will work without more juice than 1.45v. I had this CPU in a soltek k8tpro 939 and it o/c'd to 2.45 ghz stable on air.