The E5200 at 3.2GHz wouldnt be faster? I am asking because I have it already

Only slightly, if not worse in some cases. Not worth it.

Just wanted to share my some of my testing results and notes with the 4coreDUAL-Sata2 R2.0 board since I have recently purchased one of these and read the entire thread here...
Note: I was NOT using memory compatibility mode for these tests.

The beta BIOS is the best way to go. Some people were claiming it broke 8-way interleave but even with non beta BIOS 8-Way Interleave for memory does not work in dual channel mode, it only works in single channel mode with 1 memory module.
I did some testing and 8-way Single Channel is not as fast as when you use Dual Channel 4-Way.

Using 1 single memory module in single channel with 8-way interleave i did notice a bit of a performance increase when switching from 533 to 667.

When using 4-way dual channel 2 memory modules- 533 or 667 benchmark score was IDENTICAL every time. No performance increase I guess.

Beta BIOS fixes dynamic CPU fan speed setting (did not work in 2.20 official)
Beta BIOS fixes Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Dual Core) losing %5 FSB speed even though it shouldn't

A fun board for sure. Expensive but worth it.

So, what are the 3 fastest cpus i can use with this mobo for 2010 games and emulation ?

Thanks

kanyero wrote on 2020-08-05, 19:42:

So, what are the 3 fastest cpus i can use with this mobo for 2010 games and emulation ?

Thanks

1: QX9650 (with unofficial BIOS patch)
2: QX6850
3: X6800

This is to my knowledge anyway- feel free to correct me. I run an X6800 and I think it's the perfect CPU for this board. This board has short comings when it comes to performance so don't expect to run 2010 games smoothly. Even my GTX 580 struggled to run COD WaW on max settings at 1280x1024 because of the bottle necking occurring on the PCIe 4x slot. It's really best for playing games 1999-2008 in my opinion.

I run an X3230 with an AGP 9800 Pro. It's my Win98SE Machine but I wanted to make sure it ran XP well for when I needed a more modern OS.

Core 2 Duo E7600
Pentium E5800 with overclock

Thanks to all

I think i will try to get an e7600 or an e7500 at least. Less cores but faster speed for each one would fit better what i need.

Hello, I just got the 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0, what is the best bios I can use?
I downloaded the 4CoreDual-SATA2 (R2.0)_2.20a (Beta), but maybe the modified bios is better? I will use it with a E7600, but a bios with more cpu supported is welcome.
Thanks

2.20a is already modified, it's not official BIOS.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-09-06, 06:25:

2.20a is already modified, it's not official BIOS.

Thank you for the clarification, I'm going to mod the bios with the latest microcodes since I noticed some of them aren't the last version and fire the system!

Apparently someone added CPU microcode back in 2010 - https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-AsRock … ta2-B3-stepping

Working on setting up a 4CoreDual-VSTA for use with Windows 98SE. Don't care one bit for running DOS or XP with this machine.

So far the configuration is:
Core 2 X6800 overclocked to 3.19Ghz (289 x 11)
Zalman CNPS9900max CPU cooler.
2x 256MB PC4200 @289 (578) - may order a couple 256MB PC5300 sticks since these don't seem to like T1 at this speed.
BFG FX5950U with Zalman VF1000 and RAM sinks.
BFG 1200w PSU... yes, complete overkill but the only PSU I had on hand that the cables were long enough to reach the motherboard in the case I am using. May get some extension cables so I can actually use a smaller PSU and run the cables behind the motherboard tray.

Planned sound cards are:
Turtle Beach Montego II with the digital board (Aureal Vortex II)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Yamaha SW1000XG with or without the PLG100-DX

Will the onboard SATA work in Win9x? Is there a driver for Win9x?
If not, I'll throw in a Promise S150 card.

What about the CPU. I see above that the E7600 is recommended. Why? Is it that much better than the X6800? Maybe a bit higher clock on stock volts? Guessing I would be able to run at 3.32Ghz instead of the 3.19Ghz I am currently running? Not super keen on modding for higher voltage though I could easily crank up the clock speed on the X6800 with a volt mod.

Why? Is it that much better than the X6800?

It's a cheap and easy to acquire 3Ghz CPU for 1066 Mhz FSB. Although E5800 with overclocking up to 4 Ghz probably should be on par or slightly better, if very limited overclocking FSB potential is considered.
X6800 has unlocked multiplier, so ultimately it's better.

Will the onboard SATA work in Win9x? Is there a driver for Win9x?

VT8237/VT8237R/VT8237A are officially supported. VT8237S is not supported.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-09-06, 06:32:

Apparently someone added CPU microcode back in 2010 - https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-AsRock … ta2-B3-stepping

The link seems dead, I updated the microcodes with the latest one, they are on the very same order as the modified original bios, on the 7z file there is the original modified bios and the one with microcodes updated.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-09-06, 06:45:

It's a cheap and easy to acquire 3Ghz CPU for 1066 Mhz FSB. Although E5800 with overclocking up to 4 Ghz probably should be on p […]
Show full quote

Why? Is it that much better than the X6800?

It's a cheap and easy to acquire 3Ghz CPU for 1066 Mhz FSB. Although E5800 with overclocking up to 4 Ghz probably should be on par or slightly better, if very limited overclocking FSB potential is considered.
X6800 has unlocked multiplier, so ultimately it's better.

Will the onboard SATA work in Win9x? Is there a driver for Win9x?

VT8237/VT8237R/VT8237A are officially supported. VT8237S is not supported.

Well, I tried an E7600 and even with the clockspeed being higher at 3.26Ghz, it still loses to the X6800 at 3.19Ghz (really 3.18Ghz according to CPU-Z) because the motherboard will only do 384Mhz fsb with the E7600 compared to 389Mhz fsb with the X6800.

3DMark 2001 SE lost a minimum of 500 points.. closest I got after multiple runs.

Edit:
I wonder if a QX9650 or QX9770 or QX9775 would work in this board... I may just have to try it out. Yes, I already have them.

Edit 2: looking around and even in this thread, the QX9650 at least works. I kinda doubt I will be able to get the fsb up near as high as the x6800 going by how low the Q6600 fsb was maxing out at.

Edit 3: Nope. QX6950 multiplier adjustment doesn't work. It lets me change it, but then it reverts back to the default of 9 which is no good. Even leaving it at this setting it won't go past the blinking cursor after the POST screen. Max POST screen fsb is 279Mhz with this CPU.
This is with the Beta BIOS 2.39a.
Tried with both C0 and C1 steppings.

Looks like the X6800 is the winner here.. unless the 2.39a BIOS is slower than the 2.30 BIOS.

Back to the 25.2K 3DMark score with the FX5950U. With the E7600 highest I was getting was 24.8k.. and that only happened once out of a bunch of runs. With the X6800, the scores are more consistent.

Edit 4: The 2.39a beta BIOS will not keep multiplier settings at all.. even with the X6800. It just reverts back to the default multiplier. On the plus side, I gained 1Mhz max fsb.

Sooo... The 3 BETA BIOSes I have access to for the 4CoreDual-VSTA have broken CPU multiplier adjustment
2.33e
2.36a
2.39a

I had to go back to version 2.30 before CPU multiplier adjustment started working again.

Oh well, then it's more reason to try E5800 with overclocking.

I wonder if it is just my board as i saw other posts about the 9650 and they didn't mention the multiplier issue.

In any case, after swapping back to the 2.30 BIOS and the X6800, it now is working at 3.3Ghz at stock volts but the lower fsb hampers speed a bit though still faster than the e7600 and faster than 3.18 GHz at 289 fsb.

Think I am happy with this board now. I did the vAGP/chipset pencil mod and can now get it up to 301Mhz fsb. With the CPU at the 11x multiplier that puts it right on the edge of where it loses stability with the stock CPU voltage.

Up to 25.7k in 3DMark 2001 SE.

Here is the page where I got the pics from since the original forum that had the pics of the locations for the voltage mods no longer exists and was also not archived.
http://www.controsensi.it/Mods/4CoreDual-SATA … ontents_Eng.htm

Here is the post about what the resistor should be pencil modded to in order to get the wanted voltage.
https://forums.vrzone.com/hardware-depot/9312 … a-vddr-mod.html

And more info about mods:
https://forums.vrzone.com/hardware-depot/1925 … vsta-l6714.html
https://forums.vrzone.com/hardware-depot/1259 … -vsta-help.html
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthrea … -VSTA-Volt-Mods

Edit:
On another note, the QX9650 works and is detected with the 2.30 BIOS. The multiplier adjustment only works up to 10x which is really weird.