A Core 2 (Conroe) motherboard that takes AGP and DDR I memor

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:51 pm

Asrock, ASUS's neurotic budget and 'crazy things no one else would think of' division has produced a few motherboards capable Core and Core 2s using DDR1 and AGP.

The most noteable board is this:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ConRoe865PE

So it'll run at an FSB of 1066mhz by overclocking the bejebus out of DDR400 chips. If I've done my numbers right (And oh boy, am I ready to be wrong. FSB/Memory speeds on Intels confuse me muchly) This means pushing DDR400 from 200mhz to 333mhz... I downloaded the manual and it doesn't give any warnings about cheap memory or anything and simply tells you to use DDR400 but not DDR333 or anything. So I'm somewhat at a loss as to how this board is supposed to operate a Conroe and, ya know, not explode. O.o

At the same time, it looks like a tempting upgrade path as you can go to Core or Core 2 with only replacing you CPU and mobo. AGP graphics and DDR1 memory can all be grandfathered in. Where as with most boards you're looking at new CPU, mobo, memory AND graphics as AGP is non-existant on the new Conroe supporting chipsets.

So would someone like to tell me if this is brilliant or suicide?

Douggie · Post by **Douggie** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:24 am

I also wanted to do the same thing, but didn't hear of the overclocking though. I just read somewhere in a forum that it's not that effective to do this (because it's not using its full potential), but it's still a huge leap though.

Beware of some ASUS board (sorry forgot which one), the motherboard did support it, but only since REV2.0 and the only way to check that is to check the number on the board. So if you're supplier is willing to check that out, then you should do so, but if not, there's a chance that you get an ASUS that doesn't support Core 2 Duo. I read on a forum that some person didn't check that out, making him buy a new motherboard. I don't know if you can flash the bios of the Asrock one - as the site states that only some versions of the bios support that. so you should check that out.

Is Asrock reliable, BTW?

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:51 am

Douggie wrote:Is Asrock reliable, BTW?

Since they are a division of ASUS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASRock) so support shouldn't be an issue. They pretty much exist to provide unusual hardware combos and upgrade options that would seem out of place for a company like ASUS to market directly (at least today, a few years ago having ASUS releasing these motherboards wouldn't be considered unusual).

WC Annihilus · Post by **WC Annihilus** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:22 am

Near as I know, ASROCKs are solid for what they are able to give. Rather favorites for people who want top-end stuff in combination with older things. Their overclocking capabilities aren't amazing, but passable, giving you enough headroom to get 200-500mhz. I remember the 939 AGP/PCIE board was a favorite a bit ago for AMD. Not quite sure how their current boards are going.

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:04 am

I'm going with this board as my upgrade path in a year or so, I want to get another year out of my Athlon XP first and give the Core 2's time to come down in cost. Only problem is, currently, this is one of the few Asrock boards that arn't available in North America. :/

Keeper of Hellfire · Post by **Keeper of Hellfire** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 11:30 am

I was checking a German online shop. It has 18 user comments and star ratings. Only 2 comments are bad, told they got it not to work. One report told about stability problems with a Conroe processor if all memory benches are used. With a slight reduction of the FSB this was solved. It received 1 x 1 star, 1 x 2 stars, 1 x 3 stars and 3 x 4 stars. Anyone else gave 5 stars. So I think in matters of stability it's ok.

The only issue that I had with this board is that it is a dead end lane. If you want to replace one of the other components with a more recent one you have to replace the mobo either. But with that price that isn't that much of an issue comperad with the advantage that you can upgrade from an older AMD system to a Core2 Duo system without much money.

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 11:33 am

Yeah, I see this as an upgrade path if you have no desire for new graphics or memory. If you're building an editing machine this would do nicely since you don't need good graphics for that.

While this may be a dead end lane, it does extend me from the dead end lane my Athlon XP+ is already in. And I just ordered a new Radeon x800 XT All In Wonder so I'd like to get some life out of that.

Keeper of Hellfire · Post by **Keeper of Hellfire** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:09 pm

That board could be interesting fo me too. It supports the E4300, which runs at 800MHz FSB. That would allow me to use my 266MHz DDR-RAM, that way getting a cheap dual core system.