
The ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 can already be had for just under $75 mail order, making it a real bargain compared to similarly-equipped products from AMD's current processor series. The main reason is that in addition to all of the usual ingredients, the board offers the possibility of implementing either an AGP or a PCI Express graphics card, both of which work without any performance losses. The foundation of the board is ULi's M1695 chipset, which drew our positive attention in an initial test.
While it's true that you can find the odd hybrid solution with both graphics interfaces on the market, they all have something in common: There's always a string attached, and it's usually in the area of performance. Although today you should be able to get along well with PCI Express, considering the large number of choices range now available, the majority of users are still running AGP-based systems. With a system upgrade in the wings - dual-core processors are currently the biggest temptation - many folks find it preferable to use that graphics card for a while longer. That's especially true given that it likely cost a pretty penny!
Furthermore, an AGP graphics card can continue to be used even after the purchase of a PCIe model. Although no 3D performance increase is possible, it is certainly true that more displays can be operated simultaneously. Note however that when using two TFT devices with DVI connections, you should use the respective DVI ports of the two graphics cards in order to preclude any quality losses due to dual transformation (from digital to analog and back to digital.)
The remaining equipment of the ASRock motherboard is from all appearances complete and leaves little to be desired. But since bargain motherboards often cut corners in one place or the other, we took the 939Dual-SATA2 into the THG lab for a proper test.
Board-Revision: 1.04
BIOS-Version: 1.1
The fact that ASRock was able to nicely resolve the space problem is somewhat surprising in view of the numerous components that the board provides. In addition to the slots for x16 PCI Express and AGP, ASRock offers a x1 PCIe slot for future expansion cards, as well as three PCI slots for normal 32-bit cards. In addition, located in the middle of the board is an extra AGP-like slot that can hold a processor expansion card. This is intended to let the board implement future AMD processors without any major effort. In order to manage that, the phalanx of jumpers right next to the slot has to be activated; we could not test the slot, however, due to the lack of an expansion card. According to the user manual, there will be a model available for future AMD processors on Socket M2.
Unlike the Intel chipsets for the Pentium family, the ULi M1695 - or rather, its Southbridge - still features two UltraATA/133 channels, so not-so-new hard disks and optical drives can still be connected. The chipset actually only offers two serial ATA I ports; ASRock also implanted a small controller as a supplement which enables another port for SATA II. Thus, at least for a hard disk, command queuing and transfers up to 300 MB/s are possible - even if the latter scarcely makes a difference in practice.
The board is virtually inundated with info stickers: "Please do not use 3.3V AGP cards," "Future CPU port available," "SATA hot plugging not supported due to chipset limitations", etc. In the process, the manufacturer chaotically mixed in the really important pointers with mere references to features. Even obvious facts like USB 2.0, AGP 8X, SATA II and catch phrases like "Dual Core CPU" and "Dual Channel DDR400" are to be found on the board. Neither is the choice of positioning straightforward. For example, while the SATA, SATA II and AGP 8X labels are right next to their respective connectors, the "USB 2.0" is not. While it won't bother professionals, newcomers are likely to find the jumble of "helpful" pointers confusing.
Thanks to Socket 939, all current AMD processors up to the Dual Core Athlon 64 X2 are supported. A four-phase voltage converter ensures sufficient energy supply. ASRock's sound system is based on a Realtek PHY and supports 7.1 sound.
Four USB 2.0 ports are located in the back panel and four more can be activated if needed. A corresponding adapter cable has to be bought separately, however, since the package contents are meager, basically the minimum typical of budget boards. And unfortunately, the network chip is not gigabit-capable.
It's worth noting that during the tests we measured a high temperature on the ULi Northbridge M1695: we saw values of about 131°F (55°C) in the bottom part of the heatsink. In contrast, the chip on ULi's reference board was significantly cooler.
The performance capability of the ASRock board is a bit less than what we would expect judging by the reference board from the chipset manufacturer. For comparison we brought in a Fatal1ty A8N from Abit, which can be considered a very solid and flexible board using NVIDIA's nForce4 Ultra.


Three SATA ports and two UltraATA/133 channels should be sufficient for the vast majority of upgrading projects.

Warning about the warnings: There's almost nothing that the manufacturer does not point out.



| Processor | |
|---|---|
| Dual Core CPU | AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (2.4 GHz, 2x 1 MB L2 Cache) |
| Memory | |
| AMD Platform (DDR400) | 2x 512 MB - DDR400 (200 MHz)
Corsair Pro Series CMX512-3200XL (XMS3208 V1.1) (CL2.0-2-2-5-1T @ 200 MHz) |
| Motherboards | |
| AMD Platform | ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 (Rev. 1.04, BIOS 1.1)
ULi M1695 Chipset Abit Fatal1ty A8N (Rev. 1.0, BIOS 1.7) NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset |
| System Hardware | |
| Graphics card (PCIe) | MSI GeForce 7800 GTX
GPU : NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (430 MHz) Memory : 256 MB GDDR3-SDRAM (600 MHz) |
| Hard drive | Western Digital WD740 Raptor
74 GB, 8 MB Cache, 10000 RPM |
| Network | 3COM 3C905B |
| DVD-ROM | Gigabyte GO-D1600C (16x) |
| Power supply unit | Tagan TG480-U01, ATX 2.0, 480 W |
| Software | |
| NVIDIA Chipset Drivers | NVIDIA Forceware 6.53 |
| Uli Chipset Driver | Integrated Driver 2.0964 |
| Graphics Driver | NVIDIA Forceware 77.77 |
| DirectX | Version : 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) |
| OS 32 Bit | Windows XP Professional 5.20.3790, Service Pack 2 |
Benchmarks And Settings
| OpenGL | |
|---|---|
| Doom III | Version : 1.0.1262
1280x1024, 32 Bit Video Quality = High Quality demo1 Graphics detail = High Quality |
| Wolfenstein
Enemy Territory |
Version 2.56 (Patch V 1.02)
1280x1024, 32 Bit timedemo 1 / demo demo4 Geometric detail = high Texture detail = high |
| DirectX 8 | |
| Unreal Tournament 2004 | Version : 3204
1280x1024, 32 Bit, Audio = off THG8-assault-single |
| DirectX 9 | |
| FarCry | Version 1.1 Build 1256
1280x1024 - 32 Bit qualtity options = High |
| Video | |
| Pinnacle Studio 9 Plus | Version : 9.4.2.x
from : 352x288 MPEG-2 41 MB to : 720x576 MPEG-2 95 MB Encoding and Transition Rendering to MPEG-2/DVD no Audio |
| Auto Gordian Knot
DivX 5.2.1 XviD 1.0.3 |
Version : 1.95
Audio = AC3 6ch Custom size = 100 MB Resulution settings = Fixed width Codec = XviD and DivX 5 Audio = CBR MP3, kbps 192 182 MB VOB MPEG2-source |
| Windows Media Encoder | Version : 9.00.00.2980
720x480 DV to WMV 320x240 (29.97 fps) 282 kbps streaming |
| Audio | |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.97.1 Multi-threaded Alpha
Wave 17:14 minutes (182 MB) to mp3 32 - 320 kbit VBR = level 3 |
| Applications | |
| WinRAR
3DS Max 7 |
Version 3.41
Characters "Dragon_Charater_rig" 1600x1200 Rendering Single |
| Synthetic | |
| PCMark 2005 Pro | Version : 1.0.1
CPU and Memory Tests |
| SiSoftware Sandra Pro | Version 2005, SR1
CPU Test = Multimedia Benchmark Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
| ScienceMark | Version 2.0
All Tests |
OpenGL


DirectX 8

DirectX 9







Applications








In comparison with a respectable nForce4 motherboard, the overall performance of the ASRock board in the test is unfortunately below what our recent test of the chipset would have led us to believe. Focusing on the most cost-effective product possible apparently has its cost: Depending on the benchmark, a 5% performance deficit compared to the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 we brought in should be the maximum even with a budget board. Despite this possibly being justified by the fact that many users who want to upgrade are prepared to make sacrifices, we should point out that they will do so only if the price is right.
On the plus side, the 939Dual-SATA2 has sensible, if not downright high-grade equipment. This includes at least one SATA-II port, cleanly executed voltage converters, and a good mix of old and new interfaces (serial/parallel and USB 2.0). In addition, the overclocking options more than hold their own against more expensive brand boards. As for upgrading options, in all likelihood there is already an upgrade path to AMD's coming Socket M2 (due mid-2006). To start with, however, we would be happy to see a BIOS update that would reduce the lingering performance deficit, at which point the 939Dual-SATA2 would be a hot tip indeed.
