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ASRock x58 Supercomputer motherboard

Discussion in 'bit-tech Folding Team' started by JackOfAll, 9 May 2009.

  1. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    I'm sure we had already had a thread for the ASRock Supercomputer motherboard, but I can't find it, so I'll start another one. ;)

    [​IMG]
    (click picture for link to product on ASRock website)

    Specification
    • Intel® Socket 1366 Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition / Core™ i7 Processor Supports Intel® Dynamic Speed Technology
    • System Bus up to 6400 MT/s; Intel® QuickPath Interconnect
    • ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
    • Intel® X58 + ICH10R Chipsets
    • Supports Triple Channel DDR3 2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1600(OC)/1333(OC)/1066 (6 x DIMM slots), non-ECC, un-buffered memory, Max. capacity up to 24GB
    • Supports DDR3 ECC, un-buffered memory with Intel® Workstation 1S Xeon® processors 3500 series
    • Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
    • 4 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (blue @ x8 / x16 mode, orange @ x8 / N/A mode) (Double-wide slot spacing between each PCI-E slot)
    • Supports ATI™ CrossFireX™, Quad CrossFireX™
    • Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™, 3-Way SLI™ and SLI™
    • Supports NVIDIA® Tesla Personal Supercomputer with three Tesla and one Quadro graphics cards
    • Dual GLAN with Teaming function : 2 x PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
    • 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID10, RAID 5 and Intel® Matrix Storage), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions (2 SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors can be used as eSATAII connectors)
    • Supports 2 x IEEE1394 ports (one port on back panel, one header on board)
    • Supports ASRock Instant Boot
    • Supports Smart BIOS, ASRock OC Tuner, Intelligent Energy Saver
    • 7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio with Content Protection, supports DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec), DTS (Digital Theater Systems) support
    • Windows® Vista™ Premium 2008 Logo Ready
    • Free Bundle: 2 x ASRock XFire_Bridge_3S Cards, 1 x ASRock SLI Bridge, 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_3S Card, 1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI Bridge Card
    • I/O Panel : 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port, 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port, 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports, 1 x Powered eSATAII/USB Connector, 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED, 1 x IEEE 1394 Port, 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED, 1 x IEEE 1394 Port

    General

    Past experiences with ASRock motherboards, (I've still got one running somewhere with an old P4 Prescott as a mailserver), should have made me stay well away from purchasing another one! But I'm glad I didn't. The Supercomputer mb has been nothing but a positive experience. For the price, it can't be faulted. Leaving the price out of the equation, other manufacturers could learn a thing or two about mb layout from this board. With 4x double slot graphics cards installed, there isn't anything that I'd want to get to but can't, even the placement of the fan headers has been carefully considered.

    Overclocking

    Overclocking has been painless too. I flashed the bios to the latest, V2.0, from a bootable USB flash drive on the first boot. I settled on 3.8GHz for the installed i7 920 (D0 stepping) chip - 19x200. A little boost, 1.86V on the PLL voltage and +200mV "Offset Overdrive" on the CPU voltage. Core temps, 90% CPU use folding, are at approx. 55 deg C. (CPU is watercooled with a Swiftech GTZ, XSPC RX360 rad, 18W DCC 3.2 pump and EK top). 4GHz was doable but I had to increase CPU volts by another 100mV and not really worth it for the extra 200MHz, so I settled on a rock solid 3.8GHz. It's probably worth mentioning this article on Toms Hardware, The Truth Behind ASRock's X58 SuperComputer. If you buy one of these boards, I'd suggest asking the retailer about the board revision number and trying to obtain a newer board with a hardware revision > 1.03. The usual "Loadline Calibration" VDroop option is missing from the bios. The ASRock equivalent, "Vcore Load-Line Shallow_SLOPE", although added in later bios revisions, is only available on board hardware revision > 1.03. This may be very relevant as far as overclocking is concerned if you have a C0 stepping i7. This didn't affect me as the "Overdrive Offset" option seems to work very well with the D0 stepping. Definitely worth reading the article if you're interested in this board, but I still wouldn't be too worried about using the earlier hardware revision 1.03 board, especially if you plan to use the latest D0 stepping i7.

    Folding

    While the K9A2 is probably still the number one choice for 4x PCI-E 16 double slot folding, the options with Core i7 are a little limited. Hopefully Asus will finally release the P6T7. But I'd expect that to cost at least 100 quid more than the Supercomputer mb. The nVidia n200 chip bumps up the price considerably, not that for folding purposes the extra lanes are going to make any difference at all. 4x logical PCI-E 16x slots, populated with 4x GTX295, each with 8 physical lanes, on the Supercomputer mb - no problemo!

    Linux CPU smp folding client

    I run 2 instances of the Linux smp client with "-smp 4". Although it's not been a problem for a couple of weeks, and it's possible to run a single smp client with "-smp 8" for the best PPD from the CPU, if you receive the 'older' smp work unit that can only run a max of four cores, you'll drop potential points. So, I've found the best compromise to be, run 2 instances with "-smp 4" and drop a couple of hundred PPD on the newer CVS cores, compared to running a single WU with "-smp 8". Prior to the overclock, at a stock 2.67GHz, each CPU smp client was generating around 2250 PPD. Overclocked to 3.8GHZ, each CPU client is generating approx 4200 PPD. So that's an extra 3900 PPD directly attributable to the CPU overclock!

    Linux GPU2 folding

    With 4x GTX295 cards installed, I'm running 8 instances of the Windows GPU2 console folding client. Of course, being a Linux fanatic, they're running via wine emulation and the cuda dll wrapper, which 'translates' the function calls from the windows 'dll' to the Linux 'so' shared library. No problems to report here, either. Other than to mention that the wrapper costs a few hundred PPD per client. The price to be paid for the emulation layer.

    Value

    A K9A2 system is going to be a lot cheaper than one built around the Supercomputer mb. But, (and maybe someone else can chime in here), what sort of PPD are you going to able to generate from the CPU? So maybe on a price versus performance basis, the 8400 PPD from the CPU justifies the additional cost of the Core i7 board, processor and memory. (To be fair, DDR3 triple channel kits are getting cheaper all the time. The 6GB OCZ ram I'm using in the Supercomputer at 1600MHz @ 8-8-8-24, cost 70 quid.)

    Stats

    Overclocking, before and after. Fahmon screenshots.

    Before @ 2.67GHz (click to enlarge)

    After @ 3.8GHz (click to enlarge)


    Finally

    I hope my mini review helps others make a decision about purchasing this board for folding with 4x double slot graphics cards.
    This is a great board for folding! Good price, (well, relative to some other x58 chipset boards), great layout, great performance. No foibles to speak of and no problems to report. TBH, I expected grief. I expected that the board would have problems adding the third and fourth GTX295's. I expected that I'd not be able to use four of them. I was pessimistic, but I had no need to be!

    PS. It might also be worth mentioning that I own Asus Rampage II Extreme and Asus P6T Deluxe Core i7 motherboards. You could say that I've been a little spoilt. While those boards have a shed-load more O/C options that might be useful for eeking out the last drop of performance from an overclock, the ASRock board has overclocked easily, without fuss and fiddling. (Recovery from a failed overclock works as advertised and the option is set by default in the bios. 3 failed boots and it drops back to default settings without needing to fiddle with the clear CMOS jumper or remove the battery from the mb.) Again, on a a price/value consideration, the ASRock Supercomputer is not at all the poor man of the group and compares very well to other boards that could be considered to be premium, enthusiast or overclocking orientated products.

    ASRock Supercomputer motherboard (with 4x GTX 295 installed)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 21 Jan 2013
  2. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    Thanks for this thread JackOfAll, as many of you know I have made the first few purchases this week that will eventually lead to me having a farm capable of around 100K-120K PPD. My original goal was for less but since seeing the potential of newer cards than the 8800 series for not a big price difference I decided to set a higher goal.

    I have had my eye on this board for a while... not necessarily for folding, but for a customers PC build which is currently awaiting a complete spec list. I have the case modding, cooling and finishing done, all that remains is for either the customer or myself to choose a suitable spec and for me to build the core components into it. I think that given what you have said above, this motherboard would make a good choice for the PC I am talking about.

    I may even build an i7 farm rig based on this board during the summer, if I am able to water cool the CPU that is. I love the layout, and honestly amongst the boards currently available with 4 PCI-E slots I think it is second to none in that respect. I haven't used many Asrock boards recently but any that I did use in the past have been reliable after a lot of heavy use, so hopefully this one is no different.
     
  3. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    Longevity, yes, that's probably my main/only concern as well. The ASRock RMA process is not for the faint of heart! (But that was a couple of years ago. ;))
     
  4. SazBard

    SazBard 10 PRINT "C64 FTW"

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    Well I was using their 4coredual-vsta motherboard for 2 years, just only swapped it out a few days ago.

    It was cheap and allowed me to upgrade my system slowly over time. Hit a wall of 294Mhz on the FSB though.

    The above board looks nice enough, good to see cooling on the vrms. They do regularly update their drivers on the website also so that's good.
     
  5. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    Me too! I think both times in the past I've bought ASRock products for compatibility, leading to upgrade, purposes. With the introduction of PCI-E graphics, I bought a 'dual' board that had both an AGP and PCI-E slot so that I could carry on using my AGP card but upgrade to PCI-E in the future. I also recall buying another board before that. That had dual memory capability - SDRAM and DDR, I think.

    ASRock has the reputation as being a value product and targets a specific segment. I guess that kind of makes sense if Asustek makes products under both brands, Asus and ASRock. But on the basis that Asus is the premium brand, it could be that this board is is just the 'value' board without the additional n200 chip and PCI-E lanes. Either way, it's not much of a compromise and the product has the same quality as I'd expect if it had been branded Asus.
     
    Last edited: 9 May 2009
  6. Christopher N. Lew

    Christopher N. Lew Folding in memory of my father

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    JackOfAll - thanks for this thread, I had seen this board but was a bit doubtful because of the image of Asrock being cheap and not good. You have dispelled my illusions.
     
  7. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    My words are coming back to haunt me. This board is dead!
     
  8. saspro

    saspro IT monkey

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    Are ASRock back to their usual tricks then?
     
  9. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    That's what my moneys on!
    I've just checked the RAM and GPU's on another board, and no problems there. So it's either the CPU or mb that's failed. I'll check the CPU later. Most likely the mb.
     
  10. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    Aww noes! I was so looking forward to getting one of these in the farm [eventually] :(
     
  11. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    And it's worse than expected. I removed the CPU and tried it in another mb. Dead! I then removed the ASRock mb from the case. Nose up close to the voltage regs - electrical burnt smell - they're fried! (And there's no way I'm going to try my last working Core i7 CPU in this board to verify that it is dead. Too risky! ;))

    So what I think has happened here is that voltage regs on the the mb have fried and taken the CPU with them. Not good. Sure I was overclocking a little, but I even backed it off so I didn't have to bump the CPU voltage.

    It's hard to give ASRock the benefit of the doubt when the board craps out and takes a CPU with it.

    A word to the wise .... Do NOT overclock this board! (If you want to get more than 3 weeks of use out of it.)
     
    Last edited: 20 May 2009
  12. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    NOO!

    Sorry, but this had to be done :p

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Christopher N. Lew

    Christopher N. Lew Folding in memory of my father

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    Till I read the caption I thought it was one of the weeping angels from Dr Who!
     
  14. Deadpunkdave

    Deadpunkdave ...why you need a 20-sided die

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    Ouch, I think I'd be in shock if I fried an i7. Mobo's remain the place where you really do get what you pay for, IMO.
     
  15. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    This following was originally posted in a new thread, but was subsequently moved by someone (a mod???) to the General -> Misc forum. It should have been posted to this thread to start with. My fault. Please do not post any rants to this thread. I don't want this to turn into a bunch of people giving negative opinions about OcUK. If you have an opinion and it's negative, please keep it to yourself for the moment!

    After what seems like forever, I received an email from OcUK this morning, (well, 2 actually), to tell me that my RMA'd ASRock Supercomputer motherboard was on the way back to me. The only problem is that it is not a replacement board! (N.B. You may recall that I originally used this board in "Weapon" until it died, or rather, the voltage regs died, taking the CPU with them to silicon heaven. It was my first attempt at 4x GTX295 on a single motherboard.)

    Now what is interesting.... I was warned before I returned this ASRock motherboard to OcUK by someone, (who shall remain anonymous for now), who swore blind that his Asus board, which was rejected for "bent pins", wasn't received back in the same condition that is was in when sent to OcUK. He claimed that either OcUK had bent the pins when they tested it, prior to returning it to Asus, or that the "bent damage" had occurred after that, but before he received it back.

    Anyway, back to my situation. Heeding the warning, the last thing I did before I put the CPU socket protector back on the ASRock mb and packaged it for return to OcUK, was to inspect the socket with a magnifying glass and take high res pictures of it with a macro lens from lots of different angles. Just in case, I thought. Absolutely nothing wrong with the socket pins, I thought.

    [​IMG]

    I'll take another series of pictures when I receive the board back tomorrow and we'll see if the CPU socket pins are still in the same condition as they were before OcUK received the board.
     
    Last edited: 13 Aug 2009
  16. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    Today, I received the RMA'd ASRock Supercomputer motherboard back from OcUK. I can confirm that it is the same board, with the same serial number as I sent to them. I can also confirm that 2 CPU socket pins have been damaged. I have circled them in red on the picture below (after), which can be compared to the (before) picture above. I invite people to draw their own conclusions and consider this very carefully when it comes to making a choice on which retailer you choose to patronise for a motherboard purchase. Fighting for a refund on RMA postage cost is one thing. Being expected to write-off the cost of an expensive motherboard is another. And again, whatever the rights and wrongs, constructive comments only!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: 13 Aug 2009
  17. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    Close up crops. Top: before the board was sent back to OcUK. Bottom: after the board was received back from OcUK, with the RMA declined due to "bent pins".

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. JackOfAll

    JackOfAll What's a Dremel?

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    I would like to publicly thank OcUK for doing the right thing and agreeing to accept this motherboard back for a refund. (Whether the mention of legal action had anything to do with it after their previous intransigence, "I am unable to do anything more with your motherboard as the product is damaged."...... ) However, IMHO, doing right by the customer shouldn't depend on the customer owning expensive photographic equipment and being prepared to pursue the matter until the bitter end.
     
  19. Votick

    Votick My CPU's hot but my core runs cold.

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    LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! xD :thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
     
  20. yodasarmpit

    yodasarmpit Modder

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    Just wanting to ensure posts that were unrelated to folding were located in the correct section of the forum, we keep finding a lot of threads in the CPC folding section that are, unfortunately, unrelated.

    Cheers for understanding.

    It's a big old forum out there :)
     

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