Just bought a ASRock P4i65G motherboard

[madmax_2069]

Hello all im Frank

this is my first post here. i just bought a ASRock P4i65G motherboard ( it hasnt arrived yet) but when it does i am thinking on having it recapped (since they like to use mostly crap-caps)

since i dont have it yet i dont have a clue on what to replace. it should be here on wednesday or thursday.

but when i get it i am going to need to know what cap brands does everyone recomend ? (i was thinking on going with Rubycon)

what i was going to do was take it to a shop to have its caps replaced. cause i am not that good yet at doing stuff like this.

this mobo is going to replace a HP D530 SFF mobo, the main reason is because of the locked bios (since its OEM they love to hide most of the good bios settings), the onboard video no longer works, after that stopped working it seemed to run allot slower then it did when i first got it even with a video card that is allot better then the onboard. i think it died from overheating (the monitor just flickers between on and off real fast but the system continues to boot fine).

i orignally bought a 3.2ghz HT 800mhz FSB CPU to replace the stock 2.8ghz non HT 533mhz FSB CPU. but the D530 seems that it dont like the newer faster CPU (altho it supports it and shows that it does) but for some reason when i put the CPU in it runs allot slower then the stock CPU (with benchmarks (using sandra) it shows it being slower then a 2ghz celeron on a 400mhz FSB).

i was using generic no name (ebay special) PC3200 in it at the time, i thought it was the ram being out of spec so i bought the GSKILL (even with the GSKILLs SPD rewritten to loosen the timings to allow it to run at PC3200) it didnt get much better. the stock CPU with the generic ram or the GSKILL running at PC2700 got like double the performane then the newer CPU with the generic ram or the GSKILL (good thing i made a backup of the GSKILLs SPD) so i flashed the SPD on the GSKILL back to normal and kept using the stock CPU.

3dmark 03 scores
stock CPU with generic no name Ram
9,0xx

Stock CPU with GSKILL Ram
10,3xx

new CPU with generic ram
5,0xx

new CPU with rewritten GSKILL SPD
6.5xx

the 3Dmark scores show i was taking a huge loss (i ran without HT enabled) with the newer CPU, which it should be getting like 13,000 or higher on the D530 board. I ended up thinking that since the chipsets (i865G) GFX went out that it somehow effected its ability to use the newer CPU at its potential (or halfway killed something else in the prosess), so i started searching for the D530s replacement. altho its still a very stable system and doesnt crash who knows how much longer it will live.

i could not pass the ASRock up since it will allows me to do allot of the things the HP mobo didnt, plus for $30 shipped and plus i already have the hardware to put in it. the things i got waiting for it when it comes is a Antec 300 case, Antec Basiq 500w PSU, P4 3.2ghz HT 800mhz FSB Northwood, 2x 1gb GSKILL PC3200, WD 500gb SATA HDD, Pioneer DVR-110D, Geforce 6800 GT AGP. The D530 is using everything sept the newer CPU

all i want to do is make this ASRock not fail due to the crap-cap flash dance.

Sorry for the long winded first post

Frank

[Scenic]

Re: Just bought a ASRock P4i65G motherboard

The P4i65G i had here a while ago had KZGs in the VRM and OSTs everywhere else..
still working fine without any cap issues (4years old now.. my little brother still uses it)

but if yours comes with Taicon instead of OST i'd replace all of them... pure junk..
OSTs seem to be OK as long as they are not in the VRM area (around the CPU)

oh and BTW: the ASRock doesn't have that much options to set up in the BIOS...
especially the VCore section is crap... on other boards, you could either set the voltage manually, or at least give it a few volt more (+0,10V for example) ... but those ASRocks have only 3 options... Low, Default and High..
nobody knows what voltage this will result in, except you measure it with a DMM yourself at the mosfets... kinda sucks.. but hey.. ASRock is no OC stuff...

edit: same thing for the RAM voltage... Low, Default and High... :/

[madmax_2069]

Re: Just bought a ASRock P4i65G motherboard

hey atleast it gives some sort of option. it should be able to handle the GSKILL 2.6v - 2.8v requirement. i am definatly not looking to OC i just want it to run the hardware i have how its supose to run (unlike in my D530).

[Gianni]

Re: Just bought a ASRock P4i65G motherboard

I have bought two recently, you can see some pics here.

I don't think you can have your MOBO recapped by the shop just because you don't like OST caps, moreover if you touch your board your lose the warranty.
I think you can wait and from time to time just check if the caps get bulge or leak.
If they don't show any degradation sign and your system is stable, there's no reason to replaced them.

Ciao
Gianni

[madmax_2069]

Re: Just bought a ASRock P4i65G motherboard

So just wait till they start showing signs before getting them replaced.no problem in just waiting.

i only hope this board will be better then that HP D530 mobo (they both use the same chipset) from what i have seen this mobo is made by ASUS for HP. The layout of these boards look almost identical, sept the HP mobo had a few extra ports and was aranged different.

the only thing i am hoping for is the Ram and the 3.2ghz CPU will work like they are supose to (unlike the mess i ran into with the HP mobo).

i bought mine off ebay, i had a few coupons that knocked the price down to $30 shipped. the seller said they are new and never have been used, but they dont come in the orignal box and dont come with the driver CD or cables or rear I/O plate.

New ASRock P4i65G motherboard